The Upside-down Kingdom – Part 5 – Hunger and Thirst
Passage:
“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt 5:1-12)
1: Intro:
In this passage Jesus calls us to examine what we hunger and thirst for.
Let’s take a look here at the text in verse 6.
2: THE MEANING
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matt. 5:6)
- So after Jesus talks about what it means for us to embrace our spiritual bankruptcy. And what it means for us to mourn over our sin and the brokenness of our world – and what it means for us to submit ourselves to go where God calls us to go in the strength he provides
- he turns towards the next thing that God often changes in us as we walk with him – and that’s our appetites.
Now there is a lot to break down here – but the first word that we need to talk about is the word “hunger” and “thirst.”
- Hunger in this text is a bit of a loaded word. The majority of the people that Jesus is talking to are physically hungry. Starving actually.
- and Jesus uses that feeling to get at something a little bit deeper than their and our physical hunger and thirst – as important as that is.
- Jesus uses analogy about hunger and thirst to talk about our spiritual cravings all over the gospels. Especially in the book of John. I have a couple examples here –
- “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14-15)
- “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
- “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7:35)
Jesus over and over in the Scriptures uses the illustration of hungering and thirsting to describe not a physical hunger and thirsting, but to talk about our spiritual search for satisfaction and peace – and how it is not found in all of the things of this world – but it is found in him.
- see the question that Jesus realizes about our humanity is that it really isn’t a question of whether or not we have hunger or thirst – but it’s what do we hunger and thirst for.
- All of us have a spiritual hunger and thirst. It is a God given longing that he intends for himself to satisfy.
Yet because of sin’s effect upon the world – we often don’t go to God to find it – but we just go and try to find it everywhere else.
So as Jesus says here – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
- Jesus reveals that not only is he acknowledging the deep hunger and thirst that we feel – but he reveals that there is a source that provides true satisfaction.
- specifically – he says the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness -are the ones that will be satisfied.
Which makes us ask the question – what is righteousness?
- Very simply in the Bible, righteousness, is living rightly in God’s eyes. Both in a vertical relationship with God – to bring our lives into accordance with his heart, his values, and what he calls good – and also in turn living rightly in our horizontal relationships with people.
Before we can hunger and thirst for righteousness – we must be declared righteous.
the gospel is not that force yourself to do good things – the gospel says you can never be righteous on your own. you can’t hunger for it on your own.
- that’s why Jesus came. and he was righteous – so that he could pay the penalty for sin and make you righteous.
- I love how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:21.“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
When you accept Jesus by faith – scripture says a transfer happens. Your sin – your unrighteousness – is placed on Jesus – and HIS righteousness – is imputed – or given to you. you are declared righteous.
- you become – justified – which is a Bible word that means you are forgiven – made right before God.
- and when he does that – he gives you a new heart. He gives you his spirit. you are made alive
And as he saves you – he begins to you give new desires. New hungers. Things that you would have never hungered for before – you begin to find beautiful.
and what is the result of this in the life of a believer? Jesus – blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – for they shall be satisfied.
- Now I believe that there are two satisfactions that he is talking about here.
First – satisfaction in the present.
- as we hunger and thirst for righteousness to bring our lives into alignment with him – to get rid of sin – to know him – to seek him through his word and prayer – to abide in him.
- the fruit of the spirit begins to show up. we begin to experience joy even if our circumstances don’t seem to be very joyful. Or we have peace – even if there’s utter chaos around us – we become patient even in extreme difficulty. There is a satisfaction for you when you follow and obey him where he calls you.
- it’s that satisfaction that led Paul to say in Philippians 4 – as he is in a prison in Rome waiting on his execution orders “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:12-13)
- There is a satisfaction that we can have right where we are at.
Second – is satisfaction in the future.
- ultimately the satisfaction we get from God now – is but a taste of what’s coming. One day after all the longing and all the hunger – comes the greatest satisfaction of all – Revelation 22 says that we will see his face. We will reign with him and enjoy him forever. Our hunger is not just to gain some mere spiritual insight or some state of nirvana – it is to see, and rule and reign and enjoy the Lord Jesus himself forever.
3: THE APPLICATION-
- But all of it starts by walking with him now. and this leads me to focus on some practical stuff for us.
and it’s just a question What do you hunger and thirst for today?
- what do you find yourself longing for? What drives you? What’s your first thought in the morning and the last thought at night?
- What gets you excited? where do you run when you get lonely or afraid or stressed?
- What do you spend your resources on? (Time, Talent, Treasure)