Now, before we turn to our beatitude, I want to read again, actually, a passage that we read not too long ago in church from Isaiah chapter 55 and verses 1 to 7, which says,
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and you will delight in the richest of fear. Give ear and come to me. Listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not and nations you do not know will come running to you because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendour.
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on them and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
And then our beatitude for this evening in Matthew 5 and verse 6, Jesus says,
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Now when we hear the question, are you hungry? And we understand that that question works on two levels. On the one hand, there's the physical aspect, but we also get that image because we hear it today.
In the realm of sports, we can think of athletes and sports people who still have the hunger.
In our careers, perhaps, we hear talk of being hungry for success or recognition.
Bruce Springsteen famously sang that everybody has got a hungry heart.
Everybody's looking for satisfaction.
And the question is, where is our heart looking for satisfaction?
Where do I think satisfaction is found?
Do my appetite lead me towards Jesus or distract me from Jesus?
Here we are in beatitude number four.
And there's again a flow to the beatitudes.
So the first three help us to see clearly our spiritual emptiness,
our poverty, that we should be mourning over sin,
that there ought to be a meekness about us.
But our response as followers of Jesus is not to despair
and say, here's where I lack and there's nothing I can do about it.
Rather, disciples of Jesus, aware of our need,
we long for greater righteousness.
We sense that lack, but that lack leads us to hunger for God and for his will.
Now again, we've said this every week,
there is a counter-cultural challenge to the beatitudes.
Here's Jesus saying, the person who is blessed,
who is happy, who knows God's favour,
is the one who desires to conform to God's will.
Is that the message of our culture?
Not really.
Because by and large, we have replaced virtues,
the will of God, what's right and wrong,
virtues with personal values.
Instead of our society being built on,
here's the solid rock of what we know and have received
as good and right and true,
grounded in God's word,
that's been replaced,
that solid rock foundation has been replaced
with the shifting sands of my personal beliefs and values.
And those are constantly in flux, as we've seen.
And the result,
to borrow from the title of a book by the Christian philosopher Dallas Willard,
is that we live in the age of the disappearance of moral knowledge.
Simply put,
we do not often know where to go
to understand what is good and right and true.
C.S. Lewis put it another way.
He said,
we're living in a time where there is the loss of moral courage.
So we need to get to a place where we can see
that our moral decisions matter
and what we choose as our moral compass matters.
And this beatitude
says to us,
once again,
make God,
make the will of God,
our pole star.
Make that be the thing that guides us.
Some questions for us to think about.
What is this righteousness
we are to hunger and thirst for?
And there's a number of important answers to that
that we can find in the Bible.
First of all,
that righteousness
that we hunger and thirst for
is for God himself.
Because he is righteous.
Righteous.
Psalm 145 in verse 17.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
Ours is a God who is faithful to his character,
who fulfills his promises,
who is righteous both in judgment and in salvation.
And Jesus is saying
there is blessing to be found,
there is joy
and favour with God to be found
when we have a hunger
for a right relationship with God,
when that is our fundamental desire.
Jesus would say it shortly
in the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 6.
Seek first his kingdom
and his righteousness
and all these things will be added to you.
We read from the Old Testament
in Isaiah chapter 55,
God's invitation
to those who would listen
towards true satisfaction.
Don't settle for temporary pleasure,
satisfaction that comes and goes.
Rather, find satisfaction that lasts
based on knowing and enjoying life with God.
He calls us towards an everlasting covenant
where God binds himself
in loving relationship to his own people.
And how does he do that?
Well, according to the book of Isaiah
in chapter 53,
he does that by sending his own son Jesus
to be the suffering servant,
the one who will die
in the place of unrighteous people
to bring us to a righteous God
and to be reconciled to him.
So righteousness that we hunger for
is to know God
and to know more of God.
It's also important to see
that that righteousness we hunger for
is a righteousness
that is provided by the Lord Jesus.
Paul in 2 Corinthians 5
and verse 21 says,
God made him,
that is Jesus,
God made him who knew no sin
to be sin for us
so that in him
we might become
the righteousness of God.
So here's this great exchange
that takes place at the cross.
Jesus,
the one truly righteous one,
he becomes sin,
he bears sin
for his people
so that rebel sinners
might be declared,
reckoned to be
as righteous
as the Lord Jesus.
He takes my sin
and he gifts me
his righteousness
so that in God's eyes
I am declared
to be righteous.
That's all of grace
and it's not something
that we earn
or deserve
and so it's really important
to understand
that when Jesus talks
about pursuing righteousness
he's thinking about
inner transformation
not an external
set of laws
that we keep
as a tick box exercise.
You can compare
the teaching of Jesus
with the Pharisees
and how often
they were in conflict
because for the Pharisees
their righteousness
was all about
the externals
whereas Jesus
in the Sermon on the Mount
and all through his ministry
is calling us
to be transformed
from the inside
to have an inner heart
and mind
and motive
that desires
the will of God.
So we are to hunger
and thirst
for
to be satisfied
by
and to find
our hope
in
the perfectly
righteous one
the Lord Jesus
and that righteousness
he gives to us
and that's something
that we're never
to lose our appetite for.
But there's also
a social dimension
to this righteousness
that we are to hunger
and thirst for.
We are to hunger
for
living rightly
for God.
Where do we take
our cues
for moral goodness?
For a Christian
and for the church
we are to take
our cue
from God
and his word
not
the shifting values
of our culture.
It's a reminder
that when Jesus
is our saviour
he is also
our Lord
and our King.
He directs
what goodness
looks like
and what truth
sounds like.
This is not
the cheap grace
that Bonhoeffer
spoke against.
This isn't
Jesus gives you
forgiveness
as a free pass
so you can do
whatever you want
because you'll be sure
of going to heaven
so long as you say
a prayer.
This is not
some kind of
get out of jail
free card.
No,
this is
the reality
that when Jesus
bids a person
to come and follow
him,
he bids that
person come
and die,
come and die
to self
to live
for Jesus.
So to hunger
for that righteousness
is to
have a new
appetite,
a hunger
for holiness.
That we sense
the gnawing
pain
in the pit
of our stomach
because of
our disobedience,
because of
our failure,
because of
our lack
of love
for God
and for
others.
We sense
where we let
God down
in our words
and our actions
and our motivations
and that pains
us but it also
motivates us
in our desire
to become
more like
Jesus.
So we hunger
and thirst
for living
rightly
for God.
And again
on that social
dimension,
we hunger
and thirst
as we seek
God's
righteousness
in God's
world.
Remember how
Jesus taught
his disciples
to pray,
your kingdom
come,
your will
be done
on earth
as it is
in heaven.
So we desire
to see
the righteousness
of God
in the world
that he has made.
And that has
implications
for our
personal relationships
so that in
our family,
in our homes,
in our workplace,
with our colleagues,
in our friendships
and with
fellow church
members,
we want to
speak and
act towards
people in
a righteous way,
in a way that
conforms to the
pattern that
Jesus said.
But it's not
just about
relationships,
it's also about
a desire for
justice.
You read the
Old Testament
prophets and
so often
Israel is
being condemned
because of
injustice,
oppression of
the poor,
stealing the
homes of
widows,
justice in
the courts
that could be
bought and
sold.
Martin Luther
King,
as he saw
the social
injustice of
racism,
used the
words of
an Old
Testament
prophet,
Amos,
quoting Amos
5,
24,
on a number
of occasions,
let justice
roll on like
a river,
righteousness,
like a
never failing
stream.
So we
pursue justice
looking at a
high level,
but also we
pursue justice,
for example,
when we
defend a
co-worker from
gossip or
slander.
So it's about
relationships,
it's about
justice,
it's about
moral integrity,
that we hunger
and thirst to be
known as a
people who
tell the
truth,
who work
with honesty,
even when
that hurts,
who are
known for
fairness,
who are
careful
against
using our
words in
person or
online to
tear others
down.
them.
So the
righteousness
that Jesus
calls us
to long
for is
that we
would live
in relationship
with God
and want
more of
that,
and to
live rightly
before God
and for
God in
his world.
next question
for us to
think about
is this,
what can
we say
about
hungering
and thirsting?
What's it
look like?
And again,
this is an
image that's
helpful on
various levels,
you think about
hunger,
you think about
thirst,
we recognise
these are
fundamental,
basic needs.
Jesus is
saying at
our core
as Christians
is to
long for
God and
to long
for his
will,
to desire
to be
more like
him,
to live
in faith
and obedience,
that should
be the
appetite above
all that
drives us.
We see this
in David's
life in the
psalm,
psalm 42,
he uses that
picture of
the dehydrated
deer,
desperate for
streams of
water,
and David
said that
reflects my
longing for
God.
Psalm 63
which we'll
sing at
the end,
David says
I thirst
for you,
my whole
being longs
for you,
I'll be
satisfied as
with the
richest of
foods when
I come to
know and
enjoy that
sense of
intimacy with
my God.
And if
David gives
us a good
example,
Jesus gives
us the
perfect example
in John
chapter 4,
he says
my food is
to do the
will of
him who
sent me
and to
finish his
work.
Just as
he said
in Matthew
chapter 4,
man does
not live by
bread alone
but on
every word
that comes
from the
mouth of
God.
Jesus'
will was
that he
did the
Father's
will.
Jesus loved
to hear
and to
obey the
Father's
word.
Jesus lived
to pursue
and complete
his Father's
work for
him.
That was
fundamental
to his
life.
Perhaps in
response,
we need to
take time to
talk to
God, to
think about
how is my
appetite for
God and for
holiness and
to ask that
God by his
Spirit would
increase,
our desire.
Another thing
that we can
recognise about
hungering and
thirsting is
that these
are needs
that must be
met.
We know that
they can be
really painful
experiences,
hunger and
thirst, if
you've ever
had a
dehydration
sickness or
simply that
rumbling and
crumbling in
the pit of
your stomach
because you
haven't eaten
for a day.
You know
that it's
painful.
So as a
common
practice, we
naturally plan
for our
meals so
that hunger
and thirst
can be
satisfied.
Here's the
question for
us as
followers of
Jesus.
Do we
plan for
righteousness
and for
character?
Do we
plan for
those longings
to be
satisfied so
that we
would grow
in our
fellowship with
God and
our obedience
to him?
God's
need to
think about
our
needs.
How can
we plan
to meet
those needs?
Maybe we
need to
think about
our bedtime.
Maybe we
need to
make use of
our alarm
clock, that
we would go
to bed
early and
we would
get up
early to
give ourselves
more time,
time when
we're awake,
not half
asleep, for
reading God's
word, for
reflecting on
it and for
praying to
him, to
build a
relationship, to
confess our
sin, to
worship him, to
ask for our
needs at the
start of the
day.
It will
involve us
in time
management.
Who doesn't
struggle with
time management?
So many
things to do
in the course
of a day, but
we all need
to learn to
either create
time or
protect time
for God and
for the people
of God.
That we
cannot be
satisfied, we
cannot grow as
a Christian as
we should unless
we are making
time for God
and his word
and worship
and spending
time with the
family of God,
our spiritual
family.
So we need
to be around
hungry people.
Who do you
know who loves
digging into
the Bible?
Who do you
know who has
an active
prayer life where
you sense
here is
someone who
knows friendship
with God.
Here is
someone who's
working on
their character.
Here is
someone who's
honest about
sin.
Let's get
around those
people.
Watch them.
Learn from
them.
Talk to
them.
Have your
appetite stirred
as you see
theirs in
action.
And also it's
a call to us
as Christians to
be who we
truly are.
are.
We need
always to be
talking to
ourselves about
the reality
that in
Christ we
are a new
creation.
In Christ we
are adopted
into the
family of
God and as
such we need
to put on
the qualities
of our
father in
heaven.
We have a
new set of
family values
to live by
so we put
off the
old self
like an
old set of
clothes.
as Paul
wrote so
often in
his lecture.
So we
are to be
hating sin,
killing sin,
staying far
away from
temptation when
we can.
So we put
off the old
and we are
to put on
the new
like a new
set of
clothing as
the people
of God
by his
grace with
the help
of his
spirit
seeking to
grow in
obedience.
Again
thinking about
these needs
of hunger
and thirst.
We need to
understand that
these needs
will be
life long.
When Jesus
calls us to
hunger and
thirst after
righteousness he's
not saying to
his first
followers well do
that for so
long as the
Sermon on the
Mount is
happening and
then you can
live however
you want.
This is not
some kind of
fad diet.
This isn't
30 days towards
a better you.
No this is an
entirely new
appetite.
This is an
entirely new
diet.
This is a
deep change
at the
level of
desires and
at the
level of
heart.
And that
desire for
God and
for his
will needs
constantly to
be fed.
Just as we
wouldn't
willingly and
we shouldn't
willingly starve
ourselves or
cause ourselves to
become dehydrated,
neither should
that be the
case spiritually.
we make progress
in the Christian
life and in
Christian maturity
when we have a
God-directed
hunger.
Here's what I
want most of
all, it's
more of God.
So I'm going to
come to him.
I'm going to
come to Jesus
to find
satisfaction.
I never want
to say I've
had enough,
I've had my
fill.
Japanese
culture
talks about
learning to
stop when
your stomach
is 70%
full.
That's not
what we want
to do as
Christians.
It makes
for probably
really healthy
lifestyle.
Not spiritually
though.
We want to
be completely
filled and
satisfied by
God, his
word, his
will.
Which takes
us to our
last question.
How is our
hunger and
thirst to be
satisfied?
So I
remember as
a student
suffering a
bout of
food poisoning.
Not from
my own
cooking,
mercifully,
from dodgy
mushrooms.
But I
remember
days of
pain and
that sort
of gnawing
hunger during
that enforced
fast.
Well, after
two or three
days, I
planned.
When I
feel better,
my reward
will be a
feast.
And so we
went off to
pizza.
And my
goodness,
although it's
average pizza
tasted so
good, because
I'm starving.
Jesus says
the blessed
person, the
truly happy
person, the
person who's
found favour
with God, is
someone who
recognises I
have a God
shaped hole in
my life.
And we're not
trying to fill
the hole in
our lives with
small things that
cannot ultimately
satisfy.
love.
But we've
come to
understand that
knowing God,
enjoying God,
is the appetite
to satisfy.
And not just
do we see,
here's where our
hunger is, we
come to Jesus
for satisfaction.
Because Jesus is
the one who, in
John chapter 4,
said to the
Samaritan woman who
is searching for
love and security,
in any number of
relationships with
men, I am the
water of life.
I am the one
who can truly
satisfy.
I am the end
of your searching
for love and
security.
Because in me,
you find God.
In me, you find
eternal.
And Jesus is the
one in John
chapter 6, as we
thought about in
church not that
long ago, who is
the bread of life.
He is the gift of
God that comes
down and gives
life.
And he invites
us to come.
To turn from
sin, to turn from
unrighteousness, to
look to him and
be satisfied.
Isaiah 55, turn to
the Lord so that he
might have mercy, that
we might find his
pardon, we might
find his satisfaction
in knowing him.
The wonderful truth
is that as
Christians, we can
taste joy now.
we can know God
deeply today.
We can do God's
will today.
And that's great
news.
And that's something
that should cause our
desire to increase, but
still, when we're
honest, we also know
there are times of
emptiness.
When we are
distracted from
Jesus, when we seek
our satisfaction in
other places, there
are times of
frustration where
we feel our
weakness, our
sin, our
failure, our
rebellion, our
lack of desire,
our falling into
the same sinful
habits time and
time again.
So our hope
isn't ultimately
for now,
good.
It's for the
future.
Our ultimate
hope is for the
return of Jesus
because then we'll
take our place at
God's feast.
Isn't it wonderful
how often the new
heavens and the new
earth are described
as a feast, as a
banquet?
And then our
desire for
righteousness will be
satisfied because we
will be with
Jesus and we will
see him face to
face.
Our desire for
God will be fully
satisfied and our
desire for
righteous living will
be satisfied because
we will be made
like him, we will be
made perfect, that
sin will be gone
forever.
So friends, let's
let that hunger
drive us to
Jesus.
Drive us to
God and his
word to
recognise
realise it's in
him and his
will that we
can find that
true and lasting
satisfaction.
pursuant.