The Meek and Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Matthew 5:3-6 (NKJV) 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 filled.

· Vs 5 - Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

· These first two beatitudes play into the third one.

· Most of us…and that includes me…don’t like the term meek. It sounds like somebody who is just going to let everyone walk over them. You may feel like you’ve been walked over, but you sure don’t want to volunteer for that on a regular basis.

· But the word translated “meek” here means humble, considerate, under control. It does not mean door mat. It’s important to understand the difference because this word is about self-control and the ability to honestly have a true view of yourself.

· How does that relate to being blessed?

· Can we be honest? For most of the world, and for too many Christians, meek just doesn’t cut it. We want what we want and we’ll take it if we have to. By force, by coercion, by manipulation, by any number of ways in order to get what we desire. And we want most of the things we want because we think it’s now or never. Or….we don’t trust God to give it to us. And either way, we think we know better than God what’s good for us.

· But check out Psalm 37:1-11

· God promises in Psalm 37 to give his people what they truly need. And that it is the meek that will receive this, not those who are trying to make it happen on their own.

· How does this relate to the first two beatitudes? When we recognize that we are completely and totally in need of Jesus, that we cannot achieve what we think we want on our own, then we begin to have a different perspective of what is truly desirable because we have been humbled about our own needs.

· The desires of our heart won’t look like the world. The desires of our heart will look like something that pleases God, because we’ve been changed. And we no longer have to push for something to attain to in this world, because there is another world, a longer world that awaits us. And it’s a world where Jesus is in charge.

· And suddenly in light of all this, verse 6 makes even more sense.

· Vs 6 - Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

· When we live according to the first three BE(Attitudes), spiritual hunger becomes a prevailing character trait. Christians are not supposed to be like the unsaved world, caught up in the pursuit of material possessions. We are to be motivated toward the things of God.

· Some of you may be thinking….well I have tried that…but I still come up a little short

· Here’s one thing we need to keep in mind though. Have you ever been hungry and thirsty? Ever eaten or had something to drink because of it? Were you filled? Did you stay filled? NO??? Didn’t think so.

· We will never be fully satisfied here in this life. We will hunger, and hunger some more. We will thirst, and thirst some more. But in the kingdom that is to come, both our hunger and our thirst will be fulfilled in ways that we cannot even fully imagine.

· But for now, there SHOULD be a recurring hunger and thirst that continues to drive us toward the things of God and toward his Word. If not, we need to check ourselves against the first three BE(Attitudes)….because these are all linked together

o Are we poor enough in spirit to recognize our need for Jesus?

o Are we contrite and mournful of our sinful state?

o Are we meek, or humble enough, to see that what God has for us is better than what we want for ourselves?

· If so, then that hunger and thirst for the things of God will be a regular and recurring urge. If not, then it will fade away and be replaced by a hunger and thirst for the things of the world. But we will NEVER be filled or satisfied by those things. And even worse, we will not be blessed.

· When we come to Christ in salvation and are born again into the body of Christ, we are provided with all of the components necessary to grow in a healthy way. But we have a choice. We must choose to feed those virtues and develop these godly habits.

· This is the essence of the difference between a hypocrite and someone truly walking with Jesus. A hypocrite wants to portray themselves as possessing these virtues and habits, which are really fruits of the Spirit,(Gal 5:23) but wind up showing that they don’t because you cannot live these out on a daily basis with cultivating them on a daily basis.

· So I challenge each of us this morning to start the hard work or CHOOSING the ways of Jesus over the ways of the world. I challenge each of us to CONTINUE choosing the ways of Jesus over the ways of the world.

· And for some, I challenge you to accept the offer of salvation and BEGIN by choosing the things of Jesus.