I’m sure you heard the adage you are what you eat. You think thats true? What if you eat nuts, or shrimp, or bananas, or cupcakes. What do they mean you are what you eat? The term comes from a frenchman in1826 French author Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote: “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what your are.” The point of the term was that you can judge a person’s character by their desires. You are what you eat.
The philosopher Thomas Hobbs asserted that human desire is a fundamental motivation of all human action. If that’s the case, what is it that you hunger for? What is it that you truly deep down in your heart desire?
Jesus raises the question in the Beatitudes, as we began this study we said that the Beatitudes were more that just God wishing happiness, as we go into this new year we talked about reflecting on the adage to have a happy new year but the Beatitudes are more than just happy the Beatitudes talk about being blessed. They talk about having God’s favor upon you. When we were talking about the Beatitudes we said that the Beatitudes contain certain premises.
Beatitudes
I. Each Is Different Than Appears
II. Each Builds on the next
III. Each Makes The Person
Matthew 5
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The first Premise is; Each Is Different Than Appears: Someone reading the Beatitudes who didn’t understand them would read things like “Blessed are the poor in spirit... heaven.” and just looking at that on face value would say “I guess those who are poor, depressed, grumpy, or in a bad mood will be blessed. Yet we said that this was not the case.
It means intellectually they get it, they come to the point that they have sinned against God. They recognize that they are missing something, they are far off from God. They have come to an understanding that they have made a mess of their lives.
They have come to the understanding that there is nothing good in them as Apostle Paul would say, all of our good deeds are nothing but filthy rags, that no one loves God, not one. They have come to the point of realizing just how much rotten dwells within us.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
The Second Premise is; Each Builds On The Next: The intellectual recognition drives the emotional expression, they mourn. The Second Beatitude, blessed are those who weep and grieve and are broken hearted over the fact that they have sinned against a holy God and have sinned and hurt people around them.
These are people who are deeply shaken to their core over their sin and separation from God. Blessed are those who are driven to their knees over their own depravity. It is this mourning that brings repentance.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
The Third Premise is; Each Makes The Person: Those who have got it intellectually, experience it emotionally and now volitionally they walk in a new humility. When you go from the first Beatitude to the last Beatitude what you will see is the making of the Christian man, woman or child.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.
What is Jesus emphasizing here? That term righteousness, means to be in close proximity and right relationship with God. Hunger and thirst for righteousness, justice because we are justified in our relationship with Christ. He said Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for it, they got it in their relationship with him but they desire to draw more and more into it. Jesus is saying, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for bigger things.
The term hunger and thirst it denotes the most foundational need that we have.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Do you remember that from psychology 101?
He said that the most foundational need that a person has is Physiological.
The need for food, water, sex, the need for the very basic physiological things and from there he went from safety, love, esteem, self actualization.
But this is not what Jesus is saying here. If you would look at it from Jesus’s point of view, Jesus would say this
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Blessed are those who long for, a desire, a relationship with God, to be close and intimate with God.
In fact if you were to look at it in a biblical way it would be righteousness first, selflessness, faithfulness, fruitfulness, joyfulness.
The most foundational need the most foundational desire that we are suppose to have in our lives, is a desire to be close to God. When we look at these words we will be working off a principle.
Greater Satisfaction Experienced When Passions Are Directed By Convictions
In this world, in of ourselves without God in our lives what are the things that we hunger for? What are the things we are really passionate for? Without God... money, sex, power. Think about what our passions are like without God.
Our passions are about things that can not ultimately satisfy us. When your young you just want to get out of school and go to college, when your in college you want to get out and get a job, and then when you get a job you want to find a wife/husband and buy a house, big yard, pool, nice cars, divorce then next right person, then you find over time the great job is not so great, no matter how much money I accumulate I seem to want more stuff to spend with it. Even if I find that place where I find more coming in than going out, I now have cancer.
You see in this world all of our desires and our passions never have the ability to satisfy us. Like a dirty trick played on us, were told if we just grow up and get an eduction, get a good job and marry the right person everything will work out fine. But it doesn’t they went to church tried to follow the rules but for all the wrong reasons.
If you hunger for the wrong things, you’ll just feed off of wrong things and in the end you will be empty. Jesus says there is greater, better more real satisfaction when you experience what happens when your passions are directed by your convictions, you see blessed are the poor in spirit - they get it, Blessed are those who mourn - they feel it, Blessed are the meek - they walk with a sense of humility, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - they want more of God, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the things of God.
Blessed are those who trade in and look for a better way of living, Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for all the right things that come from a right relationship with God because they will be filled, they will find satisfaction that can’t be found anywhere else.
What do you hunger for that you thirst for? It matters, it will determine what you look like. It will determine what you do and what you say. It will determine where you are with God.
What does hungering and thirsting for a right relationship with God look like?
I. Looking to have our love Grow
We look for righteousness and seeing the love of Christ grow inside of us, seeing our hearts soften. You want to know what it means to be righteousness? It means to be like Christ, who was the gift of God’s love. You want to know how to pursue it? Look to grow in love and have your heart softened. Look to become less selfish and less selfish.
II. People To Come To Christ
Look, care, pray for people to come to Christ. If you earnestly hunger and thirst for righteousness to see righteousness take place in this world to see men and women made right with God in Christ do you think the numbers go up a little bit? You have to ask yourself what are you hungering and thirsting for?
III. The Church To Grow And Impact
Most christians today are consumers they go from one church to another. they are looking to take but not looking to take ownership. They are not looking to say, I want to see my church grow and have an impact so it would be part of a bigger church in the world growing and having an impact. How many people do you invite to church?
IV. Freedom From Injustice
Caring for the poor, caring for those nobody cares for. The willingness to stick up for those who can’t stick up for themselves, there is so much injustice in this world, is that part of the injustice that Jesus was talking about? If your going to be in a right relationship with him you would have to ask, what would his relationship be to the rest of the world? Jesus cared about those who were orphaned, diseased, widowed, poor and broken and we have to too.
How much do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?
V. God’s Truth Revealed And Lived
Do we really care about the truth? or are we willing to sit back and be quiet. Wanting to see the truth lived out in our own lives.
What is your heart hungry for? There is not greater satisfaction than to experience, passions that are directed by convictions. When you allow your passions to be convicted and directed by God your passions will become your greatest satisfaction because they will come from hungering and thirsting from what God has promised to give us new, abundant and eternal life so as we go forth and begin a new year let God’s
blessing fall on us, let it be said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
Notes taken by: Lorelllawrence@comcast.net The notes is for you to have for review in the series, also to reflect on during the week.
God Bless,
Sermon by: Pastor Frederick Williams