We are continuing in our journey through that portion of the Sermon on the Mount known as the Beatitudes, which are themselves a journey! I maintain the Beatitudes are progressive steps in the journey of a disciple—one "beatitude step" building onto another. First, "poor in spirit" which is the only way we enter into the kingdom of heaven—"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs [and theirs alone] is the kingdom of heaven." We are poor in spirit because of our sin, so recognition of the starting point of poverty of spirit leads to mourning our sinful state—"Blessed are those who mourn, for they [and they alone] will be comforted." In recognition of our sinful condition, we can only be meek before a holy, yet gracious God—"Blessed are the meek, for they [and they alone] will inherit the earth." And now, today, as we are confronted with our unrighteousness and God’s absolute righteousness, that is what we hunger and thirst for. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they [and they alone] will be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

Our journey has come to a pivotal point. The progression in the Beatitudes has brought us to a place where we have some decisions to make. And what we decide at this point as to we will respond to Christ’s challenge for our lives will have everything to say about what kind of kingdom life we will lead. All of the Beatitudes are important, but this one is a crucial one. The late British preacher, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says of this fourth Beatitude, "This Beatitude follows logically from the previous one. See, it is a statement to which all the others lead. It is the logical conclusion to which they come. It is something for which we should all be profoundly thankful and grateful to God. I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian [life], than a verse like this" (quoted in Kingdom Living Here and Now, John McArther, Jr., Moody Press, Chicago: 1980; p. 90). One of my favorite Bible teachers, Dr. Dale Bruner, says of this fourth Beatitude and its pivotal, "time-for-a-decision" place in the journey, "The fourth Beatitude is the bridge connecting the God-directed need Beatitudes of faith (B 1-4) to the world-directed help Beatitudes of love (B 5-8)," ( Matthew, A Commentary, Vol. 1, Dale Bruner, Word Publishing, Dallas: 1987; underlines mine). Bruner also says that the first two Beatitudes cannot be prayed for. We are poor in spirit whether we like it or not. As I said in the first sermon on this series, the only thing to do is to recognize our absolute poverty of spirit. And we do not pray for mourning. I do think we can pray, in this progressive journey, for greater awareness of our sin and for an attitude of real, sincere sorrow for our sin, but we do not pray for mourning or strive for greater comfort. We are dependent upon God for comfort. With the third Beatitude, however, (meekness) Bruner says we can pray for that…for a more gentle and appropriately meek demeanor. And of this fourth Beatitude, what Bruner calls "passion for righteousness," he says we must pray for it.

It is a pivotal point for us in our journey. How our Christian life goes depends on what decisions we make from here. Are we prepared to say, "That’s what I want—God’s righteousness—that’s what I want more than anything else!"

There are at least two hindrances to our living out this Beatitude. I’m sure there are more than two, but we’re going to focus on two today!

The first hindrance is the world’s temptations. Let’s face it, we are bombarded daily with the siren songs of the world about what to strive for to bring fulfillment to our lives. We’re not talking the occasional temptation here, from which we must muster up the fortitude to flee. We’re talking bombardment. Thanks to technology—mass media, the internet, billboards, you name it—we are daily blasted with the world’s suggestions for what will bring us happiness. It impacts us more than we know. It’s everywhere around us, getting its message through whether we’re consciously aware of it or not. And to live out this fourth Beatitude, we have to get into our heads…and our hearts…that the only satisfying fulfillment will come from God. As Jesus says later in this Sermon on the Mount, to those who might be worried about, or pursuing with misdirected and misguided passion the fulfillment of worldly things, "Seek first [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well," (Matthew 6:33). We will not truly "hunger and thirst for righteousness," for God’s righteousness, unless we truly believe that is where satisfaction is to be found.

Here’s what I suggest—if I may be so bold! First of all, continually remind yourself—whenever you see some commercial on TV promising happiness if you purchase the right car, or wear the right cologne, or buy the right kind of diamond from the right jewelry story—remind yourself that that is not the way to happiness. Say it out loud if that helps: "That is not the way to happiness!" Our senses get numb with all the temptations of worldly fulfillment we are bombarded with each day. If we’re passive about it, we can slide toward acceptance of the deception. Actively, we need to remind ourselves—speaking it out loud if we need to—that those things are not the way to happiness. Then, and very important, along with those reminders, dive into the word of God and look for righteousness there and ask God to give you a hunger and thirst for His righteousness…and to satisfy your hunger and thirst. Include a "passion for righteousness" on your must pray for list. If we’re going to overcome the daily bombardment in our lives tempting us to seek fulfillment from the world’s offerings that prevents us from hungering and thirsting for God’s righteousness, we must actively resist it.

Then, a second hindrance to our truly living out this Beatitude is our lack of experience or identity with true hungering and thirsting. For most of us, we’ve never faced the dire lack of food or water that leads to a desperate hungering and thirsting. Some of us have, perhaps, but I suspect most of us have not. The kind of thirsting described by Major V. Gilbert in his account of what his men suffered in the Palestinian desert in World War I:

"We fought that day as men fight for their lives. We entered Sheria’s station on the heels of the retreating Turks. The first objects which met our view were the great stone cisterns full of cold, clear drinking water…It took four hours before the last man had his drink of water…I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on that march from Beersheba to the Sheria wells. If such were our thirst for God and for righteousness, for His will in our lives, a consuming, all-embracing, preoccupying desire, how rich in the fruit of the Spirit would we be," (quoted in Kingdom Living Here and Now, John McArther, Jr., Moody Press, Chicago: 1980; p. 93). That is a very real, a very desperate, a very passionate kind of thirst—the kind of thirsting for righteousness we’re called to in this Beatitude. If we haven’t experienced such a thirst, it hinders our understanding of the kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness we’re called to. This kind of hunger and thirst is not like most of our experience—where we’re hungry at 1:00 because we normally eat lunch at noon, or thirsty after a couple of hours work because we didn’t bring a glass of water with us. It is a deeply felt hunger and thirst. One person put it this way—using the story of the prodigal son as an analogy: When the son was hungry, he fed on corn husks; when he was starving, he came home to the father. Dale Bruner calls it being "passionate" for righteousness. Frankly, Eugene Peterson misses it in his paraphrase Bible, The Message. I usually like Peterson’s paraphrased translations, but I think he misses it in this passage: "You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat." I can work up a "good appetite" for just about anything. That’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about a hunger and thirst where lives are at stake that we’re talking about here. I want to pack Peterson’s paraphrase with a little more punch! "You’re blessed when you are starving and dying of thirst for God. He’s food and drink, not only in the best meal you’ll ever eat, but in the only meal that will satisfy." It is a deep hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness.

Some of our youth participated in a 30-hour famine over the weekend, seeking to identify better with those throughout the world who don’t have enough to eat. Let me tell you, after 30 hours without food, they were hungry! Yet even their hunger is not at the level of this kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness. It is a kind of hunger and thirst most us have never experienced—and that can be a hindrance to our living out this Beatitude.

Not only is it a hungering and thirsting for something that runs contrary to what the world bombards us to hunger and thirst after, and not only is it a hunger and thirst most of us have never experienced, it is also a hunger and thirst for something we’ll never fully have in this life—all of God’s righteousness. Normally, the phrasing in the Greek for hungering and thirsting after something implies a "part" of that something being enough to satisfy. For example, a hunger for a part of a loaf of bread, or a thirst for a drink of just a portion of the water in a spring. But here, the syntax of the Greek suggests a hunger and thirst for it all—as if to say a hunger for the whole loaf of bread, or all the water in the spring. In this case, a hunger and thirst for all of God’s righteousness. Consequently, the paradox here is that we are satisfied, but never ultimately satisfied…at least in this life. We hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness. We receive it and we are satisfied. But then, we hunger and thirst for more. Again, we’re satisfied, but we hunger and thirst for more. That is the journey of a disciple.

Here’s what that looks like. Moses is a great example of this hunger and thirst, never satisfied cycle. Consider what Moses experienced in his life: Called by God from a burning bush that is not consumed; Bearing to Pharaoh of Egypt the warning of the coming plagues from God; Experiencing those plagues…and Israel’s protection from them; Guided by God in a cloud of dust in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night; Crossing the Red Sea; A supernatural food supply of manna and quail; Water from a rock (speaking of desperate thirst!); the awesome display of God at Mt. Sinai and the 10 Commandments. Yet, after experiencing all of that, what was Moses’ response? Exodus 33:18, "Now Lord, show me your glory!" Come on, Moses! What more do you want? But, that is the journey of a disciple seeking first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. "Show me more, Lord!" We hunger and thirst for righteousness. We’re filled. Then, we hunger and thirst for more. Again, we’re filled. But we still want more. "Lord, show me your glory!" That’s what living out this Beatitude looks like.

Do you hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness? Really hunger and thirst? A disciple of Jesus Christ does. More than that, a disciple of Jesus Christ who is truly hungering and thirsting for righteousness will experience heartache over those who aren’t seeking that from God for they know that is the only way they will be satisfied.

Do you hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness like that? The Serendipity Bible supplies a good measuring standard for where we are in living out this Beatitude. Someone gave me a copy of the page from a Serendipity Bible for this section of Scripture. The Serendipity Bible is a guide for self-study or small group study of Scripture. There are questions and other tools supplied on each page to help wrestle with a text from Scripture. I don’t know who gave me this—you signed your note with only the letter "S" and I’ve asked a few of you "S’s" if you gave it to me. So far, the answers are "no." Doesn’t matter, whoever you are, thanks for sharing it with me. Here’s the measuring tool the Serendipity Bible gives for this Beatitude. On a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being "Low" and 4 being "High," how would you rate yourself on this standard? Spiritual Hunger: I have come to the place where I want to know God and His will for my life more than anything. I am more excited about God’s will for the world than my own financial gain, success in my career, or acceptance by my peers. I long for God’s perspective in my decision-making.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they [and they alone] will be filled."