Being the Church
Part 9: God’s Answer for Your Spiritual Hunger
Scripture: Acts 13:14-52
Icebreaker:
“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”
-Blaise Pascal
Intro: I just got back from a 10 day missions trip to Peru. I preached there a couple of Sundays ago to a small congregation of about 60 people. The average salary of those workers there is 1200 dollars per year. I gave a very simple message on God’s love. I didn’t think it was anything special. It probably would have scored pretty lowly in any seminary preaching course. It was a simple message on the love of God…and how God desires an intimate relationship with every one of us.
-After 30 minutes that I felt were utterly futile, I gave a simple altar call for response. The whole congregation came forward. Grown men, hardened by years of back-breaking work, were weeping. Mothers knelt with their daughters, seemingly oblivious to their poverty, and prayed.
-What I saw from the people there in Peru that morning was so pure, was so real, that I began to wonder what was wrong with me. Why didn’t I experience the kind of connection with God back home? Many of the people who were on the work camp with me resonated the same feeling. “What’s wrong with us in America that we don’t see the same thing happening in our lives?”
-But you know what else I saw in those people around the altar that morning in Reque, Peru? I saw that really, we are more alike than we realize. You see, what I saw in their faces, and felt in their hearts was this: hunger. Spiritual hunger. And I see it on the faces of people here in the states every day. The only difference between the people in Peru, who seemed so pure in their pursuit of God, and us…is how they satisfy their spiritual hunger as opposed to how many of us do.
-The spiritual hunger of human beings is ancient and universal. We all have it, deep down. We all yearn for…well, something, in the deepest recesses of our souls. It was no different 1900 years ago for the Apostle Paul and the people he preached to.
-We’re a little over halfway through our series on the book of Acts, and there’s a shift happening in our teaching series and in the book itself. In the first half of the book, we read mostly about Peter and his work with the early Church. From here on out, the book is almost exclusively about Paul and his missionary work in taking the Gospel to places it had never been before.
-Thus far in our teaching series together, we’ve focused extensively on what it means to be the Church corporately. What a healthy church looks like. What a healthy church does. How a healthy church serves others and shares the Gospel.
-From this point forward, we’re going to focus extensively on what it looks like to be the Church on a personal level. What does God want for you as you’re seeking Him? What does God promise to those who follow His Son? How can you deepen your faith and your walk with God?
-So, to begin this “home stretch,” I want us to talk about that Spiritual hunger we all have. I want to share with you from Acts 13, and how Paul builds his case for Jesus to unbelievers here. Because in Paul’s presentation of the Gospel, he hits on all 4 ingredients that are needed for us to feel spiritually significant in life.
(Read Acts 13:14-52)
(Prayer)
4 Essential Ingredients for Spiritual Fullness
1. Be aware that God’s initial prescription for your spiritual hunger is the hunger itself. (Vs. 15)
Illustration: Hungry men have always run on both sides of my family. And when we’re hungry, we eat. Sometimes, that hunger gets the best of us. (Brad – “Ding-Dongs” story). “Have another! Have another!”
-That never happens to me. LOL. No, I’ve got to tell on myself, too. But my intentions are always noble when I pig out. A little while back, we had a missions fundraiser here at our church, and I paid a ridiculous amount of money for some of Bernice Clemmon’s special cookies. I got into a bidding war with her husband, Wendall. It wasn’t the hunger that drove me to it. It was because I knew that if I didn’t get them, Wendall would take them home, eat them all and have a heart attack that afternoon.
Questions: Has physical hunger ever gotten the best of you? Have you ever just been so hungry that you ate too much of something that you knew would make you feel sick later on?
Main Point: Physical hunger pains happen when our body needs nourishment. Now, what we choose to nourish our body with depends on us, and it largely determines that state of our health. Spiritual hunger operates in much the same way. There is a longing, a hunger, deep inside each one of us for something to nourish our souls. And it’s up to each of us as to what we take in for the nourishment.
-And you know, we try to fill that hunger with so many other things, don’t we?
-But what we need to understand is that the hunger is there for a reason. In fact, it’s the first essential ingredient for your spiritual fullness. Be aware that God’s initial prescription for your spiritual fullness is the hunger itself.
Scripture
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
-Jesus, Matthew 5:6
-So, what are you filling yourself with? All of us have spiritual hunger. Jesus said if you have a hunger for righteousness (which is just a big word that means “to be right with God), you will be filled. And I see so many people today who are hungering and thirsting for God in their lives, but not being filled because they aren’t filling themselves with the right things.
-Furthermore, in our culture, we have become so financially fat and prosperous that we don’t feel an immediate need for the bread of life. Many of us would rather simply gorge on spiritual junk food. Materialism. Money. Sex. Popularity. Drugs. Alcohol. And the whole time our culture keeps whispering to us, “Have another! Have another!”
-But deep down we all know that the junk food will never ultimately satisfy us. We need the bread of life. We need water from a well that will never go dry.
-So this morning, if you’re here and you’re know that deep down you are hungry for something more, congratulations. You’re on your way. But don’t stop with just acknowledging the hunger.
2. Appreciate the magnitude of what God has been doing throughout human history. (Vss. 17-22)
Illustration: I went to see “The Dark Knight” this past week. It was awesome. You see, I’m a guy. And guy like movies where there’s some butt-kicking involved, don’t we guys? I liked it so much, I couldn’t stop thinking about it after we left the theater. On my way home, I imagined that my 98 Ford Taurus was the Batmobile. I scared my date to death.
Questions: What is it about action/adventure epics that enthrall us so much?
Main Point: You know why we have such a love affair with epic stories? Because it breaks up the mundane of our everyday lives. What’s so exciting about going to work, etc?
-For so many people I meet, their relationship with God isn’t exciting. There’s no sense of wonder. No feeling of significance.
-The people Paul was preaching to that day probably felt the same way. But notice how he chooses to encourage them in verses 17-22.
-We need to realize that this story we find ourselves in has been going on much, much longer than we have been around and it is much, much larger than just you and I.
-We cannot truly appreciate God’s work in our lives until we appreciate his work throughout the ages.
-To walk with God is to be part of something big!
3. Daily come to terms with Jesus. (Vss. 23-41)
Illustration: Steph’s been putting off deciding where she’s going to college. I met President Fozard of MACU this past Monday and he said, “Stephanie will be out here. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get her here.” When I called her and told her, she got really quiet. The moment of decision was upon her. No more putting it off. No more fence-sitting. So Stephanie is leaving for college in 2 weeks.
Questions: Do you have a habit of putting off important decisions? Why? Is it because you think later on, you’ll be ready? But will you really?
Main Point: Let’s check out the crux of Paul’s message in verses 23-41. Do you notice a common theme here?
-Here’s the point: Everything always comes back to Jesus.
4. Become conscious of your role in God’s story. (Vss. 44-52)
Illustration:
Questions: Have you ever wondered where you place in the world is? Do you think you’ll ever find it? Do you have trouble believing that you are fulfilling your purpose in life?
Main Point: In verses 44-52, you see the roles that humans play in God’s story begin to emerge.
-This is really what it comes down to for you and me: Is your role going to be for God or against Him? Are you going to have a relationship or a rebellion?
-What will your role be? Only you can decide that.
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”
-Saint Augustine
Conclusion/Invitation
