Jeremy L. Berg

Sermon Transcript:

A BLESSED HUNGER by Mike Fox

This Advent we are working our way through the Beatitudes and just to refresh your memory, the Beatitudes are 8 short verses found at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount which is found in chapters 5-7 of Matthew.  Throughout the Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses simple examples like salt and light, the narrow gate, and ask-seek-knock, to help us think about difficult topics like murder, adultery, divorce, and revenge, in new, counter-cultural ways.  Pastor Jeremy has covered the first 3 Beatitudes.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who mourn…and Blessed are the meek”.  Tonight I will focus on the 4th Beatitude found in Mt 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.“   Notice that here again Jesus uses simple examples, hunger and thirst, to help us think about an important topic, righteousness. 

When I study anything and especially when studying scripture, I find that it is helpful to define words before I study them.  This avoids confusion and misunderstanding and sometimes even sheds a little light on the topic, especially with a text that has been translated from a different language.

In this instance I looked at the 5 main words – blessed, hunger, thirst, filled, and righteousness.  Here’s what I found.  The words “hunger” and “thirst” both mean ‘to earnestly desire’.  The word “filled” means ‘to eat, not just until satisfied, but with the sense of over full’.  I suppose it is appropriate that we should be talking about being over full right after Thanksgiving.  The word “blessed” in one sense means ‘to be happy’, but in another ‘to be envied’.  The dictionary definition of “righteousness” is to be ‘morally correct’.  In scripture, righteousness means to be ‘right with God’.  So a reasonable paraphrase of this verse might read, “Those who earnestly desire to be made right with God will be filled to overflowing and are to be envied.”

Lord, let your words be our words, your desires be our desires.  Let our minds be open to the Truth you represent and our hearts open to any changes we might need to make.  Amen

Yesterday afternoon I asked my wife, “What’s for supper?”  She answered, “I don’t know.  What are you hungry for?”  After brainstorming, we decided on tacos. Then, just before we sat down to eat, she asked, “What do you want to drink?”  I suspect this conversation, or something very similar to it, regularly occurs in your household as well. 

“What are you hungry and thirsty for?”  This seems like such simple question.  You make your choices, you eat and drink whatever is put in front of you, and you leave the table satisfied.  But, here in Mt 5:6, Jesus uses two familiar words, hunger and thirst, to help us think about the topic of righteousness.  Now, instead of thinking about the food and drink our stomach wants, we are encouraged to think about what our soul wants.  Just as our physical health depends on a healthy diet, our spiritual health depends on healthy desires. 

In this verse, Jesus is telling us to stop thinking specifically about our stomachs, but more generally about our worldly desires and instead think about our soul.  Instead of thinking about a double cheeseburger, fries and coke, we are encouraged to think about our relationship with God.

Here’s a question for you…when you aren’t thinking about food, what are you thinking about?  What do you truly hunger and thirst for?  Power?  Money?  Fame?  Recognition?  A big house?  An expensive car?  You might be wondering, “You mean I have to choose between a cheeseburger and righteousness, a new car and righteousness, or a promotion and righteousness.  No, of course not.  There is room in our life for multiple wants, but there can only be ONE thing at the TOP of that list.  So what is at the top of your list? 

Here is an example from the Christmas story that illustrates both healthy and unhealthy desires.  Reading from Mt 2:1-3, 9a, 11-12, 16 NIV “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him…After they [the magi] had heard the king, they went on their way…On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route…When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”  

When Herod hears that a Jewish king has been born, he panics.  He doesn’t want any competition.  He enjoys the power, the luxury of his position.  After trying and failing to get the information from the Magi he has an idea.  It is a horrible, evil solution.  He orders all boys in and around Bethlehem, 2 years old and younger, to be killed.  Professor William Albright estimates there were up to 20 male children in and near Bethlehem. 

Now look at the magi.  We don’t know exactly where they came from.  All we do know about their country of origin is that it is somewhere in the east with guesses ranging from Persia to China.  If the scholars are correct, the magi’s journey covered between 1000 and 3000 miles and took between 2 and 6 months.  This pilgrimage was not easy or safe, so why did they commit so much time and effort to this trip?  Scripture says they came to worship Jesus. 

King Herod and the magi could not have been further apart in the things they hungered and thirsted for.  Herod hungered for power, for luxury, for fame; the magi hungered for God. 

Let’s move on to “righteousness”.  A few minutes ago I defined the word righteousness as ‘morally correct’ or being ‘right with God’, but what does righteousness look like?  I’m going to use 3 passages from scripture.  One from Psa 15, one from the Beatitudes, and one from later in the Sermon on the Mount. 

Psa 15 defines it this way.  

“Walk straight, act right, tell the truth. 

Don’t hurt your friend, don’t blame your neighbor; despise the despicable. 

Keep your word even when it costs you, make an honest living, never take a bribe.”

The definition found in the Beatitudes is different, but similar.  The 1st 3 Beatitudes describe 3 states of emptiness – the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the meek.  The 4th Beatitude is the solution to the emptiness – hunger and thirst for righteousness and you will be, what?  You will be filled.  Filled with what?  Filled with righteousness.  Then the next 3 Beatitudes show us what righteousness looks like – you will be merciful, you will be pure in heart, you will be a peacemaker.

The last definition I will mention is found just a few verses later in the sermon, Jesus gives 5 more examples of righteousness.  First Jesus sets the stage with Mt 5:20. Jesus says “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”   The pharisees were committed to following the law.  Everyone would have assumed that, out of all Jews, the Pharisees were righteousness, but Jesus says that following the law isn’t good enough.  Then Jesus goes on to explain how the law falls short.  Follow along to the words of Jesus and see how you stack up.   

Still in chp 5, in vvs 21-26, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, will be subject to judgment.”;  

in vvs 27-30, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’   But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”;  

in vvs 33-37, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’  But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all…All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”;

in vvs 38-42, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’   But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”  In other words, return good for evil. 

And lastly, in vvs 43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

In every instance and isn’t just the act, but also your thought that make you sinful.  Don’t kill anyone is easy, but don’t get angry?  Whoa!  Don’t commit adultery, not a problem, but don’t look at someone lustfully?  Again, whoa! 

If that is the standard, then I have failed miserably.  Let me reassure you, if you failed as badly as I did, there is hope.  Righteousness is not something WE achieve.  We cannot behave ourself into righteousness.  Today’s verse shows us the way.  It says if we hunger and thirst for, if we earnestly desire righteousness we will be filled. 

Here’s another scripture example of a righteous person.  In 1 Samuel 13:14, Samuel is speaking to Saul about David “But now [Saul] your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart [David] and appointed him ruler of his people, because you [Saul] have not kept the Lord ’s command.”  Everyone who knows David’s story, knows two things – 1st you know that David was not a model citizen and 2nd you also know that, in spite of his mistakes, he loved God and truly desired to be a righteous man to the point that God calls him “a man after his own heart”.  You see it is not about our mistakes; we all sin.  It is about what we value and who we desire to emulate. 

In summary, what does righteousness look like?  Be merciful, be pure of heart, be a peacemaker.  How do we become righteous?  We hunger and thirst for it, we earnestly desire it above everything else and God will fill us. 

Who will be your model this Christmas?  Herod who chases the things of this world – power, wealth, and fame – or the magi who joyfully chose to worship the newborn king?