"GOT Milk?"
1 Peter 2:2-10 (RSV)
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris, Jr.
Fort Ord Chapel
Seaside, CA
20 April 2008
Big Idea: Christians who sincerely desire to grow stronger spiritually should attend Bible Study.
Scriptural References: EAI (Expository; Application; Illustration); 1 Peter 2:2-10 (RSV); 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love; 1 Peter 1:24-25 (NIV); For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you; John 3:16 (NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life; Hebrews 5:12-13 (NIV) In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness; Hebrew 11:6 (KJV) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him; 1 John 4:20 (KJV) If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?; Hosea 4:6 (KJV) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children; Luke 15:11-32 KJV (The story of the Prodigal Son); Luke 15:16 NIV (He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything); Psalm 119:11 (KJV) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee; Romans 10:17 (KJV) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: 1 Peter 2:2-10 (RSV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: 1 Peter 2:2-10 (RSV)
III. READ THE TEXT: 1 Peter 2:2 RSV (As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby to salvation).
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the hearers to affirm to others that believers (who sincerely desire to grow spiritually) attend Weekly Bible Study to receive the Milk of God’s Word.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “GOT Milk?”
VI. Introduction: April is the month of “The Military Child”. Yesterday, The Presidio of Monterey and its MWR Directorate put on an outstanding event in honor of the military child. You simply had to be present to get the full picture of appreciation. To those of us that were in attendance, it was obviously clear that “our military children are important” and appreciated. Please join me in giving Colonel Martis, our Garrison Commander, and the MWR Directorate a round of applause for caring so much for our children. There were games, food, and lots of fun to be had by all.
Now, if you attended yesterday’s festivities, you know that our Children Praise Team performed, as they did today, at the Stillwell Center too. Wow! They were absolutely awesome. They wore uniformed Blue T-Shirts with “Ord Chapel” displayed on them – showing that they were proudly representing all of us.
Therefore, please join me in giving Arlena Strode (our Protestant Religious Education Coordinator) and Patricia De La Rosa (our Catholic Religious Education Coordinator) and our Fort Ord Children Praise Team a thunderous round of applause for doing such a superb job. Thank you!
****** TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 1: As parents, and members of Ord Chapel, we should all be Godly Proud of our children.
a. They are not only gifted and talented; but they are also smart and good looking.
b. I’m always honored to interact with our Christian children.
c. Education for our military children is obviously important to all of us.
d. But, surprisingly, in spite of our Nations effort to push education from our Nation’s Capitol to our various States and ultimately to our classrooms - through the national campaign dubbed, “No Kids Left Behind” – in the State of California, we are running “behind” 46 other States when it comes to our children secular education.
e. We are ranked 47th with only Mississippi, Nevada, and Arizona behind us.
f. It’s interesting to note that the States that are last on the “Smart List” are in the Top 25 of the “Most Dangerous States to Live In,” with Nevada being the “most dangerous at “# 1, Arizona #5, California # 13 and Mississippi # 23.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 2: Therefore, it has been said that the “moral breakdown of a nation is the primary source of its collapsed, since it usually precedes and causes economic or political decay.”
a. We can see more clearly the truth of this if we think of an individual rather than of a nation.
b. When a man or woman goes to pieces, it is the moral part of him or her that goes first.
c. Loss of character is more to be feared than the loss of any other possession.
d. The prodigal son’s greatest loss in “the far country” was not his material belongings but his character.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 3: One of my favorite Books of the Bible is the Book of Hosea. As you may recall the prophet Hosea stated that the moral decade of Israel was primarily due to the “religious illiteracy of his people.
a. They do not “KNOW” God.
b. If Hosea was alive today, he would say that our decay in secular education is a direct result of our deteriorating attendance in Christian Education and Bible Study.
c. Gambling and elevated crime rates are due to our lack of attending Bible Study, and Christian Education Activities.
d. For don’t you remember, Hosea 4:6a says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, …”
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 4: Our text today (As newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby to salvation) causes me to conjure us images of newborn babies blindly trusting their mothers to provide them loving and nurturing milk from their breast.
a. For who can ever forget how babies and mothers develop their bonding relationship?
b. Recently, I reviewed a documentaries on the proper procedures for Mothers’ Nursing their newborn babies”
c. In this particular documentary, the mother with her baby properly held in her arms was nursing her baby when all of a sudden;
d. … she questioned why her baby paused in the breastfeeding process. The doctor explained to her that the “pause” occurs when the baby mouth is full.
e. After he swallows the sucking motion restarts. This process occurs over and over again, and it is primarily responsible for the baby bonding with his mother.
f. It is said that it is during this process that the baby learns to distinguish his mother’s smell from that of another. It is one of the most fascinating events one could witness.
g. The tender love displayed by the mother while breastfeeding her baby is one of the most beautiful things to see.
h. The milk that the baby receives nourishes his body: emotionally, mentally, and physically as he grows and develops.
i. Likewise, new believers go through a similar process spiritually.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 5: Now, my brothers and sisters, you may recall the slogan, GOT Milk?” from commercial adds featuring popular athletes and superheroes with milk wiped across their top lip with the question, GOT Milk? … In the background.
a. GOT Milk? is an American advertising campaign encouraging the purchase of cow’s milk, which was created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, after there had been a 20 year slump in purchasing milk. GOT Milk? is credited with putting life back into milk sales nationwide.
b. Likewise, Medical Research indicates that through the process of breastfeeding the mother and her baby bonds unbelievably together.
c. The blind trust and faith of the baby combined with the loving and nurturing care of the mother - and her breast milk - …
d. … Causes the baby to grow-up healthy: physically, mentally, and emotionally, Wow! What an awesome metaphor in which to depict BELIEVERS’ NEED FOR GOD’S WORD AND BIBLE STUDY, IN ORDER TO GROW-UP SPIRITUALLY.
e. In other words, GOT Milk?”
f. SPIRITUAL MILK (IS GOD’S WORD OF FAITH) and Love are teammates in the nurturing process; and so it is with God.
g. For don’t you remember, the Bible says, (in Romans 10:17) “… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 6: If your WORD OF FAITH (and knowledge of God) is going to increase; you have to “hear” the WORD of God. You HAVE TO HAVE … MILK
a. In addition, to Sunday Services, Bible Study (and PWOC) is where ORD CHAPEL provides SPIRITUAL MILK in order for you to grow in love.
b. Wherever you receive SPIRITUAL MILK, YOU SHOULD SEE LOVE.
c. Wherever the MILK is rightly divided; Love must be present.
d. Wherever Love is; THE MILK OF GOD’S WORD must be there too.
e. Because … Without faith in GOD, it’s impossible to please HIM.
f. For the Bible says in Hebrew 11:6 (KJV) “… without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 7: Likewise, 1 John 4:20 (KJV) says, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
a. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, if you are attending Bible Study; you can say yes to the question GOT Milk?
b. And you haven’t been attending Bible Study but VOW to start attending this coming week – you too can say yes to GOT Milk?
c. You have heard of the age old axiom, “Love is blind”.
d. I believe faith IN GOD’S WORD is “blind”.
e. FATIH IN GOD’S WORD represents our blind theological understanding and belief in God regardless of the circumstances.
f. Faith ties us to God. In other words, GOT Milk?”
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
CELEBRATION: Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) says: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
On the other hand, Love ties us to God and man.
If you have the WORD OF FAITH OR THE MILK OF GOD’S WORD …
YOU GOT Milk …AND YOU HAVE LOVE …
Like a newborn baby nursing from his mother breast …
MILK and Love goes together.
As the Apostle Paul was instructing on love (in 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV) he came to the conclusion that it was more important to LOVE than anything else.
For don’t you remember, he said: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Faith and Love are teammates; wherever Believers and unbelievers (alike) see one amongst Christians, they should also see the other.
