The Good Life - Desiring the Right Things

Our Theme for 2025 is “Live Like Jesus”

It comes out of a simple desire to follow Jesus - and to learn better what that means.

We are spending the entire year in the Gospel of Matthew.

We began with a short portion of scripture that summarizes Matthews gospel.

The beatitudes are a kind of “spiritual alignment.”

Live like Jesus means aligning our minds, hearts and actions with His.

Matthew five through seven contains a text referred to as the sermon on the mount.

And the first twelve verses are called the beatitudes.

Matthew 5:1–12 ESV

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 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.

Jesus opens his sermon on the mount with eight statements about “the good life”, but the good life is not what you think.

We began by saying that you can live the good life and live with in your means.

It is not about needing more, but about learning to depend on God.

Then we said that you have to give yourself permission to feel.

Last week’s beatitude or attribute of “the good life” is about our aspirations and our attitudes.

The meek, the ones you probably never notice - the people that you probably wouldn’t even take into account, they are going to be the ones left standing when all is said and done.

This weeks beatitude is about our desires - our desires shape what we want and what we pursue.

Matthew 5:6 ESV

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

What is it that you really want in life?

Is it to be happy?

Is it to be rich?

Is it to be successful?

Is it to be loved?

Is it to be fulfilled in some other way?

Whatever you want - what you desire and what you think will fulfill you - that is how you define “the good life.”

Where is righteousness on your list?

Is it even on your list?

What does righteous even mean?

Does it mean that you always do everything right?

Does it mean being part of the right group, the right religion or the right church?

Or does it mean being in right-standing or relationship with God?

If it is being in right-standing or right relationship with God, then what does God want?

If we begin to think about what God wants, and if we begin to desire the things that God wants, then not only does God get what He wants, but we are fulfilled as well.

Aligning ourselves for “the good life” is about learning to desire the right things.

Is begins with a desire for God, to know Him and what He wants with us.

And that leads us to discover what Jesus taught us about the Kingdom of God and living according to His principles.

And that should lead us to understanding ourselves, the way God made us and desiring the things that will ultimately give us lasting fulfillment.

Desiring God.

This week, Karie and I attended a celebration of 500 years of Anabaptist history, a conference hosted by Petra Church and organized by Alliance US, what used to be the Lancaster Conference of the Mennonite Church. It also included a number from the Amish Community, including some Amish Bishops. It was a unique gathering in that the spirit of the gathering was that of seeking God in prayer and in worship. It was a genuinely humble, worshipful gathering - like the original Anabaptists. Earnestly seeking God instead of political posturing.

Religion gravitates toward power and control-

Many of us grew up being afraid of God.

But very few of us grew up seeking God, actually wanting to know more about Him.

That is changing - God is raising up a people who earnestly seek Him.

Psalm 63:1–6 ESV

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

Can you relate to that?

Have you ever fallen asleep talking to God or thinking about God.

Have you ever prayed - “God, I need you!”

Maybe you have sat and waited to hear a word from God and nothing came.

Maybe you were expecting an answered prayer, but all you got was silence.

Maybe you were expecting a certain feeling or experience, but God was conspicuously absent.

I find that God rarely ever acts or speaks on my terms.

Desiring God begins with an understanding of who God is and who we are in light of who He is...

We were created for relationship with God.

First of all, He is the Creator and we are the created.

God made Adam and Eve and put them in a garden where God Himself walked among them.

We were created for that relationship - to know God and to walk with God.

Talking with God should be as natural as breathing.

God is not just our morning devotions - our morning devotions are just to get the conversation started.

God wants to be part of every moment of every day.

What you read in the morning should be food for meditation throughout the day.

Worship God in the shower.

Talk with God when you are driving in the car.

Pray throughout the day.

Ask God about your work - He knows more about your job than you do - after all, he created the world and everything in it.

When I graduated from Bible School in my early twenties, my fist job was working in a cabinet shop, assembling cabinets. So it is my first day on the job. I know that God has called me to work for Him, but this is what i could find that would pay the bills.

I am assembling cabinets, basically just wooden boxes held together by glue and dowels. I put glue in the holes. Push in the dowels and put the pieces together and clamp them until they dry. Each time I reach in the box, I pulled out the exact number of dowels for that piece. After a couple hours of putting my hand in a box of dowels and pulling our the exact number I needed, It got my attention.

“Is that you God? What are you ding here?”

You see, I thought God was only with me when I am doing “ministry.” I didn’t think that working in a cabinet shop was a job that He would care about or help me with. But it turns out that God knows carpentry - pretty well, in fact! He not only showed up on my first day of work, but He has given me lots of creative ideas over the years.

God goes with you through out your day.

Begin by cultivating an awareness of His presence.

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

If you are not hungry for God - you obviously don’t know what you are missing.

You were created for relationship with God.

You were designed to know God and to have fellowship with Him.

This idea that God is scary or so mysterious that we can never really know Him is contrary to nature.

Romans 1:19–20 CEV

19 They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. 20 God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That’s why those people don’t have any excuse.

You were created to know God and to want to know God… the longing that we feel is the evidence that we are looking for.

Only God can fill our emptiness.

There is a famous quote attribute to the French Mathematician and Philosopher Blaise Pascal - “There is a God-shaped vacuum in every man that con only be filled by God Himself” Well, Pascal apparently never said that, as the internet is very quick to point out when you try to look it up. But while that may not be the exact quote - what Pascal did say was essentially that and more...

What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?

This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself. [Pascal, Pensees #425]

There really is a longing in every person that only God can fill.

The prophet Isaiah also said something similar.

Isaiah 55:1–2 ESV

1 “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. 2 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.

If hunger for God does not already resonate with you, surely you know what hunger is?

Surely you have felt alone at times, even around people who seem to care.

Surely you have wondered about why we are here and what is the meaning and purpose of life?

Surely you have thought to yourself, there must be more to life than this....?

There is more - infinitely more - in it is found in God the infinite one.

The problem is that most of us have tried God, and thought meh!

But that is the problem - you can’t just try a little bit of God.

You can’t just “add a little Jesus to your life” like you add milk to coffee.

There is no “dabble” in religion.

If God is God, then I am not God.

I can’t just “try God” that would be coming to Him on my terms.

It’s all or nothing - either He its God or He is not.

You don’t come to God on your terms.

The good news is that God reaches out to us.

Jesu came and died, paying the penalty for sin and reconciling us to God, the Father.

Filling the void happens when we recognize and respond to what he has done for us.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God- that those who reject the selfish rebellion of the rest of the world and submit to God’s rule are part of the new humanity that he is restoring in the earth.

These are the people who recognize and worship God as King.

Desiring the Kingdom.

James K.A. Smith has a book by that name. In it he has an illustration that he calls, “martian anthropology.” Hypothetically, a martian comes from outer-space and is studying human culture and behavior. He sees them going to what appears to be a house of worship. There are colorful symbols which invite the worshipers into the experience. There is music and ambiance which set the tone for the experience. There are objects which they interact with. The objects seem to bring them joy. They take the objects to an altar where they observe a formal transaction which consummates the experience.

Do you think they are observing a church? Actually, they are in a shopping mall! Smiths point is that we worship what we love and our habitual behavior forms a sort of liturgy.

What or whom do you love?

If a martian were studying your behavior, what would they say that you worship? What or who do you love?

That’s right. Worship is not what we do on Sunday, it is what we do whenever we have the chance.

Smith says that if you want to know what a person loves, observe their habits.

What you love is what you do over and over again.

The things that people surround themselves with will tell you what they love.

If I came over to your house - of course you would have to invite me first - what would I see and what would it tell em about you?

What would I find that would tell me what you love.

I might find the Eagles logo everywhere - that would tell me you are an Eagles fan.

I might find floor to ceiling bookcases, that would tell me you are an avid reader who values knowledge.

Maybe you always have music playing or the TV is always on - that tells me something about what you love.

Try it today when you go home an walk in to your house.

Try looking at your living space like someone who doesn’t know you. - what would they conclude by seeing how you live?

Does anything about you or the way you live point to Jesus?

Why do I ask? Well because Jesus is the one that we say we worship?

Is He also the One that we love?

He is the only one who can forgive our sin.

He is the only one who transforms us by the power of the Holy Spirit to make us holy and restored to relationship with God.

He is the only one who can satisfy the longing of our hearts.

John 7:37 ESV

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

What a strange thing to say unless you really are the Son of God!?!

He doesn’t say, “I will give you a drink”

He says, “ I am like water - I can quench your thirst.”

John 4:13–14 ESV

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesu is not just like water, he is better than water - water is temporary, Jesus is eternal!

Jesus not only quenched the thirst that we have for God, He transforms us from consumers into multipliers.

That is, He not only gives us life, but He becomes in us a source of life.

What or whom is your source?

Food and drink are a basic necessity.

Without food, the average person will only live a few weeks.

Estimates are 8-21 days depending on how much stored energy (fat) your body has.

Without water, you can only live a few days.

Depending on how much your body is sweating, you may start to get headaches in less than a day and by the second or third day you would be hallucinating as toxins take over your body and effect your mind.

Hunger and thirst are real - these desires are not optional.

But when you eat and drink and take care of your body, then your body has energy, not just for your basic needs but to live, create, nurture and provide for others.

When you find a source for your own needs you can become a source to others.

The hungering and thirsting metaphor is not just about knowing where to get our own needs met but becoming part of the circle of life.

So we have moved from recognizing that there is in each of us a vacuum that only God can fill to filling that void to it no longer being void but a source of life.

It is about desiring the right things so we can pass on the right things.

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The context of this verse is about trusting God with the necessities of life, like food and drink.

Matthew 6:25 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

When we trust God as our source, it frees us to focus on becoming a source of life to others.

Our desire for God leads to an implicit trust in God.

Hungering and thirsting is not describing a perpetual unmet need.

It is describing an intentional desire that is trained to go to the source.

After all, jesus promises that if we desire righteousness, or if we desire what is right - we will be filled.

Finding fulfillment.

Have you ever had one of those dinners where you need to push back from the table just to give your belly a little more room

Or have you ever taken in a view, or heard a story or listened to a piece of music that just made your spirit soar with transcendent beauty.

Have you ever had a day that was one pleasant surprise after another - your heart is full - your cup overflows.

When is the last time you looked back on a days work and thought, “ I really made a difference.”

Fulfillment can take many different forms.

In the case of hungering and thirsting it means to literally be filled-full - like your digestive system can only hold so much.

But in the metaphorical usage it means to be fully engaged in the reason for your existence, to find your place in the plan and purpose of God.

When Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman, he literally forgot to eat and this is what he told his disciples...

Our food is to do God’s will.

John 4:34 ESV

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

The desire for fulfilment is God-given, but it is often misplaced.

We tend to only think as far as was would fulfill us - and usually only temporarily.

But God is thinking about “the good life” - making things the way they were originally intended to be.

And that is not just for me and you, but for the people around us as well.

The “good life” is never for any of us alone - it is meant to be shared.

And so also fulfillment is not just personal fulfillment, but knowing that we are being used of God for a greater purpose.

In the 19th century, a young man named William Carey felt a calling to missions. He left everything behind to travel to India. At first, he faced hardships and setbacks, questioning whether he was fulfilling God’s purpose. However, over the years, he translated the Bible into several languages and laid the foundation for modern missionary work. His journey shows that fulfillment isn’t about immediate satisfaction; instead, it’s about knowing we’re part of God’s greater plan, often unseen but profoundly impactful.

What makes a person give up the comforts of home and give their life in service to the Lord?

Obviously, he found a kind of satisfaction that is greater than our physical needs.

There is a whole other category of desires that most people never even consider.

The Psalmist knew what he was talking about.

Psalm 40:8 ESV

8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

Does that seem strange to you? Delighting to do God’s will, because His law is in your heart?

That is what happens when we, not only desire God, but when we experience that those desires are met.

Our desire is to participate in God’s purpose.

For first century Jews who would have been in Jesus’ audience when He gave the sermon on the mount, hungering and thirsting after righteousness would have resonated with their desire to see justice and a world made right.

If we want to see a world made right, then it follows that make ourselves available to God for this purpose.

Our hungering and thirsting is part of that process.

While the Jews of Jesus had this anticipation of God changing the world, I think Jesus words brought the realization that they also had a role to play in that process.

God wants to transform our desires, because those new desires will transform the world around us.

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV

22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Paul exhorts Timothy to change to focus of his desires toward what God is doing in him and in the world through him.

This is not just about you Timothy and what you want, tis is about “the good life” and helping to create the world that you want to live in.

I find that one of the best ways to shape our desires is through our prayers.

Every time we pray we are telling God what we want to see happen.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I hear myself pray, and I think about what I’m really asking for, it changes the way that I pray.

First of all, who am I to tell God what to do. I might to well to get His perspective first.

And secondly, what if God really gave me what I ask for?

Would that really be satisfying? Or am I only thinking temporary or thinking of myself?

Praying is an exercise in hungering and thirsting - specifically what are we desiring for and are those desires right?

May we be able to pray with the psalmist:

Psalm 20:4–5 NLT

4 May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. 5 May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

What is your desire today? How does knowing God factor into that desire? As we take the bread, what satisfies our hunger is made up of milk, eggs, flour all ingredients that come from a source. Everything you need or desire has a source. And every other source has its source in God. As we partake of the bread, remember that God is your source.

1 Corinthians 11:25–26 ESV

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

2. What or whom do you love? Where is Jesus on your list? Jesus loved you so much that He laid down His life for you. The cup that we receive reminds us of His blood shed for us. Beyond food and water, our most basic intangible need is the need to be loved. Jesus wants you to know that you are loved; and that He gives us the ability to love others. As we partake of the cup allow His love to fill you.