Hungry For Him Series

BEATITUDES SERIES:

HUNGRY FOR HIM

MATTHEW 5:6

#Beatitudes

INTRODUCTION… Abby Making Chicken Parmesan (p)

https://www.youtube.com/c/JoshuaWeissman/about

I think it was about 2 weeks ago that my daughter Abby said that she wanted to make dinner and wanted to make a recipe she saw on a Youtube cooking show… Chicken Parmesan. The Youtuber Joshua Weissman has been on Youtube since 2014. The recipe is from his 2,000,000 subscriber video. Ok. Whatever. Maybe the guy knows what he is doing.

Abby bought all the ingredients. I am going to poke a little fun at Abby because when she cooks she makes an absolute disastrous mess. She could be making tea and there is a mess. Stuff is everywhere all over all the time. For this particular recipe, I am pretty sure she used every single pot and pan and dish that we own. She probably cooked for 2 hours. She is cutting this and that and pounding chicken and breading things and mixing this and that and frying this thing over there. I was just trying to ignore the mess and let her do her thing. I did help her by grating the parmesan cheese and adding a little bit of myself into the mix. I had skin in the game… literally.

So I get to the table after her cooking bonanza and what I see is absolutely beyond appetizing. Chicken and sauce and cheese. What I ate that night is literally legendary. By far one of the best chicken dishes I have ever had. Ever. You have never had a dish that is better… I know you are thinking about your mom’s this or that… but this dish is supremely better than anything you have ever eaten. She made the sauce and it was spicy-perfect. The chicken was cooked to perfection. The cheese was amazing. I ate the whole thing. I don’t eat leftovers, but I ate leftovers the next day for breakfast so the hungry boy teenagers of my home would not get to it first.

The meal was so good I would eat it every day. The meal was so good I will request it for my birthday in years to come. It is worth you watching the 10:05 YouTube video and making it at home. This dish was so good that I am hungry for it. I want her to make it again. I’m hungry for it.

THREAD: ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR IT?

Perhaps there is something like that in your life that you are hungry for. It could be a recipe your mother or grandmother or dad used to make. It could be a family secret recipe. Perhaps it is a favorite dish at a restaurant.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ begins His most famous sermon with the Beatitudes. We have been looking at them over the past few weeks. The beatitudes are a series of statements where Jesus describes people who are in the Kingdom of Heaven. Many times we look at these as isolated phrases, but in fact they are interconnected and build on one another. Jesus begins by telling us that we must be “poor in spirit” which means to understand our place in God’s design under Him and understand our sinfulness and confess Jesus. He then says that when we think about our sin, we will mourn it and have comfort from the blood of Christ. We then commit to being under God’s command and following His lead in all things.

As I think about Jesus words in Matthew 5:6, I see Him sharing with us now another element in this process of being part of the Kingdom of God. He frames this thought with the metaphor of being hungry and thirsty. We are meant to think about good food. We are meant to think about refreshing drink. We are meant to think about how our body feels when it is hungry or thirsty. We are meant to think about the different feeling after a great meal.

Matthew 5:6 is an essential element of being a follower of Jesus Christ. It is as non-negotiable as faith in Christ (5:3), repenting of sin (5:4), and submitting to God’s will (5:5) which is basically what He’s talked about thus far.

READ MATTHEW 5:6 (NIV)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

READ MATTHEW 5:6 (AMP)

Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.

TRANSITION

Let’s break down the verse and see what God is serving up for our hearts and minds today. Matthew 5:6 is good food for our soul.

HUNGER AND THIRST

Jesus talks about being blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. He uses the body functions of hunger and thirst. Hunger and thirst are normal experiences that every person has that keeps our bodies functioning. We are hungry and we eat and get nourishment and energy. We are thirsty and we drink and our organs stay hydrated and work properly. A body that has solid proper nutrition and good liquid intake is healthy and functions well. Jesus knows this. The people listening to Jesus know this. You and I know this. This creates a base connection in what He is describing.