Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness: Filled by God

The blessing is that in the text is this, those who hunger and thirst for God's righteousness, God fills. Notice, it doesn't say God feeds them. Feeding would indicate that God prepares a meal and you have to feed yourself. No. Fear indicates that all you have to do is open up to God and God begins to pour into you. Feeding yourself indicates that you know when you're full. Being filled indicates that I don't know what I need or how much I need, so lord just fill me up. [00:31:13] (59 seconds)  #FilledByGod

People want to make it an either or choice. They want to see justice done in the world but not submit to God in their personal lives or they want to just submit to God in their personal lives but not care about the people around them or the folk overseas. They claim to love Jesus but don't address discrimination, bigotry or social societal injustices. Jesus is speaking to both hunger and thirsting after righteousness means that I care about how I walk and I care about how other people are living. [00:29:10] (32 seconds)  #JusticeAndPersonalFaith

Notice it doesn't just say hunger. It doesn't just say thirst. It says hunger and thirst. It's not just about what makes you hungry, it's about what makes you thirsty. Because you can stay hungry for weeks but you won't make it three days without water. Because humans need food and water to survive. A human can go without food for about three weeks but you typically can't go three or four days without a little bit of h two o. That's why Jesus told the woman at the well that he could give her access to water that never runs dry. I can keep filling you to a place of overflow. [00:33:00] (39 seconds)  #HungerAndThirstConnect

To change your cravings, you must change what you are consuming to get the spiritual junk food out. The way Paul put it to the Corinthian church in first Corinthians ten twenty three, all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let me hurry. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of spiritual junk food. [00:25:31] (28 seconds)  #CutSpiritualJunkFood

So let me break this down and I'm out of your way. Hunger and thirst here, when you look at that, it simply means this, a continuous intense craving. It's not a casual desire. In other words, it's something I've gotta have. You ever crave something so bad that you just had to have it. And and if and if you got something else, it didn't satisfy you because what you really wanted was what you were craving. That's it. It is having that kind of craving for God's righteousness. [00:26:50] (42 seconds)  #CraveGodsRighteousness

It's personal righteousness, moral and spiritual alignment with God. It's relational righteousness, right relationships with other people. It's social justice. God's justice breaking into this broken world. It's covenantal faithfulness living rightly under God's reign. In Matthew, righteousness is not merely a legal standing. It is a transformed life that reflects the goodness of God and God's character. In other words, I'm watching what I'm saying. I'm watching what I'm doing. [00:29:42] (29 seconds)  #HolisticRighteousness

When you hunger for righteousness, it opens you up and then God begins to fill you up. In the Greek, this word filled means satisfied. passive verb, they will be satisfied. It's a term that was used in feeding animals until they were full. Satisfied. It implies completeness. It implies overflowing satisfaction. Have you ever been overflowingly satisfied? I mean, not just quench thirst, not not just that was good enough, but I mean overflowing satisfaction. [00:32:12] (47 seconds)  #OverflowingSatisfaction

What I love about this text, it makes me feel so good. As Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Deacon, would you know what that means? It was a knock at the Pharisees who thought they were already righteous. He did not say, blessed are those who are righteous for they shall be filled. He just says, blessed are those who are hungry for Which means you don't have to have it all figured out. [00:37:37] (50 seconds)  #HungryNotPerfect