You guys probably all have plans for post church and a lot of
your plans are just going to be where are we going to eat?
Right after church. And you think about all of.
The the the. Holidays and the milestones of
life, all of them are marked by feasting.
Humans love to feast. It's one thing we have all in
common. Is that we love.
A good meal. We love to celebrate with a,
with a, with a, with a. Giant plate.
Wherever we are, food is so good.
And I. Start that to really set the
stage for. Everything that we're going to
talk about throughout this summer series for the Way of
Jesus and the sermon in the plane flies in the face of what
we think of as. Blessed if today I.
Stood before you and I said, blessed are you when you feast
on all of the. Joys of.
Traveling in cuisine, it would be a very short sermon because
we don't really need much preaching about that.
But today? We look at another example, and
this is just the lens by which you need to read the Sermon on
the Mount. We've called this series The Way
of. Jesus, and maybe a better title
would have been the surprising The Shocking Way of Jesus.
To follow Jesus. And to understand his.
Philosophy of your life for your life.
Is to understand that he wants. You to see the world radically.
Different than you currently do, and we'll get a great example of
how shocking today's word or blessing is.
Very simply so read. Along with me in.
Luke Chapter. 6 verse 21. He's going to.
Give another. Key to the Blessed.
Life in his Kingdom and for this one in verse 21 he says.
Blessed are you. Who are hungry, not blessed are
you? Who are a?
Full and satisfied. Blessed are you right after the.
Feast ready for a nap? He's now going to give us a
principle for following his ways.
For your life that. Flies in the face of one of the
great blessings that we normally think of, which is feasting.
And he's going to say. You're actually.
Blessed when you're hungry. Says Blessed are you.
Who are hungry now for you? Shall be filled.
Blessed are you who? Weep now, for you shall laugh,
and we'll save that for next week.
But. Today we just ask the.
Question that as you read the Sermon on the Mount or the
Sermon on the Plane in Luke chapter 6, you have to continue
to ask. Why?
Why are the ways of Jesus so upside?
Down and And how do we find a blessing when we are actually
deeply hungry? Hunger, just for those of you,
some of you might have it right now, some of you experienced
this part of your life. Hunger is painful.
Hunger actually stirs in us a physical discomfort.
And in other translations, he says blessed are the hungry.
It's not just painful physically, it's kind of
embarrassing. Socially to be at the very.
Bottom of the food chain. Literally to be the class of
people. Who are are are so unprovided
for in your life that you have to think about where food is
coming from and. Jesus will say these are.
People in my Kingdom, this is a condition of your life in my
Kingdom that can be blessed. So today we just.
Answer the question. How does Jesus give us a?
Blessing for those conditions of our life and so I'll just.
Short verse Short. Sermon three ways.
That you are actually. Blessed when you're hungry that
you're blessed when you find yourself in a condition of great
hunger. The first one is going to be a
theme throughout Understanding the Way of.
Jesus for your life when he draws out.
Principles that surprise. You because they're blessed.
He's teaching you. About how you are.
Blessed by Hope Hunger is one of the great tests of your hope.
It's one of the reminders that there are things that you need
in your life. That you don't have.
The the hunger is often used as an example.
Of people who feel a lack of hope.
You remember the children of Israel as.
They're. Leaving slavery in Egypt and
they get to the wilderness and they're so hungry, they actually
think it would have been better to be enslaved because they're
going to die. And when you feel the hunger
pains of your life, it's a question of whether or not
you'll ever be satisfied again. I think for this, parents, you
can see your children at any moment throughout the day.
For me, it was usually pick up during school.
I pick them up from school and they're like, we're so hungry
we're about to die. And that happened every day I
pick them up. I actually.
Had to outlaw the phrase that we're.
Dying of hunger. I'm like, listen to you little
kids. You're not dying of hunger.
You're hungry, but you're not dying of hunger.
They needed a constant reminder that their hunger was not going
to cause them to perish. And this is the message of the
Sermon on the Mount. The message of the Sermon on the
Mount is that your current conditions are temporary.
Last week it was Blessed are the poor.
For yours is the Kingdom. You might be poor now on earth,
but listen, you have. A.
Future in the Kingdom of God that is going to be richly
blessed and today we say. We look at Jesus.
Teaching, he says. Blessed are you.
Hunger. Now that's an important word.
It could. Also say blessed are you.
Who are hungry for now there's coming a day when you will not
be the bottom of the food chain there's coming a day when you
will be satisfied in fact, the blessing continues to say you're
going to be full and so for this.
Just we will. Actually spend more time on this
when we look at. The woes?
Because Jesus is going to give a warning for those who are full
now and they're not hungry. For God says you're actually
going to be very hungry in the coming day.
The script is going to flip. But but hear this because you
all have. Conditions in your life that
when you look at children thinking they're going to die
because it's the afternoon and they haven't had a snack yet, we
laugh. But you have conditions of your
life. You think I'm not going to make
it? I'm going to perish.
Because of what's? Happening in my circumstance
with physical need, emotional need, the future looks daunting
and as Jesus continues this teaching in the the version that
we get in Matthew chapter 6, he uses hunger as a.
Way to teach. Them to trust him.
Matthew chapter 6 verse 31 says do not.
Worry about what you're. Going to eat or what you're
going to drink. Stop thinking you're going to
die. Stop thinking you're going to
perish. For after.
These things the Gentiles seek, but your Heavenly Father knows
that you need these things. Your hunger is temporary.
Your hunger presented to God is going to be met with His
provision. And then he says, seek first the
Kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things.
Shall be added to you. Again, I won't spend all of our
time on on this principle that. Whatever your earthly lot.
Is right now the Sermon on the Mount teaches.
You how to have. Hope.
But I I think it's worth just pointing out right now that I'm
speaking to some of you who have a deep hunger in your life.
You think about the conditions that you walked into this
sanctuary. With.
And there are some unmet wants, needs and desires that just
exist anytime the message. Goes out I specifically.
Think of just, you know, the the world that we're passing off to
the next generation. What a time to be a young
person, a 20 something and you just looking out to the future
and you just. Hear all of these worries, it's
like the the the future of how you.
Make money in the future of AI in the workforce is like how are
any of you going to provide for anyone?
Do you think about? Starting a family in such a time
as this and you hear more and more young people think I can't
do that. My life is crazy.
I have so much. Stress I can barely provide for
myself. How can I step out in faith and
and and take on more or just recently you think about.
What the the world? Is the headline news of the.
World is. Wars and rumors of.
Wars all the. Time and to be a young person
you're thinking I don't know if we're going to perish this is
there's a there's an appetite for the goodness of God that
needs to hear once again don't worry the.
People of God, the. Kingdom people, you listen to
the Sermon on the Mount and you have a hope no matter what the
conditions of your earthly lot are.
You have a hunger for a family. God will provide.
You have a hunger to to continue to look forward into the future
and say, hey, I'm going to work hard.
I'm going to trust that God will someday provide for me and the
desires of my heart will be met in God to to.
Say. To the hungry now you will be.
Filled is to say trust God have hope that your current.
Wants, needs and desires will be met with the goodness of God.
So Jesus is saying the one of the reasons you can be blessed
is hunger is a test of hope, and you got hope in the Kingdom of
God the second way. That we'll look at how.
To answer this question, how can hunger actually be a blessing?
Well, another way to think of hunger is a desire, and you are
actually. Blessed with desire.
You're blessed when you have a hunger for the good things that
God wants to give you in life. In fact, you can see this point
in in kind of the opposite. One of the most dangerous
conditions you can be in physically is to.
Lose your appetite is to have. No hunger.
In fact, if if you're, you know, going through a sickness or
disease and one of the symptoms is that you just don't want to
eat. That, that, that's.
Pointing you to. A.
A 'cause. That could be very dangerous.
In fact, many people near the end of the life.
Totally lose their appetite. For food there that that hunger
is inside of you. Because.
You have life desiring more sustenance and the same is true
not just a physical hunger or or physical illness.
But if you've ever. Gone through emotional distress,
a season of depression or weightiness on your life?
If you've ever experienced heartbreak in your life, you
know one of the things that just.
Leaves. You, you can't eat.
You're in a place in your life where the hunger is gone.
It's a sign that something's going on that is rattling your
soul. We see this in Psalm chapter 42,
he says. My tears have been my food day
and night while they continually say to you say to me.
Where is your God? For for those of you.
Who have a hunger right now you might as the sermon goes on too
long, the hunger might take over you might think I got to eat,
you're being. Pushed to a good.
And healthy desire for you to get nourishment and the one of
the ways that we have to understand this is to see.
That Jesus, yes, is. Speaking literally to Hungry.
People, but he's also. As we know from the Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew. He's speaking about a.
Hunger for God. There is such a.
Healthy hunger for people who are on the right track in the
will. Of God he.
Says in that version. Blessed are you who?
Hunger and thirst for righteousness.
David Gusick says. Hunger, in this case, is an
intense. Focused desire for God.
Physical hunger drives you straight to.
Food. Spiritual hunger is meant to.
Drive you to Christ. Blessed are the hunger, hungry
for they. Thirst for.
Righteousness, the psalmist says as the deer pants.
For the Waters Brooks. So my soul longs for God and
thirsts for God, the living God. When should I come before God?
There is. A blessedness in the.
Appetite that we are supposed to have.
For God, and I have to say, being a pastor, a preacher in
this instance, there is no greater ease of pastoring and
preaching than when I am before a hungry audience, maybe just a
hungry audience of one person. But you know, the, the people
after a sermon, you know, and they, they say, Oh my goodness,
that was so good. Or I just wish that would have
gone longer Hungry. Believers, it's like.
You don't actually need a well packaged sermon.
You just have to be presenting the word of God and they're just
soaking it up. And then the.
Opposite is true too. One of the hardest things, the
context to preach around, it's people that you know, they,
they, they're, they're, they're. Here, but they're.
You know, they could be somewhere else.
Just as easily. It's like I'm, I'm here, I come
to church and you know, I, I. Like I like this particular
church because the. Sermons are shorter than the
other ones, and the parking's easy and you know that.
We'll we'll get in and we'll get out and I'll get on with my day
and they don't require too much of me.
There's really no sermon that's going to reach that person which
you know, as a as a preacher, I find comfort in the reality that
the effectiveness of the Word of God preached, presented, shared.
With you has very little to do with the package and.
Everything to do. With the appetite.
When you are hungry for God, God can speak to you in a variety of
different ways. And unfortunately, you may have
sensed this in your own life. You may sense this just in the
the world that we live in, it seems to me as someone who can
be, you know, qualified as a bit of an insider.
We live. In a church age that has.
Lost its appetite for the glory of God.
Well, we live in a church age that that that is.
Very good at at. Gathering and and and doing the
operations of a church. There are more churches than
there are McDonald's, which is. Always a stat that.
Blows me away. So we're very good at doing
church. But church?
In its current form, is often. Required to be.
Presented as the perfect meal, the parking has to be perfect
and the sermon has to ignite your senses to want to.
Have some because people are so. Full with other things that
they're not hungry to hear from God.
So the real question of this sermon is not how hunger is a
blessing. It's how do you actually?
Get hungry for God How do you come to a place where the word
of God can. Speak where the.
Gathering and the. Call to live for.
God and and and live out faith in God doesn't have to be
presented in the perfect passion package, otherwise you won't
listen. So as.
We as we consider. This.
Blessing before us that is so counter intuitive.
I'll just present you with a question.
I'll offer you some ideas and those of you who are hungry, may
may, may snack on some of my ideas and go look for more.
How do we hunger for God? I'll give.
Three ways that I. See in the word and just
experiencing life in godliness that a an.
Appetite for God. Can be renewed or restored or
given for the first time and right out the gate.
Here they are. Repentance, redemption, and
radical. Faith.
These are three. Times, moments, seasons where
when you see someone going through repentance or
redemption, renewal or a, a, a moment of radical faith, there
is built into those moments Hunger.
For God. So we start with.
Repentance and in In this instance, there's so many
different ways that the preacher may try to present what
repentance is, a change of direction, a change of mind.
In this instance, think of it as a change of diet.
You know your doctor may call you to repentance as as you come
into the the waiting room and he looks at your chart and he looks
at your vitals and he says, listen, you got to change your
diet, most of your health issues.
Are due to how you're. Currently consuming your your
diet and and that the doctor's causing or calling you to a
repentance of consumption right there that that's what's
happening and what the good news is is just like you can change a
diet and develop a good and healthy appetite, you your
appetite can determine what you crave you think about the.
Spiritual Diet. Of so many of the American
church or who we are, we consume all of these things that don't
actually benefit our soul. Think about the first thing you
do when you wake out of bed. Your Your appetite is for.
What's the latest news? What are the latest photos
shared by my friends? What are what's the first thing
in my e-mail box? And, and what we're doing is
we're actually cultivating an appetite not for God, but the
things of this world. And you look at the the
converse. Of that if you.
Had an appetite for sleeping in and being lazy and you wanted to
repent and change your physical appetite?
Wake up early in the morning, go to the gym and over time you'll
actually start to crave working out and in the same.
Way you. Can change your spiritual
appetite by repenting of how you just consume the world around
you and spending time in the presence of God.
The danger? Of the way that.
So many of us live our lives is that when you get so full in
the. Ways of the World.
There's no room left in your. Spiritual appetite for God.
It says in Proverbs chapter 27, a person who is full refuses
honey but even bitter. Food tastes.
Sweet to the hungry Proverbs require you to think so.
What is this proverbs saying? A person who is so.
Full they've. Just got done feasting.
Well, the the joy. Of the ancient diet was a little
something sweet with the honey and he's like, I'm so full I
can't even take the best part. And yet he says when somebody's
hungry they can eat anything and be satisfied.
They're so anything that you have for me, I'll take.
John Piper says if. You don't feel strong desires
for the manifestation of the glory of God.
It is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied.
It is. Because you have nibbled so long
at the table. Of the world that you are too.
Full to hunger repentance is a call to change your spiritual
diet and I have to say I feel. A little.
Bit like a doctor in a waiting room, a preacher calling a
sanctuary of believers to repent is a little bit like a doctor
coming into the waiting room and saying, you know, you really
should focus more on God and and less on the things of this
world. And then you'll leave here and
you'll think maybe I'll do that, maybe I won't.
And just like someone who takes. The advice of a doctor.
They'll have some health benefits, but if they don't,
they're going to continue to go down the road until they get
scared straight and so often times repentance in this way.
Requires you to be so. Full and so.
Sick of the diet of the world that you're?
Willing to actually make a change.
You know, some of this is this is a warning like repent now or
repent. Later, there's actually a great.
Parable in the Bible. To give us a.
Picture of someone who. Was so sick of the diet of the
world they were. So sick of consuming.
The worldly appetite. That they actually decided to
make a change. We often think of this parable.
Or or call this parable the parable of the.
Prodigal son, but think. About it.
It could easily be called the parable.
Of the hungry sun, you think? About what he did he he left.
The goodness of his. Father's house.
And he went to consume the world.
He took all of his money and he spent it.
He took it in. He was feasting.
He was enjoying the pleasures of the world.
He did. Whatever he wanted.
With the. Offering of the world and what
happened. That diet?
Was so unfulfilling that he came to the end of himself, in fact,
God. Used the.
A famine and gave him physical hunger to point out his
spiritual hunger look what it says in verse 14 of Luke chapter
15 says, but when he had spent all.
There arose a severe. Famine in the land, and he began
to be in want. Then he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields
to feed swine. And he would have.
Gladly have filled his. Stomach with the.
Pods that the. Swine ate, but nobody gave him
anything. He was so.
Hungry that he was willing to eat.
Pig food. Especially scandalous for a a a
Jewish person. And he was such in want that he
finally came to his senses, says in verse 17.
But when he came. To himself, he said.
How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and
to spare, and I'm going to perish in hunger?
And so this is what this is. Here's a prophetic.
Word some of. You come to church and you're.
Full your diet is. Not the things of God.
It is not a desire to know God's Word and His will.
For your life. Your diet is all the things of
the world. Here's what's going to happen.
You are going to come to an end and you're going to be so sick
of it and it's going to leave you in such one and you're going
to remember. That there is a God.
Who loves you and he's good and you're dying of hunger and you
will have a new hunger. For God.
That is the design of repentance.
He comes back and what do we get at the end of the story?
This guy who? Couldn't find even pig food.
He gets a. Feast.
This is the Gospel. That you can be.
So. Empty.
You can be so. Broken by consuming the ways.
Of the world. That you find yourself in a
famished land, you find yourself in want, and you come to God and
He. Said here is the actual.
Blessing of your hunger. I will fill you.
What a blessing it is to repent and come to God now.
I hope that none of you will come to.
That that place where you're that.
Far from God, all of us continually can say why am I
eating this when I have? The joy of God's will to.
Sustain and comfort my life. Repentance will bring a new
hunger for your life. For God.
So will redemption. You know, repentance, real
repentance can be marked by two things.
A unsustain, an unsustainable desire for God.
I'm repenting. I just want God and a redemption
in your life. When you fully turn away from
the ways of the world, you will find the.
Grace of God is. More vast and deeper than your
sin. And there will be a moment of
redemption. You can think back to the joy of
your salvation for those of you who've experienced that.
You can think back to anytime you repented and came back to
the Lord. There is this beautiful time
when the Lord redeems the things that were lost in first Peter,
it says, as newborn babes desire pure milk of the.
Word. That you may grow thereby.
You know when you see people come into the Kingdom with a
hunger? For God, it's a gift to all of
us to. Be reminded of what it's like.
To just. Desire the goodness of God in
your life. And you kind of see it in the
metaphor, the analogy. Is there anything hungrier than
a newborn baby? You know the the.
Baby's first cry is like. Feed me.
And then, you know, then they cry all the time.
And the answer is typically they're hungry.
They're either they've either got a mess on their hands or
they're hungry. And that's kind of true of
newborns or new believers. It's like, listen, they just
want to be fed. And again, pastoring.
There's such a sweet moment when a new believer comes into the
church and they just want everything in those in those
moments. Announcements do not have to be
eloquent or clever. I I love seeing the the new
people that are new in the Lord and they just like study the
bulletin. How can I get involved?
How can I jump in? How can I learn more?
How can I understand more Disciple me when when you go
through a season of redemption in your life.
There is a. Brand new hunger and focus on
God's nourishment through His Word and His will.
For your life. So you have this moment of
repentance, you have the moment of redemption and, and some of
your you can look at back in both of those examples and think
I remember that hunger. I remember when I was repenting,
I just wanted God's will for my life.
I remember when I was coming into the Kingdom, I just wanted
more of God and for all of. Us that third part.
Applies to every single one of us.
To live with radical faiths faith is to have a.
Total dependency and a hunger on the will.
Of God for your life. Martin Lloyd Jones says the
inevitable and constant preliminary to revival has
always been a. Thirst for God a.
Living thirst for a knowledge of the living God and a hunger for.
The will of God. In one moment.
Jesus, the series, The way of Jesus.
We look at Jesus for all of this.
And Jesus did not come feasting. Jesus came and he said in a
moment of great hunger for his day of ministry, ministering to
the woman of the well, John chapter 4.
He's just spending time with a woman, preaching the gospel,
sharing with her the plan for the Messiah to bring salvation
and his disciples to come. Haze you, you got to get some
food. And what does he say?
He says my food. Is to do the.
Will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
If you. Hear this message and you say
you. Know I would.
Love a hunger? For God, the fastest.
Way that you can be. Revived is to say Lord.
I want to step out in faith and I want to do something that
you've called me to do. I want to live within the.
The perfect. Will that you have for my life
in such a way that I'm desperate for you.
That I I if I have to pray because.
I need you to be my provision. I think one of the challenges
for this whole message is that we live in a culture that has
completely eradicated hunger for the most part.
And it's not just physical hunger we've eradicated we've.
Also eradicated. The dependency on God, so much
of us. Have lives that if.
You remove the Holy Spirit, you remove the Word from your life.
Your life would go on. Without a without.
Missing a beat and the answer to some of this is to say, God, am
I actually living my life with enough faith?
To say I need you every day. I need your presence to fill me
with joy. I need your word to be a lamp
unto my feet. I need your people to be my
community. Do you need?
God. And I'll tell you this if you're
living in the will of. God.
Just thinking about the sermon series we're in, you will need
him. Because the ways of the.
World will no longer make sense because.
The the the. Default plan for how to find
blessing and how to map out your life will no longer be the
default plan for your life you will need.
God to give you. Wisdom and insight and
encouragement live in the will. Of God.
And you will be hungry for the provision of God.
So we have blessed with hope. And we have this, this blessing
that comes with hunger. For God.
And finally, it's the encouragement of this entire
sermon series. Is that you are also blessed.
With satisfaction, look what he says the.
Hunger shall be filled. And this is maybe understated in
the times that we live in when the message.
Of the gospel goes out. So much of this is a.
A look. To the future, when God sets all
in in into order and and when we're all into heaven and
eternity makes sense and he's wiped away every tear from our
eyes, of course we're going to have satisfaction then.
But here's the the the great joy and the secret of following
Jesus. Those who follow Jesus, those
who have a. Hunger for the will of God in
their life. Have a deep and meaningful
satisfaction in their life, the psalmist says.
For God satisfies the. Longing of the soul.
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Jesus is inviting everyone in his to his Kingdom and he's
promising them. He says, listen, this is all
going to be upside down. It's going to be different than
the ways of the world, but it's going to be blessed.
The poor will be blessed. The hungry will be blessed.
The morning will be blessed. Those who are persecuted.
Will be blessed. The the the.
Promise of your hunger for God. Is that if you really live out.
Those ways to be hungry if you really did repent, if you
really. Did say God?
Renew me, redeem me. And you really said I want to
live in your will. Here's the promise you'll be
filled. Your life will be full.
Of goodness and isn't that. The.
Biggest question for everyone on the fence with the will of God.
Isn't that the the fundamental? Fear that that people.
Have in in giving their life to God the fundamental fear.
Goes all the way back to the garden, are we so?
Certain that living. God's will is.
Going to be good Did God really say that you shouldn't even
Maybe it would be better if you didn't listen to him, every one
of you, every one of. Us our biggest.
Struggle in life is to. Wrestle with whether.
Or not we. Really believe.
Following God and His plan for our life in the ways that it
makes no sense. Is.
Actually going to be good at the.
Core of all your. Wrestling whether or not you
should read the word in the morning or scroll on your phone
whether or not you should. Trust God with all of your.
Wishes and dreams or whether you should work hard and provide.
For yourself at the core of all of it there.
Is a question of whether or not. You will actually be cared for.
And your. Soul will be.
Overflowing with goodness in the perfect plan of God.
For your life. And Jesus says, listen, think
about those times you were hungry.
If your parents know how to take care of you, how much more will.
God. And the antithesis is true.
Some of you need to learn this from just the way your life is
unfolding outside the will of. God.
You're hungry for God and you're going to be full and your life
will be abundant and you will be cared for.
And think about all the things we do apart from God and ask
yourself this fundamental question.
Am I really satisfied? Think about all.
The ways people reject. The will of God.
And they look at us, believers who are following Jesus in this
narrow way and they're way. They laugh at us.
They think we wear a spiritual straitjacket.
We're we're bound by this. These weird ways that Jesus
tells us to live. The question for life is, can
you be? Satisfied outside of God.
Then you'll wrestle with it, with your spiritual.
Appetite and Jesus says those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness found only in. Christ, those who?
Hunger and thirst for. God are the.
Only ones. Who will be satisfied?
And So what would it look? Like if we.
Reoriented our our life. To look.
A little bit different and I just can't help but thinking
there are some here right now if you just.
Took a real survey of your life. Are you actually satisfied with
what you're? Doing and here's the invitation.
For those who are far off, for those who.
Came to church ready to worship Jesus.
Here's the invitation. What would your life look like?
If you change your diet. What would your life look like?
If tomorrow morning when you woke up, you were determined to
start your day with a hunger for God and the faith.
That Jesus is. Calling his people to now is to
say. If you give God.
Your hunger, you let him satisfy the longings of your life.
You will be blessed. Thanks for joining us today.
If you would like to watch the full service, check out the link
in the description. For next steps and to learn
more, visit calvaryboise com.