“The Blessing of Being Hungry”
Matthew 5:6
Sermon Series: “The Blessing”
Introduction: Psalm 11:7 says, “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.” Obviously, righteousness is very important to the Lord because it is His nature and He loves it. Therefore, Jesus tells us to hunger and thirst for righteousness. What does this really mean?
1. What is the nature of true righteousness?
-It is speaking of God’s righteousness.
-It is speaking of complete righteousness.
-It is imputed righteousness (Romans 3:19-26, 4:1-8).
-It is moral righteousness (Romans 5:20-6:14, rest of the Sermon on the Mount and Pharisees version of religion, legalism)
-It is social righteousness (meaning that our God-given righteousness is expressed in ministry to other people, see Amos 5:21-24, Matthew 25:41-46).
2. How much of a priority is righteousness to us? Hunger and thirst speak of a strong desire and longing that comes from great need and emptiness.
-Are we willing to admit our complete unrighteousness and complete inability to make ourselves righteous (Isaiah 64:6, Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 23, Philippians 3:3-10, 2 Kings 5:9- 14)?
-Are we first and foremost seeking God’s righteousness or are we primarily seeking other things (blessings) from God (Matthew 6:25-33)?
-Is your righteousness being demonstrated in care for others because your faith is producing works (James 2:14-17)? -Would we rather live wrong or die right (Matthew 5:10)?
3. What is the reward of righteousness? The blessing, or reward, of righteousness is satisfaction. That is the meaning of filled. God favors us with satisfaction, now and forever, when we are righteous. Jesus is the both the provider of righteousness and the object of our satisfaction. Satisfaction is only found in Him. We look to many substitutes, or “functional saviors,” but they are false idols while Jesus is the real thing (Jeremiah 2:13, John 4:7-19, John 6:25-35). Gamaliel Bradford wrote of “a thirst no earthly stream can satisfy, a hunger that must feed on Christ or die.”
Conclusion: Are you righteous? Have you despaired of self- righteousness and looked to Jesus alone as your righteousness? Christian, are you satisfied in Jesus? Are you hungry and thirsty for Him and His righteousness? Is your righteousness expressed in ministry to others?
