Order Of Service

Matthew 5:6

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Introduction

This sermon is the second in a series about the Beatitudes. Last Sunday, I exegeted the first three as a unit. This Sunday, I will take the fourth one by itself.

As I preach this sermon, I am not dismissing the fact that, although we have modern technology, myriads of people still go hungry each day. This is why the Outreach Ministry of our church distributes food the first and third Saturdays of each month.  We applaud their compassionate and consistent effort.    

Now, let’s get back to the sermon. Remember, the Beatitudes, the “blessed attitudes,” are a contrast between the values and attitudes of the world and the values and attitudes that true Christians should have. Also, remember, the original listeners interpreted these statements as true but “totally radical.” Jesus was talking to His disciples; He was not talking to unbelievers. To put it plain and simple, Jesus was talking to church people. Let’s be real, sometimes we think that being good causes us to operate with a disadvantage when interacting with the rest of society. The Beatitudes dispel that fallacy.

Jesus uses two natural urges to explain a spiritual concept: eating food and drinking water.  Thanks to God, most of you who will hear this sermon cannot identify with the original setting. In the ancient world, hunger was not something that could be satisfied with a passing snack. It could often be the hunger which threatened life, the starvation in which a person had to eat or die.  The same is true of thirst. Thanks to God, most of us have never known what it is to be genuinely thirsty. Most of us live in a situation in which we turn a tap and water flows or we buy purified or spring water from the grocery store. In the ancient world, people were dependent on streams and wells, and there might be a long distance between them on a journey, and their waterskins might become empty. Still worse, travelers might encounter a sandstorm, and all that could be done was to turn their backs to the swirling sand and hide their heads in their hoods. Their mouths, throats, nostrils, and lungs would be filled with fine sand, which made then choke for thirst. People who lived in conditions like that knew the thirst which had to be satisfied, if one were to survive.

So, what Jesus is saying here is: “Blessed is the man who longs for righteousness as a starving man longs for food and as a man perishing of thirst longs for a drink of water.

Exposition

1. Righteousness Points Inward.

(A Clean Heart.)

(Psalm 51:10.)

(A Clear Conscience.)

(Acts 23:11; Acts 24:16; Hebrews 18:8; 1^st Peter 3:16.)

(A Christ-Like Mind.)

(Romans 12:2; Philippians 2:5.)

2. Righteousness Points Outward.

(A Willingness To Help Others.)

(Deuteronomy 15:7-8; Isaiah 58:10; Luke 10:25-37.)

(A Willingness To Act Justly And To Show Mercy.)

(Micah 6:8.)

3. Righteousness Points Upward.

(To Love God For Who He Is – Not For Just What He Does.)

(Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27.)

(To Worship Him In Spirit And In Truth.)

(John 4:23-24.)

Closing Thoughts

Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are the only ones whose hunger will be completely satisfied and whose thirst will be completely quenched. The Greek word for filled implies feasting at a banquet.  None of the pursuits and pleasures of the world can really satisfy. William Law, the Church of England’s priest, spiritual writer and theologian, said it this way: “All that is in the world are only so many empty cups, and it does not matter which you take or how many you take, there is no quenching of one’s thirst out of empty cups. All that is in the world are only so many empty plates, and it does not matter which you take or how many you take, there is no staying of hunger out of empty plates.” I respectfully disagree with William Law. Not all of the world’s cups are empty; some are filled with sweet-tasting poison. Not all of the world’s plates are empty; some are filled with delicious desserts that are filled with poison and addictive drugs. My statements are both literal and figurative.

The person who sets his or her ambitions on goodness and on God finds in the very search his or her satisfying reward. Good character is its own reward.  People of integrity dip their pitchers into a well that will never run dry and satisfies completely. This is what Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well.

Give God Glory! Give God All The Glory!

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