Crossfire Student Ministry
The Good Life – Session 4
Archived – September 30, 2020

The Good Life – Session 4

September 30, 2020 / Tim & Liz Amey, Jason & Jonathan Hamburger

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SESSION FOUR

HAPPY ARE THE HUNGRY & THIRSTY

LARGE GROUP

MAIN POINT

The King of Heaven gives you righteousness so can it to the around you.

INTRODUCTION

How have you felt challenged during the last week to let go of pride and embrace humility? What was your most significant takeaway?

What’s an injustice in the world you long to see made right?

This week we’re going to take a look at our innate desires for and . In this session Pastor Derwin will show us that the we all experience when we see hurt and injustice in the world is actually a longing for the good life that God has promised to us in Christ.

WATCH THE SESSION 4 VIDEO FEATURING DERWIN GRAY.

SMALL GROUPS

UNDERSTANDING

READ MATTHEW 5:6.

Jesus took a common human feeling and connected it to God’s kingdom. In the ancient world, food and water weren’t as abundant as they are now. To thirst and hunger for righteousness was to love God with all your being and to love your neighbor the way you love yourself.

How did Jesus enter into our broken world and display God’s righteousness?

God sent Jesus to join us in our brokenness and meet our deepest needs. Why should this compel us to meet others’ needs?

Is it compelling you? Why or why not?

In this week’s session Pastor Derwin said, “Righteousness means God’s justice and love is to be expressed through His people as a gift to the world.” In other words, when God changes us Christ’s righteousness takes root in us, and we begin to pursue what’s important to Jesus. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness are intricately connected to building God’s kingdom. Happiness in Christ is both a personal righteousness and an outward concern for meeting needs and healing hurts.

Pastor Derwin shared the story of Manny Ohonme who was moved to start a ministry to bring God’s righteousness and goodness to the world. What ministries in your area do this well?

The word filled, when translated, means “full to overflowing.” Why is thirsting and hungering for righteousness so satisfying to our souls?

Jesus says those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Happy are those who are so full of God that they can’t help but tell everyone about Him.

Pastor Derwin said, “God doesn’t need your ability. He needs your availability.” How can you join God in displaying His righteousness in this broken world?

Our hunger and thirst for righteousness will compel us to meet needs in the world around us. Often these are right in our own neighborhood. The good life answers God’s call to make a positive difference in the world—to be a giver, not a taker. How different will the world be because we existed? We don’t have to be in full-time ministry to make a difference, we just need to be faithful. God doesn’t need our ability; He just wants our availability.

HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ ISAIAH 55:1; JOHN 6:48-51; AND JOHN 7:37-38.

As you reflect on Isaiah 55:1, what comes to mind? Do you trust God to provide all you need? If not, why not?

The food and water we need to live and thrive is free of charge—we simply must come. It’s a gift from His banquet table. He freely feeds us and gives us all we need to be conformed to the image of Christ, which happens as we feed on Christ.

What did Jesus mean when He called Himself the “Bread of life” and “living water”?

When did you first ask Jesus to meet your needs?

How is He meeting your needs right now?

In John’s Gospel, Jesus compared our deepest physical needs (bread and water) to His ability to meet all our spiritual needs. Those who feast at Jesus’ table will never be hungry or thirsty again (John 4:14). His stores have a limitless supply from which we eat until we’re full.

APPLICATION

How do the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to our lives.

Why should our love for God translate into a love for others?

What is a need you’re passionate about (homelessness, literacy, poverty, pregnancy-related needs, etc.)?

How could you make serving and meeting needs a regular rhythm in your life? How might these acts of service provide you opportunities to share Jesus with people who do not know Him?

PRAYER

Thank You, Father, for filling us with all the righteousness of Christ. We ask that You would lead us to hunger and thirst for Your righteousness. Help us to pursue justice in our communities and around the world.

COMMENTARY

MATTHEW 5:6
5:6. Hunger and thirst are characteristics, again, of the oppressed and downtrodden. Jesus again clarified that the realm of which he spoke is the spiritual, not the physical. A person who is starving for righteousness, whether in one’s own life or in one’s environment, is not a happy person, if that person is focused on his or her immediate circumstances. Happiness comes from the assurance that all righteousness will some day be fulfilled. The believer will personally become perfected, never to sin again, and the kingdom will be purged of all unrighteousness.

Skeptics of Christianity argue that the Bible cannot be true because of all the evil in the world. “Why has not God done anything about that?” they sneer. One Christian responded, “Your skepticism only seeks to excuse yourself. For the moment, let us set aside the evil ‘out there.’ The question you should be asking is, ‘What shall we do about the evil in you?” For kingdom servants, there should certainly be a hunger and thirst for righteousness to be restored in our surrounding world. But there must be an even deeper hunger that such restoration begin within our own heart. (Old Testament parallels include Pss. 32; 37; 51; 73; 139:23-24; Prov. 8:22-36.)

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