Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness
Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
What does Jesus mean when he says “they will be filled?” (Matthew 5:6c)
What does Jesus mean by “hunger and thirst?” (Matthew 5:6a)
What does Jesus mean by “Righteousness?” (Matthew 5:6b)
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Intro
What is the hungriest you have ever been?
For some, maybe you just realized that it is right now.
I seem to always get hungry when I talk about being hungry.
For some of our youth here, you probably feel like you are always hungry.
I know for my kids, whenever they walk in the door of my house it seems they are hungry.
And the funny thing is, even though they say they are starving, and we have a pantry and refrigerator full of food, it seems I always hear the same thing,
“We don’t have anything to eat!”
The reality is that while they are hungry for something, they are not hungry for what we have.
We have all experienced this before, so I don’t mean to beat up on our youth.
But the fact is that while we are hungry at times, we don’t really know what true hunger is.
Now, if I brought a family from Haiti or Africa, they would look in our pantry or refrigerator and think they were at a grocery store, since there was so much food there.
They truly know what it is like to hunger and thirst.
But even without truly experiencing hunger, we know what it is
to feel hungry and then
to feel filled after we have eaten.
That is a good feeling, isn’t it?
There is not much like that feeling of being filled and satisfied after eating and having your hunger gone.
Transition
Well this morning we are going to be talking about hunger and thirst and being filled as we continue on in our study in the beatitudes.
We are on the fourth beatitude this morning and this beatitude says
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Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Jesus says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
We are going to consider this verse more closely today to find out how we might be blessed and be filled.
We are going to start with the end of this verse first and ask
What does Jesus mean when He says “they will be filled”?
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Now as we just talked about, most of us know what it is to be filled or satisfied in a bodily sense when we respond to hunger by eating.
But Jesus isn’t talking about food and our hunger for food and being filled in a bodily sense.
He is talking about being filled in a mental, emotional and spiritual sense.
That is really the things that make up who we are, that make up our life.
So to be filled in the sense that Jesus is talking about is
To have the sense of being filled or satisfied in life;
To experience the full life
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Jesus said this is one of the reasons that He came, in John 10:10
John 10:10 - I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
A life that is filled or satisfied encompasses so much more than what we eat.
There are people who have all the money that they would need to buy whatever food they would want, but we can (and they can, as well) recognize that something is missing from their life even though they can have whatever they want. They are not filled.
The fact is, is that everyone of us desires this kind of filling. We desire
a life that is filled and satisfying,
a life that is at peace in our emotions,
a life that is purposeful.
The full life
The problem is that while we seek this filling, too often we are looking to find this fullness in the wrong places.
Our Career
Some pursue it be seeking it in their profession. They put in 80 hours a week climbing the corporate ladder trying to achieve this fullness but often only find stress and continued hunger for this filling.
Human relationships
Some pursue it through physical relationships, seeking to find this fullness from giving themselves away physically to other people, but instead of being filled, the feel empty.
Thrill seeking
Some pursue it through thrill seeking only to find that you have to constantly seek out riskier thrills to feel alive, and that only seems to last for a moment.
And the same is true when we seek this fullness through vacations, or shopping.
Doritos for Dinner
These things may provide temporary filling, but it is like eating a bag of Doritos for dinner. It may fill us for a moment, but it doesn’t bring any lasting fullness and may even end up doing harm in the long run.
But Jesus offers us the blessing of being filled in life.
He says those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.
Now that we understand what Jesus means by “they will be filled”, let’s look at what He means by the first parts of this phrase.
What does Jesus mean by Hunger and Thirst
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Now, as we discussed at the start of this message, we have all been hungry at times.
But Jesus is not talking about a hunger for food here. He is using words that can help relate what he is talking to, to the people.
In fact, while we can get a glimpse of what He is saying, the people of His day could even better understand it.
Jesus uses 2 Greek words here for hunger and thirst.
Peinao (pie nah oh) – to crave ardently, to seek with eager desire
Dipsao (dip sah oh) – to painfully feel their want, eagerly long for.
So, when He says hunger and thirst, he is saying that the person is experiencing an intense hunger for, he is starving for and painfully feeling his want for what is being talked about.
Many of the people of Jesus’ day had probably experienced this kind of feeling in the physical realm. They had had times of lack of food and water and had felt pain that comes along with that need.
So when Jesus used these terms, but wasn’t talking about food, they would have understood that as
To have an intense internal desire and need for
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Not as just something that would be nice to have, like some hors d’oeuvres, but as a necessity to live life.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, who have an intense internal desire, for righteousness, for they will be filled, for they will be able to experience the full life.
So it is righteousness that we need to have this intense internal desire for so that we will be filled with the fullness of living life.
Transition
Now, we can pretty easily understand hungering as an intense desire for something other than food, and being filled as having a full and satisfying life.
But
What does Jesus mean by Righteousness?
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Now, I want to spend some time here, because it is vital that we understand what Jesus means by Righteousness.
When we think of Righteousness, we probably think of doing the right thing, what we see as living righteously.
No doubt that the people of Jesus’ day thought much the same thing.
Pharisees exemplify Righteousness
They had as over them a group of people called Pharisees who were looked at as living the most righteous of lives. To the people, the Pharisees were the example of Righteousness.
So, when Jesus says “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they probably had a picture of Pharisee in their head.
They do all the right things.
These guys are living lives at least in outward obedience to the law as they understand it by the Pharisees teaching.
And as you hear Jesus speak these words, and you have this picture of these guys in your head and you are thinking that you need to live like these guys.
The problem is that you try and try, but you seem to always fall short.
But as Jesus says this, you are willing to try again to live righteously, to really hunger and thirst after it.
Now imagine that this is your thoughts as Jesus continues to speak. You are going to give it another try because you really do want a life that is filled and satisfying.
But as you are thinking this, Jesus says in Matthew 5:20, just 14 verses after the verse we are looking at, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)
What?
I can’t even be as righteous as a Pharisee, how in the world can I be more righteous than a Pharisee?!
Jesus often spoke in ways that required people to think. He spoke in parables so those who really didn’t want to hear, but just follow their own thinking, would not understand.
When Jesus talks about Righteousness here,
He doesn’t mean a Righteousness that comes from Yourself, based on Your Actions
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Listen to what Jesus says to the Pharisees later on in
Matthew 23:27-28 - "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
The Pharisees were self righteous. They were relying on a righteousness that came from themselves. They made up rules that they and people had to do to be righteous, at least in their eyes.
But Isaiah said that when we try to do righteous acts that are initiated from ourselves, they “are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6)
This is why the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus. He was disputing the very things they did and were teaching to the people.
Listen to what Jesus said to the people about the Pharisees
Matthew 23:1-5 - Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 "Everything they do is done for men to see.
Unfortunately, we are so often trying to do the same thing.
We think it will be easy to be righteous if we just had a set of rules to follow.
So churches and people make rules that they believe will help them be righteous.
Don’t drink alcohol, and you will be righteous
Don’t have an affair, and you will be righteous
Don’t look at pornography, and you will be righteous
Give 10% of what you earn, and you will be righteous
Don’t swear, and you will be righteous
Don’t gossip, and you will be righteous
Read your Bible for 15 minutes each day (or is it 20 minutes or an hour?), and you will be righteous.
Now I am not saying that any of these things, in themselves, are not good to practice.
I am saying that none of these things will make you righteous, and I will even say that we need to be very cautious about lists we make that the Bible doesn’t speak about.
When we make lists that are not found in the Bible, we are in danger of teaching a righteousness based on works, based on our law, based on us and how good we are, which is just what the Pharisees did.
A righteousness that is based on our actions, is no righteousness at all.
So if, when Jesus says righteousness, he does not mean a righteousness from ourselves based on our actions, what does He mean?
He does mean a Righteousness that comes from God, through Faith in Jesus Christ
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Listen to what Paul writes to the church in Rome.
Romans 3:20-22
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
When Jesus is talking about Righteousness, he is talking about a righteousness that is given to you from God to those who believe in, who enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
In the last beatitude we will discuss in a few weeks, Jesus equates Righteousness with being in relationship with him
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Matthew 5:10-11
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
The righteousness that Jesus is talking about is the Righteousness that comes through a relationship with Him.
It is not through a pursuit of doing the right thing that we will be righteous.
It is through a pursuit of a relationship with Jesus Christ, and growing in that relationship, that we will be righteous.
Again, Paul writes to the Romans
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Romans 9:30-32, 10:3-4
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.
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10:3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Conclusion
Do you want to be filled?
Are you tired of failing to live a righteous life, that you or others have determined is what will make you righteous?
Then you will only find that through a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
The Bible tells us how enter into that relationship with Him.
Romans 10:9 – “if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. “
You will have that opportunity in a moment when we close in prayer.
For those who have entered that relationship and received a righteousness from God, I want to encourage you to not revert back to trying to obtain it by works.
This is what the Galatians were doing.
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Galatians 5:4-6
4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Those of you who have received Jesus Christ as your Savior, You need to be living in that relationship with Christ every moment.
Walk with Him, talk with Him, ask for His guidance and wisdom.
I want to tell you as we live in relationship rather than trying to impress Him with our obedience, we are going to experience the fullness of life as our hunger and thirst for Him and relationship with Him, and His righteousness grows in us to become a daily need for us.
Galatians 5:25 - Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
I want to end with a prayer of Paul’s for the Philippians as we close.
Philippians 1:9-11
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9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.
Pray
