God's Plan: Growing in Christ with Hunger

Matt 5:6 “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”

· Have you ever been hungry before?

· I am referring to serious hunger when you go to sleep hungry, wake up hungry and stay hungry throughout the day.

How do you feel when you are hungry?

· weak, in pain or discomfort. Your stomach cramps

o It is on your mind until you fill that need

o Nothing is as important as getting something to eat.

Besides physical hunger, there are other types of hunger. Hunger of the mind & heart.

· It is when someone hungers for success or a better way to achieve something.

· The kind you find in relationships: when you fall in love and would do nearly anything to please the person you are attracted to.

· Famous athletes can demonstrate hunger;

will not allow any obstacle to stop them.

hunger is fierce

As much as the body hungers, so does the spirit.

Jesus spoke about this type of hunger or drive or motivation during His sermon on the mount. The Sermon on the Mount also called the Beatitudes. Beatitudes means Blessed or Blessings, the Utmost bliss, full of Blessing and full of GOD.

Jesus was teaching the people that they matter to GOD and that GOD wants them to believe in that perception. Jesus made it clear by saying these eight statements or Beatitudes as recorded by Matthew: The Eight Beatitudes of Jesus - Matthew 5:3-10

· "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

· Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

· Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

· Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

· Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

· Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

· Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

I would like to spend some time with each one of these statements, reminding us that they are a part of GOD’s plan.

· These statements are unlike the laws that Moses presented to the people.

· As you recall Moses presented the “Ten Commandments” to the Israelites.

· They were laws that were to be obeyed.

· The difference between the law of Moses and the Beatitudes is that each one of the Beatitudes are not commands like the Ten Commandments which are written with “Thy shall or thy shall nots.”

· Instead, Jesus’ statements are to fill the soul with utmost bliss or happiness.

o “If you want to be happy, then do this.

o If you want to be accepted by GOD, then you need to do this.”

o “If you want to have an actively meaningful relationship with GOD, then you need to seek GOD.”

o “If you want to be blessed from GOD then you need to do this,” and

o “If you want to be relieved of the guilt associated with sin,” then we need to grow in these blessings.

o If you want to grow in Christ, then do this.

Today I want to focus on the blessedness of hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

Jesus also demonstrated how one is to be filled with GOD’s spirit. Let’s look at what John teaches concerning a multitude of some 5,000 men. Look at John 6:3-15

· “Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Take note that before speaking and teaching about the Kingdom of GOD, Jesus attended to the people’s most urgent need, in this case, being hungry.

Question: Do we attempt to help people heal or be restored before speaking about the Kingdom?

Secondly, notice that Jesus’ disciple was attempting to solve the problem of feeding the folks by sending them away.

· They were thinking or remarking “Hey, you guys got to go now because it is getting close to dinner time.”

· However, Christ decided that they need to be fed and said, “You give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).

· You can practically see everyone’s jaw drop. “What are we miracle workers?!”

· Listen to the remarks of Phillip when he replied, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” (Verse 7).:

· Andrew openly responded that a young lad lunch brought five loaves and two fish asked, “What are [five loaves and two fish] for so many?” (John 6:9).

Question #2/3: Do we send people away by our actions or inactions? Do we see that what we have is not enough to make a difference for the Kingdom?

What did Jesus do?

· Jesus called for the bread and fish to be brought to Him (Matthew 14:18).

· He then gave thanks for the meal, broke the bread, and gave it to His disciples to give to the crowd.

· Amazingly, the entire multitude was fed with that small meal.

· Jesus provided “as much as they wanted” (John 6:11), and “they all ate and were satisfied” (Matthew 14:20).

· Christ did not just meet the need; He lavished them with so much food that there were “twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish” left over (Mark 6:43).

· Jesus did the work. He caused the increase through faith and obedience to GOD.

What is the lesson here?

· Realize that GOD is always in control. He created everything…. the fish, bread the people, the opportunity and the moments to show HIS great power, love and mercy.

· GOD teaches that HE can do what we consider the impossible to us. He fed the people because the people needed to be fed.

· He taught us that just as we crave physical food, we need to hunger for spiritual food.

· Just like we will die if we do not properly nourish the physical body, we shall also die a slow painful death by not feeding our spirit. Jesus saw the people hungry. They hunger for physical food and spiritual food. Their prayers of being fed were going to be answered that day.

· Most of the time we think small and surround GOD with those limitations. GOD is larger than life and wants us to crave that side of life that is filled with blessings.

· We should grow in faith to realize that GOD can take the smallest or tiniest resource and use it for HIS glory. We need to grow in faith.

Finally, notice that Jesus gave the food to the disciples who gave to the people. Why did Jesus choose that way?

· I think it had to do with the virtue “Trust.” This was a clear demonstration that they need to trust the LORD for everything they distributed.

· They need to trust that the LORD shall provide.

· They could only give as they received.

· They needed Jesus to deal with this and successfully feed the multitude; therefore, they were totally dependent upon the Lord for the supply. Are we growing in Trust?

He says He will do more than provide for His people; He will give an abundance (Psalm 132:15).

How do we reignite the desire to hunger after GOD?

1.Seek the presence of the LORD in the morning and at night

Psalms 92:2

“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,

proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,”

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock,” Jesus calls to His church. “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20)

When we are hungry for God and His Presence, we will do whatever it takes to get close to Him.

2. Pray for the blazing fire of hunger in your soul. The type that makes you act for GOD

· Think about it, would that prayer be acceptable or not to GOD; to pray for hungering after HIM.

3. Reach for it through the Holy Spirit who is present to guide each one of us toward Christ and a redemption.

4. Practice it. When I was serious about something I practiced it. I improved.

· Practice by growing in church

· Practice by growing in HIS word

· Practice by growing in dependence of the Holy Spirit.

· Practice by growing by submitting to GOD and HIS will.

· Practice by growing in the life by serving HIS children

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Ps 34:8

We need to aspire to grow in Christ and a good start is by growing in the Beatitudes, the fullness of GOD. We do that with certain disciplines but note that that we need to accept this as our way of life. We need to hunger for GOD’s way of pleasing HIM. Yes, it means acting or doing but mainly it requires our hearts to be completely devoted to HIM.

Are you completely devoted to GOD?