Hanging Out With God Series

In our culture today, the importance of nutrition is such a big issue that seems to be everywhere we turn. Almost every magazine that covers culture, like People, Cosmo Girl, or Entertainment Weekly, usually has some story inside about some celebrity who is too skinny. Images like these (on wall) fill the covers with the bold question “Too Skinny?” headlining the issues. There are more and more news reports about this person or that person being treated for an eating disorder and unhealthy nutrition.

On the other hand, another big news story as of late is the obesity of America. Everything from Time Magazine to movies like the documentary “Super Size Me” are raising this growing concern that Americans are not eating healthy and are getting too big and too unhealthy. I know school lunches around the country are being called into question and unhealthy snacks are being replaced with vegetables and fruit. Soda machines are being filled with waters and juices or just completely being removed.

From there though, the conversation is not over as we travel halfway around the globe to find poverty, hunger and famine as a major issue in many third world countries. Kids are going months with having only one meal a week. Brought on by a lack of resources, diseases, and famine, entire communities are not getting enough of the right things to eat and are getting sick and dying. For those of you who remember being at Monadnock two years ago, Todd, one of the Directors there, talked about some time he spent in Haiti. One of the things he showed us was a mud patty that the people there in the villages actually use for food. They would mix dirt and water, make a little patty and then let it dry out in the sun – and that was dinner.

All over the world, nutrition is a major issue and when our bodies are not taking in the right nutrients, our health, well being, and ultimately our lives are in danger.

Imagine something for a second; imagine that all you had to eat everyday was one cheez-it, that’s it. Everyday, you were given one cheez-it to eat for the entire day and nothing more. You could either eat that cheez-it or nothing else. What would your response to that kind of situation be? It would be ridiculous and you would end up getting very sick and eventually dying because of not eating right.

As none of us would ever choose to be in that kind of situation, the question we need to ask ourselves is why do we put ourselves in that kind of situation when it comes to taking in daily nutrition on a spiritual level? Many of us, who have a relationship with God, are satisfied with mediocre “spiritual meals” and are living off a mere “cheez-it” everyday. Spiritually, we have eating disorders, we are ingesting a lot of the wrong kinds of food, or we are simply just starving ourselves. I think all too often, a picture of our spiritual health looks very much like one of these children who is starving from food. We too are starving ourselves to a spiritual death that will not only have affects in this life but also for eternity in the next life.

In John 4:10, Jesus talks of having “living water” that will make us never thirst again. Later on, Jesus, in John 6:35, says this, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry.” Over and over again, this idea of food and nutrition is used to illustrate the importance of growing in Christ. The act of Christ’s body being broken for us is illustrated by breaking bread and His blood is represented by wine or grape juice during communion. This is no coincidence. If we are to grow in our relationships with Jesus, we need to have a heart, desire, and priority like Mary displays in the passage we will read tonight and feast on Christ. Let’s take a look at Luke 10:38-42.

***Have one of the youth read Luke 10:38-42***

In this simple but important passage, we have two main characters, Martha and Mary, and how they react to Jesus being in their home.

Martha, who seems to be the host of the home, immediately gets to work preparing a great feast and a number of dishes for Jesus and His disciples. Vs. 40 says that “Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing.” She was more focused on all the things that had to be done to make an impressive meal which drew her away from being with Jesus. Martha was doing all these things to earn Jesus’ favor and approval but, as we talked about last week, we can’t do enough to earn God’s love and grace.