Living in the Kingdom (part 6)
Living in the Kingdom (part 6)
It’s all about Desire
Matthew 5:6 (NKJV)
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Notice the words, hunger and thirst for! This is an intense longing, as someone who is really hungry and thirsty, a deep desire.
Because majority of people in America don’t really know real hunger, or real thirst, we don’t really understand this level of intense longing.
Matt. 5:6 (Amplified)
Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right-standing with God), for they shall be completely satisfied!
Matthew 6:28-34 (NKJV)
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:28-34 (The Message)
28 All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, 29 but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. 30 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? 31 What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. 32 People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
What is this (uprightness and right-standing [this righteousness]) we seek? We’re told that Christ has made us righteous. If He has made us righteous then why is it something we must be hungry & thirsty after?
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Though we have been made righteous, we must hunger & thirst after that righteousness in order to live and walk in it.
I was born in a family of natural musicians, that didn’t mean that I would automatically become a musician. I had to work and strive (desire) to be a musician in order to develop my talent.
This seems to be a mind set of our time and generation, that just because we our born into a certain social status then everything happens automatically. This is such a lie that so many choose to believe. What happens in our lives only comes by our hunger & thirst of it.
If our hunger & thirst are after the wrong things then we will be filled with the wrong things.
“Results are always the product of desire, not just the desire dreamed about but the desire sought after.”—Terry Palmer
Though our righteousness is an inheritance, a free gift, it doesn’t mean I’m walking in it or living it out in my daily experience.
In Bill Bright’s & John N. Damoose’s Book “Red Sky in the Morning” they make a statement about the condition of the “American Church” in it they list 7 things that are wrong with the church as a whole:
1. We are not really committed to Christ personally.
2. We do not respect God.
3. We have changed or ignored biblical truth.
4. We have misrepresented the Christian life.
5. We are not consistent in our walk with God.
6. We do not stand up for our faith.
7. We are not willing to suffer.
The bottom line here is that we no longer “hunger and thirst” after righteousness!
A few years ago a polling organization issued a report that there were 60 million “born-again” Christians in America. A writer for the Wall Street Journal had an issue with the findings in an article where he wrote the following:
“If this is true, why is America ravaged by crime, violence and an epidemic of just about every problem known to man? Are not people of faith supposed to make a difference in society? If it is true that so many Americans are believers of Jesus Christ, then why are we in this pitiful condition? Where is the godly influence of all those people on our morally bankrupt society? Where is their understanding of God’s holiness and His command that we be holy too? Has our “salt” lost its effectiveness? Has our “light” gone out in this dark world?
We have a lot of people who confess Christ with their mouths but they don’t follow Him!!
1 John 2:3-6 (NKJV)
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
In the Living Bible vs 6 says, anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did.
“Many who claim to be Christians give NO EVIDENCE of the presence of Christ in their lives.”—Bill Bright
It seems as believers we have become experts at keeping our “spiritual lives” separate from our secular lives.
We have been called to be the “salt” and “light” to the world; we are believers in the world, not of the world.
Because of the lack of hungering and thirsting after righteousness our walk with God is not consistent.
True hungering and thirsting after righteousness will cost us something!
Are we willing to suffer for the truth if it would cost us our savings, pension or our home?
In order to thirst for righteousness, I need to:
1. Desire to be righteous personally
2. Desire to do right consistently
3. Desire to see right done corporately
THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS TO SEE GOD’S STANDARD ESTABLISHED AND OBEYED IN EVERY AREA OF LIFE!
The results of the hunger & thirst for righteous is that we will be filled, filled with what, with “righteousness”!
To be filled here means to be as a fattened calf. Natural filling produces natural growth, spiritual filling produces spiritual growth.
As believers we must be willing to give greater attention to our responsibilities instead of our rights, and seek the satisfaction that comes from being right with God in every area of our life!