Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
The Blessed Life - Session 5
What do you truly hunger for? In this study of Matthew 5:6, we uncover the powerful distinction between worldly happiness and divine satisfaction. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” isn’t just a religious sentiment—it’s a revolutionary approach to fulfillment that directly contradicts our culture’s relentless pursuit of happiness through acquisition and self-gratification.
The world constantly tells us that happiness comes through possessions, status, and doing whatever feels good regardless of consequences. But Jesus offers a radically different perspective. When He uses “blessed” in these Beatitudes, He’s describing a true, lasting joy that only comes as a byproduct of pursuing something greater—righteousness itself. This isn’t about rule-following or religious perfectionism; it’s about hungering for right relationship with God with the same intensity we feel when physically starving.
Think about this: most of us would never consider feeding our physical bodies just once a week, yet many believers attempt to sustain their spiritual lives on nothing more than a weekly church service. We meticulously plan three meals daily for our bodies while allowing our spirits to starve. As the teaching reminds us, “What you feed grows, and what you starve dies.” Which appetite are you feeding—your flesh or your spirit?
Pursuing righteousness means actively making time to engage with Scripture until it transforms you from within, surrounding yourself with others who share your spiritual hunger, and specifically asking God to reveal unhealthy appetites while increasing your desire for Him. The beautiful promise attached to this Beatitude isn’t that you’ll get everything you want—it’s that your deepest soul hunger will finally be satisfied through right relationship with God. Will you join us in this countercultural pursuit of hungering for what truly satisfies?
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So blessed. We're in Matthew, chapter 5. If you brought your Bibles, you can go ahead and open up there, and I'm going to go ahead and read through the first six verses and then we're going to camp out on verse 6 tonight. Okay, matthew, chapter 5. Starting in verse one, seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for this evening. Lord, I just give you all the praise and all the glory right now we give you this time. I pray that you would move right through me, lord. I pray that your word would be heard tonight, nothing that I have to say, but only what you want us to hear through your word. Lord, we love you, we thank you. I thank you for everyone that's here and I just pray that you would just let your will be done tonight in Jesus' name, amen. So we're going to camp out in verse six. Like I said, the series is called Blessed and I'm going to repeat this verse several times Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Joshua Gruber:This is the fifth week of this study on blessed, so I'm going to start off by asking you all at this point we should have some sort of an idea of what blessed means. Right, what does blessed mean? It's not rhetorical, you guys can answer. What does blessed mean In this context, in these verses that Jesus is speaking, what do you think blessed means? Anyone, it's not a trick question. Spiritually prosperous, that's good, that's good. Blessed, given grace, okay, it's good as well. Who said that? You nailed it. That's exactly what I was looking for Happy. I know it doesn't seem right, it doesn't necessarily fit right. And why is that? Why do we think that doesn't really fit well with us? Because I think we have a skewed view of what happiness is okay.
Joshua Gruber:In these verses, I believe Jesus is saying blessed are those. He means happy. Happy are those who are poor in spirit. Happy are those, but not just happy, truly happy. You see, there's a difference between happiness that this world tells us and happiness that can only be found in the gospel, through Jesus.
Joshua Gruber:Right Now, let me preface Happiness, it's not a bad thing, it's not when it's in its proper place. When happiness is in its proper place, it's a very good thing, right. But happiness, we have to understand, is just a byproduct, it's a bonus, right? Jesus is saying blessed are those or happy are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness. But that's counter to what the world tells us.
Joshua Gruber:Happiness is? What does the world tell us? Happiness is Stuff circumstances, right. Getting what you want, that's good. Yeah, happiness, whatever feels right, whatever feels good to you, do it. Whatever makes you happy, it doesn't matter the cost, it doesn't matter if it puts you in debt, it doesn't matter if you have to slack on your responsibilities to achieve it. If it makes you happy, do it. That's what the world says and it couldn't be more contrary to the gospel and what Jesus is saying.
Joshua Gruber:When you put happiness in the place of righteousness, you will never achieve it. When you put happiness in the place of righteousness, you will never achieve it, because when we put happiness first, it leaves us completely unsatisfied. We're always wanting the next thing, and the world is really good at that, striving for just the next thing. And if we're not careful we, the church, do it as well. We find ourselves jumping from one spiritual high to the next, and we were never meant to just live off these spiritual highs searching and longing for happiness.
Joshua Gruber:The scripture does not say blessed are those who hunger and thirst for happiness although that's what we tend to do sometimes Blessed or happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. It is a byproduct. Happiness comes after or while you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And we see this all throughout Scripture. Scripture never wants, not once does it say, pursue happiness. You won't find it. You won't find it in Scripture, but throughout Scripture it does tell us to pursue righteousness.
Joshua Gruber:In Matthew 6, verse 31 through 33,. If you have your Bibles and you want to turn there, go ahead. Some of you will know this verse. Therefore, do not be anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear For the Gentiles. Seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So, again, it's not to pursue happiness or the things that the world tells you will make you happy. All of the things right, the clothes, the title position, platform, money Don't worry about those things. That's what the world worries about. Instead, seek first the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you Hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Joshua Gruber:What does it mean to hunger and thirst, to hunger and thirst, to truly hunger and thirst? I believe Jesus used these words because everyone can relate with being hungry and thirsty, right when he was on the mountain speaking to the disciples and the crowds around him. They knew what it was like to hunger and thirst. They knew it then and we know it now as we're reading this scripture. We know what it is like to hunger and thirst, so we can relate. We know what it means to be hungry, to be thirsty Maybe not as much as those on the other side of the world say impoverished countries and things like that but we all can relate to this right and I believe that's exactly why Jesus used this to hunger and thirst.
Joshua Gruber:Now I remember when I first started dating my wife, about 11 and a half 12 years ago. It was absolutely electric. It was exciting, it was amazing. We met at a ministry school in Fort Myers, florida, and we both had quite a bit of responsibilities on our plate, some of mine. I was the stateside coordinator, and so I drove a bus with about 20 to 25 college-age students all over the United States, with an evangelist, a world-renowned speaker, who would just go around and we would do programs for schools, churches, big events, and it would require me to be gone for days and even weeks at a time. Now, mind you, this is when I just started dating my wife. That makes things a little difficult. However, it was so new and it was so fresh.
Joshua Gruber:I remember waking up every morning and she was the first thing on my mind. All the way till I went to bed she was on my mind. If I had any free time, she was on my mind. How could I get to be with her? What little section of the day could I make time to be with her, to get to know her, to hear her? I hungered for her attention, I thirsted for time with her. I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was hungry, I was thirsty.
Joshua Gruber:Scripture says it even better than I do In Psalm chapter 41, or, excuse me, 42, verse 1,. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, o God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul. These things I remember as I pour out my soul to hunger and thirst. This is what it means to hunger and thirst. David says it best as a deer pants for water. So my soul longs for you.
Joshua Gruber:You guys know what it's like to hunger and thirst in the physical realm. This is the spiritual. My soul longs for you, lord. What do you hunger and thirst for? What do you hunger and thirst for? You see, I believe it's about appetites. It's about appetites, hungering and thirsting. It only goes well with talking about appetites, right, and I believe we have two appetites. There's the appetite of our flesh and the appetite of our spirit. And I know it's been said that what you feed grows and what you starve dies. Which appetite is getting stronger while the other malnourished? Which appetite is getting stronger while the other malnourished? Which appetite is getting stronger while the other malnourished?
Joshua Gruber:As Christians, as believers, what appetite are you feeding? What appetite are you feeding In a physical sense, to get stronger, to get more fit, to get healthier? You're not going to do it by the Krispy Kreme diet. I'm sorry, it's just not going to happen. You're not going to get more fit. You're not going to get more healthy by chowing down on artificial products, on trash, on garbage. It's just not going to happen.
Joshua Gruber:You've got to change your diet. You've got to eat things that will sustain you, things that are good, things full of nutrients right, and it's the same thing. Celery, celery is good. Beef now we're talking. Now we're talking Red meat all right, we don't need to go off on that rabbit trail but things with sustenance, right.
Joshua Gruber:With nutrition, not only do you have to eat the right things, you have to eat often. Do you feed your physical body once a week? Do you live off of one meal a week? Some of you see where I'm going with this. We have to eat three meals a day, every day of the week, if we're going to be healthy and strong, right? Why on earth do we, as Christians, only feed our spirit once a week and that's church on Sunday. Not all of you I can't say that as a blanket statement, but the church as a whole. Right, like there's a lot of us that do that. We come to church on Sunday, we worship, we pray, we listen to the pastor and if it's here, man, our pastors give a great sermon. It's amazing, it's good, but they'll tell you themselves it's not meant to last you the whole week.
Joshua Gruber:You got to get it for yourself. You got to get in the word. You got to spend time in prayer. You got to get hungry. You got to get in the word. You got to spend time in prayer. You got to get hungry. You got to get hungry and thirsty for the word for righteousness. Are you with me? Is this okay? Keep going. All right, we're going to keep going.
Joshua Gruber:So we figured out, or have an understanding of what blessed is. We discussed what it means to hunger and thirst, to truly hunger and thirst. Now I want to talk about righteousness. It's only right. How do we hunger and thirst for something that we don't even know what it is? What is righteousness? What is righteousness? I know these are. These are kind of questions, so you don't have to yell it out, because I'm going to give you the answer anyway, but if you want to, what is righteousness? Was that? You, let's go. That's beautiful. You jumped ahead of me, but that was good. It was really good. That's my fault, because I asked the question. I just wasn't expecting the right answer right away. That was beautiful.
Joshua Gruber:So Webster's dictionary defines righteousness as acting in accord with divine moral law, free from guilt or sin, morally right or justifiable, arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality. From an outraged sense of justice or morality. It's pretty good, it's got its place. The Hebrew word for righteousness is oh man, I don't even know why I'm trying Tz'dek, tz'dik. What is it, pastor Neil? Thank you. Commonly translated as justice, straightness, honesty, the path of truth. In the Greek again, I'm no Greek scholar dikeasuni, or something like that, also meaning justice, equity, well-ordering, so a legal term. Right, it sounds like this is some sort of legal term or at least some sort of attachment which has its place with righteousness. It does, but I don't believe it's the only thing. I believe it's that.
Joshua Gruber:And, like you said, right standing with God, right relationship with God. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to hunger and thirst for right standing or right relationship with God. A right relationship or right standing with God in the life of the believer looks like a desire to be free from sin and its power. That is the only way we stand a chance through Jesus Christ, through his perfect life, through his death and resurrection. We know this. God no longer sees you, no longer sees me as a sinner, but a forgiven sinner, made whole, made righteous through Jesus Christ. It's only by faith, it's only by grace, it's only through Jesus Christ that we now can walk in that righteousness and have that right standing. So it is the pursuing of righteousness, it is the pursuing of right standing, right relationship with God by a desire to get rid of sin and its power. So we basically just tore up and broke up that entire scripture, one section at a time.
Joshua Gruber:Now I want to just give you some practical application points that we can take and use as believers. Now I have three points and I'm sure there's plenty more and you can discuss that at your tables. But what I feel like the Lord has put on my heart to share with you this evening. But first I want to share a quote, and this is by Dr Martin Lloyd Jones. He says.
Joshua Gruber:It is amazing how we make time to do the things we truly want to do. If you and I are truly hungering and thirsting for righteousness, a good deal of time every day will be spent considering it. If you and I are truly hungering and thirsting for righteousness, a good deal of time every day will be spent considering it. How much time do you spend a day considering righteousness? This is kind of a heavy topic. At the same time, it's extremely liberating for the Christian, for the life of a believer, understanding that we don't have to do this alone. We don't have to strive. It's not by anything that you can do. Christ did it for you. It's done and we can lean on that. And that's what's liberating about this whole thing. It's beautiful. So some practical applications that we can use as believers, to pursue righteousness, to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Joshua Gruber:Number one make time to get in the word and the word to get into you. It's not enough to just read scripture, to read words on a page. You've got to let it get into you, let it convict you, let it speak to you. Number one make time to get in the word and the word to get into you. Number two you've got to get around others that are hungry and thirsting for righteousness. Have you ever tried to do a diet or a new workout plan or anything of the sort on your own? It's kind of difficult. It can be done, but it's not fun. It's so much better to do life with someone, and there are so many amazing people in this church, in this room, that are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. We've got to do this together. We were never meant to do it alone. You were never meant to do it alone, christian. We've got to get together alone, christian. We've got to get together. Number three pretty simple Pray, pray.
Joshua Gruber:Ask the Lord to reveal to you the appetites that you're feeding, that you should be starving. Ask the Lord to give you a true hunger and thirst for righteousness. And once you've prayed, listen, yield, take a moment, take a moment and just listen and then obey. Obedience is key. It's not enough to just pray and sit there and listen and read scripture. We have to obey when the Lord does reveal those things, because he will. The spirit will reveal those things to you if you ask him. We then have to be obedient and act on it. We have to be obedient and act on it. We have to be obedient and act on it.
Joshua Gruber:Well, church, that's all I've got for you tonight. So we're going to take the next 30 minutes and answer these questions that are on the table there in front of you, with your group, and don't be afraid to get into it, don't be afraid to go deep. Some of you have been coming since we started this and you're really getting to know each other. That's awesome. That's amazing. If this is your first night and your first time, it's up to you. All right, but I'm going to pray and then we'll dive into the discussion questions.
Joshua Gruber:Heavenly Father, thank you so much. Thank you for this time. Thank you for your word, lord. I just pray right now, god, that you would give us hearts that hunger and thirst after your own. That you would give us a mind, a mindset of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That, lord, we would be obedient when you reveal the things in our lives that we've been pursuing, that we shouldn't. And, lord, we're so grateful for you, we're so grateful for you. It says in your word that when we do hunger and thirst for righteousness, we'll be satisfied. And so, lord, we look forward to that. We love you and we thank you. I pray that this time would be centered and focused on you. We give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name, amen.
