Beatitude #7: “Blessed are the peacemakers”

“SERMON ON THE MOUNT – AND BEYOND !!!”

Jeremy Stopford, Semi-Retired Pastor

“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9).

We have come to the 7th of the 8 beatitudes of our Savior’s “Sermon on the Mount” {SOTM!) found in its entirety in Matthew 5-7.

“Blessed”. Do you remember what “BLESSED” means? The Latin word for “blessed” is properly translated… “BEATITUDE”. AND the Greek word for “blessed” is “makarios”. “Makarios” is…GOD’S HAPPINESS, HIS JOY! It is GOD’S kind of “happiness” which is not dependent upon “happenings”. It is dependent upon…GOD HIMSELF!

So in this beatitude, the blessing is for the “peacemakers”. Do you remember one of the Old Testament titles for the soon coming Messiah? Remember carefully as you read these verses:

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, PRINCE OF PEACE.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. [Isaiah 9:6-7]

The Messiah, the Lord Jesus, is the One Who is the ultimate Peacemaker! He is the One Who can make peace between countries and even between peoples. But most importantly, because of the cross, He can make peace between God and me!

Jesus paid the price of peace! Listen to Isaiah 54:10,13 where the prophet Isaiah is looking forward to the day when the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, will be orchestrating peace because of the price He paid:

For the mountains shall depart

And the hills be removed,

But My kindness shall not depart from you,

Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”

Says the Lord, who has mercy on you. [v. 10]

All your children shall be taught by the Lord,

And great shall be the peace of your children. [v. 13]

So our Savior is the Author of peace, which is effected when His death on the cross is applied to the sinner who trusts that that death and shed blood was indeed done in his, the sinner’s place!

Have YOU trusted the Lord Jesus as your Savior, your peace?

Have you ever heard the story of Peter Bilhorn? He was born in Mendota, Illinois in 1865 (and lived until 1936). Since his father died when Peter was about 8, Peter quit school and did all he could to support his mother. When he was 15, the family moved to Chicago so he could be near where his voice could be used as an attraction in concert halls.

But then at age 20 an amazing thing happened – he was converted to saving faith in the Lord Jesus! Over the remaining years of his life, he would be used to write songs or their music on behalf of such evangelists as Dwight L. Moody (founder of Moody Bible Institute, as well as a worldwide evangelist).

Peter Bilhorn was asked by a friend to write the words for a song. He asked the friend what the theme should be, and she replied “any sweet piece.” Years later, the music for a song came to him, but he didn’t have the words for it. Shortly afterwards, while he was riding on a train to Iowa, the train came to a sudden stop. A dead body had been found on the train tracks. As the body was carried away, it left behind a pool of blood.

A friend, Major Whittle, suggested to Peter, “Do you know that is all Jesus Christ left on this earth? His body rose for our justification, but His blood was left to atone for our sins.” Peter replied back, “Yes, that is what gives me sweet peace.” Here comes the song, “Sweet Peace, the Gift of God’s Love”:

There comes to my heart one sweet strain,

A glad and joyous refrain,

I sing it again and again,

Sweet peace the gift of God’s love.

Through Christ on the cross peace was made,

My debt by His death was all paid,

No other foundation is laid,

For peace, the gift of God’s love.

When Jesus as Lord I had crowned

My heart with this peace did abound

In Him the rich blessings, I found

Sweet peace the gift of God’s love.

Our Savior offers His PEACE to every sinner. And all who come to Him through the shed blood of Calvary’s cross will immediately have that sweet peace.

When we have that SWEET PEACE then we are called the “children of God”. Hmm…that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Even the Apostle John records, in John 1:12-13:

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

We who have found that peace with God are called “children of God”, or better, “sons of God.” !!!

The early disciples were to make a difference in the world in which they lived. Perhaps in their limited “worldview”, they were thinking mainly Jerusalem, or even Galilee. But you and I can look back and see that in the BIG picture, when the Apostle John wrote in John 3:16 that “God so loved the WORLD”, He was talking about a picture well beyond the first disciples’ comfort zone!

But what are WE to do with that SWEET PEACE?

There are at least 3 pre-requisites to our being a peacemaker for Jesus:

#1—be at peace with God

#2—be at peace with yourself

#3—be committed to bringing others to Christ and showing them the Prince of peace.

Be at peace with God – IF/SINCE your have come to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior/your Peace, you have Peace with God! Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…”. This is a present position! It is not some future “hope so” but rather a present “KNOW SO”! We have peace with God.

But further, we are to be at peace with ourselves. That means that we have “nothing between our soul and the Savior”, as the old song says.

And then? We are to be committed to bring others to Christ, the Prince of Peace! We are to show our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, enemies, strangers, EVERYBODY – what Jesus has done for us, and for THEM! We are to have the Lord Jesus’ view of people. We are to look at people through His eyes. We are to be instruments of reconciliation between the sinner and the Savior, pointing the sinner to the cross and His available redemption in Him.

And when we do that, do you know what we’ll be? Yep! We’ll be…PEACEMAKERS! Because being a peacemaker is what God’s children are and do!

“Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God..”

Beatitude #6: “Blessed are the pure in heart”

“SERMON ON THE MOUNT – AND BEYOND !!!”

By Jeremy Stopford, Semi-Retired Pastor

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8)

We have come to the 6th of the beatitudes of our Savior’s “Sermon on the Mount” {SOTM!) found in its entirety in Matthew 5-7.

“Blessed”. Do you remember what this means? By way of review, our English word “happy” begins with 3 letters – “hap” – which show that our emotions are based upon …happenstance or better, circumstances, The Latin word for “blessed” is properly translated…you bet, “BEATITUDE”. But the Greek word for “blessed” is “makarios”. You are now Greek scholars, right? “Makarios” is…GOD’S HAPPINESS, HIS JOY! It is GOD’S kind of “happiness” which is not dependent upon “happenings”. It is dependent upon…GOD HIMSELF! Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) which is a God-thing, created by Him for His purpose.

In today’s lesson, we are told that the blessed here are the “PURE IN HEART”.

(And did you remember: Dr. Becker’s 81st birthday was on Monday, March 8)

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

So how do we illustrate this truth? Permit me a feeble attempt! The date was July 8, 1968, almost 53 years ago! A small group of about 30 of us high school students – along with several teachers and their spouses – spent the summer of 1968 touring France, Germany, and Spain, spending 6 weeks of our 8 week travel in a chalet in Switzerland. Studying, of course. I took one year of Spanish in those 6 weeks, and finishing the summer for a week in Madrid made for a wonderful opportunity to practice what I learned! One of our side trips while in Switzerland was to “Les Diablerets”, quickly and easily translated “the devils”. From the ground looking up, it simply looked like one of those New Hampshire mountains – only maybe a little higher. Well, maybe A LOT higher! It was 65 degrees at the base. A beautiful Swiss day! We all rode in “gondolas” (cable cars) up the side of the mountain. Straight up, mind you. At the top were two glaciers, and within seconds we were all…having a snowball fight! 20 degrees and a blizzard! Then minutes later, a biting wind blew the blizzard past, and then, and THEN…you could see forever – most of Europe the guide related – from the top of what once was the scene of a tremendous struggle!

So how do we apply this simple (simplistic?) illustration? Let’s work our way through this. The “BLESSED” were all of us finding a newfound joy in the journey. The “PURE IN HEART” was the fruit of being without the storms (and without the threat of being hit squarely between the eyes by a fast sailing snowball!). And those who “SEE GOD”? They are the ones who reach the goal – the experience of seeing the purpose of the journey up the mountain to the glacier. We made it through the trials, through the VERY harrowing gondola trip up the side of the mountain. We made it through the storm of the sudden blizzard. We even made it through the snowball “battle”! And then? As the song says, we could “see forever”. We could see the handiwork of God. Even though it would be another 3 years before I would come to the Savior by faith, that experience was HUGE in my visualizing the magnitude of the God of creation. And, according to Romans 1:20, “ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…”. I was without excuse. God’s display on top of that mountain showed me His hand. His presence. Wow!

So let’s make some evaluations. “BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART”. For the Jew, it was part of the Scriptures to use a bodily part like the heart to display an attribute. For example, the “heart”, as one of my college professors wisely noted, “may be understood here as “the interior life of the personality.” Jesus used this same thought again in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your HEART will be also.” The heart, the seat of the emotions, as it were, can be either “PURE” or “IMPURE”. Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 12:34-35? He was NOT very kind to those whose foundation was tradition and their own made up laws (613 of them in addition to the Jewish Scriptures!). Jesus said to them,

Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the HEART the mouth speaks.

A good man out of the good treasure of his HEART brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

And again in Matthew 15:19:

“For out of the HEART proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

Thus, the born again Christian who is “PURE IN HEART” is one who realizes the above battles for that purity. How does the one who is “PURE IN HEART” access that hope, that goal for his walk with the Lord? The Bible says in Romans 10:17, “so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”! The battle between purity and impurity – between light and darkness of the heart – demands a heart that is transformed daily into the holy image of the Lord Jesus! And HOW am I to do that?

The Apostles Paul and Peter are quite helpful here. First Paul:

“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a PURE HEART.” [2 Timothy 2:22]

And Peter:

“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a PURE HEART, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever…” [1 Peter 1:22-23]

“BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART”! Flee youthful lusts. Pursue holiness. Love one another because you’ve been born again by the living Word of God. It wasn’t until the Lord brought us through the (snow) storm that He surprised us young ones. He was there with us through the storm, even though we may not have appreciated that at the time! And then?

“FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD”.

To “see God” is a two-fold experience for every man, woman, boy, and girl who has come to know the Lord Jesus as Savior. First of all, we can SEE GOD now!!! How? Listen to Philippians 4:4-5:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.”

What does it mean when Paul says that the Lord is “AT HAND”? Well, we’ve done this lesson far enough to know, don’t we? It means that we SEE GOD…NOW! We know His presence, His blessings regardless of the…HAPPENSTANCES that the world may have to offer. We are BLESSED…MAKARIOS…ENJOYING GOD’S JOY.

But there is another guideline. We can see God NOW only under one MAJOR condition, as the writer of Hebrews relays in Hebrews 12:14:

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which NO ONE WILL SEE the Lord…”

Peace with all people. Holiness before God and in the world. Rejoicing in the Lord. He is “AT HAND”!

But we are ASSURED to SEE THE LORD when we GO HOME TO BE WITH HIM!

In the midst of Job’s trials, sufferings, and tremendous LACK of comfort by those who were supposedly his closest friends, he utters some of the most classic words of the entire Old Testament, in Job 19:25-27:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And He shall stand at last on the earth;

  And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I SHALL SEE GOD,

Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!”

Do I hear an “AMEN”?

We will close with 1 John 3:1-3, where the Apostle John expressed Job-like hope:

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for WE SHALL SEE HIM as He is.

And everyone who has this hope in Him PURIFIES HIMSELF, just as He is pure.

Now “Les Diablerets” is not for the faint of heart. Neither is life, for that matter. But our Savior invites us into His presence, to SEE HIM NOW. He invites us to His purity. He invites us to see Him every day – through the storms, in the valley, and occasionally from the mountaintop. And one day we will SEE HIM AS HE IS. Are you excited? Are you striving to be one of the “PURE IN HEART”?

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8)

“SERMON ON THE MOUNT – AND BEYOND !!!”

Jeremy Stopford, Semi-Retired Pastor

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt. 5:7)

We have come to the 5th of the beatitudes of our Savior’s “Sermon on the Mount” {SOTM!) found in its entirety in Matthew 5-7. With even a casual reading of this verse, it wouldn’t take long to discover what the main words are here: “MERCY” and “MERCIFUL”.

What is YOUR understanding of “MERCY”? Amazingly, I was most surprised to read the word “mercy” in print yesterday in of all places, ESPN! It seems that it appeared in a spring training baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves. In the first inning, the pitcher for Boston threw 23 pitches (!). And then? The Red Sox manager called for the end of the inning! After the Red Sox had their time at the plate, the Braves came back to hit in the second. And guess who was pitching for Boston? YOU BET! The SAME pitcher who pitched for Boston in the FIRST inning! It seems that Major League Baseball has initiated a “MERCY rule” during spring training. Now I must confess, when I was in high school back in the dark ages (well, a few years after Dr. Becker!), the “MERCY rule” was called when one team went ahead by 10 runs. Then the game was over! But here in the major leagues, it is enforced in order to give the spring training pitcher practice!

And MERCY is our word for today!

When YOU hear the word “MERCY” or “MERCIFUL”, what first comes to mind? One of my college professors said that the word “MERCIFUL” describes “someone who has a genuine heartfelt compassion.” However, it means more than just to feel sorry for someone else. That same educator said that the Hebrew word is untranslatable into the English. Why? Because it would literally mean “getting right inside another person’s skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.” The Savior is thus inviting each of us, imploring with each of us, even giving us a BLESSING (you DO remember “BLESSING” don’t you?)! Before we judge another person for whatever word said or action done that disagrees with us, take a moment and…try to see things as THEY see things! Get “inside their skin” and ask yourself, “what has caused them to say what they did, to do what they did, to feel what they did? What?”.

When our Savior talked about “MERCY” or “MERCIFUL”, our Savior’s hearers would immediately have a picture, a taste of what He was referring to! Their minds would instantly go to the image inside the veil of the temple to the “MERCY seat”, a gold plated “box”, if you will, which at one time housed the 10 commandments (yes, the original!), Aaron’s rod that budded – indicating his position as God’s representative inside the veil of the tabernacle, and a pot filled with manna – putting on display a picture of God’s faithfulness to the Israelites throughout their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. I would encourage you to read Leviticus 16:11-16. The people would have a vivid mental image of Aaron as High Priest going once a year inside the veil, carrying a pot of incense (representing our prayer AND God’s holiness), and ministering on behalf of himself AND the people before the Lord. He would confess not only the nation’s sins but also his own! He would be wearing bells at the base of his robe. The people outside the veil would be listening for those bells. For if they DIDN’T ring, it would mean both that would Aaron have died AND that his sacrifices – for himself and for the people – would NOT have been accepted before the Lord.

Do we have to do that today?Do we have SOMEONE Who extended MERCY toward us so that we don’t have to go into a temple and pay for our sins on a regular basis? Do the scriptures have ANYTHING to say about that?

HOW ABOUT THIS:

“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, FOR THIS HE DID once for all when He offered up Himself.”

[Hebrews 7:26-27]

OR HOW ABOUT THIS:

“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, HOW MUCH MORE shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” [Hebrews 9:11-14]

SO WHAT’S THAT TO ME?

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, YET WITHOUT SIN. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain MERCY and find grace to help in time of need.” [Hebrews 4:15-16]

OK, LET’S GET PRACTICAL!!!

Our Savior said that the one who is MERCIFUL – who extends MERCY by looking at people through their eyes, hearts, and hurts – is not only BLESSED but will also himself receive MERCY!!!

HOW is that possible. Let’s listen:

“The MERCIFUL man does good for his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.” [Proverbs 11:17]

“He who has PITY [“MERCY”] on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.” [Proverbs 19:17]

“We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did NOT please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” [Romans 15:1-3]

“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness (“MERCY”), considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

[Galatians 6:1-2]

My older brother and I – when we were both MUCH younger – used to get in wrestling matches. Mind you, he is (still!) 8 years older than I. AND he was on the high school wrestling team. So invariably there came a time when there was only ONE WAY for me to get out of his seemingly “death grip”. I had to cry “MERCY!”. Well, you know, I learned the meaning of that word pretty fast! In order for ME to receive MERCY, my brother had to extend MERCY in return. Thankfully, he always did.

And so does Jesus! And so should we!

And don’t forget, Dr. Becker’s 81st birthday is on Monday, March 8.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”

FROM THE SERIES: “SERMON ON THE MOUNT – AND BEYOND !!!”

By Jeremy Stopford, Semi-Retired Pastor

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”(Matt. 5:6)

Hungry and thirsty. Are those terms with which you are familiar? Even in the midst of this pandemic, and many of our local restaurants are either closed or in limited capacity for dining, one can still go through the McD’s “drive-thru window” and order beaucoup dollars worth of food! Do we really understand in our US of A what hunger and thirst are?

Funny what one remembers when thinking of “hunger” and “thirst”. I have 2 most vivid images. The first was at a boys camp in Wentworth, New Hampshire where I spent 3 summers (8 weeks each!) as a camper and one summer as an assistant counselor. Seems like every night there was something going on in the auditorium. Without fail, there would always be a skit night!

One of the classics was a simple one, yet it has huge meaning! A boy was crawling on his stomach across the stage. Slowly. Panting. Crying out “Water! Water!” With bated breaths. As he crawls for seemingly a LONGGGG time, up ahead he sees what initially he thinks is a mirage. But it is not! It is another camper with a glass of water! In kindness, the camper with the water gives the crawling camper the glass of water. With water in hand, the crawling camper shouts “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” His life has been spared. He then…reaches into his back pocket, pulls out a comb, puts it in the glass, and with wetted comb he parts and puts his hair back into its original beautiful style. Hmmm.

The second was a few years later. When as a freshman at my first and only year at St. Lawrence U (before the Lord called me to Bible College!), one of the highlights of each day was the evening meal in the cafeteria. Mind you, the year was 1971. We must have been experiencing a food surplus. And several friends of mine and I always looked forward to one meal in particular: cube steaks! 1/4 inch thick. 3 inches wide. 5 inches (or more) long. And…we could eat as many as we wanted! So my dining buddies and I would have a contest. And I need to remind you that THOSE WERE THE DAYS when I could eat and eat and NOT gain weight. Oh, those WERE the days. (Not so any more!). I don’t think I ever won the contest – I usually ended at around…you bet, 10 cube steaks. My friends easily ate 11 or more. Hungry? I don’t think so.

But for the listeners of the Sermon on the Mount, they knew exactly what our Savior meant when He alluded to “hunger”. In Jesus’ day, a working man’s wage was the equivalent – NOT of $15 an hour – but of our 3 to 5 CENTS a day. So after pushing away from the dinner table after one of his wife’s good meals, he certainly wasn’t what we would call today “stuffed”. He was not full. But at least he had eaten. And when the Savior said “thirst”, the picture was even more vivid than that! Immediately most of them would remember those tragic days when they were caught out in the desert areas during one of those sand storms. They were just trying to get home at a decent hour. But not that day. When the wind started blowing HARD, and the sand started a-whipping, all they could do was wrap themselves in their outer coats and hope for the best. It wasn’t too long before their eyes were caked shut, their ears were plugged, and worst of all their mouths were full of the dreaded hot sand. Death might have been considered a blessing rather than suffer the fulness of a Middle Eastern desert storm. Jesus’ listeners understood “thirst”.

Jesus’ hearers understood very well both hunger and thirst.

Yet Jesus was saying that His listeners are to hunger and thirst for…righteousness. Perhaps that was a foreign term to them. Perhaps it is a foreign practical term for you. “Righteousness”, in technical terms, means “the establishment of God’s will among men so that justice, honesty, and right dealings will prevail.” Huh? Like I said, “technical” terms. In practical terms, it means that we are conforming to the pattern of living which has been demonstrated to us by the Son.

Romans 3:23-26 says:

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,

26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. [my emphasis]

My hunger and thirst for righteousness is possible ONLY because the One for Whom I hunger and thirst IS altogether righteous! Even though I am not sinless, I can conform to His image because, well, HE is righteous, HE is sinless, HE is my Pattern!

So I need to ask myself at least 4 questions:

#1 Am I blessed? Am I truly happy? Do I have a GOD JOY which is dependent upon GOD HIMSELF? IF I have that kind of happiness, that kind of blessedness, then and only then I can fully appreciate the BE-attitudes (as Warren Wiersbe would write) given to us by the Savior!

#2 Do I recognize my true needs? Jesus said the truly blessed – the truly God-happy – person is the one who has a hunger and thirst. We should be reminded of the words our Savior used shortly after the feeding of the 5,000 (men PLUS women and children, or perhaps closer to 20,000 people!). He said,

“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” John 6:27

Shortly afterwards, He followed this up with an amazing dissertation of one of His great I AM statements. He said:

“…’I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’ “ John 6:35 [my emphasis]

#3 Do I have eternal goals? Some one wisely observed, “if you aim at nothing, you surely will hit it!” It is good to admit that we are hungry and thirsty. AND it is good to admit that we hunger and thirst for substance, for truth in application in our lives. Jesus said that the one who is blessed is the one who hungers and thirsts for…righteousness. This is substance. [for a longer discussion on this subject, I would encourage you to read Proverbs 8, where the Lord tells us that the true things of eternal substance have been in existence since the creation]. Do I hunger and thirst to follow the Pattern of living that our Savior showed? Is His Word a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path? (Psalm 119:105).

Mark 8:34 says, “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The ones hearing Jesus’ message immediately knew what He was saying. All along the roads to Jerusalem were Roman crosses standing – some with their condemned victims in various stages between life and ultimate death. And they knew that those crosses were dragged by their victims to their final place of death. Jesus is saying that my eternal goals need to rest around His Word and His glory. Paul said, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). We need to have eternal goals.

#4 Am I really satisfied? Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled or “satisfied”. How will I know that I am filled with God? I will want to please God in every way: in thought, in word, in deed, in action! I will be filled! And when I am filled, I will be really satisfied with God alone!

In 1875, Clara Teare Williams wrote a song which wonderfully describes the hunger and thirst of which our Savior speaks in Matthew 5:6:

All my life I had a longing

For a drink from some clear spring,

That I hoped would quench the burning

Of the thirst I felt within.

Refrain:

Hallelujah! I have found Him

Whom my soul so long has craved!

Jesus satisfies my longings,

Through His blood I now am saved.

Well of water, ever springing,

Bread of life so rich and free,

Untold wealth that never faileth,

My Redeemer is to me. Refrain