Tuesday Bible Study (Zoom) for March 9th, @ 14.30 hrs.…
To the Tuesday Bible Group,
The first three beatitudes are about seeing your own position. This fourth beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,” (Matthew 5: 6) moves us forward. It speaks about the desire that arises out of the work of the Holy Spirit in the first three beatitudes. You may prefer not to answer all these questions or discussion points, but concentrate on one or two in more detail if you wish…
To Open:
Some people are confident of their own righteousness. The Pharisees were like that, but Jesus does not pronounce them “blessed.” The blessing does not belong to those who see themselves as paragons of virtue. The blessing is for those who see how far they have to go. Why do you think self-righteousness is so unattractive? What are its dangers?
· What does the world most desire?
· What do you think it means to hunger and thirst after righteousness?
· What ‘sort of righteousness’ is Jesus speaking of here? (NB…you can have legal, moral and social righteousness).
· In what ways do a hunger & thirst for righteousness resemble physical hunger and thirst?
· Why do we continue to hunger and thirst for righteousness, despite Jesus’ promise that we shall be ‘filled’?
· Read Romans 9:30 – 10:4…how would you contrast the righteousness of law with the righteousness of faith in Christ?
· Unrighteousness leads to chronic dissatisfaction. Why is this, do you think? *
· What will it be like when the people of God are before the throne of God? (Revelation 7:16-17).
For Discussion:
The Christian is one who at one and the same time is hungering and thirsting, and yet he is filled. And the more he is filled, the more he hungers and thirsts. That is the blessedness of the Christian life. It goes on. What are your thoughts?
Choose the wrong thirsts, you will never, never be satisfied. Hell is a place of unending hungers and thirsts, where the soul is always being destroyed, because it can never be fulfilled. * How does this make you feel?
For Personal Reflection & Prayer:
How do you respond when you see unrighteousness in society?
In what parts of your life do you see unrighteousness?
What does it mean for me to, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?”
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore… for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water