BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER & THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Matthew 5:6
12.11.16
SUMMARY
We live in a hungr y culture. Hungr y for success, power, notoriety, with an eye toward being
satisfied with this life. But what if our appetite is consistently leaving us hungr y rather than
satisfied? As C.S. Lewis explained, we are far too easily satisfied in our desires when there
is real satisfaction to be experienced. Where does this satisfaction come from? Those that
came up on that mountain that day were hungr y and thirsty and Jesus taught them it is
through righteousness they would experience satisfaction. But what does that look like?
Would that mean being as righteous as the religious leaders of the day? Does it mean we
need to be more righteous to be satisfied? Jesus wasn't feeding them more lines of their
current religion, but to seek a life that showed their relationship to him. Righteousness here
denotes a relationship and shaping our life to God's will. Usually we feed our hunger to
conform to ever ything to our will but this beatitude is saying we are to hunger for what
conforms us to God’s will. If being meek is knowing the world doesn’t revolve around you,
then having a hunger and thirst for righteousness is learning to conform to the one the world
revolves around. Then we can know satisfaction. If we find ourselves hungr y, we need to take
up the Bible, prayer, and engage in the church not to be satisfied them alone, but to see
through them to Jesus. Our food isn't merely the duties of religious living but our relationship
with him that transforms our life. A food that brings satisfaction to live life as it is meant to
be lived through our Bread of heaven, Jesus.
QUOTES AND THOUGHTS FROM THE SERMON
“I'll never, ever be full. I'll always be hungry. Obviously, I'm not talking about food. Growing up,
I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I've never forgotten
it, ‘Once you've ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you'll never, ever be full.’”
- Dwayne Johnson
“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards
promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire not too strong, but
too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition
when infinite joy is offered us, we are like ignorant children who want to continue making
mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a vacation at
the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glor y
“Babette’s Feast – a film about a woman who considers cooking her art and comes to reside
in a town of God fearing people who are mild mannered and rigid in their religion. She
decides to cook for them to bring the beauty of God's creation. ‘Mercy and truth have met
together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another.’”
- Old Lorenz Lowenhielm
“Most apologetics tried to feed spinach to a reluctant baby who stubbornly closes its
mouth. What you have to do is make the baby hungr y.”
– Kreeft
GROUP QUESTIONS
From the sermon, the quotes above, or your direct reading of Matthew 5:6, share something
that surprises, encourages, or troubles you.
When Jesus says for us to be hungr y and thirsty for righteousness, what do you think of? How
does this beatitude point out what we are hungr y for?
Jesus said that he himself is the bread of heaven. How do we go back to him over and over
to be satisfied?
How do the following Scriptures, taken together with Matthew 5.6, help us better
understand the how we hunger and thirst for righteousness?
Psalm 42:2
Isaiah 55:1-2
John 7:37
John 4:13
2 Timothy 2:22
Based on your answers above, what do you think Jesus would want you to know and believe
today? In what specific ways might he be encouraged in seeing our character change in
following Jesus?
C LO S E I N P R AY E R
Consider using John 6:35 to guide you as you pray.