Matthew 5 the beatitudes – blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled
We continue in our series on the beatitudes
Jesus lays out the principles of the gospel – the gospel is good news
Easy face value
Hunger, thirst, filled
If we aren’t careful this sounds very much like good works.
• I stay with it, then God loves me and blesses me
• I work hard enough then I can be the righteous
• Victorious Christian living
• And the Pharisees are cheering
• It is too easy for Christians to start sounding like this
Problems with this……..
1. Ultimately I don’t need jesus because I have arrived
2. I am living in a pretend world
3. We come to believe in a god that is fearful and only blesses us if ……
As long as there is an if associated to love, it is not good news
God free us from any gospel that says we receive the blessing when we are good enough. While we were sinners, Christ died for us.
Maybe there is something else here
But first, lets look at the metaphor – hungry and thirsty
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Hunger is a metaphor that all of us can understand
It is the human experience- everyone will get this
Mozambique Cvv
If we have a child and we lock it in the closed and starve it to death. That is considered murder. If we don’t feed them enough, that is child abuse. Yet, when God’s children are hungry and we can help, but we don’t, nothing happens.
Law enforcement- the church needs to do what the church can do, and let law enforcement do its job
Man coming out of prison – needs a place to stay – has worked as a roofer, landscaper
Read Mt 25:34-36
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Pray
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Is there something else that jesus might be saying
Some people cant fix their problems……..there is no cupboard to go to
Those who cant fix their life - who don’t get it.
We aren’t there yet
We are desperately goofed up
Keep eating, keep getting empty
There are moments of tension that we just cant fix
Despair.
Addiction.
real people still have real problems
Sometimes, for no reason at all, life just stinks and you cant figure it out.
I am supposed to write this blog………I have nothing
I am supposed to know what to say to someone. I have nothing
I am supposed to see the good, but I find myself depressed
A preacher talked to someone- I want to buy a couch. But if I spend $1000 on a couch, I could have provided water to a family for their life.
A quote from a book I am reading- we do not necessarily need to feel guilty about our wealth. But we do need to get up every morning with a deep sense that something is terribly wrong with the world, and yearn and strive to do something about it. [the problem is] there is simply not enough yearning and striving going on.
When Helping Hurts
This hungering is about a rightness……
Wishing, hungering for the world to be right, shalom
Peace. Bringing gods kingdom here
God is with you in the tension.
He does not wait for you to get it together. You can keep working on it, and you should, but he does not wait for you to have it all together.
You don’t have to pretend
He blesses you when you don’t have it all together
It is ok to have days where things don’t add up
That is real human living
The gospel has room for you to have a bad day or a season of despair
There is room for your humanity there
conclusion
how were they filled?
His followers did not rush out to get a seminary degree
they did not suddenly come into some righteousness
Jesus stood with the drunkards, the prostitutes and the sinners
his presence with them, his love for them, healed them
And the moment that you realize that he is there and that he loves you. You are filled.
Even when your life is a mess - God loves you and walks with you
How filling
That friends, is good news
Blessed are all you who hunger and thirst. You are loved. You are embraced. God is with you. Be filled with joy.
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