PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS: INSATIABLE CRAVING
ILLUSTRATION:
Can you believe that next year will mark 20-years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans? We all saw the news stories—the DESTRUCTION, the DEATH TOLL, the HUMAN AGONY and MISERY. Hurricane Katrina is the COSTLIEST natural disaster in American history. Over 1,000 PEOPLE were KILLED. More than 400,000 HOMES were DESTROYED—some entire TOWNS throughout Louisiana and Mississippi were FLATTENED. Hundreds of thousands of people were DISPLACED—many never RETURNED to their HOMES.
There was no WATER, no FOOD, no SEWAGE DISPOSAL, no ELECTRICITY, no means of COMMUNICATION. Thousands were STRANDED at the New Orleans Super Dome and Convention Center surrounded by a LAKE of POLLUTED WATER. Those who were able to make it to HIGHER GROUND were living in TENTS and whatever MAKESHIFT SHELTERS they were able to put together to SHIELD them from the SCORCHING SUN until they were able to EVACUATE. Many were becoming DEATHLY ILL from the UNSANITARY conditions under
which these people were FORCED to live.
Families had to PATROL their neighborhoods with guns because of LOOTING and ARMED ROBBERY. Some had their CAMPS raided, and all that was taken were FOOD and WATER that
they had managed to SAVE before the STORM hit.
“Just give us one bottle of PURE, CLEAN water,” a young mother PLEADED with a government official. “My children are STARVING,” another woman CRIED out. “All we want is something to EAT and DRINK,” people SHOUTED in DESPERATION.
COMMENT:
I have never experienced anything like what these people went through. Obviously, I haven’t MISSED many MEALS. And I haven’t gone for LONG PERIODS of time without at least having
something to DRINK.
But people who are LITERALLY STARVING and DYING of THIRST will do anything to EAT and DRINK?nothing will SATISFY them but FOOD and WATER.
A. It is this INSATIABLE CRAVING that Jesus speaks of when He says, “Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled”- Matthew 5:6.
1. The words “HUNGER” and “THIRST” have a much STRONGER MEANING than the way we
usually use the words.
COMMENT:
We skip lunch and by dinnertime we say, “Boy, I’m STARVING.” Or after MOWING the LAWN, we run to the FRIDGE and grab a BOTTLE OF WATER because we’re “THIRSTY.”
2. The words of Jesus speak of a much deeper CRAVING or DESIRE.
ILLUSTRATION:
The majority of Jesus’ HEARERS understood the implication behind this BLESSING. Most in ancient Palestine knew the meaning of deep HUNGER and THIRST. The DAILY WAGE was often just barely enough to FEED the FAMILY. Certainly, no LUXURIES were PURCHASED!
If the MONEYMAKER became ILL and couldn’t work, the rest of the FAMILY would either have to BEG or STARVE to DEATH. Some, to keep from STARVING, would SELL their WIVES, CHILDREN, and THEMSELVES into SLAVERY. At least as SLAVES their MASTERS would FEED them.
COMMENT:
So, when Jesus spoke of HUNGERING and THIRSTING, they understood the CONCEPT very well. It was the idea that “HUNGER and THIRST could produce HAPPINESS” that threw them off. But you see, it’s what a person HUNGERS and THIRST FOR that brings HAPPINESS.
B. We have seen throughout these lessons that POWER, PRESTIGE, POPULARITY, PLEASURE,
POSSESSIONS cannot PRODUCE true FULFILLMENT and HAPPINESS in LIFE.
COMMENT:
And the reason is, there is nothing PHYSICALLY on this EARTH that brings complete SATISFACTION. We may be SUCCESSFUL in gratifying some of our PHYSICAL NEEDS, but there is still something MISSING DEEP INSIDE. The DEEP LONGING that we have INSIDE can never be satisfied PHYSICALLY because it is a SPIRITUAL LONGING. It only can be SATISFIED with GOD.
MESSAGE:
I. HUNGER AND THIRST LEADS TO FULFILLMENT
A. We need to recognize our REAL HUNGER and THIRST.
1. Most of us Americans are not PHYSICALLY HUNGRY, but we are HUNGRY.
a. Mother Teresa once said, “In India, they are starving physically, but in America, you are
starving emotionally.”
b. She came close to being right. Our HUNGER manifests itself EMOTIONALLY?we feel
it? but it’s really not an EMOTIONAL HUNGER, it’s a SPIRITUAL HUNGER.
COMMENT:
And the fact is, most people don’t know what they’re HUNGRY for, they just know they’re HUNGRY. And so, you hear phrases like, “My life is EMPTY.” “I’m BORED.” “I’m RESTLESS.” “Something just seems to be MISSING.” Or, “There's got to be MORE to LIFE than this.”
2. What is it that really makes me HUNGRY? What’s MISSING in my LIFE?
ILLUSTRATION:
Have you ever played the “I DON’T KNOW GAME?” You get in the car after Sunday morning WORSHIP and look over at your wife or husband or at the kids and ask, “Where do you want to eat?” “I don’t know. Where do you want to go eat?” “I don’t know.” “Well, what are you hungry for?” “I don’t know.” “What are you hungry for?” “I don’t know.”
Have you ever PLAYED that game? Finally, someone chooses the PLACE to eat, and when you WALK OUT of the RESTAURANT the other person says, “I sure wish we would have gone to that other PLACE.” There are a lot of people who go through their whole life that way?they really don’t know how to SATISFY their HUNGER and THIRST.
3. I know what our HEART HUNGERS for and our SOUL THIRSTS for.
a. WE NEED GOD?even those who don’t think they NEED God or even BELIEVE in God.
COMMENT:
The Bible says that we are created as SPIRITUAL BEINGS temporarily WRAPPED in FLESH. We are made in the very IMAGE of God, and God has made us to YEARN for Him, to KNOW Him, to LOVE Him, and to BE LOVED by Him. God made us to HUNGER and THIRST for Himself and there is NOTHING that will TAKE the PLACE of that.
COMMENT (cont.)
That’s why people in this world can never be SATISFIED. They desperately try to FILL their EMPTY LIVES with the PHYSICAL THINGS and PLEASURES of this WORLD, and still feel EMPTY. I’ve heard people say, “Even when I GET what I WANT, it’s STILL NOT
what I WANT.”
b. And the reason is, whether they BELIEVE it or not, they are CRAVING GOD.
4. Listen to these passages:
a. Psalm 37:4- “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
COMMENT:
David is saying, “You think you’re hungry for happiness. No, that’s a by-product. You’re not hungry for happiness, you’re hungry for God and only by seeking God will He give you
happiness?”
b. Psalm 42:1-2- “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. Where can I go and meet with God?”
COMMENT:
The Psalmist CRAVES for God and realizes that only He can satisfy His THIRSTY
SOUL.
c. Psalm 34:8- “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed (HAPPY) is the man who takes
refuge in Him.”
COMMENT:
Those who truly TASTE the GOODNESS of God will never be SATISFIED with ANYTHING or ANYONE else.
B. That’s why we need to stop FILLING ourselves with JUNK FOOD.
1. We are a nation of “Junk Food Addicts.”
COMMENT:
Our STOMACHS and WAISTLINES are controlled by such JUNK as candy, ice cream, chips, cookies, snack cakes, and soda (sugar free, of course). The problem we encounter with such a DIET is it quickly adds EXTRA WEIGHT, but it doesn’t SUSTAIN us. The more JUNK FOOD we eat, the more we WANT. (“Nobody can eat just one.” Right?)
2. In a SPIRITUAL sense, many are FILLING themselves with the JUNK FOOD of the WORLD?
SEXUAL IMMORALITY, PORNOGRAPHY, DRUGS & ALCOHOL, MATERIALISM,
POPULARITY?and end up CRAVING MORE.
a. Ecclesiastes 5:10- “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is
never satisfied with his income.”
COMMENT:
Solomon is saying that “If your LOVE is focused on the THINGS of the WORLD, then you’ll never get enough of it?you’ll never be SATISFIED.
b. Ephesians 4:19- “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so
as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”
COMMENT:
Paul is describing people who not only REVEL in a DEPRAVED life of SEXUAL IMPURITY and FILTH, but CRAVING that OBSCENE LIFESTYLE more and more.
3. There are more things out there to FILL our TIME and to TAKE our MONEY than ever before.
COMMENT:
We move from PLEASURE to PLEASURE to THRILL to THRILL thinking that this is the way to find the ANSWER to life and true SATISFACTION. From FAD to FASHION to POPULARITY to PRESTIGE?but nothing does it. We still need MORE!
4. Church, we need to quit GOBBLING DOWN the things in LIFE that don’t FILL US UP.
II. TRUE FULFILLMENT COMES FROM JESUS CHRIST
A. Jesus- “Blessed (HAPPY) are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
1. He’s not talking about merely DOING RIGHTEOUS ACTS.
a. Some people associate RIGHTEOUSNESS with ONLY doing RIGHT THINGS?GOOD
DEEDS.
COMMENT:
It’s true that for our BENEFIT and for the BENEFIT of others, God wants us to engage in PROPER BEHAVIOR. We are COMMANDED to do so. But RIGHT BEHAVIOR won’t make us RIGHTEOUS before God?it won’t WASH AWAY our SINS. And therefore, RIGHT BEHAVIOR won’t make us stand JUSTLY before God.
b. Isaiah 64:6- “. . . all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags before God . . .”
2. We simply cannot APPEASE God with our RIGHTEOUS DEEDS and RIGHT BEHAVIOR.
B. RIGHTEOUSNESS is not found in what we DO—it’s found in JESUS.
1. Jesus- “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”- John 10:10b.
COMMENT:
The FULLNESS of LIFE doesn’t come from what the WORLD provides; it comes from the One who MADE the WORLD.
2. It’s only when we TURN our LIVES over to Jesus and FEAST off of His GRACE, will we find
true HAPPINESS and SATISFACTION.
a. John 6:35- “Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.’”
b. John 6:51a- “I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever . . .” (Now, that’s what I call the real WONDER BREAD.)
c. John 6:53-56 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
Jesus is NOT talking about the LORD’S SUPPER here—even though we often read this passage before the COMMUNION. He is telling His disciples that they have to make His LIFE their LIFE. They are to CRAVE Him and Him only. He’s simply saying, “I’m all that you NEED. I’m the BREAD of LIFE. You need NOTHING more. You FEAST on me, and you’ll FIND true SATISFACTION.”
And I want you to understand, that a TIDBIT here and a TIDBIT there of Jesus is not going to FILL YOU UP. You’re going to have to EAT the WHOLE THING that Jesus OFFERS to bring true SATISFACTION to your life.
3. Church, the fact is, we are as CLOSE to God as we WANT to be. That’s it.
COMMENT:
We are as CLOSE to God as we WANT TO BE and, therefore, we have as much SATISFACTION in our life as we CHOOSE to have. But Jesus wants us to have ALL of Him. He knows it’s only when we CONTINUE to HUNGER and THIRST after Him will we find true SATISFACTION.
ILLUSTRATION:
Max Lucado relates this true story in his book, The Applause of Heaven:
“Mommy, I'm so thirsty. I want a drink.”
Susanna Petroysan heard her daughter’s pleas, but there was nothing she could do. She and four-year-old Gayaney were trapped beneath tons of concrete and steel. In the darkness lay the body of Susanna’s sister-in-law, Karine, one of the 55,000 victims of the worst earthquake
in the history of Soviet Armenia.
Susanna had gone to Karine’s house to try on a dress. Just 21 short minutes after she arrived, the quake hit. Susanna grabbed her daughter but had taken only a few steps before the fifth floor of the nine-story apartment tumbled in. All three fell into the basement, and miraculously Susanna and Gayaney survived the collapse.
“Mommy, I need a drink. Please give me something.” There was nothing to give.
On the second day, Susanna felt around in the darkness and found a jar of blackberry jam.
She gave the entire jar to Gayaney.
“Mommy, I'm so thirsty!”
Susanna knew she would die, but she wanted her daughter to live. She found a piece of clothing within reach and made a bed for her daughter. Susanna feared the worse as it became bitterly cold. She lost all track of time and all hope. She began to hallucinate. Brief moments of merciful sleep freed her from the horror of their entombment, but it would always be shattered by
the cold, the hunger or the voice of her daughter, “Mommy, I'm thirsty.”
Susanna remembered a television program about an explorer in the Artic who was dying of thirst. His comrade slashed open his hand and gave his friend his blood to drink in order to save his life. Finding a piece of shattered glass, Susanna sliced open her finger and gave it to her daughter to suck. For the eight days the two were trapped, Susanna lost track of how many times she cut herself. She knew if she hadn’t, her Gayaney would have died. Her blood was her daughter’s only hope.
COMMENT:
A. We cry out, “God, I’m so THIRSTY.”
1. So God takes His only Son, hands Him over to godless men who PIERCE Jesus hands, feet, and side
POURING forth His BLOOD to SATISFY our THIRST and SAVE our SOULS.
2. “If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, then you will have eternal life.”
3. Jesus is the FULFILLMENT of our GREATEST NEED!
HOW’S YOUR APPETITE?
