Matthew 5:6

Matthew 5:6

Satisfaction Guaranteed 

1. The only true satisfaction in life is found in righteousness through Jesus Christ, so we must desire His righteousness above all things (v. 6a)

1. Jesus’ Beatitudes reveal the progressive picture of what a life truly and genuinely following Christ as Lord as Savior looks like, and God’s blessing which result. The first three Beatitudes revealed our complete, utter, and desperate need for God’s grace through Christ, and now the fourth Beatitude tells us what that need is, how we satisfy it, and the blessing which results. Jesus tells us that, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”. That is to say that God “approves, affirms, or even applauds” the lives of those who have a deep craving for righteousness. But Jesus isn’t describing a take it or leave it attitude towards hunger and thirst that generally characterizes our lives, He’s describing the hunger and thirst of a starving and dying person which must be fulfilled and quenched at any cost, or certain death will result. Further, He’s applying this picture to the deepest level of continual spiritual hunger and thirst for righteousness, that supersedes all of our physical, mental, or emotional cravings, and which must be satisfied to fulfill our most basic innate need. There are three types of biblical righteousness which are critical to understand because Jesus describes a hunger and thirst for righteousness which is whole, perfect, and complete. This indicates that human righteousness will never fulfill us, but we must have a continual and ravenous appetite and thirst for ALL of God’s righteousness because that is the nutrition and hydration which we desperately lack, cannot possibly obtain on our own, and must have to survive. That refers first to legal righteousness, or God’s free gift of justification from sin through repentant faith in Christ. The second type of righteousness is moral righteousness, or the insatiable appetite for God to be the center of all of life’s thoughts, feelings, desires, motives, purposes, and activities. Lastly, social righteousness or social justice, flows out of moral righteousness, is focused completely on others, and is the desire to express love, kindness, and good deeds which compassionately seek to see oppression eradicated, justice prevail through law, and integrity in all areas of our own lives and others. So true righteousness must begin and end with legal righteousness through Christ, and solely focused on Him and others. A world apart from Christ will feel the need for social righteousness, but being solely focused on themselves, will pursue it through hunger and thirsting for revenge, not righteousness. And Christians and the church who hunger and thirst primarily after moral righteousness because they want the world to be a better place for themselves, not see others come to legal righteousness in Christ, will be ineffective at achieving moral or social righteousness, weary of doing good deeds, spend our energy and time arguing and infighting over everything, won’t effectively minister to others, grow weary, frustrated, disenchanted, bitter, and dissatisfied with doing good. We must evaluate our appetites and motives in all areas of life, and petition God to grant us an insatiable appetite for His righteousness in Christ above all things. (v. 6a; Ps. 34:8; 42:1-2; 63:1-5; 84:2; 143:6; Prov. 27:7; Eccl. 3:11; Jer. 2:13-14; 9:23-24; Micah 6:8; Matt. 5:10-48; Rom. 3:19-26; 9:30-10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17, 21; Gal. 5:19-26; 6:7-10; Eph. 2:1-10; 2 Tim. 2:24-3:7; Tit. 2:11-12)   

2. The only true satisfaction in life is found in righteousness through Jesus Christ, so we must trust fully in Him to satisfy all our needs and desires (v. 6b)

1. When we and the world around us try to fill our cravings through the understanding of our own mind, the strength of our own will, the power of our own works, seeking satisfaction in nibbling, snacking, and gorging on the sustenance of the world, we’re consuming food and drink which will never fully satisfy. But Jesus promises that only when we truly crave and seek His righteousness will we be fully satisfied. But we must trust fully in Him to meet to all our needs and desires. We’ll still encounter difficulties and challenges in life, but that even in those difficulties, challenges, and times of great need, we’ll never be dissatisfied because we know that our satisfaction isn’t earned, lost, or damaged by this world or our pitiful efforts, but it was earned through Christ’s great sacrifice born out of love for us, given to us freely, and kept eternally! When we have a deep, continual, and all-consuming hunger and thirst for Christ’s righteousness He promises that our minds will be satisfied with His truth, our souls will be satisfied to rest in His presence and provision, our wills will be satisfied with His authority and desire for our lives, and our heart will satisfied and fully content with His love. But even still, we’ll always continually seek to have more of all Him and His righteousness because we’ll know unequivocally that there is no limit to His amazing grace, its fruit in and through our lives, or the full satisfaction which comes only through trusting, craving, and consuming Him.  (v.6b; Exod. 33:18; Deut. 8:3; Ps. 17:13-15; 23:1-6; 37:4-5; 107:9; Prov. 16:26; Isa. 55:1-3; Jer. 29:11-13; Matt. 6:33; 11:28-30; Luke 9:23-25; 15:14-24; 16:19-31; John 4:10-14; 6:35, 54; 7:37-38; Rom. 6:16-23; 8:28-39; Phil. 3:7-16; 4:4-13, 19; 2 Pet. 3:11-18; 1 John 2:15-17; 3:3-10)