Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness
The Righteousness of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Todays’ Reading from God’s Word
Todays’ Reading from God’s Word
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe
and has gathered them from the lands— from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
Some wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live.
They were hungry and thirsty; their spirits failed within them.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; he rescued them from their distress.
He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.
For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.
Introduction
Introduction
In August 2010, 33 miners in Chile went to work one morning, not knowing they would spend the next 69 days trapped underground.
A cave-in sealed them more than 2000 feet beneath the surface, in suffocating darkness, with limited air and no way of escape.
For the first 17 days, before rescuers even made contact, they survived on two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, and a bite of cracker every other day.
Can you imagine?
Grown men rationing two bites of food in 48 hours?
One survivor later said:
The worst part wasn’t the darkness.
It wasn’t even the heat.
It was the hunger.
The hunger was unbearable.
Another spoke of the thirst — how dry their throats became, how every thought centered on just one thing: food and water.
When contact was finally made and rescuers sent down a upply line, the first packages that reached them weren’t medical kits or radios - they were food and drink.
Because when your body is starving, nothing else matters.
You don’t think about entertainment, money, or comfort. All you can think about is survival.
Finally, on October 13, 2010, the first miner was brought to the surface, and within 24 hours, all 33 were safely rescued in what became one of the most dramatic rescues in modern history.
You know, their story of desperation and fighting for survival, casts the perfect imagery for what Jesus is getting across in Matthew 5:6.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Just as those miners longed for food and water to keep them alive,
our souls should long for the righteousness of God— because without it, we will not survive.
During August we have been walking through what it means to share and live in the righteousness of God.
We began the month in Romans 1 where Paul reminds us that the gospel is God’s power to s ave because in it the righteousness of God is revealed - not a righteousness of our own - but one we receive by faith.
Last week, in 2 Corinthians 5, we learned that this righteousness doesn’t leave us unchanged.
In Christ, we are made new, reconciled, and given a ministry of reconciliation.
God’s righteousness transforms us.
Today, Jesus will bring that truth down into the very core of our desires.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Note how righteousness is not an accessory to life or something we just pick up when it’s convenient.
He pictures it as food and drink — the essentials that our souls cannot live without.
Just as our stomachs let us know when they’re empty, our hearts should ache for the goodness and holiness of God.
And this longing carries a promise — those who truly hunger and thrist will be filled.
For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.
God never leaves the seeking soul empty.
His righteousness satisfies now with forgiveness, transformation, and purpose — and it will satisfy fully when we are clothed in his righteousness at the marriage supper of the lamb.
That’s where this month is leading us.
Today, we’ll focus on the craving — hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
Next week, we concisder how righteousness gives us endurance when life tests us.
And at the end of August, we’ll life our eyes to eternity, when the faithful will be fully clothed in rightouesness and welcomed into the great celebration of Christ’s return.
So, this morning, let’s ask: What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness? And how can that longing reshape our lives today?
You know that desperate hunger the miners felt illustrates exactly what Jesus is getting at in Matthew 5:6.
When your body is starving, nothing else matters.
And when your soul is starving, nothing else will satisfy but God himself.
Let’s begin by looking at the craving of the soul.
The Craving of the Soul (5:6a)
The Craving of the Soul (5:6a)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Jesus begins with the language of hunger and thirst - two of the most basic - primal human experiences.
No matter how strong or wealthy a person may be, they cannot survive without food and water.
Hunger gnaws at you. Thirst consumes you.
They don’t politely wait their turn — they demand to be satisfied.
This picture is what Jesus uses for our spiritual condition.
Just as the body cries out for nourishment, the soul cries out for God.
Whether you recognize it or not, your soul has a God-shaped emptiness that nothing else can fill.
Augustine famously prayed: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
David proclaimed:
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.
I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?
Everyone’s soul craves something.
Many people try to feed that hunger the wrong diet.
Some chase after success or possessions, thinking success will satisfy.
Others look for fulfillment in relationships, pleasure, or recognition.
None of these can nourish the soul.
It’s like drinking saltwater — only leaving you thirstier than before.
Why do you spend silver on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.
What Jesus teaches here is that the blessed life — the life God desires for us all — belongs to those who crave the right thing:
not wealth
Not comfort
Not self-righteousness
But the rightouesness of God.
They don’t dabble in it — they hunger for it.
They don’t take a sip - they thirst for it.
They know that apart from God’s righteousness, their souls will wither and die.
Our longing for God’s righteousness
Sould be the first desire of our day
the focus of our prayer
and the heartbeat of our decisions.
So we all need to be asking ourselves this morning: What am I really hungry for? What am I truly thirsting after?
Because whatever we crave most will shape our lives.
But Jesus doesn’t just speak about craving in general—He directs that craving to something specific.
Everyone is hungry for something, but not every appetite leads to life. Some pursue success, some pursue pleasure, others pursue recognition.
Jesus says the blessed life belongs to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. So what exactly is that?
The Object of Our Hunger: Righteousness (5:6b)
The Object of Our Hunger: Righteousness (5:6b)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, ….
What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness?
This is not reformed moral behavior or being a “good person.”
It is “living in right relationship with God and reflecting His character.”
It is both a status and a practice.
You have been made right with God by His mercy.
You have committed to living rightly in response to His will.
I want you to notice how, in God’s word, righteousness is tied to God himself.
For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds. The upright will see his face.
To crave righteousness is to crave God, to long for His presence, His holiness, and approval above all else.
During the days of Jesus, the Jews confused righteousness with external rule-keeping.
The Pharisees measured righteousness precisely by how one followed traditions.
The equated righteousness with strict rule-keeping.
You had to wash your hands at the right time; avoid certain foods
Measure what you gave back to God down to the smallest herb
Keep all the traditions with precision.
Jesus exposed this as empty.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Their obsession with the external blinded them to their need of inner transformation.
What the jews faced in the first century, we face today.
Some believe righteousness is not a status we enjoy, but something we attain by faithfully doing what God commands.
So, righteousness comes down to whether or not one’s doctrine is precise enough and that his or her practices line up exactly with their interpretation.
It actually becomes modern-day pharisaicalism — an attitude that says, “Get everything right and you’ll be righteous; If you don’t, you’re soul is lost.”
Jesus didn’t bless those who hungered for their own self-made righteousness.
Paul makes this crystal clear in Philippians 3:9 where he says he wanted to be:
found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.
Righteousness is not earned — it is received.
And then it is lived out in obedience, not to prove ourselves, but to reflect the one who saved us.
When we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we are not longing for a status we achieve, but for a relationship we enter.
It is not about precise performance, but about a heart remade by grace.
And it is that hunger that will not only drive us closer to God, it will also guard us against the spirit of legalism that creeps in when we start comparing ourselves to others instead of craving the righteousness of God.
Think of someone who obsessions over nutrition labels, but never actually eats.
They can tell you every detail about what food contains, but their body is wasting away because they haven’t actually taken it in.
That is what it is like to obsess over outward correctness without hungering for the righteousness of God.
True blessing comes not from taking pride in what we have achieved, learned, or profess, but from feeding daily on the righteousness that only God supplies.
So, are we truly craving God’s righteousness — or have we settled for the shallow substitute of rule-keeping and looking at how we stack up against others?
So the promise is clear: if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be filled.
But that leads us to a question we can’t avoid—what are we hungry for?
This is where we have to test our appetite. Because our cravings reveal the true direction of our hearts
The Promise of Satisfaction (v. 6c)
The Promise of Satisfaction (v. 6c)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Every hunger drives us somewhere.
It drives me to the pantry where I scrounge around for something I want, or it drives me to the table where a meal has been prepared.
When we are spiritually hungry, we will run either to the world’s counterfeits or to God’s promises.
Jesus assures us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will never be left empty.
They will be filled.
This is the good news of the gospel.
God doesn’t just awaken our hunger, He satisfies it.
For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.
God never teases with righteousness, dangling it out of reach.
He pours it out in abundance through Christ.
There is a present satisfaction.
Right now, you have found forgiveness, peace with God, and a new identity.
Jesus said:
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
Your deepest needs are met in Him.
There is also a future satisfaction.
The promise looks forward to a day when we will see him face to face, when sin and struggle will be gone, and we will be clothed fully in His righteousness.
They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any scorching heat.
For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
The hunger we feel now, will one day be completely and eternally satisfied.
Think of a great feast.
Around the table, every plate is full, every glass is filled, and no one leaves hungry.
This is the picture revealed in Scripture about God’s kingdom.
The marriage supper of the Lamb will be the ultimate fulfillment of this beatitude - every longing finally met, every thirst eternally quenched.
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will not be disappointed.
The world’s pursuits will always leave us empty, but God promises fullness — fullness in Christ today — and fullness in glory tomorrow.
Test Your Appetite
Test Your Appetite
What are you hungry for?
If your appetite is for success, recognition, comfort, or control, those pursuits will goverrn your choices - and ultimately leave you empty.
But if your hunger is for righteousness, God promises fullness.
So, Matthew 5:6 forces us to examine the direction of our desires.
Do we hunger for the applause of people or the approval of God?
Do we thrist for temporary satisfaction or for the eternal kingdom?
Jesus says blessing belongs not to the self-satisfied, but to those who know they are starving without him.
So how do we do this?
We have to feed our appetite daily in God’s word. Just as our bodies require food, our souls require scripture.
Pray not just for your needs, but for a deeper longing for God’s holiness in your life. Ask Him to stir your hunger.
Choose companions and influences that feed your righteousness, not your flesh. We become what we consume.
Don’t settle for a nibble of righteousness on Sunday, make it the steady diet of your life.
The more you consume of Him, the more your appetite grows.
Which table are you eating from? and what does your appetite reveal about your heart?
As We Close
As We Close
It all comes back to this simple, but profound truth:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.
The Lord is ready to satisfy.
He offers forgiveness, transformation, and eternal life through His Son.
Don’t starve your soul.
Come to the table of grace and be filled.
