The Sermon on the Mount (4)
Notes
Transcript
Today we are looking at verse 6 of the Beatitudes. I want to point out again the progression we see as you move through the verses. They show how one begins with their own sense of sin and finally becoming a child of God and the results that follow. These verses deal with what we think in our hearts. The attitudes that ought to be in our lives if we are true Christians, the characteristics of someone living the true kingdom life. You remember the saying you are what you eat, well in spiritual aspect you are what you are hungry for, and what you try to satisfy those hungers with. It goes along with garbage in, garbage out. What you put in is what will come out, it is what will be seen in your life. There are many people in our world today who are hungry and thirsty, but they are trying to satisfy that hunger and thirst with worldly things, money, work, relationships, stuff, and they will never be satisfied.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Have you ever been hungry or thirsty. I would venture to say most of us do not know what real hunger and thirst are, but have you been hungry and nothing you eat seems to satisfy you. Have you ever had your mouth set on something specific and once you eat it, it only leaves you wanting more. The hunger and thirst we are talking about today is different, for one it is not physical, it is a spiritual desire to be filled with God’s righteousness. This is not the righteousness we receive upon being saved (imputed righteousness), but one that is seen in one living out God’s will. Allowing Christ to work in and through us, a passionate desire to be filled.
Approved by God are those who are starving and thirsting for His righteousness!
Andy’s translation.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
We see a continual hunger and thirsting for righteousness, a drive to be feed by the righteousness of God in our own lives as well as the world around us. A desire to see God’s standards established and obeyed in every area of life. A hunger to grow closer to God, a hunger for His will, our desires to line up with His desires. A hunger that brings us to the end of the worldly desires that once drove us. A hunger that brings us to the foot of the cross broken and mourning. Only one thing can satisfy this hunger and thirst, you cannot satisfy it with worldly temporary things.
35 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.
Jesus is the only one who can satisfy. Their is an emptiness that can only be fill by Jesus Christ.
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks of this water which I will give to him will never be thirsty for eternity, but the water which I will give to him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
What Christ offers to the Samaritan women and to us as well is a never ending satisfaction, complete satisfaction. But now here is the paradox of Matthew 5:6, look at the last part of this verse.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“for they shall be satisfied”. Now this is the paradox, this satisfaction leads us to desire more. We are satisfied but still left waning more. Bernard of Clairvox a monk in the 11th century wrote this “We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread and long to feast upon Thee still; We drink of Thee the Fountainhead, And thirst our souls from Thee to fill”. We are satisfied, but it leaves still wanting more, we are filled with the continual desire to have more of Christ.
Are we truly hungering and thirsting for righteousness, do we desire to be filled, do we desire for others to be filled as well. Are we longing for the things of God. Righteousness lived out in our daily lives as we are filled. We are nourished by the Word— John 1:1. John 1:14. The Word is Christ, and He and He alone can satisfy.
Before we end today we are going to watch a short video.
The Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount
Are we truly hungering for righteousness. Or are we just going through the motions. Are we feasting on God’s Word, being filled. In that video he makes some very good points, if we feel inconvenienced in anyway we stop doing it. If we are made uncomfortable we stop. We do not truly desire to be filled— we have the freedom and access yet we don’t hunger and thirst. We fill our time with the world, with temporary things.