15 January 09
Isaiah 55 1-8
Today, we’re going to look briefly at the secret of satisfaction; our fourth beatitude.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (satisfied).” Matt 5:6
Key words are “hunger” and “thirst”.
In this country, I think, we don’t know much about hunger and thirst.
Mother Teresa used to say that in India people are starving physically, but in many other places in the world people are, starving emotionally and spiritually.
Now in his fourth beatitude Jesus reminds us that in addition to being physical beings we are also spiritual beings with a spiritual appetite. And like any appetite if left unsatisfied our spiritual appetite leaves us feeling hungry, although we don’t also always recognise our it for what it is.
We use phrases like “My life is empty”, “I’m bored or restless” and “There must be more to life than this”.
Even when things are going well we can have a gnawing feeling on the inside!
We may not use the language but what we are feeling are spiritual hunger pains.
The Rolling Stones gave the Baby Boomer generation a theme song, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”.
I. Why are so many people unsatisfied?
Q. Why then are so many people so unsatisfied with their life in an age when we have so much going for us?
The Bible says it’s because people are looking in the wrong place and to the wrong things to meet their needs. For example;
1. You Won’t Find Lasting Satisfaction in Pleasure.
What is we say, “If I could just have a little more money to do a few more things, then I’d be happy!”
The Bible says, “No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied; no matter how much we hear, we are never content.” Eccl 1:8 (LB)
Many people are so spiritually empty that they’ll try anything to satisfy their needs. They will break all the rules; they’ll experiment with drugs and alcohol and become sexually promiscuous or become addicted to food.
The Bible says, “The pleasures of sin lasts a short time.”
Such pleasures also have a sting in the tail.
2. You Don’t Find Lasting Satisfaction in Performance.
Workaholics eventually learn this but it can take a while for some people.
“What does a man get for all his hard work? Days full of sorrow and grief, and restless nights.” … “You work for something with all your skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn’t had to work for it.” Eccl 2:21 & 23
There is an age-old myth that says, “Success produces satisfaction.” But that’s simply not true.
Many successful people are very dissatisfied on the inside.
The thrill of winning only lasts a short time. It cannot fill our feelings of emptiness.
The Bible says, “Man is always working, never satisfied.” Eccl 4:28 (GN)
3. You Don’t Find Lasting Satisfaction in Possessions.
Today there are more products available than ever before and they all say something like, “Satisfaction Guaranteed”.
There are at least twice as many products today as there were ten years ago. Are people twice as happy? Not at all!
Someone summed it up when they said, “Even when I get what I want, it’s not what I want. I’m still dissatisfied.”
Eccl. 5:10 says: “He who loves money will never have enough. The foolishness of thinking wealth brings happiness.”
A poor person thinks, “When I have enough money, then all of my problems will be solved.”
The rich know that’s not true. At least the poor have hope but it’s an empty hope; the kind of hope the world offers.
Q. What then is the secret of satisfaction?
Psalm 37:4: “Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desire.”
i.e. don’t seek happiness, seek God and He will give you something much better.
If we make happiness our goal in life, we’re going to miss it. But if we seek the Lord, happiness is a natural by product.
Q. What is the secret of experiencing real satisfaction in life?
II. How to experience satisfaction in life (Three suggestions)
1. Recognize Your Spiritual Hunger Pains
Ask yourself, “What’s missing in my life? It’s amazing how many people don’t know what they want in life.”
Like the young person who said, “We are searching for something but we have no idea what it is – something unusual, something out of this world, something unique”.
The Bible says we are spiritual beings. God made us to know Him and to love Him and be loved by Him. Nothing will take the place of that.
There is no substitute.
We will remain hungry until we recognize that we are spiritual beings and the emptiness we feel inside is a hunger for God.
Augustine wrote; ‘God you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.’
The sooner we recognize this, the better it will be for us.
Q. How does God give us a hunger for Himself?
Moses wrote, in reference to Israel: “God humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna… He did this to help you realize that real life comes by obeying every command of God.” Deut. 8:3
At this point of Israel’s history . . . Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea and into the desert, where because of their disobedience they wandered around for forty years. And because there was no natural food supply God fed them with manna.
Notice that Moses said that, “God let them go hungry”, so that they would recognize their need for Him, and dependence on Him.
God’s will allow the same thing to happen to us as well – He allows us to become spiritually hungry i.e.
He allows problems in our life to get our attention and to exposes our need for Him. He will use whatever it takes. Why?
Because it is better a little discomfort now than being lost for eternity.
Notice Deut 8:3 also says, “God humbled you.”
Hungry people are humble people. (We tend to settle for anything that’s eatable if we are hungry enough)
Spiritual hunger is also uncomfortable but if it motivates us to let go the illusion that we can live without God, it’s a small price to pay.
If you have got a spiritual hunger problem, congratulations God believes in you!
If you feel empty inside, God wants you to recognize your hunger pain for what it is, because it’s His way of inviting you to know Him better.
God will never excavate a need in us that He isn’t planning to fill.
2. Stop Eating Junk Food.
Stop looking for things in life that won’t satisfy you and don’t meet your deepest needs.
“Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?” Isaiah 55:2
God says; don’t waste your time and your money on the things of the world that really don’t satisfy. What you are really looking for is God.
There is a lot of spiritual junk food that we are constantly being tempted to try.
But do you know the difference between being filled and being satisfied? It’s the difference between existing and really living.
In most modern cities there are more than enough things to keep us entertained, on which to spend our money and fill up our time and they are all about experiencing pleasure.
But the problem with pleasure is that it will not last! At best pleasure offers us a temporary high and it certainly won’t satisfy us at the deepest level of our being, the next morning we will still be empty.
Now it’s also helpful to be aware that our appetites will be influenced by our associations; the people we hang out with.
(For example) If you hang out with people who are always physically hungry, you will eat a lot more too; e.g. during Chinese New Year?
It’s difficult to be around food and not feel hungry?
It’s difficult to be around any temptation and not be tempted.
This rule applies equally well to material and spiritual things.
If you want to have an appetite for godly things, associate with people who have a godly appetite. It’s equally contagious.
Spiritual hunger is contagious, which is why we recommend home groups.
If you want to be hungrier for the things of God; then associate with people who are hungry for God.
3. Start Looking More to Christ For Satisfaction.
“Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty … If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever!” John 6: 35, 51 NIV
Bread was the people’s staple diet; Jesus said bread is good but only I can meet your spiritual needs.
“You need me; in fact you can’t live without me.”
Popular philosophy today says, “Find happiness within.” “Find your own spiritual path – your choice is all that matters”.
But that’s foolish thinking!
Q When we are physically hungry do we say to our stomach, “feed yourself”?
No! We have to go to an outside source to get some food to eat.
In the same way when we recognise our spiritual need we can’t satisfy ourselves by being our own god!
We must look beyond ourselves, to our Creator God, who not only made us but is the only One who can sustain our spiritual life.
In the same way Jesus said, “Whoever drinks water will get thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. It will become in him a spring of living water.” John 4:13-14 (GN).
Water is even more essential than food.
We can last several weeks without food, but we can’t last more than about three days without water. About 70% of our body is water. Every cell in your body needs water to survive.
Jesus said, “Even if you don’t want me you need me to survive”.
Furthermore when we are really thirsty, the cost of a drink is immaterial. It doesn’t matter what it costs, we’ve got to have it!
It’s a pragmatic decision and in the same way following Jesus has a cost but it doesn’t matter because – we don’t have a choice if we really want to live spiritually.
This is what Jesus meant when he talked about hungering and thirsting for God.
There are three levels of awareness of spiritual hunger:
I want God in my life; (‘Me and Christ’).
I need God in my life; (‘Christ and me.’)
I’ve must have God in my life because I can’t make it without Him. (Christ not me.)
P.Q. What is the basis of your decision to follow Christ?
God made me and there is a spiritual emptiness, a God shaped vacuum in me, until it’s filled with the Spirit of God.
God has placed a desire in every heart; we I want to know the answers to the basic questions of life: Who am I? Why am I here? What’s the purpose of life? Who is God?
What’s going to happen when I die?
The Lord says, “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry…” John 8:35, 51
“.. whoever believes in me will not be disappointed.” Isa 49:23
“Whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again…” Jn. 4:13-14
Three words “come…believe… drink”. The point is that an appetite is not satisfied until we do something about it.
You can be hungry, your stomach growling away, but you’ll stay hungry until you do something about it.
When we’re spiritually hungry we need to do three things. We must;
i. Come to Christ,
ii. Believe in God,
iii. Drink Christ’s living water.
Suggested Prayer: “Lord Jesus I receive you into my life, refresh my spirit as water refreshes my body. Lord Jesus feed me spiritually as food nourishes and strengthens my body.”
Some of you may have never done this — never taken these steps.
You may believe in the existence of Christ, but there are different kinds of belief.
I believe in the historical existence of Mao Tse-tung but I’m not a Maoist.
I believe in Christ and I’m a Christian — because I’ve committed my life to following Him.
It’s more than just head knowledge. I believe and therefore I follow.
If you have never done that and you know that as good as your life is, something’s missing?
In spite of all the apparent outward satisfaction, inside you feel an undercurrent of disquiet, “I’m not really satisfied, I’m looking for something more.”
“At the deepest level of my being, I know that there’s got to be more to life than just getting up, going to work, coming home, watching TV and going to bed”.
The answer of course is that there is much more.”
If this describes you, you are not satisfied with mediocrity.
Congratulations! God believes in you and He’s creating a spiritual hunger in your life that only He can satisfy.
Q. What do we do when we feel this way?
We take these three steps: I come, I believe, I drink. And in a symbolic way this is what we do every time we receive the bread and the wine of Holy Communion.
I come, “Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling”,
Now remember the promise of this beatitude,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matt 5:6
Jesus promised “satisfaction guaranteed!” If God can’t guarantee satisfaction nobody can!
Our hunger for happiness and meaning in life is satisfied by knowing God and being known by Him and in loving God and being loved by Him and developing a relationship with Him and finding out the purpose for which we were put on this earth. He will not let you down!
By the way there are two words in the Greek that can be translated hungry.
One of them means, “I want a snack – just one piece of bread.”
The other meaning in the Greek is “I want the whole loaf.”
Guess which one Jesus uses here?
In the fourth Beatitude the words Jesus used mean; “I want all of God there is!”
Jesus says “Happiness comes to people who say,
`I want all of God there is. I want to know Him in His fullness. I’m not satisfied with having a little blessing here or there. I want Him as the centre of my life.’”
Jesus said, that person is the one who will be fully satisfied.
Prayer:
If you feel that something is missing from your life? Perhaps what you feel is an uneasiness or restlessness or it may be a feeling of loneliness or futility? These are spiritual hunger pains that only God can satisfy.
Pray with me, “Lord Jesus Christ, I don’t understand everything about the Gospel but I want to come to you, I want to believe in you and I want to drink deeply of water of life.
I’ve tried so many things and found that many of life’s pleasure’s last only a short time and are not deeply satisfying.
Lord Jesus I want to know you in a greater way. Help me to recognize my real hunger and thirst and teach me what real life is all about”.
Help me to stop eating spiritual junk food?
Help me to challenge and not automatically accept what my culture says and help me to start looking to you for satisfaction.
I realize, Lord Jesus that only you can meet that inner gnawing in my heart; that my spiritual hunger can only be met by you.
Thank you, Father, for your Word. Thank you for teaching us where to find real happiness in life.
That it’s not in pleasure or performance or possessions or power or position or prestige but it’s in a personal relationship to you. Thank you for making yourself known to me; we pray in your name Jesus. Amen.