Monday, September 28, 2009

Why the Pursuit of Happiness Will Not Lead to Your Best Life Now, Pt 5

This is the fifth of a 6-part series of posts based upon the sermon I preached at Morningside Baptist Church on September 20, 2009 from Matthew 5:3-6. For audio of that message, please click here.

To read part 1, click here.
To read part 2, click here.
To read part 3, click here.
To read part 4, click here.

Jesus says in verse 6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

As we have already discussed, the Beatitudes build upon one another in a progressive fashion. The first 3 Beatitudes have been building momentum toward this verse, and so this fourth Beatitude is the result of the hopelessness of the first three. Those who recognize and mourn over their spiritual poverty, and stop trying to justify themselves will realize that there is no righteousness in themselves, and so they will seek to be filled with it from an outside source. They will hunger and thirst and will do anything to find righteous satisfaction.

This is difficult for us to truly comprehend because none of us have been close to starvation before. We may miss a meal here or there and feel hunger pangs for a while, but most likely, none of us truly know what it is like to really be hungry or thirsty. But, that wasn’t true for Jesus’ audience and it’s not true for many people today.

Just last week, 18 people were killed in a stampede in Pakistan as people rushed into a compound to get flour as part of a charitable giveaway. Don't just quickly read over that. Let that sink in. 18 people were killed just trying to get some flour. The U.N. World Food Program estimates that 1 out of every 4 people in Pakistan are undernourished, and 2 out of every 5 children under age 5 are underweight. They describe the state of hunger in Pakistan as “alarming”. These people know what it’s like to hunger and thirst. The longer that a person goes without food and water, the more they think about it. It doesn’t take long until it consumes them. They can’t think about anything else except satisfying their hunger. And they seek it out.

And that’s how Jesus describes someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. A person who realizes that they are about to experience spiritual starvation will do anything in order to satisfy that hunger. And this hunger for righteousness will only be satisfied by the righteousness of Christ. Psalm 107:9 says: “For (the Lord) satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”

Jesus says in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Don’t miss the power of this verse. We, who are about to experience spiritual starvation apart from Christ, will now never spiritually hunger or thirst again once we are in Christ!

Paul says in 2 Cor 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In Christ, we inherit His perfect righteousness!

But, please notice that righteousness must be our motive to come to God. Not mere temporary happiness. Not your best life now. True and eternal happiness will only be granted to the one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness!

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