“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)
This week we will conclude out look at hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Rather than looking at one more angle of what this text may or may not mean, let us do some examination of our souls in light of this text. We may also want to think of this in light of the souls of others. But the Beatitudes are ways to examine our own souls to see if we are converted and to see if we have fallen into the dangerous zone of being lukewarm.
Our text tells us with the beauty and clarity of an omniscient God that the truly blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. In one sense this is easy to see intellectually. We can get bogged down with this in many other ways, even good ways, but still the basic meaning of this text is not terribly hard. True inner happiness is for those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Another way to say that would be to say that those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness are those who have true inner happiness. In fact, the text really tells us that only those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness have true inner happiness. When the text says “they,” it limits blessedness to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Let the examination begin. Do you have that true inner happiness? Don’t answer without some examination of your heart. I did not ask if you have fleeting moments of happiness. I did not ask if you are happy when your mind is engaged in worldly pleasures. I asked if you have true inner happiness. If you are forced to be alone for several hours, do you want to fill your mind with television, music, or even tickling the ear with sermons? Do sports fill you with happiness? Do you have momentary and fleeting feelings of joy when someone gives you money? Do you have momentary aspects of happiness when you buy something you have been wanting?
If you are brutally honest with yourself, you might find that your happiness is based in the things of the world. While you may be very religious and perhaps a teacher or pastor, you might find that your happiness is not really that much different than that of the world’s though it has a religious flavor. Fleeting and worldly bits of happiness in religious things can come from our sinful desires to do something well or to be honored. We can find bits of inner pleasure in teaching and preaching because we think others honor us. We can find something like happiness if we do good deeds because we swell at the opinion of others who honor us for what we do. We love the opinion of others and we love to think highly of ourselves when others compliment us. But those things are far different than the true inner happiness that is a co-product of hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
We can see what Paul thought about mercenary ministers from this text: “But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father” (Philippians 2:19-22). We can understand that the men that wanted to come to the Philippians as ministers would have been willing. They might have been excellent teachers with great knowledge. They might have been scholars of the Bible. They might have been honest and even hard workers. But Paul would not send them because they sought after their own interests. This meant that in the ministry they were more concerned with how things affected them rather than the true welfare of the souls of the people. If the minister does not have a genuine concern for the true good of the people, then his concern is all about himself. In that case he is not a minister for Christ but a minister for the benefit of self, whether it is money or honor or both.
Each person has the possibility of things like that. Each individual that professes Christ can be caught in the trap of doing things in a way that leads to success. A person can desire honor and attention from others or can do things just for the good feeling that s/he obtains in doing something. We can do things simply to be honored by other pastors or others in the local church. We can do things that appear as very sacrificial but are really in the pursuit of honor of others. No matter what we are doing and how outwardly successful it is, we must remember this text that Paul sets out for us. We are always seeking ourselves or we are seeking what is truly good for the souls of others. We can be as sound in theology as one can be but have selfish hearts that desire honor for preaching and theology rather than the glory of God in the true spiritual good of others. We can even be motivated to seek righteousness by our religious actions rather than seek the glory of God which is true righteousness. The heart is so deceitful.
Now it may appear that I have gone way astray from the text, but I have not. People that truly hunger and thirst after righteousness are not those that seek self in the pursuit of righteousness. Remember from Matthew six in the Sermon on the Mount how the Pharisees sought to do their acts of righteousness. It starts off with these haunting words: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” The text does not deny that these were in some way righteous acts, but it goes to the intent of them. The Pharisees did these to be noticed by other humans and found some measure of happiness and meaning in prayer in being noticed by others. But they measured that from what others thought of them or what they perceived that others thought of them. The passage goes on to show that the Pharisees did the same thing with giving of alms and fasting. They did their righteous acts to be seen of others. Do you?
Professing believers do the same thing today. Instead of doing things for the glory of God, we do them and want others to notice us in the doing of them. Do you ever brag about your Bible study? Of course you wouldn’t do it in an obvious way, but would you drop hints about how long you study and how faithful you are to study? Do we brag about our prayer life? Not that we would ever do this in an obvious way either, as that would show our pride in an obvious way, but in ways that we sneak in. When we pray are we really praying to God or are we trying to get our duty done? When we pray in public are we praying to God or are we concerned with what others will think of our prayer? Do we want them to admire how spiritual we are? Do we want them to admire our words? Do we want them to admire the length or wisdom of our prayer? Do we pray in order to get someone to say “amen” or give that grunt of approval? If so, are we different than the Pharisees?
If we are truly seeking the spiritual good of those around us, we will not care what they think of us but what they think of God. It is true that we should not want them to think badly of us unless it is for the sake of the Gospel, but we should not base what we do and how we do it on their good opinions of us. After all, God is what is good for them and not us. For anyone to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to do good works for the glory of God. There is no such thing as a good work that is not to the glory of God (Romans 3:23). When we have selfish goals and desires, even so-called spiritual ones, we are not doing things for the glory of God and so we are not hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This means that any joy we have from things that are spiritual in name though not in reality is not the blessedness that God gives.
Too often people are involved in what is known as ministry or ministries in the church (whether paid staff or not) and find joy in doing them. They make the assumption that their joy is the joy of the Lord when in fact it is nothing of the sort. Many people seek self in the world and in worldly ways while being part of the local church. Many seek their own joy in religious things and think that their joy which is for self in reality glorifies God in some way. This Beatitude should teach us something quite different. It teaches us that true joy is a gift of God in giving us that hunger and thirst for righteousness, but it is also at the most basic level giving us joy in Himself.
We must learn that our true joy is God and His joy in Himself that He shares with human beings. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness our joy must be a sharing in His joy in Himself and so our righteous acts are in reality a seeking of His glory in the world. Our joy is not in what other people think about us, but in being an instrument of the glory of God in the world. Our joy is not in what other people think about us, but in what they think about God. We are, after all, to do our works where people see them and glorify God (Matthew 5:16). Our joy is not to be just in anything or for any reason, but it is to be in God Himself. Any other joy no matter the outward results or action is simply idolatry as it is love of ourselves and not the love of God and His glory in us.
The heart is truly vital in determining what is righteous and what is not. The intents and motives of what we do determine whether we are hungering after true righteousness or whether we are hungering after things for ourselves. We must examine our hearts in light of God’s Word. We must examine our joy and happiness in light of God’s Word or we will be greatly deceived. God grants true inner happiness in the midst of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That inner happiness is a sharing in His love for Himself which is eternal life. After all, it is in loving God that joy in God will be found. While many may find some degree of pseudo-joy in the outward acts and pursuits of righteousness, it is only the inner pursuit that allows one to truly have the live and joy of God in our souls. Any other pursuit of righteousness is to be like the Pharisees. Examine your heart.
God Loves... Himself 
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