Essentials of Spiritual Growth and Multiplication

Jesus' Commandments: Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

The Sermon on the Mount gives some of Jesus' most profound teachings, and some of the hardest ones to live up to. Being meek, merciful and peacemakers seem to be the easist ones to prefer, while the "harder ones" talk about being poor in spirit, pure in heart, persecuted, etc.

I think this one is harder than it at first seems. What does it mean to "Hunger and thirst" after righteousness? It's much easier, I think, to conceive of hungering and thirsting after eternal life...or forgiveness of sins. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness is almost too much to conceive of asking of ordinary people. I think it goes beyond desiring what God offers us to desiring God Himself. It's much easier sometimes to want what's on the Master's table than to want the Master Himself, isn't it? Like if you've been gone on a business trip and your children's first words aren't, "Daddy" or "Mommy" but, "What did you bring me?"

Despite this, it's a familiar image in the Old Testament. Psalm 42:1-2
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Psalms 42:1, 2.

The psalmist longs to be in the presence of God. When we consider how separated Old Testament worship kept everyone from the manifest presence of God, (even the king), his expectation is remarkable. Everlasting life (Daniel 12) was the expectation. But the idea of seeing God is rare. (See Job 19:25-26) David was certainly given more insight than most:

“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. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.” Psalms 63:1, 2.

I do believe it's because of his longing for God that he was given this hope. (Ps. 16:11, 17:15)

The Bible says that God has set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Those who are seekers...I know you've known this type... are like Solomon in Ecclesiastes. Looking always for significance, for value, meaning and virtue in the things one does and contemplates. With the means to explore and learn and try everything available to a man, Solomon concludes that everything under the sun is "vanity," or emptiness. I think God has allowed a core of dissatisfaction to be found at the bottom of every pursuit other than Himself.

Joseph Addison wrote, "The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for." If you work for that which fades, if you love that which is unworthy, if you hope in a lie--you have wasted your life. As the the Rolling Stones sing, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" -- or U2, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The French philospher Blaise Pascal described it in terms of a hole in our hearts, a God-shaped vacuum, which can't be filled by anything but God.

Jesus constantly used our short-sighted ambitions--to slake our thirst, to fill our bellies--to point us to something greater:

He tells the disciples to "labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that which endures unto everlasting life." (John 6:27), which reminds them of Isaiah 55:2 - "Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which doesn't satisfy? Hearken diligently to me and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

This passage in Isaiah pictures God inviting all who thirst, to "come to the waters....without money and without price." It's a welcome to free salvation, and Jesus applies it to Himself when He says:

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39)

He was saying He was the source of living water, just as he had told the woman at the well in John 4. When she protests that he's asking her to give him water, He opens the conversation up to the eternal realities behind our earthly quests for satisfaction: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'give me a drink,' you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water."

She keeps on talking about literal water, missing his point, until He reveals who He is. But what's interesting is that the disciples showed just about as much discernment as she did when they tried to get him to eat and he responded with, "I have meat to eat that you know not of." They were confused and asked each other, "has anyone brought him something to eat?"

So he has to explain, "My meat is to do the will of Him Who sent me, and to finish the work."

Which highlights an important point about hungering and thirsting for righteousness. If we look at it exclusively as longing for and awaiting our ultimate destiny with God in heaven, we miss the whole reason why God didn't take us on to heaven when we received Christ: we have work to do--real, meaningful work.

1 Corinthians 3:7-15 talks about being co-workers together with God. It's not that any of us are any big deal, because it's God who brings spiritual life and growth, but still we have a service and obligation both to Him and to others for which we will receive rewards. As 2 Corinthians 4-5 puts it, we have been left in these rough jars of clay to endure the persecution, struggle and trouble of this world so that the light within--the enlightening, empowering Holy Spirit--might be shown to greater effect.

Eternal rewards will result from the temporary challenges we overcome through Him. And we have been saved not simply to enjoy our security in hope, but to finish His mission here on earth. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21) John 3:16's summary of the Gospel implies that the best way to love Him is to spread His love for others.

So working to satify our hunger and thirst for rightoeusness inovlves the present intimacy of adoration of Him, the duty and intimacy of being about His continued mission on earth WITH HIM, and the hope for ultimate intimacy with Him and enjoyment of HIs approval.

All of these things add to the ultimate blessing. Jesus said, "for they shall be filled." When does food taste best? When you're very hungry, even the plainest fare has such flavor that you want to draw out the experience. When you're very thirsty, water has flavor that it never had before, and seems to energize your whole body.

When we make an effort to get to know Him better now through worship and reflection on His virtues, when we experience Him daily by committing ourselves to His mission, when we anticipate Him by treasuring heaven rather than earth, the ultimate fulfillment will be that much sweeter.

I can think of two people in scripture who are inspirations to me, reminders to really anticipate this fulfillment: Joshua and Mary of Bethany.

Joshua was Moses' understudy. During the wilderness wandering, when they set up the "tent of meeting," (before the Tabernacle was officially constructed) God's presence was there. Both Moses and Joshua went in there to meet with God. Moses had to go back out to deal with the people to carry out the Lord's instructions. But Joshua, the Bible says, "would not depart from the tent." (Exodus 33:7-11) Revelation 3:12's promise reminds me of this when it says, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” Revelation 3:12.

Mary of Bethany had a similar heart. She, her sister and her brother were among Jesus' best friends. One one of His visits, her older sister was furiously working to serve Jesus and the disciples, frustrated that Mary only sat at Jesus' feet and listened to Him. But Jesus told Martha that Mary's single-minded devotion to Him was more important. (Luke 10:38-42)

As Jesus told the woman at the well, God seeks that kind of worshipper, those who worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24) God seeks thirsty seekers. It's as if we chase Him, we think, until He catches us: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Think of it like this: the ones who think they're OK...the ones who're comfortable and self-satisfied, or self-righteous, who think they've got it made... well, in Jesus' day, those weren't the ones who followed Him. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," He said. "Those who are well need no physician, but those who are sick."

The last invitation of the Bible is only for the thirsty: “The Spirit and the bride say, “come!” And let him who hears say, “come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17) This is the call to salvation, but I think the whole message of this attitude is to remain thirsty for Him, to never get enough of Him.

This week, remember Jesus' words and this invitation. Does it stir your anticipation? That's hope. Does it inspire your love for Him? Is there a duty to be done in the meantime? Romans 13:11 tells us that "now it is high time we awaken out of sleep, for now our salvation is NEARER than when we at first believed!" These are the essentials of happiness, a wise man said, and the very meaning of Paul's saying, "for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

by Study-Leader @ 12:35 PM