6. Sermon on the Mount Secrets - Are you Hungry to be Right with God

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

We need to have a quick look at the word “thirst.” Thirst is usually much stronger than hunger, although the combination of the two makes it all the more powerful. One can go without food for many days but not without water.

The actual Greek word used means to suffer thirst for, to eagerly long for or painfully feel a want for that which would bring refreshment and strength. Blessed or happy are those who suffer thirst for and eagerly long for righteousness.

            Very few of us know real thirst to the extent that we will give away our car, house, anything just for a glass of water. All of us have, however, been to the point where we were desperate for something to drink, but suffering from thirst is a somewhat vague experience to most of us. 

“Righteousness” means a right standing with God, so we can understand our passage this way: Blessed is the person who will give everything in order to be in right standing with God. Nothing that this world offers, no material thing, no success, no power and no glory can compete with the desire to be right with God.

For many years, a tow truck driver named Tony resisted his family’s pleas for him to serve God. One day he was the first person at an accident scene. A man was stuck in the car. “I’m dying, but I’m not right with God,” he said. “Help me get right with Him.”

“I don’t know how,” Tony said, “but my sister tells me to accept Jesus.”

The dying man did it, and the peace and joy that came into his face was so remarkable that when Tony got home, he convinced his wife that they should accept Jesus.

Everybody knows if they are not right with the Lord, but not everybody wants to admit it as this accident victim did in his last minutes on earth. Most of us certainly do not thirst and hunger for righteousness as this dying man did.

Being in right standing with God means to be in touch with Him in order to hear His commands and do them. Being in right standing means to interpret the written commands (the Bible) as God would, and do them as Jesus would have. It means to please God by faith, believing that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

The beatitude promises they shall be satisfied or filled. Seek and you shall find. If you suffer with a thirst and a hunger to be right with God, rightness with God will fill you. You will be right with God and you will be happy and blessed.

However, time, energy, and money we previously used for our own pleasures and fulfillment will have to be redirected. If you are in the desert and run out of water, what will you do? You will get to water as quickly as possible. If you have any valuables with you that might weigh you down or hinder your pursuit of water, you leave them behind. These things lose their value in the presence of something greater: water. If we desire righteousness with the Lord, material desires will fade away.

There is nothing wrong with material things as long as they are a means to reaching God’s purpose for us more efficiently. In the desert, we would be foolish to throw away navigational equipment in order to lighten the load, because it could help us reach our goal, which is finding water. A good computer to write for God, a television for watching Bible teaching and encouragement, and sports equipment to help you reach the unsaved is not wrong. The goods themselves aren’t the problem, but the reason we crave them might be. Using material luxuries for selfish indulgence is not what the Lord had in mind in terms of righteousness. We should desire to involve ourselves in whatever the Lord has in mind for us.

Many activities in my life, such as motorcycling, had a dual purpose for me. I may enjoy it as much as I wish, but it is also essential to reach others, who enjoy it with me, for the Lord. It is vital that we do not take our eyes off the goal, which is reaching souls. If we desire righteousness, soul-winning will come naturally.

A thirst for righteousness can be affected by the carnal nature. Remember Matthew 6:24 (KJV): “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon is money and anything represented by money: fame, power, materialism, etc. If we have too much, we feel fulfilled and therefore have no thirst for righteousness: we can manage without the Lord. Self-righteous fulfillment can quench our thirst.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ time had a self-righteous fulfillment of their thirst. They were so content with what they thought was their own righteousness (a man-made counterfeit) that they had no desire for righteousness on God’s terms as Jesus preached. Some years ago a pastor had to tell one of his self-righteous churchgoers, “Please go and steal a sheep so that you may know you are a sinner who needs God.”
You may now argue that Jesus is your righteousness when you're born again. You are right, He is the way to get to the Father and He stands in for us, but the Bible is full of instructions to live righteously to God's glory and that is what we referred to. 

Consider for example Hebrews 12:1 and 4: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood," and Romans 6:1 and 2: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" 

In the remainder of this series you will discover many things God considers to be unrighteous, which you may not have seen as such.

I think the children should also have something, don't you? Today we start a series of short videos for them. But please don't you miss out. Many adults are blessed by these videos.