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Friday, October 2, 2020 - Devotional from Pastor John

October 2, 2020 by Rev. John Hartman

From the Pastor

“What Are You Hungry For?”

Let me start off with a question, “How much do you want God and how badly do you really want to live for Him? Be careful before you answer, because there’s a lot at stake here. Pastor, author, and radio host John MacArthur (who has been in the news a lot lately over his church meeting for worship in California) once said, “Religion can be like a vaccination people often get to inoculate themselves against the real disease: Some people have just enough religion to immunize themselves from a full commitment to true religion.” I think he is right. A little bit of religion is sometimes worse than none at all, because a little bit of religion can fool us. It can give us a false sense of security and we become immune to the real thing. We figure that if we go to church, say our prayers, give our offering, and try to do a good deed every now and then, -- that we are good with the “Man Upstairs.”

Friends, that is not what Jesus is saying in the fourth of his beatitudes that we are looking at this Sunday. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” For Jesus, it is a matter of intensity. In other words, does every fiber of our being scream out with an intense passion to live for God? Or, are we more like the fig tree Jesus encountered on His way into Jerusalem?

In Matthew 21, Jesus is heading into Jerusalem on the Monday of Holy Week. He is hungry, and spies a leafy fig tree by the side of the road. He goes over, expecting to find something to eat. But, the tree is barren. Even though it looks fruitful, – there is not a single fig on it. It’s completely fruitless. So, Jesus curses the fig tree and it immediately withers! Now, it’s a curious story. And, we might wonder why it is even in the Bible, – aside from it being a pretty good trick.

The point here is not about fig trees, miracles, or even our own astonishment. What Jesus is really doing is acting out a parable right in front of us. You see, the context is important. Jesus is heading into Jerusalem, – the political and spiritual capital of his people. And just as he expected to find fruit on the fig tree and then didn’t, – so he expects to find fruit in his people’s lives, but won’t find it there in Jerusalem either! No fruitfulness! No righteousness! No one hungering and thirsting intensely for God! Sure, there is the “appearance” of righteousness. People going to and from the Temple with all kinds of sacrifices. People are doing their religious duty. But, just like with that leafy fig tree, appearances can be deceiving. And in the end, Jesus finds people’s lives just as barren as that tree.

So, how about you? Do you have a hunger and thirst for God and His righteousness? Please join us for worship at either 8:00 am or 10:30 am on Sunday. However, don’t forget all the other opportunities there are for you to grow and bear fruit through Sunday School, on site and online studies, fellowship activities, and other ways for your hunger and thirst to be satisfied.

Pastor John

Quote of the Week

“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.' Not only do the followers of Jesus renounce their rights, they renounce their own righteousness too. They get no praise for their achievements or sacrifices. They cannot have righteousness except by hungering and thirsting for it (this applies equally to their own righteousness and to the righteousness of God on Earth), always they look forward to the future righteousness of God, but they cannot establish it for themselves. Those who follow Jesus grow hungry and thirsty on the way.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book The Cost of Discipleship has been described as a modern classic