Farmerville Church of Christ

Sermon Outlines

Sermon on the Mount #6

Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness

Mt. 5:6

By Bill Denton

INTRODUCTION

A. People will do some strange things if they are hungry enough

1. It is not uncommon to steal in order to eat
2. In a military survival course you are taught to eat bugs, worms, all kinds of plants, things that you would never eat if well fed
3. Stranded, starving survivors have even been known to eat each other in order to live
4. I once read of an elderly woman who choked to death trying to eat a piece of cardboard, since it was the only thing she had
5. II Ki 6:24-29

And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, ""Help, my lord, O king!'' And he said, ""If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?'' Then the king said to her, ""What is troubling you?'' And she answered, ""This woman said to me, "Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.' ""So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, "Give your son, that we may eat him'; but she has hidden her son.'' (NKJ)

B. Revolting -- but, people will do just about anything if they are hungry enough or thirsty enough
C. It is this thought that brings us to the next verse in the beatitudes (Mt 5:6)

1. Matt 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. (NKJ)
2. Remember, the beatitudes teach us about faith

a. faith begins -- poor in spirit - mourn - meek
b. this verse tells us about how faith grows and develops

I. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HUNGER AND THIRST

A. Many have a backward approach to finding happiness

1. People make happiness / blessedness that which they desire

a. pleasure-mania -- workaholism -- wealth
b. these pursuits miss the target - they ultimately fail the test

2. Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness

a. it is an effort to seek what is right at the core of one's life
b. happiness / blessedness is a product of righteousness

B. This hunger and thirst is an intense desire to know holiness and to be holy

1. Ps 42:1
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. (NKJ)
2. Ps 63:1
O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. (NKJ)
3. Ps 84:2
My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (NKJ)
4. Ps 107:9
For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. (NKJ)
5. John 6:27
Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. (NKJ)
6. Isa 55:1-3
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you-- the sure mercies of David. (NKJ)

C. The key to understanding the point here is to see that we're talking about a kind of starvation, not just snack-hunger

1. Lk 15 -- Story of the Prodigal Son is an example of the kind of hunger I'm talking about
2. When things turned bad for this young man, he got hungry and took on a job he would not have had otherwise
3. However, there is a great difference between the hunger that drove him to feed pigs, and the starvation that sent him home to his father

a. Luke 15:14
But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. (NKJ)
b. Luke 15:17
But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (NKJ)

D. What does the man do who has had faith begin to stir in his heart

1. He has come to grips with the reality of God, and has recognized that the only response to make is to fall at his feet
2. He has realized the problem of sin that separated him from God to start with and he has mourned and grieved over that problem
3. He has realized that he is powerless to overcome anything and so he has yielded to the power of God to become meek and gentle
4. And now -- now he yearns both for God and for that which is the character of God -- righteousness
5. He hungers and thirsts to be like God, but not usurping God's place, rather desiring the learn and adopt the very character of God

II. WHY RIGHTEOUSNESS?

A. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness gives direction, purpose and meaning to our lives as Christians

1. Matt 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJ)
2. Rom 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (NKJ)
3. Rom 6:13
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteous- ness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (NKJ)
4. Rom 14:17
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (NKJ)
5. 1 Cor 15:33-34
Do not be deceived: ""Evil company corrupts good habits.'' Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. (NKJ)
6. 2 Cor 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJ)
7. Eph 4:24
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (NKJ)
8. 1 Pet 2:24
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes you were healed. (NKJ)

B. Warren Wiersbe -- "Change the hunger, and you change the man; control the hunger and you control the man."

1. Everyone is hungry and thirsty for something

a. your appetites determine the direction and course of life
b. but there is only one thing that truly satisfies - righteousness

2. This beatitude then, determines the growth of faith

a. to desire God, the mind of God, the character of God, the things of God, and the life of God -- is the essence of faith
b. Heb 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (NKJ)

CONCLUSION

A. How's your faith tonight?

1. Whatever state you may find it, you can be sure that it's health and strength is a product of your hunger and thirst for righteousness
2. If it's weak, you need to feed on righteousness

B. Invitation

Copyright © 1995, Bill Denton. Permission granted to use sermon outlines for personal study and preparation of sermons, Bible classes or other teaching format. Sermons may not be reprinted in any form without written permission of the author.

Additional Resources

Sermon on the Mount Index
CrossTies Home Page

You can reach me at: BillDenton@crossties.org