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| Andrew Angupale |
It is a blessing to be
Hungry and Thirsty
Text: Matthew
5:6
“Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Truth: The
secret to a healthy spiritual life is a passion for God.
Aim: To incite
desire for God more than anything else.
Introduction
The commercial break gives us insight into how Jesus
taught spiritual lessons. Advertisers pay millions to put their slogans and
images before us. They believe it is worth it. Why? Because it works. They know
if they can get their slogan and image into our head it will influence our
choices. They don’t have to present a persuasive case for why we need to buy
their product.
Advertisers have learned what Jesus knew 2,000 years ago:
an image connected with an idea is a powerful means of influencing our view of
the world.
i)
Some advertisers suggest
our world is incomplete without their product.
ii)
they give us that image
over and over.
Jesus understood the power of an image connected with an
idea.
i)
The cross,
ii)
The mustard seed,
iii)
The lamp on a stand,
iv)
The pearl,
v)
The hunger and thirst
Are not only realities, but they are powerful images that
reveal something even great about Christ and His purposes for our life. Like
the advertisers, to get the full impact of the wealth of their meaning we need
to bring them before us again and again. Of all the images Christ used to teach
about himself the one that we experience every day is hunger and thirst. In fact, all of us will act on
this image immediately after this service. We’re given this powerful image
every day so that its truth will capture our choices each day. I suggest that
the idea Jesus is teaching us through this image is that the secret to a healthy spiritual life is a passion for God.
I want us to notice two things from this verse: the
condition to a healthy spiritual life and the consequences of a healthy
spiritual life.
Why is
hungering and thirsting such a good illustration? Because as water and food is
to the body, so righteousness is to the spiritual life. We as humans hunger and
thirst not only for food but for satisfaction in life. We search in all kinds
of different areas to be filled, to be satisfied, but we always end up falling
short.
The Condition to a Healthy Spiritual Life
Some translations use the word “happy.” We’ve seen that is
a poor exchange. Those who are blessed are generally profoundly happy; but
blessedness cannot be reduced to happiness. In the Scriptures man can bless God
and God can bless man. In that duality we get a clue as to what does blessing
mean. To be blessed fundamentally means to be approved, to find approval. When
God blesses man, he is approving man.
- Since this is God’s universe there can be no higher “blessing”
than to be approved by God. The beatitudes challenge us to consider whose
blessing we are seeking. Is it more important to be approved by our family or
colleagues, or is the most important desire to gain God’s approval? For those
Christians that yearn to please God more than anyone else in their world, these
beatitudes will be very encouraging to them.
- The disciple that pleases God hungers and thirsts for
righteousness. It is not that he wants to be a little more righteous. The
intensity with which Jesus states this pictures desperation. He can’t get along
without righteousness; it is as important to him as food and water.
- The scholars say that the grammar of the original language
expresses a hunger and thirst for the whole thing. In other words, this person
doesn’t want a sandwich, he wants the whole loaf of bread. This describes the
hunger we have when we say we are starving. Though few of us really know what
that is like. Praise the Lord! This person is not asking for a sip of water; he
wants the whole glass.
Do you have the hunger and thirst for Jesus you did when
you were saved or maybe just a few years back? Paul said that it is possible;
as our bodies grow weaker with age our spirit for Christ can grow stronger.
Does that describe your Christian journey? Today, you are more desirous for God
than you were in the past? That was true of Moses.
Moses’ first encounter with God was at a bush that was on
fire, but it wasn’t consumed. He took off his shoes and got on his face before
God. Later he sees God perform ten plagues on Egypt, and Moses leads Hebrews
out of bondage without a shot being fired. Moses raised the rod of God into the
air and saw the Red Sea split and a million plus people crossover on dry land.
He saw the glory of God’s presence represented in a pillar of fire at night and
a cloud during the day. He drank water that came from a flint rock and ate
manna that came from heaven’s ovens. After all of that, do you know what Moses
said to the Lord? “Lord, I know I’ve seen all those miracles but would you show
me Your glory?” Now what a minute, Moses? I think you’ve seen enough, haven’t
you? Not for Moses. His hunger and thirst for God were insatiable.
- hen the Prodigal son was hungry he sought to satisfy his hunger
with the husks fed to the hogs. But when he began to starve is when he decided
to go back to his father.
- The starting point in all achievement is desire. Weak desire
brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of
heat. The key to will power is want power. People who want something badly
enough can usually find the will power to achieve it.
- We are filled with hunger and thirst that are greater than an
empty stomach. There are many legitimate hungers: there is the hunger for
truth, love, knowledge, belonging, expression, justice, imagination,
significance and many more.
What is it that we can’t get along without? Righteousness.
Isn’t that a little disappointing? What is this righteousness that we are
starved to have?
The Bible speaks of righteousness in three ways. There is positional, public and pure righteousness.
- Positional righteousness
refers to our relationship to God based on our relationship with Jesus Christ.
When a sinner repents of his sin and surrenders to Jesus as his God he goes
from being separated from God to being a child of God. Everything has been made
right between him and God because of the saving work of Jesus Christ.
- Public righteousness refers
to the will and standards of God being practiced in society. God wants society
to be just and merciful. God wants people to live at peace with one another.
Christians work to see that laws and social standards reflect God’s will.
That’s public righteousness.
- Pure righteousness refers
to the individual Christian living a holy life, a life of purity. This is to
live a life being set free from the power of sin. They want to be set free from
selfishness and empowered to live selflessly like Jesus. They want to be free
from revenge taking and be big-hearted people of forgiveness like Jesus. They
want to stop disbelieving God and start growing in faith in God. Sin and its
consequences are progressively being removed from their lives.
Once more, here is the distinction between Christianity
and all other religions. At the heart of every religion there is a major
figure. With Buddhism it is Buddha. With Islam there is Mohammed. With Hinduism
it is Krishna. And with Christianity it is Jesus Christ. That’s where the
comparison ends. If you ask adherents of these other faiths where do you find
salvation, they point to a way of living. A Muslim will not point you to
Mohammed. He will point you to the Koran. It is not Buddha who delivers you, it
is his “Noble Truths” that instruct you.
By contrast, Jesus not only taught the truth, He said He was the Truth. He didn’t just point the way to
salvation; He said He was the Way to salvation. That’s why
for a Christian it is not a way of living, it is first relating to the person
of Jesus Christ.
What will it take to bring us to this blessed condition
of Hungry?
It will take the same thing that it takes in the natural.
- We have to cut out the junk food:
- Junk food is the stuff that provides no true nourishment or
strength to the body, it pacifies (appeases) the appetite till we have no
desire for the true healthy food that the body needs.
- In a spiritual sense this is true also, We can fill up our lives
on TV and Sports, and Recreation, and Natural things till we have no desire or
appetite for the things of God.
- Many times people lose their hunger for spiritual things, and
they think that if they wait long enough it will return. The truth is, it won’t
Feeding of the 5000
“Jesus
answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw
miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work
for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son
of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’”
The hunger and thirst for God is pictured in this story of
Jill and the Lion. The lion represents Christ and Jill represents us.
When Jill stopped, she found she was dreadfully
thirsty…She listened carefully and felt almost sure she heard the sound of
running water.
Jill…looked around her very carefully. There was
no sign of the Lion; so she plucked up her courage to …look for running water.
…she came to an open glade and saw the stream,
bright as glass…[A]lthough the sight of the water made her feel ten times
thirstier than before, she didn’t rush forward and drink. She stood still as if
she had been turned to stone, with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good
reason: just this side of the stream lay the Lion…
“Are you thirsty?” said the Lion.
“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.
“Then drink,” said the Lion.
“May I—could I—would you mind going away while I
do?” said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very
low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she
might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was
driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I
do come?” said Jill.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it,
she had come a step nearer.
“Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and
men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion.
“I dare not come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh, dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer.
“I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
I am speaking to some who are thirsty for God. Maybe there
are some here and you are not interested in just a sip. You want the whole
glass. What grace He has bestowed on you this morning. This passage beckons you
to come to Him and be filled. Don’t let fear turn you away. You will only go
away thirsty.
The condition for a healthy spiritual life is a passion
for God. When the condition is met then there are consequences.
The Consequences of Healthy Spiritual Life
Jesus says this person will be filled. It means fully
satisfied. He doesn’t get just a taste of bread but the whole loaf. He doesn’t
get just a sip of water He gets the whole bucket.
This is written in the passive tense, which means it is
not something we do. It is something that God does. It is limited to those who hunger and thirst for Christ. Our
responsibility is not to pursue satisfaction but the Savior. The by-product of
a growing relationship with Christ is being content.
Hunger and thirst are written in the present tense, which
describes a continuing, on-going activity. Just like physical hunger and thirst
can be satisfied, if you are healthy it will break out anew.
- Nicholas worked in the food service industry. He was a
short-order cook and bottle-washer. But he became deeply dissatisfied with his
life; he worried chronically about himself, even whether or not he was saved.
- One day he was looking at a tree, and the same truth struck him
that struck the psalmist so long ago: the secret of the life of a tree is that
it remains rooted in something other and deeper than itself. He decided to make
his life an experiment in what he called a “habitual, silent, secret
conversation of the soul with God.”
- He is known today by the new name given to him by his friends:
Brother Lawrence. He remained obscure throughout his life. He never got voted
pope. He never got close to becoming the CEO of his organization. He stayed in
the kitchen. But the people around him found that rivers of living water flowed
out of him that made them want to know God the way he did. “The good brother
found God everywhere,” one of them wrote, “as much while he was repairing shoes
as while he was praying with the community.” After Lawrence died, his friends
put together a book of his letters and conversations.
Sometimes a commercial will seek to get you to act
immediately by saying, “This offer is good today.” It can happen to anyone,
anywhere and at anytime.
This offer is good today. If you are hungry or
thirsty that’s good. You can be filled. Come to Jesus.
Remember what Jesus said: Hunger is a blessing
Blessed are they that hunger.
Are you hungry for God?
- If not tell God, that you are sorry for letting things crowd
your life until they have quenched your spiritual appetite.
- Go on a fast, and not just food.
Start pushing away the things that do not feed and nurture your spirit,
- Set aside some time for nothing else but spending time in his
presence, and spend some time worshipping him.
Remember also one of the first signs of a physical illness
is the loss of apetite, It is also true of illness of the spirit.
It is the water in our body that determines the vitality,
strength, and energy associated with daily living. Think about these facts
associated with our body and water:
- The human body is ⅔ water.
- The body absorbs cold water faster than hot water.
- By the time you are 70-years-old, you will have required 1½
million gallons (about 5,678,115 liters) of water.
- Studies show that increasing water consumption can decrease fat
deposits.
- If you loose 2% of your body’s water supply, your energy will
decrease by 20%. A 10% decrease in water, you will be unable to walk, and a 20%
decrease – you’re dead.
- v Because our text indicates, “Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”
- So the degree of our desire, indicates how much of Gods righteousness
we have in the gas tank!
- Are you one of those who can drive or ride on empty tank and not
be bothered by it, or do you like it better when the gauge reads half full or
more?
- And then we get to the question, is the tank half full or half
empty?
The woman at the well wanted to fill her
water jar full to fill the family pot full so that people her family has water
anytime one desires to drink more water - John 4:13-14
“Jesus
answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever
drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him
will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”
Invitation
This Book is not about the desire of people to be with
God. The Bible is about God’s desire to be with His people (you and me). The
most frequent promise in the Bible is not “I forgive you.” It is “I will be
with you.”
God wanted to be with you that He left heaven to come to
earth as a man (Jesus Christ). He so wanted you to be with Him He died on the
cross for your sin and rose from the dead as proof that you can be forgiven.
But you must desire and repent of sin. You must accept Him as your God. If
you want to be with Him, He already wants to be with you.
Church, do you remember the story of the two sisters
Martha and Mary? The Bible tells us that Mary was listening to Jesus’ teach and
Martha was busy getting dinner fixed. Do you remember why Martha wasn’t
listening to Jesus but instead was busy fixing potato salad? The Bible says she
was “distracted.” Have any distracted saints shown up in the Church this
morning? Has the Spirit used this message to remind you what is the “necessary
thing?”
I invite you to the altar to bow at the feet of Jesus and
ask Him to fill your real hunger and thirst.
Please let us sing this song together before we conclude
our message this morning in prayer.
1.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And his righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you
Allelu..alleluia
A-lle-l-u-a allelu allelu-i-a
A-lle-l-u-a allelu allelu-i-a
2.
Man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God
Allelu..alleluia
3.
Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and it shall be opened unto you
Allelu, allleluia
Concluding prayers were said by Charles Onduga and dozens of of Christians came to the Lord.
