SERMON ON THE MOUNT #6

HUNGERING AND THIRSTING AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS

(Matthew 5:6)

INTRODUCTION

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

1. It is not uncommon one 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. 2 Kings 6:24-29

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 our next verse in the
beatitudes

1. Matthew 5:6

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

DISCUSSION

A. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HUNGER AND THIRST

1. Many have a backward approach to finding
happiness

a. Most people look for happiness and blessedness
through the desires of the flesh

1) Pleasure-mania – workaholics – wealth

2) These pursuits miss the target – they ultimately fail the
test

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

1) It is an effort to seek what is right at the core of one’s
life

2) Happiness and blessedness is a product of
righteousness

2. This hungering and thirsting is an intense desire to
know holiness and to be holy

a. Psalm 42:1

b. Psalm 63:1

c. Psalm 84:2

d. Psalm 107:9

e. John 6:27

f. Isaiah 55:1-3

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

a. Story of the Prodigal Son is an example of the kind of
hunger I’m talking about (Lk. 15)

b. When things turned bad for this young man, he got
hungry and took on a job he would not have had
otherwise

c. 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

d.  Luke 15:14, 17

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

a 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 – “poor in spirit”

b. He has realized the problem of sin that separated him
from God to start with and he has mourned and grieved
over that problem – “they that mourn”

c. 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 – “the meek”

d. And now — he yearns both for God and for that
which is the character of God — righteousness

e. 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

B. WHY RIGHTEOUSNESS?

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

a. Matthew 6:33

b. Romans 1:16-17

c. Romans 6:13

d. Romans 14:17

e. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

f. 2 Corinthians 5:21

g. Ephesians 4:24

h. 1 Peter 2:24

2. It was once said, “Change the hunger, and you change
the man; control the hunger and you control the
man.”

a. Everyone is hungry and thirsty for something

1) Your appetites determine the direction and course of
life

2) But there is only one thing that truly satisfies –
righteousness

b. This beatitude then, determines the growth of faith

1) This growth desires God, the mind of God, the
character of God, the things of God, and the life of
God – it is the essence of faith

2) Hebrews 11:6

CONCLUSION

A. How’s your faith today?

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