Matthew 5:6

DAY 23
Date: 10-20-2024

Sermon on the Mount

Scripture: Matt 5:6 

Pray

Read scripture: 

(NIV 1984) 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Brief review of last week

1. Sermon on the Mount is for us today AND the future.
2. It is a description of the true Christian’s character
3. It is the model, the standard for how to live the Christian life
4. It is impossible apart from God without …
   1. First recognizing and admitting our spiritual poverty 
   2. Then, mourning over our spiritual condition and repenting
   3. Which leads to making us meek (not weak), humble, yet strong in and thru Christ.
5. Being in a right relationship with God is a matter of the heart. 
6. James says, “”Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10

Overview

Seeing ourselves as we really are and Seeing God for who He really is creates a
Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness in us which leads us right to God Himself.

There is a specific order and a progression from one Beatitude to another, and they cannot be rightly understood if separated from each other. 

When God enables us to see ourselves as we really are, we become poor in spirit, mourn for our sins and become meek, or humble, before God.

At the same time, God enables us to see God for who He really is – a gracious and loving redeemer. This melts our hearts. These two points, seeing ourselves for who we are, and seeing God for who He is, draws us into His Kingdom, gives us comfort and hope, and turns our hearts toward God. Seeing the goodness of God in our salvation, having tasted and seen that the Lord is good, puts our hearts, whether slowly or suddenly, on fire for Him and His Word. 

See Ps 34:8.
(NIV 1984) 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Main Point(s)

Blessedness, or true (biblical) happiness, come through Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness.

The first four Beatitudes speak to our personal, inner condition; our hearts.
The last four Beatitudes speak to our actions; the way we live; our righteous deeds. 
Being poor in spirit and mourning leads to repentance and meekness, or humility, 
which in turn leads to hungering and thirsting after God and HIS righteousness. 
Which in turn leads to right living, which in turn leads to blessings from God!

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 
(NIV 1984) Matt 6:33

Today’s Verse

Vs. (NIV 1984) 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Q: What is the plain simple meaning of this verse?

A:  One way to say it is this: Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. And this filling will bring blessings. 
Another way to say the same thing it is this: IF we hunger and thirst for righteousness, THEN we will be blessed because we will have been filled. 

Observations:

First: This is a promise. Jesus is promising something very specific. That IF we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we WILL be filled, and we WILL be blessed. 

Second: This is a CONDITIONAL promise – a classic “IF/THEN statement. The fulfillment of the promises (being filled and being blessed) are dependent on, and based based on, hungering and thirsting for righteousness will. If there is no hungering and thirsting, then there is no filling or blessing. 

Third: The “type” of hungering and thirsting is qualified. It is very specific. It is not just any hungering and thirsting, it is specifically hungering and thirsting after righteousness. And further, it is not just any righteousness, it is God’s righteousness. Not our own. A bit later on in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, “… seek first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness…”

Notice that the first three beatitudes say, “blessed are” the poor in spirit, “blessed are” those who mourn, “blessed are” the meek. This fourth beatitude does not say, “blessed are” the righteous. It does not say, blessed are those who are righteous, or blessed are those who already have righteousness. But, rather, it says, blessed are those who long for righteousness. Blessed are those who desire righteousness. It says, blessed are those who recognize they don’t have it, but want it. Blessed are those who “hunger and thirst” for God’s righteousness. This beatitude follows the first three progressively. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, blessed are those who who mourn and are humble or meek, and know they do not have any righteousness of their own, but, having encountered Jesus, they desire to have that which they realize they don’t have, but which God has and Jesus reveals.  

Remember, the Beatitudes are an abbreviated outline of God’s truth, and will be flushed out and explained a bit in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, even more in the rest of Matthew, and even more in the rest of the NT.

Of “hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the Life Application Coomentary says, “The words “hunger and thirst” picture intense longings that people desire to satisfy—necessities that they cannot live without. The psalmist wrote, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

So, in a real sense, a ‘hungering and thirsting for righteousness” is hungering and thirsting for what is “right.” But it is also more than that. A hungering and thirsting for righteousness is actually a hungering and thirsting for God Himself. Because only He is righteous. God in Christ is the perfect image of righteousness on earth. 

Colossians 1:15 says that “The Son is the image of the invisible God…”

When we begin to desire, when we we begin to long for, when we we begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness, we begin to become like Christ- slowly, over time. This process of becoming like Christ, or growing in Christlikeness is called Sanctification. 

Sanctification is a life-long process. Sanctification is not something we ever fully achieve in this life. As long as we live, and as long as we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will always be growing spiritually; growing in Christlikeness. 

As we become poor in spirit, and mourn over our sin, we become meek – we are humbled – by the realization of the truth of who we are, and who God. Then, we begin to understand how truly awesome God’s grace to us in our salvation really is. 

Then, we we begin to see God’s grace as AMAZING GRACE, we hunger and thirst for more of His love, His peace, His presence. His righteousness. 

Then, as we hunger and thirst for His righteousness, we begin to grow in Christlikeness, which means that we start to take on some of God’s attributes – His characteristics, His qualities, in our own lives. And so, we begin to become merciful, and pure in heart. We become more peaceful and peaceable. We begin to become peacemakers. When we absorb God’s Word into our hearts and lives, the peace of God – His peace – flows into us, and then it flows, over time, into the lives of those around us. Our families. Our neighbors. Our co-workers.

Then, as we grow in Christlikeness, we desire to share Christ and the Gospel to lost and hurting people. Sometimes these people reject Christ. And sometimes the lost world around us will be antagonistic toward Christ and His Word. As a result, Christians are sometimes persecuted. 

So, it’s a natural, linear progression from being poor in spirit in the beginning, to being persecuted at the end. 

We start with being poor in spirit. And as we grow in love and serve the people around us, we sometimes bears fruit, but oftentimes find ourselves in friction with lost people and are  persecuted. If we love long enough, and are bold enough in sharing our faith, sooner or later, we will be persecuted.

Related Verses:

Pro 16:26
(NIV) 26 The appetite of laborers works for them;
their hunger drives them on.  

Do you have an appetite for God and His Word?
If you don’t have much of an appetite, as sometimes happens in spiritual warfare, PRAY FOR AN APPETITE!

2 Timothy 2:22
(NIV) 22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

1 Timothy 6:11
(NIV) 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Conclusion:

God is at work here in the Beatitudes, in the Sermon on the Mount, the New Testament, and in our lives. He is building His Kingdom and inviting us to live with Him in His Kingdom forever. 

LET GOD DO HIS WORK IN YOUR HEART!

Application:

•  Believe!
•  Repent. Admit and confess your spiritual bankruptcy. 
•  Seek God and His righteousness. (Prayerfully read Scripture)
•  Trust and Obey
•  Seek out and Follow the leadings of the HOLY SPIRIT. 

Desire God. Purpose in your heart to get to know Him better, to understand and to appreciate Him more. Determine to WORK at getting to know Him more deeply by intentionally spending time prayerfully reading and pondering and meditating on and studying His Word. There is no  adventure more fruitful in all of life. None. 

Pray for a hunger and a thirst for righteousness and your cup will be filled to overflowing. 

Pro 3:5-6
(NIV) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Pro 3:13-18
(NIV) 13 Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.

Pro 16:19-20
(NIV) 19 Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed
than to share plunder with the proud.
20 Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers,
and blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD.

Quote:

The Sermon on the Mount describes the way in which people are freed to live when they commit themselves to the kingdom of Jesus! When people if any age realize that in Jesus the kingdom is “near” to them, they are free to abandon themselves totally to God’s will, confident that, AS THEY OBEY, HE WILL ACT TO SHAPE EVENTS. (Teacher’s Commentary, Larry Richards)

Next Week:

Our next class will be on October 27.
We will be covering MATTHEW 5:7-12 (hopefully!)

Prayerfully read ALL the beatitudes, looking for the 
progression of the stages of Christian life. Especially how a right heart attitude leads to right living!