We’re in a series focusing on the (8) attitudes Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount we’re to have as His disciples. We are learning that each of these attitudes determines our altitude. Jesus offered these beatitudes to remind us that God isn’t focused on man’s outward performance like going to church, giving, or being good, rather He is concerned with what is on the inside.
The first (3) beatitudes we’ve studied had a negative tone to them calling believers to get rid of the evils that are contrary to the kingdom.
• In being poor in spirit we’re to turn from being self-seeking.
• In mourning we’re to turn from self-satisfaction.
• In meekness we’re to turn from being self-serving.
But in this 4th attitude, Jesus uses a positive tone we can all relate to because the desire for food and water are the strongest cravings we have. So, as we turn from sin, self, and smugness, God gives us an insatiable desire for His righteousness.
”Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
What is Jesus saying? To hunger and thirst seem to speak of the necessities of the physical life. But Jesus isn’t focusing on the physical. He’s focusing on the eternal. His analogy reveals that righteousness is required for spiritual life just as food/water is necessary for physical life – it’s not optional. We can no more live spiritually without righteousness than we can live physically without food or water.
The point is, without the proper intake of water, your body will suffer greatly. The same can be said of your spiritual life if you don’t have a proper intake of righteousness.
Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness. . .Hunger refers to the desperate craving a starving man has for food. He is so famished that he becomes desperate for a meal – willing do anything to eat. Thirst means to painfully feel the need for water. This is more than just needing a sip, it means to be parched and dehydrated to the point of pain and death.
But what are we to hunger and thirst for? Righteousness. What’s that? It is that state of rightness – to be in right relationship with God.
As Christians, we’re not to be like the world, engrossed in the pursuit of pleasure, pride, power, prestige, & possessions – instead we’re to seek first God’s kingdom.
If we are going to try to make a change for the eternal, it’ll require a hunger and thirst for righteousness – more of Jesus, less of me. – He must increase and I must decrease. This isn’t easy. We’re the product of our appetites. We are what we eat. The things of the world are enticing to the taste buds even while they’re poison to the soul.
We need the righteousness of God to feed our souls just like we need food to feed our flesh. The problem today is that there is a famine in the church and in the lives of people who call themselves Christians. We have allowed the toxins of the world to dictate the programs of the ministry and we’ve settled for entertainment over discipleship. If the music program doesn’t entertain us, then we’ll just stop going.
We think going to church makes us Christian and attending a Beth Moore Bible study makes us a disciple – but they don’t. The measure of a disciple is determined by who is in control. And a disciple is under the influence of Jesus.
Change the hunger, and you change the man; control the hunger and you control the man. Who is really in control of you? Paul said, “The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.” Gal 5:25
We need to spit out the false teachings of society that if we’re not entertained then we’ll stop going to church. We need to develop an appetite for the Almighty. I’m no expert on developing a good earthly diet – you can tell that by looking at me. But let me offer (3) guidelines that will help us to have a healthy spiritual diet.
WATCH What You Eat (Examine spiritually what you take in) The Super Bowl will come up in late Jan./early Feb. Did you know that Super Sunday is the 2nd largest food consumption day of the year? Here’s the breakdown:
• 4 million pounds of popcorn
• 9 million pounds of tortilla chips
• 12 million pounds of potato chips
• 13 million pounds of guacamole dip
(and that’s in my house alone)
To watch is to examine what you take in – is it the milk or the meat of God’s Word?
The foundation of the Christian life is God’s Word. God expresses His love to us through His Word. The Bible is a special revelation and it has the ability to transform lives by revealing the absolute and undeniable truth of God.
Heb 4:12: ”For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
In other words, God’s Word is a spiritual scalpel that performs surgery on our lives. But we can’t be solely satisfied with milk or we’ll never grow up. We need meat!
Heb 5: 12-14; “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
But it’s not just moving from milk to solid food, we have to make sure that the solid food we indulge in is truth and not junk. Some of us have been consuming things that will not satisfy because they are not the truth of God. I’m afraid that some of us may not be hungering for holiness because frankly we’re full on junk.
Prov. 27:7 says: “He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.”
Maybe its time to admit that some of us are spiritual junk food addicts. Maybe you’re ingesting things that feel good at first, but later leave you disillusioned. Maybe you’re full on worldliness, and you’ve finally realized that you’re feeding your appetites with things that will never satisfy. We need to understand that Jesus can fill our need. It’s time to eat what is good so that your soul may live. Gorge yourself on God and turn away from food and drink that will never satisfy. Watch what you eat!
The 2nd guideline in your spiritual diet is WEIGH What You Eat. (Evaluate). I’m told one of the best ways to improve your diet is to weigh your portions before eating. (Measure them) My doctor said to limit my coffee drinking to one cup a day—so I got a bigger cup. Weight Watchers plan encourages their patrons to measure their food according to a points system to control their intake. Well, when it comes to God’s Word, we must weigh His Word by meditating and applying His truth to our lives.
If we starve ourselves spiritually by refusing to digest God’s truth, then He might send a famine our way. Some have suggested that this is what happened during the 400-year period of time between the end of the O.T. and the beginning of the N.T. As far as we know, God was silent until He spoke to Zechariah, and then to Mary and Joseph.
If we refuse to meditate and incorporate God’s truth in our lives, then it could lead to a time of silence. We must hunger and thirst to hear from God, and pray that He will speak to us that we might hear and understand His will.
To quote Beth Moore that I mentioned earlier she said, “God invoked a famine to provoke hunger. He used the withholding of His word to prepare for the revealing of the Word.” Weigh what you eat.
The 3rd guideline in your spiritual diet is to WELCOME What You Eat. (Enjoy)
”As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet w/ God?” Ps. 42:1-2
The 3rd element of the divine diet plan is the best of all – God says to eat and enjoy. The Greek uses a present tense word, meaning that we should continuously hunger and thirst. This isn’t something we just do once. We must continually crave God, every day, at all times during the day.
To be hungry is not enough. I must be really starving to know what is in God’s heart toward me. When the prodigal son was hungry, he went to feed on the husks, but when he was starving, he went to his father.
Here’s a powerful thought – the prodigal son turned everywhere and to everyone trying to satisfy his hunger, but it wasn’t until he had hit rock bottom and was physically, emotionally, and spiritually hungry – desperate – that he turned to God. The prodigal modeled an important truth about man – It is only when we come to the end of ourselves that we will allow God to have His way.
How truly sad it is that we will engage in every worldly pursuit to quench our thirst and satisfy our hunger before we will humble ourselves before God. And what’s worse, many of us will get to that point and seek a temporary reprieve from God; but deep within our hearts we don’t want to return to the Father, we just want out of our circumstances. You can’t have it both ways. It’s either all or none! Either return to the Father and behave like a child redeemed, or take your chances in the pig sty.
Here are your options: Eat from the world’s trough or eat from God’s banquet table.
This isn’t a one time deal. Just as we need to eat several times a day to stay physically healthy, so too, we need to consume spiritual food on a regular basis if we’re to grow spiritually. Now I want to remind you that God only feeds us what we need. He never promises to give us all the food we need so we can stock our fridges and forget about Him. He wants us to depend upon Him on a daily basis.
”Give us this day our daily bread.” Mt. 6:11 Not tomorrow’s as well plus next week’s. But give us today our daily bread. God wants us to hunger and thirst for Him every day and come to Him each day.
The Israelites received manna every morning so that they would learn that God meets the needs of His people on a daily basis. And, when God provided the manna, He was actually using this as an object lesson to represent a much deeper truth.
That truth is found in Deut. 8:3: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you w/ manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
So God requires that we “hunger and thirst.” We do this to experience “righteousness.” The last part of this verse contains the reward: “for they will be filled.”
Filled was originally used to describe the feeding of animals until they were so full they could eat no more – completely satisfied. I think of a sponge fully saturated and cannot take on any more water.
Don’t miss the promise. God says that if we will genuinely hunger and thirst for His righteousness – like a man starving to death and literally dying of thirst – desperate for Him, then He will fill us to capacity with His presence, power, and purpose.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Mt. 6:33
I like the way the MESSAGE BIBLE TRANSLATION puts it:
”Focus your life in God-reality, God-initiative, and God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out on the things of this world and you’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met by God himself.” Mt. 6:33 MSG “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
Some of you are here because you have an empty spot in your life that you need filled. You’ve tried every thing else, so maybe as a last resort, you thought you would try God. If you would have started there, you could have saved yourself a lot of time.
But you’re here now and that is what matters. Now, carry out what God has brought you here to do. Accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Feed the hunger and quench the thirst for righteousness by accepting Jesus Christ as your very own, right now.
Admit you’re a sinner. Turn away from that sin-filled life and turn to God. (We call that repenting).
Place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to guide you from this day on.
And then surrender to Him as Lord of your life.
AND I PROMISE YOU YOUR EMPTINESS WILL BE FILLED.
Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Seek God every day. Read His Word every day. Pray every day. Why? Because then you will be filled.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
