Is More Of God What You Are Hungering For? by Ed Pruitt

Matthew 5:6-6

Is More Of God What You Are Hungering For?
Sunday evening May 18, 2003
Pastor Ed Pruitt

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

Did you know that over 20,000 people die of hunger each day is the world?

There over 1 billion people that live on less than one dollar a day in the world.

It is little wonder, so many are hungry.

Over 100 billion pounds of safe, edible food is thrown away here in the United States every year by retailers, restaurants, and farmers while twenty-five million American men, women and children are hungry.

On average, an estimated 18 percent of the requests for emergency food assistance have gone unmet.

Were talking about real hunger, not simply those little hunger pangs we get between meals.

Growing up in poverty too often means problems related to ill health, poor nutrition, unhealthy development and poor school readiness.

Children at risk for hunger are most likely to reside with single mothers with very low incomes, usually derived from social assistance or welfare.

Children in households that reported hunger suffered not only from their own ill health but also from their parent’s ill health and activity limitations in the home.

We are talking about the United States, a rich country with vast areas of land, great crops produced and incredible gardens and orchards!

Hunger is not something we like to think about or face very much.

It doesn’t seem to us to be very good.

The term ‘hunger’ refers to desire, longing, focus, interest, and love.

When someone is hungry, the focus on food and on satisfying that hunger is the main focus of the life.

A lot of energy goes into finding something to satisfy the lack in the belly.

Hunger can cause people to do some very desperate things.

When we are hungry, really hungry, people will do almost anything to take care of that craving for food!

Now that brings us to where we want to be in our text this evening.

Jesus isn’t talking about physical hunger.

Jesus is talking about a hunger that is good.

While recognizing the fact that there is a hunger that isn’t good, there is a hunger that is good.

In fact, we are all propelled by appetite, physically and spiritually.

Hunger drives us- physically and in other ways, and we are all driven people.

Do you hunger for God?

Are you hungry for God?

Your hunger for God must be greater than your hunger for things of the world.

People of the world hunger for pleasure and happiness, but they never seem to be satisfied.

If people, and this goes for a lot of church people also, are only searching for happiness and entertainment and are not searching for Righteousness they are never going to be truly happy!

If we want true happiness it can be found in Jesus!
Jesus speaks of hunger that is tremendous- and one that is much blessed, and much to be sought.

Spiritually, there’s hunger and thirst to actually be cultivated and to be sought.

Spiritual hunger and thirst are such good passions, that Jesus lauds them, and praises them.

He tells us that if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will be filled, not simply given a little bit, but will be filled!

That’s a wonderful promise.

Our hunger and thirst will be more than rewarded.

He’s really telling us that if we are hungry and thirsty for Him, we will be filled.

When a person is hungry and thirsty, the things like worship, prayer and seeking the Lord, fasting going to church, loving the Word are seen being pursued

Let’s think about ‘Him’ for a few moments.

What is He all about?

Jesus is the One we want to hunger for.

In Romans 10:4 we read
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Jesus is the one!

Jesus is Righteousness!

Further, Jesus declared to His disciples:

John 6:35-40
35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst.

36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me.

37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.

38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do what I want.

39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day.

40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life—that I should raise them at the last day.”

We’re not going to be hungry anymore.

Our hunger will be satisfied, at its deepest level.

Jesus declares what someone is to do who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.

Here, He is the one who declares that we won’t hunger and won’t thirst when we’re going after Him and when we find Him.

We’ll be provided for.

So, how much do you seek Jesus?

What means the most to you?

What do you live for?

Why do you live?

These are important questions, and heart-searching questions that we should take seriously and look at in our personal lives.

They will help us to locate where we are.

If we do not accurately discern your present condition, how can we make progress?

We can’t!

We need to be doing a personal inventory every day if we are ever going to get to the place that we want to be!

We should hunger for God more than anyone or anything else because He alone can satisfy, fulfill, complete, develop, heal, save, transform and equip our lives.

God is Alpha and Omega.

God is the First and the Last!

Nothing else comes even close to Him.

Yet every day a lot of us substitute things and other people, for God’s special place in our hearts.

Many view a relationship with God as an item on their checklist of things to do in a week.

God is listed right along with:
shopping, fitness workout, kids, work, hobbies, recreation

This, is not the correct view for our relationship with God.

If this is, for you, then you are missing the relationship you need to have.

He is not second to anything.

He will not accept second place.

Remember that idolatry is putting your arms around anything other than God.

God is the King of the Universe.

He doesn’t take second place to religious activities either.

He is to be Number 1 in our life!

He is to be:

Our focus, our desire, our longing, our interest,
our love, our closest Friend.

The ruler of your every thought, word and deed.

Do you hunger and thirst for God?

Do you hunger and thirst for Jesus, your Righteousness?

How does this show?

We as Christians are to be the salt of the earth.

When we are not sitting in this building and we are out in the world are we producing a lot of salt?

Do the people that are around us on a daily basis seeing Jesus Christ coming out of us or are they seeing things that they don’t need to see?

Jesus, as the Bread of Life, is, also, the Word of God.

He is the living Word, even as He is inspired the written Word.

You need to be hungry and thirsty, expressed through the desire with which you pursue Him.

Your hunger for the Word and the attention you give to it will determine how much of God’s Word you actually receive in your life.

It’s like a seed planted in a garden.

The more attention you give to cultivating the soil, removing the weeds, fertilizing and watering the seed, the more the seed will produce.

Let me tell you about how to have a good garden!

It involves the work of cultivating a garden 3 or 4 times in the fall, and again 3 or 4 times in the spring before planting, and the result is a virtually weed-less garden.

It sounds good to me- certainly something to desire.

But the point is that a good garden, however, you work at it, takes time and effort.

Jesus said it this way:

Mark 4:24
24 And be sure to pay attention to what you hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand—and even more, besides.

The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear and know,

Will be the measure of good and knowledge that comes back to you,

And even more, besides, will be given to you when you hear.

There is application to relationship that is needful and will lead to your increasing growth!

Suppose you go to a nice restaurant and have delicious food placed in front of you.

Food that has been well prepared and is displayed beautifully on the plate.

However, before you get to the restaurant you fill up on junk food.

Even though the food is good, you probably won’t eat much because of your loss of appetite.

You are full of junk food.

This, far too often, is a picture of many Christians spiritually.

They are sitting in church and the Word is being preached, but their appetite for God is almost gone because of all the junk the world is feeding them.

Don’t miss this mini series that is going to start this Sunday evening, or let’s go to the park next Sunday, I am sure God will understand!

Junk, worldly junk!

Let me tell you if we are not careful, worldly junk will get such a hold on us we won’t know how to act and before long we will be sucked into most anything and give the excuse that God will understand.

Please don’t allow this to become you!

Are you hungry for God or do you just show up at church and occasionally read some Bible verses?

Well, I have some good news for you.

Your appetite for God will immediately increase just by your asking God to help you.

He’s a good God and He gives His people good things.

Certainly when we ask for help to become spiritually energized by spiritual hunger, God responds, always!

Also, as you put aside the junk of the world, the life of God will be much more appealing to you.

Put aside junk, so there’s room to be hungry for God.

How often do you turn off the radio in order to pray?

How often do you turn off the TV in order to read the Word?

How often do you use ‘your’ time to call someone to give a word of encouragement?

How often do you put aside fatigue in order to show someone even a small act of hospitality?

Don’t allow your hunger for God to be stolen!

Junk food tastes so good.

When I’m very hungry it’s easy to reach for junk food first.

My hunger, as you can tell by looking at me has never been to the point of a lot of the people in this world!

It is easy to reach for a cookie or a chocolate bar, rather than find something good to satisfy the hunger.

It’s like this spiritually, too.

Too many churches today are in the entertaining business, give them what they want, we sure don’t want to offend anyone and cause them to quit coming!
God forbid that!

If they quit, we won’t have enough money to pay our bills, we will have to close our doors!

Now I know that is not what people are saying today in the churches but that is certainly what they are saying to God!

And God is sitting up there in heaven looking down and saying, Oh, ye of little faith.

If you will just preach My Word and tell the people My Truth, I will do the rest!

Good ol Matthew 6:33
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

There might be people that will walk out the door but if we are doing what God wants us to do and preaching what God wants us to preach He and He alone will send the people that He wants to send!

The needs of the church will be met and the church will grow!

See, there are far too many churches today that are trying to figure out what they need to be doing to get church growth, this program, that program, this speaker, that speaker.

When all we need to be doing is to be down on our knees seeking God with all our heart and soul and he will do the rest!

I might add, don’t be too hard on me and think that I am being too heavy talking about people that might leave if they here the truth.

See Jesus was just a little heavy in John 15:1-5 when He said
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

2 He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

3 You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you.

4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

It’s too easy to find some filling through entertainment or general reading!

God is here to be sought and to really fill you.

Our hunger for God will increase as we remove anything that might be stealing that hunger.

Knowing the blessings that will come, blessings that are promised by Jesus.

If you hunger and thirst for Jesus, wipe away any of the insufficient ‘quick fixes’ to that hunger offered by the world, and go where Jesus blesses.

You won’t regret it.

Don’t just allow yourself to eat junk, so you miss the nutritious food offered when you come to worship.

Be diligent and careful to seek God, satisfying your spiritual hunger and thirst as He approves and blesses.

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