Building Blocks For Kingdom Living Part 2. Series

NOTE: Study materials used for this message were taken from the following: "The Message of the Sermon on the Mount" Stott; "The Complete Biblical Study Library" Matthew. Since Michael King’s message "Assurance of Salvation" which I used for reference on part 1 only named the first 3 attitudes, the remainder I tried to create in order to build from one beatitude to the next. I also have power points for all the messages in this series, if you would like to use them, feel free to email me pastordeb@firstassemblyonline.net. The video used at the end of this message can be found on sermonspice.com "How Often Must I Forgive?"

BEATITUDES - PART II

TEXT: Matthew 5:6-7

INTRODUCTION

1. The “Be” Attitudes are the constitution for the believer.

2. Each “Be” Attitude works as a building block one upon the other and are not to be treated as separate blessings but the requirements for Kingdom living are that every believer should pursue each in his/her life.

TRANSITION: The next attitude Jesus exhorts us to have is the ATTITUDE OF YEARNING

I. ATTITUDE OF YEARNING

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.”

1. The desire for food and water are the strongest appetites we have as human beings.

2. Why is it so difficult for so many Americans to loose weight? Because that desire for food is powerful, and difficult to fight with.

3. Hunger is powerful. It controls us, it so often determines our directions.

4. I think it’s interesting that Jesus used the metaphor of hungering and thirsting, because:

They extremely powerful and essential desires for our survival as humans. Eating is fun! It’s pleasurable! We enjoy it(some of us enjoy it a LOT)!

5. Let’s take a closer look at this Scripture to discern what exactly Jesus was telling His disciples when He said:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…“

6. The word He uses for:

hunger is “peinao” (pee-nah’-oh), and it means to ardently crave food.

He uses an equally strong word to describe thirsting: “dipsao” (dip-sah’-oh), which means to painfully feel the need for water.

7. In that region, few were prosperous, and more than likely, at one time or another, those listeners that day had experienced the kind of hunger he’s talking about here.

8. It’s a desperate kind of hunger.

9. When I have gone a long time without eating, I never dream about eating liver & onions, licorice, brussel sprouts; mainly because I hate that stuff!

10. Now, if I’m really hungry and that stuff were put before me, I’d eat it right up. But in terms of how my craving is being expressed, when I’m hungry and I think of food, I think of the food I love.

11. And yet, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come to this passage and walked away with an uneasy, sickly, sense of condemnation, because so often it’s been presented like this:

“If you’re hungering and thirsting for righteousness, you are going to be: memorizing Bible verses praying at least an hour a day reading and studying your Bible

Being here every time the doors of the church are opened!

12. So, because we are supposed to be hungry for righteousness (if we’re good Christians) we are suddenly confronted with a plethora of obligations that we aren’t getting accomplished. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness becomes another way of expressing DUTY.

13. I have to tell you, this is totally contradictory to the imagery that Jesus is using here.

14. No one who’s normal, when he’s hungry, starts thinking about his obligation to eat.

15. No one thinks:

“Man, I’m hungry, it’s really my duty to eat some food so that my body has fuel”

“I’m so hungry, and I know I’m obligated to eat, so I guess I better get to it...sigh”.

16. No way, when I’m hungry, I’m going over in my mind all the stuff I really like to eat

ILLUSTRATION:

Staff & food discussions. Our staff loves to talk about food. If we are together for any length of time, our discussion will invariably become centered around what we are cooking for dinner, recently tried recipes, etc.

17. I’m getting excited because not only is my hunger a driving desire, the satisfaction of that hunger represents something pleasurable to me, not an obligation!

18. Do we really think that Jesus, in this Sermon on the Mount, has gone from telling us of our broken state; revealing that we’re poor in spirit, aching and mourning, and humbled in meekness before him, only to then beat us up by pointing out our religious obligations?

ILLUSTRATION: (drill instructor)

It’s like he turns from being a caring Savior to being a drill instructor with one sentence…. “LISTEN UP lazy people...if you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness then you WILL learn to love sitting in a hard pew instead of enjoying baseball games...you will LOVE old stale and archaic church music sung only in 4/4 time, and you will learn to cherish and memorize the KJV of the BIBLE, So GET RIGHT OR GET LEFT!!!