“HOW’S YOUR SPIRITUAL APPETITE?”
MATTHEW 5:6
INTRODUCTION: There is an old French proverb that says, "A good meal ought to begin with hunger." It is hard to enjoy a good meal when you are not hungry, but when you are starving anything tastes good! Few of us in America know what real hunger or thirst is. But when a person has a real appetite or thirst they become consumed with having that longing and craving satisfied. Perhaps the greatest example of hunger and thirst in the Bible is seen in the story of Jacob and Esau. In Genesis 25, Esau returned home after being out all day and asked Jacob to give him some red stew that his brother had made because he felt that he was starving. His hunger was so great that he was willing to do virtually anything for food. As a result Esau sold all his rights as the first born to his younger brother for some bread and lentil stew. It was a bad deal. Concerning hunger and thirst, Christ said In the Beatitudes,, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness…” Let me ask you this morning. “How is your spiritual appetite?” Do you have a genuine hunger and a true thirst for righteousness?
I. Hungering and Thirsting
A. Normally the Greek words used for hunger and thirst are in the genitive case.
1. Refers to possessing a little hunger and a little thirst, thirsting or hungering a bit for something.
a. It’s sort of like the sentiment in the commercial, “I could have had a V-8”
b. It’s saying, “I’ve got a taste for something – on occasion a good steak or perhaps an ice cold Pepsi.
2. Many have this type of hunger and thirst in the spiritual arena.
a. Occasionally they enjoy Christian music, attending church, reading a verse or two from the Bible and saying a prayer.
b. On occasion they have a taste for entertaining thoughts about God.
B. God uses the verbs for hunger and thirst in Matthew 5:6 in an unusual way. They are in the accusative case.
1. It indicates a hunger and a thirst for the whole thing, not just for a taste or a tidbit – It is a craving and consuming desire that must be filled.
2. I experience this kind of hunger whenever I am in Tucson, Arizona. Eleven miles south of Tucson is the Mission San Xavier del Bac. Outside of the Mission the Tohono O’odham Indian’s have booths set up where they sell food and crafts. They sell an Indian taco that is out of this world. When I am in the area I can guarantee you that I will virtually do anything to make sure I get out to the mission and get my taco which I promptly devour with great gusto. Do you and I experience this same kind of appetite for righteousness? It is this kind of burning desire that Christ speaks about in Matthew 5:6.
3. Blessed are they who have an all-consuming hunger and a seemingly insatiable thirst for righteousness – to be right and to do right – to experience personally and practically the holiness of God in one’s heart and life.
II. Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness
A. Thirsting for God – His presence and His Power
1. The man or woman who does not know God has a God-shaped vacuum that cannot be satisfied by others or by things. There is only one thing that can satisfy the human heart a relationship with the only one Being Who can satisfy the last abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Psalms 42:1-2 "… As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, O God. [2] My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?"
3. Having established a relationship with God through Christ, is your burning desire to deepen that relationship?
4. Psalms 73:25 "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee."
5. “God has hemmed me in to nothing, that I many have nothing, do nothing, want nothing, save Himself.”- Jim Elliot in The Journals of Jim Elliot. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 18.
6. 1 Chronicles 16:11 "Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually."
B. Hungering for God’s Word
1. Psalms 119:103 "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
2. Jeremiah 15:16 "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts."
3. We are not, or ought not to be, what we are sometimes accused of being, namely, "bibliolaters," worshipers of the Bible. We do not worship the Bible; we worship the Christ of the Bible. The written Word points to the Living Word. Take a young man who is in love. He has a girlfriend who has captured his heart. As a result he carries a photograph of the one who has captured his heart in his wallet because it reminds him of her when she is far away. Sometimes, when nobody is looking, he might even take the photograph out and give it a secret kiss. He loves the photograph as it represents his true love. And so it is with the Bible. We love it because we love him of whom it speaks. It is God’s love letter to us. – Adapted from John R. W. Stott
4. When we find ourselves deficient in wisdom, it is not because the Word of God has pages missing, but because we have not seen all there is on the pages we already have. It is not another book we need, but better attention to the book we have; it is not more knowledge we require, but better vision to see what has already been revealed in Jesus Christ. - Eugene H. Peterson in Living the Message. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 7.
5. Proverbs 2:3-5 "Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up thy voice for understanding; [4] If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures; [5] Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God."
6. It is said in Acts 17:11 that the Bereans "… were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
C. A Burning Desire for God’s House
1. Psalms 84:1-4 "… How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! [2] My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cries out for the living God. [3] Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. [4] Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.”
2. Psalms 84:10 "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."
3. A pastor put the following announcement in his church newsletter: “To encourage both the faithful and unfaithful to attend church this year, every Sunday will be a "No Excuse Sunday" and the following will be provided: Cots will be placed in the vestibule for those who say, "Sunday is my only day to sleep." Murine will be available for those with tired eyes--from watching TV too late on Saturday night. There will be steel helmets for those who say, "The roof would cave in if I ever came to church." Blankets will be furnished for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who say it is too hot. We will have hearing aids for those who say, "The minister speaks too softly" and cotton for those who say, "The preacher’s too loud." Score cards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present. Some relatives will be in attendance for those who like to go visiting on Sundays. There will be TV dinners for those who can’t go to church and cook dinner also. One section of the church will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature. Finally, the church will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen it without them.
4. Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God; it whets our appetite.
5. Psalms 27:4 "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple."
D. Dissatisfaction with one’s present spiritual position before Christ.
1. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are grieved over the unrighteousness, which they live in. They cry out for personal righteousness, not just in the hereafter – in heaven – but here and now.
2. Psalms 51:1-2, 10 "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. [2] Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin."… [10]Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
3. Paul’s burning desires was to "… be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" Philippians 3:9
4. True spirituality manifests itself in certain dominant desires.
a. First is the desire to be holy rather than happy.
b. A man may be considered spiritual when he wants to see the honor of God advanced through his life even if it means that he himself must suffer temporary dishonor or loss.
c. The spiritual man wants to carry his cross.
d. Again, a Christian is spiritual when he sees everything from God’s viewpoint.
e. Another desire of the spiritual man is to die right rather than to live wrong.
f. The desire to see others advance at his expense.
g. The spiritual man habitually makes eternity-judgments instead of time-judgments. – A.W. Tozer, That Incredible Christian. Christianity Today
5. Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
CONCLUSION: How is your spiritual appetite?
