Hungry and thirsty

Hungry and Thirsty

Matthew 5:1-11

January 18, 2026

I told you all that I fought forest fires to pay for college. I remember being flown into the back country in a helicopter to a fire and we were stuck there for 3 days. The only food we got was what we took in. It consisted of jerky, trail mix and maybe some freeze dried items. The guy who brought the one can of cold Hormel chili in his pack made serous money. He sold that can for like $50 on day 2 to the highest bidder but that was the only real food that was brought.

By day 3, none of our crew liked each other and bets were being made on who we would eat first in the event that the helicopter never came back. I was starting to understand how the Donner party ended up.

We were all extremely tired and truly hungry. You can’t work that hard, sleep in the dirt, freeze at night and not eat real food without losing your mind a bit. On day three the helicopter ride out was very quiet. We only wanted one thing, a hot meal.

When the helicopter landed, the crew piled into the truck and went to the burger hut. I learned that day that a warm real meal changes everything. We went from hating each other before we ate, to friends again by the time the first 3 bites went down. We went from sharp mean comments to laughing and joking.

Us Americans struggle with understanding true hunger. Today’s passage speaks of a hunger that many of us don’t’ fully get. We say that we hunger for the things of God, we may even miss them when we are away from the things and people of God. But, are we desperate for GOD?

Followers of Christ must understand what it is to be hungry for Him and why. Our very survival depends on it. When we don’t see how desperate we are, then we try to rely on ourselves and that is a damming outcome.

READ TEXT Matthew 5:1-11

We need to do some context review. Please remember that Matthew (our author) is a Jewish man, who offers the best account of a complete discourse/sermon that is called the sermon on the mount. He records Jesus teaching a specific audience, His disciples. These are sold out and committed to wanting to know who Jesus was. The disciples (not the 12 apostles) were learners/followers. They were the called-out ones that Jesus was speaking to.

Now, there were others in the crowd for sure. But look back to the introduction. “and when he sat down, His disciples came to Him.” It is key to understanding the beatitudes. Jesus opens with the qualifier. “blessed are the poor in spirit.” You have to know that this means “blessed are those who know just how bad their sin is. This is why we know He is talking to disciples, those who know they need salvation.

Then, next, “blessed are those who mourn” over their condition, followed by “blessed are the meek.” The disciple knows they have no reason to make any demands due to their sin condition. You can’t get to today’s be attitude unless you understand the first three. If you need to, go back and re listen to last week’s message. If you don’t’ get last week, this week will be a tripping point.

That said, I want you all to know that these beatitudes are not characteristics of some people in the kingdom of God. They are not reserved for the “A” team. These are characteristics of ALL the people of God’s kingdom NOW! They are not for some futuristic kingdom to come. These are seen now.

Each beatitude are interconnected and dependent on the first, then the second, then the third and now the fourth. These characteristics are also not how we are to self-describe ourselves. Rather this is how GOD describes His people. No, It is God who labels you this way and others see it. These are not suggestions for the Kingdom of God, they are requirements. He is the King, we are living in HIS kingdom.

1.             Blessed are those who hunger and thirst.

BLESSED: makarios(fortunate) or truly happy to have. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst seems crazy. If you have ever truly hungered, you would say, yea let’s not ever revisit that. But Jesus is saying, fortunate are those who are truly hungry and thirsty.

That word “hunger” is (peinaō: desire strongly the hunger pains of a desperate man. If we call ourselves Christ followers and actually fast (because we are called to fast) we deprive ourselves of something we love, we will know what being hungry is.

But, Americans have little ability to really understand desperate hunger, even when we fast. We know that the fridge is only 20 paces away, Jimmy John’s is freaky fast, a heavy Latte will tide us over, and that old bag of trail mix under our seat in the truck is only a reach away. We are rarely “peinao”. Desperate is not how I would call us Americans.

Access to food seems to eliminate that word “desperate.” Desperation or true hunger implies that your access is limited. Jesus is metaphorically trying to get our minds to see the desperation and need for an answer to a physical, emotional and spiritual need.

It is said that the human body can survive without food for a couple months. But all that depends on how big you are (fat), how hard you are working, how much water you have to consume and other factors.

Now, if you don’t have food OR water, you are in a bad position. The human body can only go for about three to four days. When the body is robbed of both, it goes into protection mode. It consumes fat first, then moves to the muscles and by day 3 and 4 it starts to consume the water in the vital organs. He is showing each of us the urgency and importance of the key word, “righteousness”. As He is speaking, He is creating a hunger and thirst.

Remember, He started with destitution of the poor of spirit. This is who we are! We are poor (destitute and starving). God has given you the ability to see your need for what He has. You see your need and position and mourn over it. But, you can’t possibly get it on your own. You can’t fix your issue of sin, shame and so you mourn.

As we age in Christ, our desperation grows deeper. Before my grandma passed at 101, I remember her say at age 90 that she was so sad. I asked her why and she said that she could not understand why God would take her eyes. She would want to lose everything else but those. When I asked her to explain, she said that all she wanted to do was read her Savior’s words. She was desperate to read those sacred words as if she was starving for them. She longed, ached and wanted then the more than the food she ate. Do you?

That hunger has a purpose. That purpose is a right position. It’s called righteousness.

2.             Hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Now that we know that we are destitute or poor in sin, we mourn over our sin, and are meek and lowly, and now because of this, we hunger for the defining attribute of the child of God (righteousness).

We all should, if we now understand the first three be attitudes, should be totally desperate for what is “right”. It is a human need, to demand “right”. Most people when it comes to heaven or hell, will depend on their concept of what is “right” or “wrong”. The non-Christian will default to their concept of right or fair in their minds only to learn how wrong their “right” is.

They may make the fatal mistake of thinking that their “good works” are their own. In fact, any good work they do is God’s common grace. He allows them to perform outward acts of goodness as a testament to His grace.

Then they believe that they have no need for God and despise Him. In the end, they will be stripped of this common grace and be left with their own righteousness that is not good enough. No attempt at self-goodness will ever measure up. Allow me to give you a tangible picture of this.

Church, look at this country: One side says that the actions of ICE was right in defending that agent who was being run over by a vehicle. The other side thinks it was an act of war that the agent would shoot the driver. The concept of “right” is being demanded by both sides. Even if one side got 100% of what they wanted or deemed to be right, would it satisfy them? NO! Because what our concept of right is never satisfied.

When we read this text, we all say amen, yes LORD preach it! We all say, yea, we want righteousness. But who defines what right is? The problem is that if it is left up to us, we would not use the words “poor in spirit,” “mournful” and “meek” to start. We would attempt to add our spin on what “right” is. That is why the disciple of Christ is so BLESSED because they allow the KING of KINGS, to define what “righteousness” is.

Vs 6 “for they shall be satisfied.”

That word satisfied (hor taz o)- means to eat one’s fill, to be content. Allow me to ask a troubling question for any of us. When is the last time you have been 100% content? When we peruse the things of the world that we think are righteous, we will not be satisfied. When we pursue the things of God, the bring contentment.

In short, it is a war over ideologies. You either have a Biblical view, or you have a world view. You are either from your Father in Heaven or you do the will of Satan, the father of lies. What you think is “righteous” will prove what father you follow.

Our Lord gives us the perfect analogy for what He expects. Turn to Matthew 22:11. (summarize 1-10)

11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen[1]

This parable speaks of salvation. But it also speaks of a unique and specific righteousness that only comes from HIM.

All without exception were invited to the banquet, so this man is not viewed as a party-crasher. In fact, no one else would have had wedding cloths as they were rounded up from the streets. So, the wedding cloths are provided by the King. So this guy purposely rejected the King’s gift of cloths. Because he did this IN the face of the KING, his sin is even greater than those who never came to the wedding.

Here is the application. This guy is the one who comes to church every Sunday, loves being around the people of God, and would even profess that they are on team Jesus. All the while they are relying on their own version of “righteousness” while in their heart rejecting His.

That deserves the response from the KING. God Himself, by means of His Son is offering you and I true Righteousness through His Son. To say that we reject it and want our own is the greatest insult to the KING. Because, His righteousness is not owed anyone, it is given through the blood of the SON. Any attempt to redefine or rely on your own is the greatest insult you can imagine.

So, how do I get HIS righteousness? That word dikaiosynē (dee kay O seene) is more than following His perfect and righteous law. It is a hunger, thirst and pursuit of a poor in spirit, mournful, meek and desperate soul in pursuit of Godly righteousness IN Christ!

For the true disciple they want more of the right standard of who He is. In every aspect of life. For the kids, it means actually minding mom and dad. For the teen, it actually means that you believe and ACT the principles you are learning. For the mom and dad, it means living in a way that your spouse, kids and coworkers see Christ in you daily. For grandpa and grandma, you are actively oozing God’s precepts in every interaction you have.

3.             Are you fortunate? (BLESSED)

For the true disciple they want to be clothed by Him in HIS righteousness. We are either waring HIS righteousness or not. Oh, you can fake it for a while. But, sooner or later, the KING OF KINGS will come and say, where is the cloths I have provided you? My question is this, are you fortunate to have this level of hunger and thirst for HIS righteousness that He gives?

Please allow me to make this even more real. What would happen if all of the sudden I stopped eating and drinking. I had no desire to eat or drink and avoided it at all cost? Hopefully Heidi and my boys would force me to go to the hospital.

This is an urgent problem! The problem is that spiritually speaking, many, (even in this room) are starving to death and they don’t even care. They are dyeing one day at a time due to their rejection of His righteousness. They can’t see that their Spirit is in need of immediate life support!

You may ask, how in the world can they get to this position of not knowing how starving they are?

a.      Giving in to pride and bitterness: “If God demands HIS righteousness only, then He is no God of mine.” Hear me please on this. You denying Him does not make Him less God. He is still who He says He is. But in His love, He is offering your answer! It’s found IN His righteousness (Jesus).

b.      Giving into the flesh: The flesh, (your and I’s desire in our wicked hearts) will distract and consume our minds. It lies to us and tells us we don’t’ need God’s gift of righteousness. Do not give in to this!

c.      Giving in to laziness: Where is our desperation for GOD’s truth? When we don’t read His Word, we will not know that we are starving and thirsty. We are barely on life support.

The problem is that if you are in any one of these three positions (pride, flesh and laziness) then you are nothing but skin and bones! Your doctor is standing over you saying, YOU MUST EAT!!!

Ladies and gentleman, you need to move past mental assent. Many in this room know this to be true and yet, it only stays in your minds. You don’t even know how desperate you are! LORD DON’T LET THESE PEOPLE JUST AGREE WITH ME! MAKE THEM DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!

If you don’t have a hunger or thirst for HIS righteousness, be honest enough to admit it! Cry out to the LORD and ask for it! If you have never had it, repent and ask. If you had it and walked away from it, come back to it. He never plays hide and go seek with it.

This understanding of your need is called sanctification. Sanctification is the power of sin being removed from our daily lives. We have all that we need to accomplish this by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. The sermon on the mount is the result of the power of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the true follower of Christ. The movement from sin to righteousness.

If you are in CHRIST’s righteousness, you will look different. Here are some tangible questions to ask yourself if you think you are hungering and thirsting for His righteousness.

a.             Are you growing in God’s righteousness?

b.             Can you tell of His requirement of His righteousness to others?

c.              Do you hunger for God’s righteousness in ALL aspects of your life?

CONCLUSION:

I want to conclude with a bit of a history lesson that I think will help us get this. There is a widely referenced Roman punishment where Roman officials would take a convicted murder and shackle them limb-to-limb with the person they killed. The murderer was then forced to remain in this position, bearing the weight and stench of the decomposing body until the spread of disease and decay led to their own death.

This practice was called poena cullei: (penalty of the sack). It was thought to be what Paul was referring to when in Romans says that we must put off the old man, the dead man. Or put to death the “old man of sin.”

When we think that our idea of righteousness will work, it’s like we are carrying this old dead body around thinking that it will measure up to God’s standard. All the while that old dead self is killing us one day at a time. Let us be hungry and thirsty for HIS righteousness! May we seek it as it is freedom from our death, because it is that, freedom from our old dead and unrighteous self!