The Apostle's Creed Series #4

Blessed Hunger Pangs
Matthew 5:6

Being hungry is never pleasant. In fact, hunger can inspire some pretty bizarre behavior. Maybe thats why're hungry! They only weigh like 28 lbs, so they have to be starving! No wonder they march around looking so mean: its because they're so hungry! I wonder what would happen if someone snuck in and threw a slice of pizza on the runway. That would be like sharks at a feeding frenzy! Its a scary picture.

In all seriousness, hunger isn't pleasant. I've never heard anyone reminisce about all the wonderful times they've had being hungry. I can't imagine anyone looking forward to being hungry. Yet Jesus clearly thought there was a definite place for hunger and thirst in this world.

We have been studying the Beatitudes, eight statements found in Matthew 5:1-12, all beginning with the word "blessed." We have already seen that this word literally means "happy." The Beatitudes are quite literally a roadmap to happiness, peace, and contentment in life. Through them Jesus shared with us the things that can truly bring contentment to our lives. They are not what we would expect.

Jesus said in the first beatitude that those who are humble, who are continually aware of their need for God, will be happy as they receive the blessings of God=s kingdom. A second step to happiness is to grieve over our sin, for then we will be comforted. The third step toward happiness is meekness, which I believe simply means "strength under control." The meek person knows how to disagree agreeably, how to walk hand in hand without seeing eye to eye, how to be understanding, not demanding; gentle, not judgmental; tender with others even when they disagree with us. It is an attitude that leads to happiness.

This morning we come to the fourth beatitude which reads: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Jesus used Greek words that spoke of intense hunger and thirst. Most of us have a very hard time identifying with what Jesus intended to communicate. We have never really experienced true hunger or thirst. I certainly haven=t. Generally when we say that we are hungry we mean that it has been several hours since we last ate. However, the kind of hunger of which Jesus spoke couldn=t be satisfied by a mid-morning snack. The kind of thirst of which he spoke couldn't be quenched by a simple bottle of water. Jesus was speaking of an intense craving like that of those who are suffering from famine or parched in a desert.

I have never experienced anything close to starvation. I can imagine, however, that a starving person would be possessed by a single, all-consuming passion: to eat and drink until completely satisfied. Nothing else would matter. Nothing else would have the slightest appeal. Jesus seems to be saying that when we crave righteousness, when we truly desire it with an all-consuming passion, we will be filled to satisfaction.

Friends, everyone is hungry. Every human on earth is thirsty. Since the fall of mankind in the Garden, when fellowship with God was ripped from our hearts, every human being has been born hungry for something that is missing. Because sin has blinded us, we just don't know what we are hungry and thirsty for!

That desperate search was caught well in the story of the woman at the well found in John 4. One hot day Jesus stopped by a water well to cool off a bit. A woman was there who had also come for a drink. When Jesus asked her for some water, she showed surprise that a Jewish man would ask that of a Samaritan woman. Jesus said, "If you know the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." The woman, used to looking only for physical tings to satisfy her thirst, was confused. Jesus explained: "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 (vs.13-14).

Like that woman at the well, we spent much of our lives looking for something that will satisfy our hunger. This search usually goes in one of two main directions. One path is to try to fill that emptiness by chasing after things that gratifies our flesh. That food feeds almost all the sinful behavior we know and have experienced. Just as giving seawater to a thirsty man only dehydrates him more, or feeding sawdust to a starving man fills his stomach but provides nothing to sustain him, so trying to satisfy our deep hunger and thirst with worldly things alone never quite works.

The other direction is to try to satisfy our hunger with SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. We assume that the emptiness inside us can be filled by doing good deeds, reading, the Bible more, going to church more, praying more. While none of that is bad, none of it by itself can satisfy. The hunger and thirst remain.

So, if we're hungry and thirsty, and what we really want is something that will satisfy our desire in a way that will bring us contentment, then what is it? Jesus said that we should hunger and thirst for righteousness; for a right relationship with God. True righteousness isn't about doing right things. It is about being right with God, about having a new relationship with Christ. It is about seeking a deep relationship with God. Jesus seems to have been saying that when we become single-mindedness in our passion for God and in our desire for a right relationship with God we will experience true satisfaction! The question for you then becomes: Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Are you starving for God? If so, you will find that God does indeed satisfy.

Some of you may be thinking, AI used to have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. I remember when I first became a Christian. I devoured the Bible. I read it and loved it. You couldn't keep me away from Christians. I wanted to be at church all the time. I had a hunger to do right and to do God=s will. I had a deep desire to read the Bible and to get to know God better. But I don't have that passion any more. Is there something missing in your life? In spite of all your success and your apparent outward satisfaction, inside is there a voice crying out, saying, I'm still not satisfied. Deep down, in my gut, I know that there's got to be more to life than just getting up, going to work, coming home, watching TV and going to bed. There's got to be more.

There is! If you want to truly be satisfied, you only need to desire God and his righteousness with all that is within you. Long ago God said to Jeremiah, You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). The woman at the well got it right when she said, Sir, give me this water so that I won=t get thirsty and have to keep coming back to draw water (John 4:15). She received the blessing that Jesus promised when he said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

That promise of for us as well. May God give you a passion for him and cause your heart to hunger and thirst for his righteousness. May you not be satisfied with anything less!

This message can be followed with Holy Communion... AJesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."John 6:35