THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (part two)
Matthew 5:6-7
Beatitudes mean declarations of blessedness. The term blessedness means joy. Therefore, the state of blessedness would be a state of joy, which is more than just happy. Blessedness refers to the distinctive spiritual joy of those who are saved. We typically wouldn’t consider the items in this list to bring blessedness.
We started looking at the list last week by seeing how being poor in spirit, mourning and being meek are things that bring blessing into our lives. Poor in spirit means I’ve recognized my spiritual poverty. I am no longer in denial about my true spiritual condition.
And in turn I cry out to God to rescue me. I mourn over my sinful state. I am no longer blind to the ugliness of my sin and it grieves me. In being meek we saw how it is anything but weak. I am gentle and kind but I can still be assertive and powerful. We see how these attributes represent humility.
In these are the blessings of the kingdom of heaven, comfort when I mourn and the riches of God's bounty. Today we'll look at how we are blessed by hungering and thirsting for righteousness and by being merciful.
1) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Matt. 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
We all hunger and thirst for something. Hungering and thirsting for something indicates it’s a priority; it takes precedence over other things. What are we driven to pursue? Money, a promotion, a relationship, the next big thing? Regardless, the irony is no matter how much we pursue it we'll still be left hungry. Whatever worldly thing we find ourselves hungry or thirsty for, after we have gotten some of it, we soon realize it doesn’t really satisfy.
“Once there was a man known as the Hunger Artist. He made his living by professional fasting. He would go for extended periods of time without eating and drinking anything and people would pay to see him do it. At that time, professional fasting was a respected and lucrative business.
The hunger artist would sit on straw in a small cage expressing his will power to go for long periods without eating or drinking anything. He would fast for forty days and when the forty days were up the band would play, and his manager would give a speech. Then, two ladies would lead him in his weakened condition out of the cage. The crowd would roar with excitement and ultimately they would pay him a great sum of money in appreciation for his great work of art.
However, there came a time when professional fasting was no longer appreciated. The man lost his manager and had to join the circus. He soon became depressed and discouraged. The people paid him no attention as they rushed by him to see the more popular exhibits in the circus. He was ignored and forgotten, even by the leaders and the owners of the circus.
His fast went way past forty days, because nobody bothered to count the days. And ultimately they found him one day slumped over in the cage. They rushed over to assist him and in his last dying breath, he told his secret. He simply said, “I have to fast; I have no choice. You see, I couldn’t find any food that would satisfy me.”
This may seem like a strange story but when you learn more about the author, Franz Koffka, it makes more sense. Koffka was an atheist. He had said this story summed up what he felt about life. In retrospect, “The Hunger Artist” was not about physical hunger; it was about spiritual hunger.
Beneath the surface of this story, Franz Koffka was talking about his own spiritual condition; he was The Hunger Artist. He recognized his soul was starving, but he said, “I can’t find anything in life that will satisfy me!” Only those that hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God will truly be satisfied. Only those who pursue the things of God will be able to get their true needs met.
Isaiah 55:1-2, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."
If you read on you see that this is an invitation to come to the Lord. Why are we continuing to chase after that which does not bring true satisfaction? There's a saying that the best things in life are free. That's true. Money can't buy things like love and dignity. And tops on the list of what money can't buy is salvation. So why spend more and more money, time and effort into things that won't do what only God can do for us? What's more important-pleasing my flesh or the joy of my soul?
What well are we drinking from? Jesus said in John 7:37, "If anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink." We hunger after the world and it tastes sweet in the mouth but it turns bitter in the stomach. When we thirst for worldly pleasures it’s like drinking salt water. But when we crave spiritual food and drink of the living water we will find choice morsels and holy nectar that satisfies the soul.
Have you ever eaten something that filled you up in the moment but in an hour or so you felt hungry again? Typically, eating fast food or processed food will produce this result; it's actually made this way on purpose by the manufacturers so you will eat more. So, instead of hungering and thirsting for fast food and soda, which taste good in the moment but does little if anything for you, we need to hunger for better food that will nourish us.
John Piper once said, "The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because we “keep ourselves stuffed with other things." We need to hunger and thirst for the righteous life. We need to hunger and thirst for God’s word, we need to be hungry for God’s power, his love, his wisdom, his ways.
And the root meaning behind the words, hunger and thirst in Matt. 5:6 signifies a passionate desire for God and the things of God. It’s not the kind of thirst you have after playing ball on a hot day…it’s the kind of thirst you would have after days in the desert without even a drop of water. It’s not the kind of hunger you have when you’ve missed lunch…it’s more like when you’ve gone several days without eating! It’s not just being hungry or thirsty it’s more like being ‘parched’ or ‘starving’.
How is your spiritual appetite? When we hungered and thirsted for God’s righteousness to come upon us in salvation we became filled with the Holy Spirit. Now we need to continue to hunger and thirst for righteousness in order to be filled with all the virtues of the faith.
1Pet. 2:1-3, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Now that God has whet our appetites by revealing his goodness, we keep craving that goodness. We get rid of the unrighteous and put in the righteous; replace the garbage food with healthy food. Our desire for righteousness needs to be like a baby’s for milk. A baby doesn’t have to consider whether or not he wants milk-he craves it-he can’t stand to be without it-he cries when he doesn’t get it. When we have an intense hunger and thirst for righteousness God will satisfy our appetites.
Psalm 107:9, “For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” When we have this spiritual appetite God will feed us. He will not only feed us-he will fill us. God is the only source of righteousness. We can be self-righteous, but that won't work. Only those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God will be filled with true righteousness.
2) Blessed are the merciful.
Matt. 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
To show mercy by definition is, “Refraining from enforcement of a debt, right or obligation that is due.” In being merciful I might have the right to make someone pay for what they’ve done but I don’t I choose not to enforce that right.
“A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. He replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. "But I don’t ask for justice, I plead for mercy." "But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. "Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it." The emperor extended mercy and spared her son.”
Those who are merciful will receive mercy. Here we see the blessing isn’t in when we reciprocate mercy it’s when we are first to show mercy. Our attitude could be like, “I’ll show mercy when someone shows it to me first.” But there’s no promised blessing in that. When it comes to mercy, we want it to be shown to us but when it comes to initiating it we have a different attitude about it.
But here’s where the golden rule comes into play, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. That’s a very difficult thing to do. To give to others what you wished you had received. To still be willing to show mercy when none was shown you. But that’s not true; there is one who has shown us mercy-God. The word Jesus uses here for mercy is eleos which means “to wash over”. It was used in the context of wiping out an impurity or cancelling a debt. Is that not what has happened to us when we were baptized; our sins were washed away. God is rich in mercy.
Titus 3:3-8, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
We deserved death but were shown mercy through Christ. And God continues to show us mercy because we can continue to be rebellious. The Lord has extended to us mercy upon mercy and what do we turn around and do? Someone does one thing wrong to us and we’re ready to nail him to the wall.
Since God has shown us mercy and continues to do so, we need to go and do likewise for our fellow man. If we don't, we put ourselves at risk for not receiving mercy. Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy. If we refuse to show mercy we will not be shown mercy. If we want to live our lives as a merciless person then when the time comes for us to be in need to mercy it won't be shown to us.
But wait a minute? The bible says, 'eye for an eye'. True, but that wasn't meant to be the rule but the allowance. We are allowed to seek what is fair according to the offense. But eye for an eye was put in place to keep it from becoming more than what was fair. Sometimes what's fair isn't good enough for us, we want the person to pay or suffer more. However, what is the better thing-to get what's fair; to receive what's owed me or to extend mercy?
Prov. 19:11, "A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense." It is to our benefit and blessedness to be forgiving and merciful. I know there will be times when something should not be overlooked; like when a serious crime has been committed and the person needs to pay for what they've done. But maybe mercy gets extended in not moving ahead with filing a civil suit even though I could.
The main point is, where is my heart? When we feel like being merciless we need to remember what God did for us.
Eph. 2:1-5, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."
Spiritually dead but through God's mercy, we were given new life. And we respond to this new life by extending mercy to those who need to see radical character of Christ. End of the Spear. True story. Steve Saint watches his dad Nate leave on a plane on a mission trip to a remote tribal village in Ecuador. Nate and four others are killed by the natives.
Steve and his mother end up taking a flight of their own to the same village. They spend years ministering to them. One day, Steve, now grown, comes to realize that one of the natives he had known is the one who killed his father. The native commissions Steve to end his life with his spear since the custom was that the son was to avenge the death of his father.
Steve was struggling, he was angry; part of him wanted to drive that spear clear through the man’s heart. Steve, who would’ve been completely within his rights to administer justice as per the custom, shows mercy instead and spares his life. Justice meant the native would die; but mercy allowed him to live. And to this day Nate and the native who killed his father are close friends."
What an amazing display of mercy and forgiveness. When we show mercy we show the love of Christ. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.
