The Beatitudes; Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Introduction

Recap Series

Poor in Spirit

We are beggarly poor in our spirit. That God has nothing to gain in a relationship with us

Kind of like when your kids buy you a mothers day or fathers day gift and use your money to do it, you gained nothing

Mourning

Not only for worldly losses, but because our sin put Christ on the cross

Meek

in humble strength… we serve and follow the Lord

Today Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Key words

Blessed - happy or fortunate

Hunger - strong desire

not simply late for lunch

not even one who skipped a meal

Thirst - like hunger, strong desire for…

both of these words are beggarly hungry and thirsty

it is the feeling that if you do not actually get food or water you will die

Righteousness -

to be justified or in right standing with God

just if I had died

Filled

Satisfied or filled to overflowing

PRAY

A Whole Hearted Search

Have you watched your children look for something… especially something that you want them to look for

Just yesterday I was looking for something…

listening to heather attempting to get Jimmy to find something is funny, but if you tell him that there is a snikerdoodle cookie in the kitchen he can sniff it out like a blood hound

Hunger for self righteousness

We chase after self righteousness all the time, in fact it is our go to move…

it feels right, to justify ourselves

we can walk in the grace of the Lord and still fall back into it without even realizing it

desire to work our way to God… provide our own way

our desire to do this is not simply to get to God, but to say I got to God!

we then boast on what we have done to get to God,

we look like the pharisees that we read about in scripture and less like Christ

A hungry person can think of nothing other than when they will eat

attempting to give food to a person holding a sign that said will work for food.

they declined… they weren’t that hungry

Are we any different when we read God’s word, and get nothing out of it… are we hungry

What do our actions say that we are hungry for

what is it that we are chasing…

Matthew 6, Jesus tells his followers not to worry about what we are going to eat, what we will wear, where we will live…

he tells us even the gentiles (lost) worry about these things...

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

A Whole Hearted Change

Taste and see that the Lord is good

when you see the Lord is good you want more than just right standing with God

my sins are forgiven… that is all I care about

You can speak to other believers, more mature and they can tell you of the difference in their walk when they where only concerned about forgiveness of sins and then allowed God to truly take over

We need the legal righteousness with God

you cannot obtain that any other way but through the blood of Jesus Christ

He lived the perfect life that we are called to live

He died the sinners death and took the full wrath of God that should have been ours to take

so that the penalty for our sin was paid for

the debt has been paid, we are free to enter into the presence of God

Romans 3:23-25 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as an atoning sacrifice (propitiation), in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

Atonement - propitiation - means that our account has been reconciled, the payment has been made.

you want a whole life change

this is not something that the church or other believers can do for you

you have to pray for God to reveal what it is in your life that needs to change, you have to have the hunger for it

Mothers try to teach us all this lesson… it is not always the task that they want you to do, they want you to want to do it as well

they do not want to make you clean your room, take out the trash, whatever chores that you have…

they want you to want to do those things to serve the family

I as your pastor or the church cannot want spiritual change in your life more than you do… it will not work that way

the church can encourage you, fellow believers can come along beside you

but allowing God to change every part of your life is something you have to do

Not just a legal standing with God…

moral righteousness

meaning that you desire a character that pleases God

your character is your distinct nature

something about the way that you behave that would not surprise anyone…

why is it funny when I tell people how frustrated I can get at Walmart…

it seems out of character for a Pastor

when you get to know me, it doesn’t seem so out of character

So a moral righteousness is living in a way that out of character to not please God

but there is also a social righteousness

the desire to see God’s love all throughout society

now I believe that we have misunderstood what that means…

it is not voting in the right people to legislate a social agenda… I am not against voting in people that agree with scripture on social issues…

but that is not what it means to seek social righteousness, to often we sound like a gong or clanging cymbal that 1 Corinthians 13 talks about

A social righteousness means that we desire for nobody to be oppressed,

it means that we do not run to a political corner when we hear have an unarmed black man being shot in the streets.

We simply weep for those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice and desire to see all people come to know Jesus as Lord as savior through our love for him and them

A Whole Heart

Jesus with the woman at the well

tell the story of the woman at the well found in John 4

they went through Samaria… Jews did not like the Samaritans because they were people who married outside of the jewish people while the jews were exiled from their land

not only did jews not talk to Samaritans, but men did not talk to women…

here they were at a well at noon, not a time when people got water, and Jesus speaks to her

John 4:10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.”

John 4:13-14 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well, of water springing up in him for eternal life.”

John 4:32 But he said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

What does a whole heart look like…

the woman who came at an odd time to avoid people went to tell all about a man who knew everything about her to people she was trying to avoid

a full heart cannot help but tell people what it is that Jesus has done for them…

look at Peter and John in Acts… silver or gold I have do not have, but what I have I will give you… in the name of Jesus get up and walk.

too many people act like once they have their heart filled with Christ, that he wont be doing it again… but it is continual not just one time

oh, I remember when Jesus filled my heart, satisfied me… I wish I could feel that again.

You can, how many times have you had thanksgiving dinner…

only to say at the end of it… I am full. “I DON’T CARE IF I EVER EAT AGAIN!” only to be at the refrigerator in a few hours for more pie more turkey whatever it is for you.

Jesus does not fill you once and keep going…

every time that you go to the word of God, he will give you more and more…

but you have to be hungry…