Hungering and Thirsting
Matthew 5:1-6
August 7, 2022
Have you ever been hungry? I mean really, really hungry. So hungry you’d even consider eating the least liked food on your menu. For me that would be eating celery. I don’t think I could ever learn to like it, but I suppose it’s better than eating some locusts . . . maybe.
Yet, the reality is the fact that I have more food than I know what to do with. We may not always have the choicest meats, but we have meat; we have clean water. We really won’t die of hunger ... even though there are moments we feel that way.
It’s estimated that on Super Bowl Sunday, Americans consumed - - -
• 1.3 billion chicken wings are eaten
• 20 million pounds of chips;
• 139 million pounds of avocados;
• 4 million pounds of popcorn;
• 3 million pounds of nuts are eaten
• 325 million gallons of beer will be consumed
• 13 million pounds of bacon, and
• 10 million pounds of ribs will be eaten
Now, let me ask you about your thirst ... Have you ever been really, really thirsty?
You know those days when you are working in the garden, your doing some yard work, or you’re out in the sun. Your throat is parched and you can’t wait to have that great ice cold drink which will satisfy your thirst.
Did you know that our bodies are comprised of about 60-70% water. When we eat, breathe, use our muscles, our body’s water supply is also used. Did you know - - -
• 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated
• 37% of Americans mistake their thirst mechanism for hunger pains
• Mild dehydration can slow down your metabolism as much as 5%
• A lack of water is the number 1 trigger of daytime fatigue
Well, those are our warming up facts for the day. We’re in a study of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5, which tells us - - -
1 Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 And He taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. - Matthew 5:1-6
This is what we’re looking at today. Of course, Jesus isn’t talking about hunger and thirst like we think.
Today we’re looking at what I believe may be the most important of the Beatitudes. Jesus began the sermon on the Mount with 8 Beatitudes, and we’ve been looking at what these back-sided, counter-intuitive statements mean.
Most of us have never had to deal with major issues of hunger and thirst. After all, our water is clean and free. Yet, who ever heard of buying bottled water? It seems ridiculous, yet, bottled water sales were around $220 billion last year. Does that really make sense?
You see in the days of Jesus, the people around Him were hungry and thirsty. They understood what it meant to physically hunger and thirst for food. The common people in ancient Israel were on the brink of starvation. That’s why Old Testament law required an employer to pay wages to the employees each evening.
The people often lived pay check to pay check, which meant living on a day to day basis. They were living to meet their needs for the next day. There wasn’t a retirement plan, no money for health insurance. The poor were all over.
If the workers were paid as we are, on a weekly or even worse bi-weekly, or catastrophically on a monthly basis, they would go hungry. And having an available well was a matter of life and death.
So, the phrase to hunger and thirst doesn’t have the same impact/meaning on our physical being, as it did in Jesus’ day; or as it does in so many parts of our world.
Babies understand what it means to hunger. They instinctively know when they need food, and they show their dissatisfaction when they are not being fed. They also show their satisfaction when food comes.
But Jesus isn’t talking about being satisfied with a good meal, then taking a well deserved nap. He’s talking about having a hunger and a thirst for something called RIGHTEOUSNESS!
When we think about hungering, thirsting and longing for something, we hunger --
• for significance for attention
• for affection for control
• for relationships for money
• for love for success
• for 1001 other things we believe holds the key to our happiness.
While the people in Jesus’ day understood hunger and thirst, they were able to identify with what He was talking about when He used these descriptive words.
The words “to hunger” and “thirst” literally mean to suffer from want. Let me ask you, what are we suffering from want for? What is it you and I really long for?
In fact the Greek phrase used by Jesus means that you just don’t want a drink from the water cooler, you want the entire water cooler. That’s how much you’re longing and thirsting.
You see, I believe each one of us has a deep, deep hunger and thirst . . . a longing for one thing above all things. . . and that is a relationship with God. We were created with that longing . . . but we mask it, we hide it, we seek to control it; and at times we would do anything rather than admit it.
Instead we would rather accept a life of less than, of maybe’s . . . instead of a life of more than. You see, the life of less than is all about goods and materials, it’s not so much about spiritual blessings as it is physical blessings. And that gets us all hung up.
So, in place of seeking and longing for God’s righteousness, we put on masks of self-righteousness. You know what I mean about self-righteous. We’re always right, never wrong, we condemn, we point out errors and ultimately with great pride and celebration, we proclaim our brothers and sisters in Christ . . . guilty.
Just look at social media right now. Liberal Christians bash conservative Christians and conservative Christians bash liberal Christians. It goes both ways. We refuse to listen and in fact, we refuse to thirst and hunger for reconciliation. We can go on and on about all of this, but the point is . . . how much are we really seeking after God’s righteousness, as opposed to our righteousness?
Self-righteousness comes from our ego and prideful arrogance — which by the way is a spiritual issue. It comes from a view that, in essence, we’re bigger, better and smarter than God. We’re the judge, we take the seat of God and look upon others with a sense of disdain.
In Jesus’ day, these people had a name - - Pharisees. The Pharisees looked down upon anyone who was not like them, they held themselves to higher standards, but only if the standards suited their purposes. This is one of the central reasons why the Pharisees so desperately wanted to kill Jesus. He not only proclaimed to be the Son of God, but He was stepping on their toes big time and they didn’t like anyone calling them to task for their hypocrisy.
You see, our problem is that we don’t really thirst and hunger for righteousness. Instead we hunger for our ‘pet’ causes, the needs of our group, or our personal desires. As a result, this attitude can affect the local church, sometimes it’s national and even global.
The people understood what Jesus was talking about when He spoke about righteousness. They knew the righteousness that Moses and the prophets called for in the Old Testament. They lifted up righteousness as the central goal of life.
To be righteous meant you had great integrity, you were just, you were innocent, sincere and true. Your actions were moral and ethical, because they were based on God’s law and His divine plan for your life.
Righteousness should permeate every relationship in your life. After all, righteousness is a matter of relationships - with God and with other people. We seek to be righteous, because God is the One who is righteous, blameless, innocent, pure and true.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 - -
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21
God is the One, the only One who is righteous and it took the death of Christ for God to be able to declare us righteous, because it was Christ who became sin on our behalf, so that we could have His righteousness imputed into us, so God could view us as righteous.
Righteousness is a life which is lived in conformity to God’s will, as we adhere not just to His laws, but to His grace and holiness. When we seek to be righteous, we are seeking with all our heart, soul, mind and body to allow God to dominate and control our entire being. It comes in the act of surrendering ourselves, our wills . . . to God.
But we don’t like to surrender, do we? Total surrender to God means, God is in total control. I have no rights, nothing. I don’t own anything. Everything that is mine is God’s. Now, nobody that I know wants to surrender, we want control, but God’s call in our lives, is total surrender . . .
It’s to hunger and thirst to surrender ourselves to God, so that when we start surrendering - - - because we have this hunger and thirst for God, we are then filled by God.
Yet, when we think about it, isn’t right living, right behavior, a kind of holy adherence to God’s law. It’s nothing more than a tangible expression of our relationship with God. In the Beatitudes, Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is first and foremost a relationship with Jesus.
Jesus the teacher, Jesus the shepherd, Jesus the radical, Jesus the crucified one, & Jesus the resurrected one. The changed life grows out of that, or it doesn’t happen at all. The hunger and thirst in our lives, must be for Jesus . . . and Jesus alone.
John Piper wrote, “If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”
Generally, our hunger and thirst is for the things that really don’t matter so much. They are for the things in life that are more trivial and superficial. As a result, when we hunger for something and attain it, we are left unsatisfied.
But when we hunger, thirst and long for righteousness, for living a life which is so fully connected to God, that our every move is a result of that relationship, when our heart, our spirit, our mind and our whole body is focused on our relationship with God; when we are connected to God, intimately connected to God, then we are moving into righteousness.
We end up finding fulfillment in the search itself. In a strange sense, the longing we have for God, ends up being a major part of our reward, and we are satisfied, and filled by God as we pursue Him.
Without the hungering and thirsting for God, our lives will always remain unfulfilled. But let me add one final thought . . . just the thought of wanting that relationship with God will not do it for you. You must take action.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied
• God will fill you, when God fills you, you become satisfied.
• When you serve God, you become satisfied.
• When you see something wrong, and you seek to be a change agent, even if it’s difficult, you will be satisfied.
You must call out, even cry out to God --- and it is not rocket science, it is so simple, yet we make it so complicated —
1. You learn about God in His Word,
2. You talk to God in prayer,
3. You connect to other believers in Christ to help you along the journey.
4. You get involved in church, by serving, not being served.
You must take the steps. Without them you will be left wanting and wandering. But, oh how sweet and how powerful and how glorious it is when we begin to move in God’s direction. When we seek God, we will find Him . . . and He will fill us. As the song goes, “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.”
