Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Be these attitudes • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Title: “Be these attitudes pt4”
Text: Matthew 5:6; Isaiah 55:1-5; John 6:25-27
D.T Your not you when your hungry
Introduction: (Begin with ILLUSTRATION from a snickers commercial with a grumpy logger) We know these advertisements right? A few years ago they were a dime a dozen. The best part of the Ad is the fact that apparently it only takes one bite from a snickers bar to satisfy their hunger. So why are these advertisements so relevant and effective? Because we can all identify with being hungry, and we are often searching for ways to satisfy our hunger. Matthew 5:6 says
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
The word “Blessed” in the Greek is Makarios which means “fortunate, happy, or lucky” so basically those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are fortunate, happy, or lucky” The question I want to ask of us today isn’t so much Why are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness fortunate, happy or lucky? I feel that’s pretty self explanatory, those who seek righteousness are blessed. So we’ll Instead ask another question. The question is this; What made hungering and thirsting for righteousness such an effective illustration.
The word of God is often described as being consumed. The most famous example of this is Psalm 34:8
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
In Psalm 119:103
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
1st Peter 2:2-3 says this
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
God understands how to speak to us, he understands what makes us tick. He knows that using food as an illustration for the word of God will speak to us, and provide a universal understanding.
How many T.V. networks are dedicated to reading and study? Outside of kids programs like reading rainbow and wishbone, I really can’t think of any.
However I KNOW we have an entire T.V network dedicated to food and how good it tastes. People love Chopped, Guy's Grocery games, Diners drive-ins and dives.
When the Psalmist says “Taste and see the LORD is good” Do our spirits enjoy the word of God as much as our taste buds enjoy food? When Jesus says Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled. He is saying we will reach a point of happiness and blessing when our spirits find the same level of fulfillment in the word as we do with food.
The word of God is explained as nourishment. God continues this illustration by describing the word of God as providing nourishment. We have this famous passage from Deuteronomy that Jesus actually quotes to Satan while being tempted in the desert.
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
The most famous of these is no doubt John 6, Jesus' famous “I am the bread of life” statement. This event happens shortly after Jesus feeds the 5,000; the people are amazed and they view Jesus more like a vending machine rather than a savior. Jesus sees through this and ensures he has come to bring more than physical food; which can spoil. Rather he’s come to bring spiritual food; something which will never end and always sustain us. The food comes from him, his gospel, his salvation, his righteousness. This righteousness is nourishing for the soul.
Hunger for the righteousness of Christ is perpetual. We have fairly consistently eaten three meals a day right? Why? Because we know that when we eat, even good and nutritious food, the benefits are temporary, we have to eat again in just a few hours. Do we understand our spiritual hunger works in the same way? Do we understand this under is perpetual? It can be tempting to believe that when we consume God’s word, that we can have enough fulfillment to feed and nourish our spirits. We often forget that our spirits need to be fed daily just as our bodies do.
If I asked you what I preached on four weeks ago on February 11th, many of you wouldn’t be able to remember. Some may not remember what I preached on last week.
As a preacher this doesn’t upset me, nor does it make me believe my preaching was inadequate. Why? Because it’s natural. Who remembers what they had for lunch on February 11th? Most people don’t remember. Yet just because we don’t remember what we had for lunch, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t fulfilling or enriching.
Just because you can’t remember a sermon doesn’t mean it wasn’t enriching to your spirit.
However the real reason I mention this is to provide an illustration of why it’s so important to consume the word of God and the righteousness within. If our most memorable bible studies, lessons we learn, sermons we hear only temporarily fill us, so much so that we forget them in a week. How important is it that we consistently allow ourselves to consume the word of God. How important is hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
If someone approaches you and says “I can’t remember the last time I ate” there is a good chance they are malnourished. Why would we even do the same for our spirits? Would eating one meal a week be sufficient? Why would you only feed your spirit one meal a week?
Conclusion: It’s shockingly easy to let our faith and spirits starve. If we let them starve; our faith and spiritual health will begin to resemble something unhealthy. It may be a shadow of what Christ called us to be; in other words “You're not you when you're hungry” fight hunger with the word of God, and remember. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they will be filled
