Let me ask you a question: how hungry are you?

When we were at Universal Studios this summer, we ate at a spot that had a meal called "The Feast." The feast was only $75 and included 3 baked 1/2 chickens, 4 full ears of roasted corn, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and some other root vegetable that we couldn't figure out. All of those were steamed and seasoned to perfection.
- The broccoli was salted and peppered, super tender.
- The potatoes were covered in garlic and seasonings, and the edges had a little bit of a crisp to them while the centers were soft and super moist.
- The carrots were sweet and melted in your mouth like butter. I'm typically not a carrot guy, but holy moly.
Every single one of us could have eaten all four ears of corn by ourselves. Didn't even need butter because it was already slathered in yummy. We seriously could not get enough, and then there were the ribs. Did I mention the three slabs of ribs. It all came on a tray.

How hungry are you now?
Hunger will make you do some pretty crazy things. If you are hungry enough, you will do what it takes to get food. If you want something bad enough, you find a way to get it.

When it comes to your relationship with God, are you the same way?
When it comes to growing in your relationship with God, are you hungry enough to do whatever it takes to grow? Do you really hunger for more of God?

John 3:1-21
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you can’t see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

Listen, for those of you in the room right now who have not made a profession of faith in Jesus, you've not confessed him as Lord, you've not been saved, those 2 verses in 16 and 17 are for you. God loves you so much, he literally moved heaven and earth for you, and he is not offering to simply put up with your sin and rebellion, but he literally gave himself to pay the penalty for every sin you will ever commit in the course of your entire life. If you simply believe in him, confess him as Lord, he promises to save you.

And verse 17 proves Jesus did not come here to beat you over the head with all the things you've done wrong. The church has done a real good job of that, but Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, but to save it. He didn't come to berate you into his family, rather, to love you into it.

Yet, the majority of the story of Nicodemus is not so much about lost people, which can be surprising since the most well-known Bible verse for salvation is right there in the middle of it. This passage is directed at people who know, who understand, who should know better.

Jesus is blown away that Nicodemus doesn't understand. Verse 10: “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and you don't understand this?”

Then Jesus goes on this explanation of various signs from the Old Testament pointing to himself and then he moves on to a place where he's explaining to Nicodemus that a relationship with God is only through Jesus the son, but the problem is that people loved the darkness more than they loved the light.

That is the crux of the story. And if I put it into the context of the message today: People were more hungry for the darkness than they were for the light.

Does that describe you?
I'm not trying to condemn you, but whatever you're hungry for, that's what you're going to eat.

If you are hungry for the things of God, that is what you are going to consume. But if you allow your flesh to rule and reign, to drive your hunger, you are going to consume things that amplify the darkness in your life.

I don't know how much science you know, but the only way darkness grows is when light doesn’t. Darkness is simply the absence of light.

With this in mind, I want to ask you three main questions today in the hopes that if you are hungry for Jesus, your hunger will grow, and if you are hungry for darkness, your appetite will change.

Do you really hunger for righteousness?
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

What is it that makes us hungry in the first place? Biological Triggers
- Empty stomach: As food empties, your stomach and small intestine start rhythmic contractions that cause rumbling sounds and hunger pangs.
- Ghrelin hormone: An empty stomach releases ghrelin, a powerful hormone that travels to the brain to stimulate your appetite.
- Low blood glucose: When nutrients and blood sugar levels drop, your cells sense a fuel shortage and signal the brain to look for food.

In short, our bodies recognize a lack of what they need to function effectively and they work together from entire systems to singular cells to tell the brain we are in need.

Physiological need is driving that hunger, but what is the body hungry for?
Nutrients. Proteins. Things that will make it work best.

What’s driving your hunger? You just want to consume anything that you can chew? I have a friend who is an app developer and for years I've been trying to get him to create an app called Decision Maker 2000. Basically, you input a list of all the restaurants you like the best in your area and you push a button and it automatically chooses for you. There is always that question between a couple after church, What are you hungry for? Thus the Decision Maker 2000.

Same goes with your spirit. There is a craving in you that is spiritual, too.
We tend to have a hard time satisfying that hunger as well.

Real question: what are you hungry for?
Are you hungry for righteousness? Are you hungry for the things of God?
Are you hungry to do good and to honor God with your decisions?
Do you wake up with a craving for the Word and time with Jesus?
Do you feel the need deep inside of you to seek first his Kingdom?

It is easy to consume the junk food of this fallen world, but do you really want righteousness?

Do you really want a healthy meal?
Did you know that fast food makes you want more fast food? The high amounts of sugar, salt, and fat trigger a release of dopamine in the brain's reward center. This chemical rush creates a temporary feeling of pleasure that your brain wants to repeat, driving strong cravings and repeat habits.

How many of you were told by your parents at some point not to snack before dinner? And why’d they tell you that? “It will ruin your appetite!” The same happens in your relationship with God as well.

We have so many snacks available to us now online. Every 5 TikToks is another person giving some take on a Bible verse or motivational word. Every where we turn, there’s another little tidbit to taste.

While I am not saying all of that is bad, it’s like snacking before the meal.
You get a little chip here and cracker there and it fills your belly, but it’s filed you up so much that you lose your appetite for quality time around the table with Jesus.

So you’re getting calories, but your body is really craving healthy.

Let me ask you point blank:
Are you getting healthy meals in your walk with Jesus, or are you stuffing yourself with spiritual fast food that kills a craving but provides no true benefit?

You’ll know spiritually the same way you’ll know physically: Your health tells the tale. Are you spiritual healthy? If you are, you will crave righteousness.

I want to ask one more big picture question.
Look back at the story of Nicodemus I read earlier. The Chosen does an incredible job of portraying the angst in him. He comes to Jesus at night. Why was that? Clearly he did not want to be seen with Jesus, but deep down, he knew something was different about Jesus. I am convinced he believed, or at least wanted to, but something was keeping him from going all in.

What could be keeping Nicodemus from trusting and following Jesus?
Well, what was he risking? He would probably lose his title, his role, influence. Respect, wealth, status. Even family, perhaps? That would threaten his livelihood, his life’s work, his honor. He’d lose friends, maybe even his home, maybe everything.

Let me remind you of John 3:19
God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.

Here’s my question: Do you really find satisfaction in Jesus?

Darkness and the flesh are tied together. Romans 13:12-14
12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. 13 Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

It might seem like I am jumping around a bit, but let me make the case here.

When we are operating in our flesh, we crave things that are found in darkness. There might be a thought that says darkness is limited to evil, satanic things, but often there are neutral things, even good things, that can feed our flesh.

Nicodemus’ title and role and influence and respect and wealth, his honor, these aren’t even bad things necessarily, not inherently, but he was clearly more hungry for them than Jesus, he clearly found more satisfaction in them than in Jesus. Otherwise, he would have followed.

And we are so similar. I know I am, at least.

You see, I am acutely aware that anytime I intentionally sin, I am saying something. As heartbreaking as it is to me, what I am doing in that moment is telling Jesus: I love you and you satisfy me, but right now, I love this thing more and it satisfies me more than you can.

In that moment, I'm letting my flesh lead me and I'm silencing my spirit.
In that moment, I am convinced Jesus isn't enough to meet my need.
In that moment, it's more than idolatry.
I love the darkness more than I love the light, and I am consciously choosing it.

John 6:35
Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
This is a wonderful verse and I know all of you feel that way, But what do I do when I don't feel like I'm getting the respect I deserve?
What do I do when I feel like somebody's taking advantage of me?
What do I do when I feel like my spouse isn't providing enough intimacy?
What do I do when I am trying to engage with God, but it's not fulfilling me?

In that moment, am I justified in idolizing what I feel like I'm not getting? Am I justified in chasing after the thing I think will satisfy me outside of Jesus? If Jesus really is the bread of life, and he promises that he will satisfy my hunger, then why am I still hungry?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. I think the answer is found in what we're craving, what we are hungry for.

Galatians 5:16-17
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.

This forces me to ask a question here: What am I craving? Craves in this verse is from a word epithymeo that means “intense focus on a passionate desire.”

Matthew 7:7 Seek and you will find.

The reason we are not satisfied in our relationship with Jesus isn’t because he isn’t enough. It is because we’ve been too hungry for the wrong thing.
And the wrong thing is like chips before dinner: It fills you up but it leaves you unsatisfied.

How do I fix this?
Jeremiah 29:12-13
12 …When you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

Do you really hunger for righteousness? Do you really crave godliness?
Do you really want Jesus more than anything else?

What has convinced you that Jesus can’t satisfy like that thought process, that addiction, that belief you’ve been clinging to?
What has captured your focus and pursuit because you think you need it to be whole, to be satisfied?

Paul said in Philippians 4:19
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

It makes me sad honestly.
Too many times in my life I have refused to believe that truth. I’ve resorted to fixing things in my own ability, revenge when I’m wronged, anger when I am used, coveting when I lacked, iniquity when I could have turned to him.

The fact that I didn’t seek him in those moments tells me a simple and painful truth: I don’t trust him to satisfy me.

So how I fix that is to identify those moments when I turned to something else to satisfy me. And ask yourself four questions in that moment:
What was I hungry for?
What satisfaction did I expect?
How did it work out for me?
How could have Jesus have satisfied that hunger?

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

What are "all those things?" Is the hunger that Jesus satisfies only a spiritual hunger? Is his power limited simply that which is simply spiritual?

I can understand thinking like that, but look at what "all these things" are in the context of Matthew 6 Matthew 6:22-32
22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

We’re talking about loving the light more than darkness again, seeking light. Seeking light is chasing after godly things.

24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Now we’re talking about idolizing things again, things we think satisfy but can’t really. Money is the example, but it could be anything.

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

Worrying is intense focus on potential outcomes, not actual ones. Worry keeps us from satisfaction. How? Because we’re so concerned with what might happen that we fail to recognize how faithful Jesus has been and is being now.

30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

He will care for you in every situation, every need, spiritual or otherwise.
Do you really believe that?

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek first the Kingdom…

At the end of the day hungering for righteousness is really just seeking God’s kingdom in everything. Seeking God’s Kingdom is as simple as choosing what Jesus wants you to do, not what your flesh wants you to do.
This is not complicated. Flesh bad. Jesus good. So when you’re wronged or hurt or frustrated, even when you really are the victim, you should still do what Jesus taught. Very simple in word, very difficult in practice.

Are you seeking his Kingdom?
Are you really hungry for God and his righteousness?
Do you want God to give you a hunger for righteous things?

If you aren’t, I invite you to truly trust God.