“Blessed are the Spiritually Famished”

THE BEATITUDES: How to Be Truly Blessed Sermon Series

“Blessed are the Spiritually Famished”

(Part #5)

KEY PASSAGE: Matthew 5:6 (NASB)

And Father God, we give You thanks, for You are good, and Your love endures forever. We “Thank You” for Your unfailing love and wonderful deeds for humankind. Lord, we have come to worship the God of heaven in the splendor of His holiness. We [stand before You in humility], recognizing Your presence in this church and “Thank You” for Your grace that sustains us. I pray that Your love will motivate us and Your presence will commit us to do Your will. In the name of Jesus, we commit the rest of this service [into] the hands of God. Amen. You may have your seat. And let us thank our incredible worship team [again] for giving this church a meaningful worship experience with their God-given gifts and talents every Sunday morning. May God bless you all, worship team.

I want to let the church know that we are [looking] for vocalists to join the worship team. [So], If you sense God’s call on your life in [the area of] music, praise, and worship, please talk to Kenney and Chip if you are interested in joining the worship band.

TITHE and OFFERING

We will invite the usher team to pass around the plates so we can collect the church tithes and offerings. But before we do that, I want to thank you all for your generosity and gifts to God, which help support this church in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. May God bless you all for your faithfulness to the kingdom of God. Ushers, please pass around the plates, and the worship team will lead us as we collect our tithes and offerings.

WELCOME

Please stand up, greet some folks around you, and welcome them to worship. We welcome you [all] again to our Sunday Worship Service and are glad to have you in God’s house. Our first-time visitors, please stand so we can see you. We also welcome all who join us online. Let’s clap for our online viewers.

ANNOUNCEMENT

· The New Member Class is on Saturday, October 12th, at 10:00 a.m. at the church. If you have any questions about joining the church, please contact Farai and Paula.

· The Outreach Ministry is at the church on Saturday, October 5th at 10:00 a.m.

· The Marriage Checkup Workshop is on Friday, October 25th, at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, October 26th, at 9:00 a.m. I want to remind all married couples that the spots are filling up, so please register for the marriage workshop if you can.

· Wednesday Night Bible Study Connect is at 7:00 p.m. Please join us on Wednesday night to STUDY THE WORD OF GOD.

· Also, starting next month, our Church’s Corporate Weekly Prayer Meeting will change to once a month. Our first monthly Corporate Prayer Meeting is October 5th at 8:00 a.m. We meet on the first Saturday of every month at 8:00 a.m. I want to encourage all church members and ministry leaders to attend the once-a-month Corporate Prayer Meeting. We will continue to assemble on Saturday for those who want to meet and pray.

· Yesterday, we baptized some of our church members at Lakeview Park in Lorain, Ohio, and I want to congratulate all those who were baptized. Next Sunday, we will give you your baptismal certificates.

· I also want to thank all our church ministry leaders who serve in different capacities to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.

· Please complete the sermon survey sheet and return it to the usher and media team.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Let’s pray together as we begin our study today.

Father, we thank You for this tremendous truth that we will look at today. And Father, we would desire above all things that the Holy Spirit would teach us. Lord, help us to get a grip on what we are about to teach today. Help us dig deeply into the mind of Your truth and [deeply into] our own lives to search out and see if we respond in the way we ought to. Minister to us through Your Holy Spirit, Lord, as we consider the words of Jesus Christ. In His name, we pray, Amen.

DECLARATION of FAITH in GOD

Let us stand and say the Declaration of Faith in God together.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

One issue or [question, if you will] that I want to bring to your attention this morning is whether you want more of God—the issue of hunger. Take your Bible, will you, and look with me at Matthew 5 and verse 6. As you know, we have been studying THE BEATITUDES: How to Be Truly Blessed Sermon Series. Jesus introduces the Beatitudes by telling us that He is after happiness. It is the blessedness that Jesus is offering to us.

[A good] biblical preacher knows that you must get your people [your congregation] to start listening at the beginning of a sermon. You have to get their attention. You have to say something profound and extraordinary to get their attention. Something deep that is filled with the Holy Spirit to get their attention. And this is [exactly] what Jesus does with the Beatitudes. Jesus knows that the world is looking for happiness. The world is looking for joy.

The world wants peace of mind and happiness. Thomas Jefferson used the phrase “pursuit of happiness.” The [phrase] means “the pursuit of a meaningful life, " a life that gives a person a sense of satisfaction that what they are doing is worth living for. Today, believers are worth living because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to their account.

People want to know how blessed they are. They want to know blissfulness. They want to be happy, [and] have meaning in life, and be joyful. And so, Jesus starts by saying, “I am offering you happiness.” However, His presentation was not exactly what the people expected during the day of Jesus. He was offering them happiness in a way they had never heard [or seen] in their lives, and subsequently, it fascinated them.

By the time Jesus was done, they were more than fascinated; they were astonished at what He had said. And so, our Lord is offering to you, me, and us collectively real happiness, real blessedness, but it is the kind of blessedness that only comes by being a part of His kingdom.

SERMON EXPOSITION

Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Appetite (your desire for food) is one of the significant indicators a medical doctor uses to assess a patient’s health. Consistent loss of appetite indicates a much deeper problem for a person. This particular beatitude, this particular blessing, is offered to those with the [right] appetite for the right thing, producing an amazing result: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” “Hunger and thirst” express a desire for something. In Psalm 42:2 and 63:1, we are told that the sons of Korah cried out, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

The idiomatic expression of hunger and thirst involves passionate desire, driving pursuit, and heavy longing. In our text for today [Matthew 5:6], hunger and thirst refer to a starving spirit—a real hunger and starvation of a believer’s soul. This is a deeper spiritual hunger for the Word of God, according to Amos 8:11. He says the days are coming when God will send famine on the land. This is not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but rather the hearing of the Words of God—the Word of Truth.

A true believer is hungry and thirsty for all righteousness. Please notice that righteousness means all righteousness. Sometimes, a person feels a little hungry and thirsty for a bit of something, for example, an apple or a glass of juice. But hunger and thirst in the beatitude mean the whole thing, for all righteousness, [not little tidbits]. This is a promise from Jesus of a filled life. [Watch This] A person must starve and thirst for all righteousness if that person wishes to be filled with the fullness of life. The fullness of God. The fullness of the Holy Spirit. That is how you know that a person is hungry for all righteousness.

We live in a day when most of us don’t have to worry about being hungry for very long. We have access to food in the Western world. But not so in biblical [Bible] days when there were no freezers and refrigerators, and you had to hustle after your food day-by-day because it couldn’t be preserved for extended periods. And we have all seen third-world countries where folks are hungry and thirsting. These people desire to be fed by life’s nutrition of food and water. They are different from us or from where we live because they are desperate.

We may be inconvenienced by the time it takes to get in our car and go to the nearest McDonald’s, Burger King, or your favorite fast food restaurants. But those folk in third-world countries are desperate. Their longing for food is much deeper than you and I have to deal with. But we all know what it means to be hungry. To have gone for an extended time without the nourishment we need to keep up with life. Many of us know what it means to wake up in the middle of the night and go to the refrigerator or the pantry because hunger pains have set in.

“Blessed are those …” Jesus says, “… who are passionately pursuing God.” Who desperately desires, hunger, and thirsts for God? The psalmist says [David says] in Psalm 119 verse 20, “My soul is crushed with the longing after You at all times.” He says in Psalm 42 verse 1, “As the deer pants after the water brook, So pants my soul for You, O God.”

Again, the psalmist says in Psalm 63, verse 1, [Watch This], “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you.”Isaiah, the prophet, put it this way in Isaiah 26 verse 9, “My spirit seeks thee earnestly.” “My spirit within me seeks You diligently.” Paul says in Philippians 3:10, “That I might know Him.” Moses says in Exodus 33:18, “Show me Your glory.”

One [great] characteristic [that is] always seen among the great people of scripture is their hunger and thirst for God. That is a passionate pursuit for Him. They are on fire to find Him at a more profound level. I interviewed a pastor this week from Memphis, Tennessee, regarding my Doctor of Ministry research project. And by the way, this pastor and I had a wonderful conversation about preaching and teaching the Word of God so people can faithfully obey God.

After the interview, I sent him a “Thank You” email [for] taking time out of his busy schedule to talk to me. And he replied to me, and this is what he said to me. [Watch This] “I enjoyed the time. “May the fire of God be upon you, ‘Elijah.’” The fire he is talking about is the passionate pursuit of God and finding God at a deeper level. That raises a question. How hungry and thirsty are you today for God?

SERMON EXPLANATION

One reason so many of us today experience so little of God is that we are not hungry. Hungry people will find some food, and thirsty people will pursue a drink. They are desperate for it. [And so] food and water are necessary to live and survive, but all the possibilities of physical hunger are inconsequential [irrelevant] [when] compared to unfulfilled spiritual hunger.

[You see] Spiritual thirst that is unquenched. Jesus says in our text for today that righteousness is the real thing that a man or a woman needs. Anyone who enters the Kingdom of God must have a great appetite and thirst for righteousness. Far too many Christians today want bits and pieces of righteousness, [righteousness] just enough to make them comfortable.

Most people think of being righteous as doing good—doing good deeds, doing good work, and helping other people. You feel comfortable and happy with yourself because you helped other people. And you think that your good deeds and work make you righteous before God. But the Bible is not saying that you never do good [work]; it says that men are not righteous – not perfectly righteous within their hearts.

Christ does not say, “Blessed are the righteous,” for no one is righteous, according to Romans 3:10. Jesus says, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” You and I have one hope: [that] God will love us so much that He will somehow count us righteous. That is just what God does. God takes our “hunger and thirst after righteousness” and counts that hunger and thirst as righteousness. God does this because He loves us.

Hunger and thirst after righteousness is a passionate pursuit of God. When there is a passionate pursuit, other things become less of a priority because of what is being pursued. It means that distractions that are not contributing to the pursuit of that hunger and thirst to be satisfied are removed. Our sermon series is called “How to Be Truly Blessed.” So, what is on the menu that God offers for those who want to be truly blessed? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” The physical man needs food to survive, and the spiritual man also needs righteousness [to survive]. This is not just a desire [church]; [it is] a necessity. It is a requirement for the people of God.

The spiritual man demands righteousness to function as it was designed to function. Righteousness is God’s menu for the soul. What do we mean by righteousness? It is living [in accordance with] God’s will, that is righteousness. It is identifying God’s will on a matter and seeking to line up life [in accordance with] that will. That is righteousness. The problem is that men try to satisfy spiritual hunger with illegitimate food. Isaiah 55 verse 2 says, “They seek what is not bread.”

SERMON ILLUSTRATION

They go after something not designed to address the need at hand. [You see] enjoying a doughnut is one thing; seeking to satisfy the body’s needs with a doughnut is another [thing]. And there is nothing wrong with eating a doughnut [every] now and then.

[But] only a deceived person will think that doughnuts are designed to address what the body is calling for. Because doughnuts are fundamentally empty calories, and while they will give you a semblance of satisfaction for a short while, they will not provide lasting nutrition because a doughnut is not designed to feed the cellular structure of the human body.

Donuts are good, but [they are] not designed to satisfy the human body. In the new nature, God has placed righteousness. The Bible calls it imputed righteousness, where God when you accepted Jesus Christ, a credit took place. God took your sin and credited it to Jesus’ account. Jesus died on the cross for our sins in our place by credit. Jesus didn’t sin. But our sins, the [sins of the world], were credited to account of Jesus. But then God took the righteousness of Christ and credited it to our account. So, guess what? Here is the good news for you. You are perfectly righteous on credit, not on your good credit score. Not based on your good work and good deeds that you do for other people. Your perfect righteousness is in the new nature. You are made righteous through the righteousness of Jesus Christ that God credited to your account.

And righteousness is the only thing that will fill and satisfy a man’s and a woman’s innermost needs. Food and drink are good for the human body but are not enough to satisfy a person's innermost needs. Only God [Watch This] can fill a life and satisfy the deep need for permanent life, and [this is the reason] Christ says to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

SERMON EXPLANATION

Philippians 2:12 says, “To work out your own salvation in fear and trembling.” The idea is to work out the righteousness already credited to your account. You have perfect righteousness credited to your account, and we must act out of righteousness to satisfy our hungry and thirsty souls. We must zealously pursue righteousness for our souls. Without executing the righteousness planted or credited to the soul, the soul wastes away. The soul will famish. The soul requires righteousness to flourish, so we must seek to align ourselves [in accordance with] the will of God.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION

If you leave church today, you will see several gas stations on your way home. If you fill your car with diesel fuel, you are in for a rough ride because a car’s engine is not designed to receive it. Now, you may be full of diesel, but you’re not going to get very far even though your gas indicator registers full because while you are full, you are full of what the car engine cannot receive. You have to put unleaded fuel in your car gas tank because that is what the car has been built to receive.

[Watch This] Far too many Christians today are putting stuff in their souls that is not designed for the soul to receive. And we wonder why, if I am so full of what I put in my soul, I am not making progress. I am not moving forward. Because what you are giving your soul is not what the manufacturer requires. And so, who is the manufacturer? The manufacturer is Jesus Christ. Jesus requires righteousness, seeking to align oneself with God’s will. The new nature, the saved you, only runs off of righteousness. Anything else will cause problems under the hood of your life.

SERMON EXPLANATION

Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come to give you life and to give it to you more abundantly.” Psalm 107, verse 9 says, “He satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good things.” Psalm 34:10 says, “Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” The issue is hunger and thirst. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus told the woman at the well, “I am going to give you water that will spring up to everlasting life.”

This water is going to satisfy you if you are living an unsatisfied life. And I don’t mean if you are living with problems or difficulties. No matter how spiritual you are, you will have challenges, ups and downs. That is not what I mean by satisfaction. By satisfaction, I mean a sense of well-being on the inside. If that is missing from you, and you are a Christian, then that means that you are feeding the soul the wrong stuff because the promise Jesus is: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

David said, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” And he goes on to talk about how God meets his every need. David is satisfied. And for a Christian, if someone asks you how you are doing. You will be able to say, “I am good.” It is good.” “It is all good.” And this is not because there are no problems in life, but because you are satisfied. Your soul is satisfied. You seek righteousness more and more to be filled and satisfied.

FAITH APPEAL, CALL to ACTION and ALTAR CALL

So, I challenge you to start by acknowledging that you need righteousness. Paul said, “Oh, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” Reject all illegitimate sources of nutrition. Don’t leave church today saying I am hungry; let me go and eat ten doughnuts because that is not designed to address what the body is calling for. This is why the bible says, “Love not the world neither the things that are in the world for if the man loves the world the love of the Father is not in him?” You are not experiencing the satisfaction of God because you are asking for something not designed to satisfy the soul.

To work toward verse 6 of Matthew 5, you need to start with verse 3 because all these blessings that Jesus declared and pronounced to His disciples are progressive. Verse 3 says, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit.” You must first declare your spiritual bankruptcy. Then, you must mourn over your sin. You must lay down your bankruptcy in the sorrow that comes with the displeasure and then ask God for righteousness to fill your weary soul. Then, “Blessed are the meek.”Or the gentle. You must say that I submit to the will of God so that I can get my inheritance. And you can say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst.” Because when you declare spiritual bankruptcy, mourn over sin, and place yourself under divine authority, you will feel your hunger pains return for righteousness. God bless you.

There are two sets of people here today. You could be a Christian, but your soul is starving for righteousness; if that is you, please come up so we can pray for you. Jesus says in our text for today that righteousness is the real thing that a man or a woman needs. Anyone who enters the Kingdom of God must have a great appetite and thirst for righteousness. Unsaved people do have ambition. If you are here today, and you are not a Christian, and you have never accepted Jesus Christ into your heart, please come forward so we can pray with you.

Let’s stand on our feet, bow our heads, and honor this moment in worship.

BENEDICTION

Father God, we know the pressure is on us to live according to Your holy and righteous standards now because we must redeem the time for the days [are] evil. Father, help us walk that narrow path circumspectly [carefully], not as fools, but as wise, applying that wisdom granted to us in Christ Jesus. Father, I pray for anyone who might be here who does not know Christ. Today, they might step out of the foolishness of the world in sin into the wisdom of God by taking the gift of salvation. I pray, Lord, that all of us will be aware that You want us to walk as wisely for Your glory for one and [for] our blessing for two. In the name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.

God bless you. We will see you next week at 10:30 a.m.