MATTHEW 5:6
THE HAPPY HUNGRY
#5 - SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
There are two phrases that you and I use often that are really not true.
We use these phrases to express physical needs that for us are fulfilled almost instantly after expressing these needs.
You and I have probably never experienced the drastic physical needs that these phrases express.
The two phrases are:
I'm hungry.
I'm thirsty.
When we say, "I'm hungry", it usually means that it's been just a few hours since we have eaten. For some of us, it may mean that it's been a few minutes since we've had anything to eat.
Real hunger, however is when there is little or no food available.
Real hunger is when there is not sufficient food for us to maintain body weight, or for children to experience physical development.
Real hunger is when there is a constant gnawing in our stomachs, because the basic physical need for food is not being met.
When we say, I'm thirsty", it usually means that we have gone a few hours at most without anything to drink.
But true thirst means there is no water, or anything else available for me to drink.
True thirst means parched lips and a parched tongue.
True thirst means my body is denied essential fluid for sustenance and growth.
Hunger and thirst express two basic needs. The need for food and the need for water.
In America where most people really do not understand what it is to be hungry and thirsty, we have a hard time understanding the concepts of hunger and thirst.
But for you and I to be truly happy, we must learn what it means to hunger and thirst. Not that we need to hunger and thirst after food and water to be happy. We must learn to hunger and thirst after righteousness in order to be happy.
We have been studying the "Beatitudes" in the Sermon on The Mount. These beatitudes show us how to be truly happy and how to go about living righteously.
We started with Matthew 5:3, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
To be "poor in spirit" is to be a spiritual beggar.
It is to come before God with no sense of self worth apart from what we have in Christ.
It is to have no pride and no desire to justify oneself before God.
One cannot have eternal life unless he or she has humbled themselves to a point of realizing that salvation is something we do not deserve, but must trust Christ alone for.
One cannot serve Christ after being saved until one relies fully on Christ for the power for effective Christian service.
Matthew 5:4 - Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
To mourn is to express a deep inner agony or anguish.
When a person mourns, he or she grieves.
When a person is saved there should be some sort of grieving over sin.
After one is saved there should be a grieving over sin which leads the Christian to repent, allowing God to change his life.
Matthew 5:5 - Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
To be meek is not to be week!
The New Testament word meant "mild, gentle, soft".
Meekness is "power under control".
And now we come to Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Hunger and thirst are basic responses to needs.
The Lord Jesus is telling us here that the happy individual is one who hungers and thirsts after one of man's basic needs - the need to be right with God - righteousness!
It is always good to be right with your friends, having a loving, working relationship.
It is always good to be right with your wife or husband, expressing the right kind of marriage relationship.
It is nice to be right with your enemies. Even if you don't agree, having nothing in the life that your enemies can legitimately criticize.
And is always nice to be right with your brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters.
But all of this means nothing if we are not right with God.
· God is our creator.
· God in Christ is our redeemer
· God is the one who blesses and keeps us.
· God is the one who will judge us.
· God is the one who is all-powerful.
· God is the one who is all knowing.
· God is holy.
· God is everywhere.
To be right with God is more essential than having food to eat and water to drink.
Therefore our Lord is telling us to have true hunger and true thirst for righteousness, that is, being right with God.
In the original language these words are expressing a continuous hunger and a continuous thirst.
We should be continually hungry and continually thirsty, and the result is we will continually satisfied.
You might wonder how that can be, but think for a moment.
You got up this morning, and probably ate breakfast.
Your hunger and thirst were satisfied.
But most of you are already thinking of dinner! You are getting hungry again, and will eat again and be satisfied again.
And by evening, you will be hungry again and you will eat again and will drink again and be satisfied again. It is a continual process.
And you are happy in this process.
Now we are called upon to be happy or blessed in a hunger and thirst for God.
What is going to happen when we hunger and thirst after righteousness?
We will lean on God.
We will learn from God.
We will live for God.
We will love with God.
LEANING ON GOD
LEARNING FROM GOD
LIVING FOR GOD
LOVING WITH GOD
LEANING ON GOD
When we lean on something or someone, we are expressing reliance or faith.
As I lean on this pulpit I am expressing a reliance or faith in this pulpit. As you sit in the pew, you are expressing a reliance of faith that the pew will hold you.
When we lean on God we are expressing a reliance or faith in God.
Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
We must lean on God for RIGHTEOUSNESS.
We must lean on God for righteousness because we have no righteousness of our own.
Romans 3:10-12 - As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
We are unrighteous before God.
We need forgiveness.
We need cleansing.
We need guilt removed.
We need eternal life.
We need righteousness.
Do you know why Jesus Christ died?
Yes, He died for your sins, and the sins of the whole world.
Yes, He died so you can be forgiven.
Yes, He died so you can go to Heaven, if you trust Him as your Savior.
But He also died so God could declare you righteous, or right with Him!
2 Corinthians 5:21 - For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
You see, when our sins are dealt with
When are sins are paid for
When are sins have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ we have the opportunity to be made right with God!
We are declared righteous by God, when we place our faith in that shed blood of Christ.
Romans 5:1 - Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Because Christ already died, has already been buried, and has already risen from the dead, all I must do for righteousness is to lean on Him by faith.
Have you leaned on God by putting your faith in Christ for righteousness?
If not, please make that decision this morning.
Those of us who have leaned on Christ for salvation should not stop learning. We are to hunger and thirst after righteousness in such a way that we continue to lean on Him!
1 Corinthians 1:30 - But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Just as I could not be right with God apart from leaning on Christ by faith, I can not live a righteous life, apart from leaning on Christ now.
He is my righteousness.
Galatians 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
See yourself as dead!
When Christ died, you died.
See yourself as alive.
When Christ rose from the dead, you rose from the dead with Him.
See yourself as having Christ alive and living inside of you.
Christ liveth in me!
See yourself as leaning on Him for a righteous life!
…The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Our hunger and thirst should be such that we simply trust Christ who is in us to live His life through us.
We should trust Christ to love our enemy through us.
We should trust Christ to love our marriage partners through us.
We should trust Christ to witness through us.
We should trust Christ to teach through us.
We should trust Christ to do the best possible job at work or school through us.
We should trust Christ to trust God through us.
Be hungry enough to totally rely on Christ for your righteous Christian life. Be thirsty enough to lean entirely on Him who lives in you, for everything!
LEANING ON GOD
LEARNING FROM GOD
When you buy a brand new car or appliance, it comes with a manual. It is usually an operator's manual, which tells you how to adjust and run your new toy.
It is also a maintenance manual that tells you how to keep your car or appliance running like new.
The real enthusiast takes that manual and lives by it.
He operates his car or appliance exactly as the book says.
He maintains his car or appliance exactly as the book says.
The enthusiast is not happy unless he knows by practice the manual by heart.
You, dear Christian, come with an operator's manual. It tells you how to live your new life in Christ. It tells you how to adjust and let Christ run your new life.
It tells you how to maintain your new life in righteousness.
And the real enthusiast as a Christian, the one who will hunger and thirst after righteousness, is going to hunger and thirst after this book in order to learn from God.
1 Peter 2:1-3 - Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, [2] As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: [3] If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Just as a baby craves milk, so should we crave the Word of God.
For it will teach us who we are in Christ, and how we should act in Christ.
I am concerned.
Many of you will walk out this morning thinking this message was, if not wonderful, as least okay. And most of you will find little fault in what I say.
And yet, after hearing me explain that you need to hunger and thirst after the Word of God, less than a third of you will be back tonight for more of the Word of God.
And many, if not most of you will not crack your Bible open until next Sunday morning!
To lean from God, you must read, and learn the operator's manual.
LEANING ON GOD
LEARNING FROM GOD
LIVING FOR GOD
If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, it means you want your life to count for God.
You want your life to count for God not just on Sunday, but all week.
So, continually through the week, you should desire that your activities please God.
It's one thing to live for God in a church service.
But it's quite another thing to live for God when you must make an ethical decision on the job or in school.
It's one thing to live for God when surrounded by Christians, and quite another thing to live for God when you are the only Christian in your class, or on your bus, or in the office, of in the neighborhood.
In living for God, there are two verses I suggest you pray over this week:
Matthew 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Hunger and thirst that your light beams brightly by the way you live before an unsaved world.
Psalm 19:14 - Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
Hunger and thirst that you thoughts and your words please God.
LEANING ON GOD
LEARNING FROM GOD
LIVING FOR GOD
LOVING WITH GOD
Remember what we said about Christ living in you?
Because Christ lives in you, he wants to love through you!
Jesus Christ gave the greatest expression of love when He went to the cross.
1 John 4:10 - Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
And now Christ wants us to express Christ's love to an unsaved world and even to our enemies.
Christ especially wants us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
John 13:34-35 - A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. [35] By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
With God the Son living inside me, I am to express his love to other Christians,
By the way I speak
By the way I listen
By the way I help
By the way I pray
By the way I forgive
There was a commercial for a bank that called themselves the "hungry bankers". And they expressed this hunger by wearing out their shoes.
We should be "hungry and thirsty" Christians, who are willing to wear out their shoes:
LEANING ON GOD
LEARNING FROM GOD
LIVING FOR GOD
LOVING WITH GOD
Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.