Sermon on Mount
Blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness
MAy 2004
Intro
In Matthew 5:16 Jesus tells us to live in such a way that people would see our lives and give glory to God; in the Lord’s prayer his first petition is to hallow Gods name on earth as it is in heaven. In the beatitudes, Jesus’ aim was to create a lifestyle in his followers that would make people think about the value of God, or to glorify God. These beatitudes are totally counter cultural and totally counter cultural to the American church.
There is good reason that this is fourth on the list. We need to understand our need for God before we are driven to God for grace. We cannot manufacture or do ’these’. I have written in my bible by this verse, ’people who want something give evidence to that.’ If I want righteousness I will give evidence to that desire. Do I give evidence of this in my life? If we did a time study and tracked everything you did in a 24 hour period, would you time give evidence to your hunger and thirst for righteousness (here of later – t, t, t)!
1. I must have an appetite
What does it mean to hunger? To hunger means to have a strong desire, appetite, feeling in your gut that only grows until it is satisfied. It gnaws at you. It creates a level of discomfort that seeks to be relieved. It is not something you can easily ignore. Thirst is the same way. Hunger seeks to be filled and thirst seeks to quenched. Food and water were scarce commodities in Palestine yet they are not optional items for survival. You cannot get along without food and drink. The people that were listening to Jesus were familiar with periods of famine. The Jewish people knew what it was like to hunger and thirst in the desert and then to have God himself provide for them with manna from heaven. This provision was a gift of grace - shall be filled. Jesus also knew what it was like to hunger having fasted for 40 days in the desert.
Why does Jesus use the illustration of longing? These two appetites, for food and drink are givens in life. There is a longing in the human heart. You have heard me say numerous times that Pascal says that there is a God shaped vacuum in the human heart that seeks to be filled. CS Lewis says something like ’if there is a longing in my heart that this world cannot satisfy then it tells me that I was not made for this world.’ St. Augustine said, “Thou made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it rest in Thee.” We will be driven to fill this longing with something, either with God or some substitute for God. This truth is why the grass always looks greener on the other side. It is why things get boring and we long for some other experience that will give us more of a thrill. It is why we look for newer and better trucks, snow machines, vacations, houses, project, etc. This world cannot satisfy that longing or desire yet we continue to go from one thing to the next seeking to fill it. The things this world has to offer does satisfy this desire only temporarily, then we look for some new thrill to satisfy. Everyone of us can identify with this – snowmachines or four wheelers, houses, jobs, spouses, shoes, jewelry, etc. These two words are conveying a spiritual reality that is as basic and needful as physical need for food and drink. We experience them everyday so we can identify with the metaphor.
Yet most of us never experience hunger or thirst because we eat before we ever become truly hungry. Most of us eat when our stomachs are empty before we get hungry. I fasted for an extended period of time one time. When you fast for a long period of time you lose your appetite after the third day and then do not regain it until after your body is finished burning all your exess fat and then it starts eating the body tissue. I am afraid many of us are like that. We have not feasted on Jesus or have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good for so long we have lost our appetite for him.
2. I must Not settle for anything less than Jesus – sub to 1?
We get as much of God as we want; nothing more and nothing less. We are settling for what CS Lewis says are making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. We hunger and thrist for other things instead of hungering and thirsting for God and we get what we want, a prostitute that has made a promise to us that she cannot and will not keep so when we are done with her or she is done with us life is still empty and the craving for something else something more, is still there. Yet we are left by ourselves to pick up the pieces.
This is what Jeremiah describes for us: NIV Jeremiah 2:11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares the LORD. 13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
3. My appetite must be for Righteounsess
Righteousness is a theme that occurs a total of six times in the SOM. I think because it is what glorifies God (5:16). Christian will be persecuted because of righteousness (5:10); our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees (5:20); we do acts of righteousness (6:1); and above all we are to seek his righteousness above all else (6:33).
• Righteouseness living like jesus
We get a better idea of what Jesus means by this when we look at 10 and 11 together:
NIV Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Verses 10 and 11 are parallel verses that are saying the same thing in different ways. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness and blessed are you when you are persecuted (insulted, slander) because of me. So because of righteousness and because of me (Jesus) are interchanged. Righteousness is following Jesus and living like Jesus so that others see it and react negatively towards you because of it (or praise God). Many of us do not face persecution – slander, insults, alientation, etc because we do not live like Jesus. We do not speak up, we do not walk away from conversations that are lewd, we do not confront frieds and co workers when they are doing something wrong, or because people do not even know we are Christians! etc.
• Rightousness of faith
Next Jesus makes this kind of statement: NIV Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Speaking of the pharisees in 15:8-9 jesus tells us that these people worship me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. The pharisees turned the law which was meant to be a law of faith (point them to their need for faith) and turned it into a badge of honor (look at me and my ability to be righteous or follow the commands, look good). NIV Matthew 15:8 "’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’" But this is an affront to God when you take something he has given as a means of grace and turn it into a means of merit. But that is what the human heart does by nature. We are always making gods in our own image. We make them the way we want and on our terms. This puts us central and God peripheral. Then we flaunt our righteousness in front of others to get their approval and affirmation, but Jesus warns us againts this . . .
NIV Matthew 6:1 "Be careful not to do your ’acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
A similar verse to 5:6 is Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
The Prmose: to be filled
Fiulled with Christ
There is a righteousness between God and me, that is do I have a right standing with God? Do I want Jesus as my Savior - to save me from the power of sin in my life?
There is a functional or social righteousness, am I do what is right towards others in my personal life, my business life and the other relationships within my life.
Filled in the age to come
Then there is an eschatalogical righteousness that will never be filled until Christ returns and we are vindicated by him. There is a sense that I am filled with him but another sense that my personal righteousness will never be filled or complete. The christian will always long for more righteousness in their life that will never be filled until we meet Christ face to face in the age to come.
There are three senses that we seek this rightousenss:
In Christ as my Savior, do I thirst after him to save me from my sin and its power in my life
Do I thirst after him for right relationships with others
Do I thirst after him for righteousness to be established in others (5:16, 6:10).
Yet the promise for me is that if I hunger and thirst for righteouness, I will be satisfied or fill.
I have written in my bible by this verse, ’people who want something give evidence to that.’ I was struck by this this morning as I read it. It made me stop and think about my life and my desires/appetites. If I want righteousness I will give evidence to that desire.
See Lk 1:53; Jer 31:25
Hunger and thirst are appetites that return frequently, and call for fresh satisfactions; so these holy desires rest not in any thing attained, but are carried out toward renewed pardons, and daily fresh supplies of grace. The quickened soul calls for constant meals of righteousness, grace to do the work of every day in its day, as duly as the living body calls for food. Those who hunger and thirst will labour for supplies; so we must not only desire spiritual blessings, but take pains for them in the use of the appointed means.
