Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Hungering for Righteousness
(From Forerunner Commentary)
|
Proverbs 3:27-28
Cotton Mather, a Puritan preacher, once said, "The opportunity to do good imposes the obligation to do it." He is implying that we have been favored when an opportunity to serve in this manner arises. We are not to do it only when it is convenient or when it will contribute to our fame, but we should do it when we have opportunity, no matter how often it occurs or how much self-denial it takes.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part Four: Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness
|
|
Matthew 5:6
At first, the question "What is righteousness?" may seem like a "no-brainer" because we know it means "rectitude," or more simply, "right doing." By quoting Psalm 119:172, "All Your commandments are righteousness," we feel equipped with a direct biblical definition of this important biblical concept. None of these is wrong, but the Bible's use of "righteousness" is both specific and broad—so broad that in some places it is treated as a synonym of salvation itself (Isaiah 45:8; 46:12-13; 51:5; 56:1; 61:10). Though the Bible uses "righteousness" so broadly, its comparison with "salvation" does not help us much in understanding it because "salvation" is one of the Bible's most comprehensive terms. Since none of us has fully experienced salvation, we look through a glass darkly trying to comprehend it. Righteousness is used in a similar sense in the very familiar passage given in Matthew 6:33, where Jesus commanded, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Here it has the sense of seeking all of God's spiritual blessings, favor, image, and rewards. We see in this verse not only a broad New Testament application of the term but also, more importantly, its priority to life. This dovetails perfectly with the hunger-and-thirst metaphor. It is not enough to ambitiously yearn to accomplish. According to Jesus, God's Kingdom and His righteousness are the very top priorities in all of life. Seeking God's righteousness is that important.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part Four: Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness
|
|
Matthew 5:6
One of the types of righteousness for which we are to hunger and thirst is the one that occupies the greater portion of our life after conversion. Notice how Jesus states this beatitude. He does not say, "Blessed are those who have hungered . . . ," but rather, "Blessed are those who hunger [do hunger, KJV]." This hungering and thirsting is a continuous state, and it must be this way for the second kind of righteousness, elsewhere called pursuing holiness, going on to perfection, or growing in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Frequently the Bible calls it sanctification. None of these terms is specifically righteousness, but all are contained within its broad meaning. This righteousness is created in us, imparted to us by God's Holy Spirit following justification as we experience our relationship with God. It is seeking godly character to be prepared for living in His Kingdom. God cannot create His holy and righteous character by fiat. It requires the willing and freely given cooperation of the called; by exercising their free moral agency, they submit to Him in the experiences of life. Submission is difficult, and thus Christianity is no cake-walk through a garden. Jesus often warns that it will require a devotion to Him of such degree that all else must be secondary to Him. We are to bear our crosses and count the cost (Luke 14:26-28). He also warns, "The way is difficult and narrow" (Matthew 7:14), and "He who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13). The trek of the ancient Israelites through the wilderness is a type of the Christian's pilgrimage to the Kingdom of God. Their wilderness experiences expose a number of pitfalls that can destroy a Christian's faith and enthusiasm for continuing to the end. Through this beatitude, God presents us with a serious challenge. Because it is continuously needed, it establishes a demanding requirement. How much do we want goodness, the righteousness of God? Do we want it as much as a starving man desires food or a parched man wants water? Do we so lack vision that we will give up our faith as all the Israelites, save Joshua and Caleb, did in the wilderness? According to Hebrews 4:1, though they heard the good news, they did not believe it sufficiently. They, therefore, died in the wilderness, their pilgrimage finished before they reached their goal. Rather than submit, they resisted God until their deaths. Apparently, they did not hunger for it. Most of us have a desire for God's Kingdom and His righteousness, but it is, to our detriment, frequently nebulous rather than sharp. When the time comes to make a choice, we are not prepared to make the required effort or sacrifice that the righteousness of God demands. It is situations like these that reveal that we do not desire righteousness more than anything else.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part Four: Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness
|
|
Matthew 5:6
This beatitude is a positive consequence of the first three: poor in spirit, mourning, and meekness. Hungering and thirsting are positive actions that come from those three seemingly negative attitudes. So, combined, they are a Godward-looking desire of one who realizes his spiritual poverty, his grief over his sins, and his lowliness. Such a person knows that, after seeing these things in himself, the only worthwhile direction to turn is to God and His righteousness. At first, this beatitude seems straightforward, but many otherwise intelligent people have misinterpreted what Jesus says. So, to have a proper basis of understanding, we need to start with a bit of grammar. We need to understand this because the Greek tells us how we are supposed to understand this. The words "hunger" and "thirst" in Greek are present tense, active participles, which implies continuous application. We could probably get a better sense of the force of Jesus' thinking here by considering them as not "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," but "Blessed are those who are hungering and are thirsting for righteousness." So, one could say, "Since Jesus says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,' and I have done that once or twice, I guess I've fulfilled this beatitude." But when we realize that the beatitude suggests a person is hungering and is thirsting after righteousness, it means that he is continuing to do so. Christ expects His disciples to have this desire all the time. He never wants us to slack in our pursuit of being righteous and doing righteousness. This attitude must be constant and wholehearted in a Christian. It is a perpetual, healthy, hearty spiritual appetite because we need it; otherwise, we will die spiritually. That idea should be in our heads: We need spiritual food and drink just as our bodies need their physical counterparts. From God's point of view, the presence of this attitude of always hungering and always thirsting after Him and His righteousness shows Him our desire for Him and like Him, to be righteous, pure, and holy as He is.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Those Who Hunger and Thirst
|
|
Matthew 5:20
The Pharisees' righteousness was all outward. The Pharisees would stand and pray in the open, give their alms in the open, and do all kinds of things so that people could see them. Jesus asserts that our righteousness has to be more than what they did. He is thinking along the lines of actual, practical righteousness. We must go beyond the Pharisees' acts of righteousness, and mostly, He speaks about doing acts of righteousness in secret, not in public but in private. But they are still acts of righteousness, personal conduct that reflects what God does. So, the righteousness He speaks of here is righteousness of behavior, of conduct. Jesus wants the conduct of His disciples to be far better than that of the Pharisees.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Those Who Hunger and Thirst
|
|
Matthew 6:33
Here the term righteousness has the sense of seeking all of God's spiritual blessings, favor, image, and rewards. We see in this verse not only a broad New Testament application of the term but also, more importantly, its priority to life. This dovetails perfectly with the hunger-and-thirst metaphor in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:6). It is not enough to ambitiously yearn to accomplish. According to Jesus, God's Kingdom and His righteousness are the very top priorities in all of life. Seeking God's righteousness is that important.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part Four: Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness
|
|
Matthew 16:24-25
Jesus tells us to deny ourselves.This means we must disown and renounce ourselves and subjugate everything—all our works, interests, and enjoyments—to the standards set by God. Paul commands us to bring under our control every thought that opposes God and His way (II Corinthians 10:5). Jesus also instructs us to bear our cross. We need to embrace the situations God has set us in, and with faith in Him to bring us through them, bear the troubles and difficulties that come upon us. Just as Jesus accepted His role, even to "the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8), we need to be content with what God gives us to do (Philippians 4:11). As Paul says in I Timothy 6:6, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." What an achievement it is not to be driven by evil hungers! God has called us to lay down our lives in subjection to Him. The supreme object of our lives is not our personal happiness or fulfilling our every desire. Our goal is God's kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), but notice what Jesus says next: "And all these things shall be added to you." If we yield ourselves to God's instruction and grow and overcome, He will fulfill our legitimate desires! Matthew 16:25 shows us the two sides of this issue. Jesus says that if we insist on preserving our way of life, with all its wrong hungers and desires, we will lose it eternally!But if we take control of our mind and emotions and destroy our way of life—ridding ourselves of all the wrong hungers and desires that are against God—then God will save it eternally! The better option is obvious. Satan has filled this world with hungers of every sort to tempt men, including the people of God. Hungers of lust, power, money, and fame seem inviting after the monotony of day-to-day living, but Satan's way is a trap, though an enticing one. It always looks good on the outside, but inside is sin, destruction, and ultimately death, eternal death. God allows us to make decisions. He allows us to learn from the decisions we make—both right and wrong. The right decision to make about the wonderful calling and opportunity He has given to us is to yield ourselves under the mighty hand of God in faith that He will work in us. His work is always wonderful and good. Once we yield, we can set our mind to overcome, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And God will satisfy us!
John O. Reid
Do You Have 'the Hunger'?
|
|
Matthew 21:32
John the Baptist came in the way of righteousness. He is not talking about just the instruction of righteousness. When the Bible speaks about a way, it is speaking about a walk, specifically the walk toward the Kingdom of God, that is, a set of behaviors that show progression toward the Kingdom of God. Jesus is saying that when John came, he did all these righteous acts that people could see. The Pharisees did not believe that the things John did was the way of righteousness, but He says here that the tax collectors and harlots did see them in Jesus, and they followed Him. They believed and began doing the things He was teaching and doing as an example of behavior.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Those Who Hunger and Thirst
|
|
2 Timothy 3:1
For us, a great deal of that peril exists in the multitude of visible, emotional, and audible distractions that occupy minds nurtured by television, movies, and radio. Through these mediums we invite the world and much of its appeal directly into our homes. We have come to tolerate television's intrusion into our lives. By means of the Internet, some of us have become information junkies, and others can hardly go anywhere without being accompanied by a playing radio. We need to honestly examine ourselves as to whether we are showing God that what this world bombards our minds with through these mediums is really what we hunger and thirst for. How are they preparing us for the Kingdom of God?
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part Four: Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness
|
|
 |
The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment
Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. See what over 150,000 subscribers are already receiving each day.
Email Address:
|
We respect your privacy. Your email address will not be sold, distributed, rented, or in any way given out to a third party. We have nothing to sell. You may easily unsubscribe at any time. |
|
|
