BETTER BODY BUILDING Part 3
All my illustrations come from SermonCentral and scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted.
EATING RIGHT - WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE ?
We are in the middle of building a better body! I introduced this series back in November, and we spoke about how, we, you and I, believers in Christ and those who have been buried with Him in baptism, are the body, the bride, the children of God. And we are on a mission to Build a Better Body. Last week we looked at the importance of Listening to our Trainer, Jesus tells us simply, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” The word IF tells us that we must DO, we must ACT, we must SHOW the love we have for Jesus in our actions and our words.
This morning we move to another important aspect of Building a Better Body, and that my friends is DIET. EATING RIGHT, deciding what is good for us, and what is NOT SO GOOD. For our physical bodies there are many different things we should eat that we do not and many, many things that we should NOT eat that we do. But I think the writer of Hebrews tells us that there is only two kinds of food that Christians eat, one is good and the other is NOT so good. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Hebrews 5:12-14. We want to look at a small passage of scripture and decide if we fall into one of these categories. Read along with me this morning.
The writer is telling his readers that they should be stronger, if you would indulge me he is saying they should be a Better Body, listen to his words:
Heb 5:12-14 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! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
This morning let us look at the two groups of Christians mentioned here
I. THOSE ON MILK
II. THOSE ON SOLID FOOD
Those on milk are labeled as infants, they need to be taught the elementary truths about God’s word. WHY?
George Barna wrote The State of the Church in 2002. Barna conducted a survey of self-pronounced Christians and here’s what he found about their knowledge of the Bible. Now, remember these are Christians.. • 48% could not name the four Gospels. • 52% cannot identify more than two or three of Jesus’ disciples. • 60% of American Christians can’t name even five of the 10 Commandments. • When asking graduating high school “born again Christians” over 50% of them thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. • 61% of American Christians think the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. • 71% of American Christians think “God helps those who help themselves” is a Bible verse. No wonder George Barna said, “Americans revere the Bible but, by and large they don’t know what it says. And because they don’t know it, they have become a nation of Biblical illiterates.”
The writer of Hebrews tells us this, He says these infants are not acquainted with the teachings of righteousness. He says that even though enough time has passed that they should be teachers themselves, that they need someone to teach them because they have not grown and do not even know the elementary truths of God’s Word.
What is their DIET? What are these people taking in? Many of us are subjected to the teaching of the world, and those of you that have been looking at the “Truth Project” can plainly see that the world has a completely different outlook of the truth then God’s word does. Truth is NOT relative, the truth is the truth and God’s word is the TRUTH. Many people claim to know what God says in His Word, but the truth is that they have never really taken the time to study and understand it.
A pastor entered a class as the lesson was in progress and asked, "Who broke down the walls of Jericho?" A lad answered, "Not me, sir." The pastor turned to the teacher and asked, "Is this the usual behavior in this class?" The teacher replied, "I believe this boy is an honest boy, and I really don’t think he did it." Leaving the room, the pastor sought out a deacon and explained what had happened. The deacon said, "I have known both the boy and the teacher for several years, and neither of them would do such a thing." By this time the pastor was heartsick and reported the incident to the Christian Education Committee. They said, "We see no point in making an issue out of this thing. Let’s pay the bill for the damage to the walls and charge it to upkeep. Anyway, our insurance may even cover it. "
The sad truth is that many people do not know the Word of God, they are still infants and need to be taught the elementary truths of God’s Word. They need to know that the Bible tells us; Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
I know that there are many excuses for not reading the Bible, I have heard most of them, and at times I have probably used some of them. One of the most common excuses is that we don’t remember what we read in the Bible, I have heard people tell me this.
I once heard a story with a neat lesson. There was an old man that lived in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. The old man had a big family. One day one of the old man’s grandsons approached him with a problem. The Grandson said, "PAP, I read the Bible and I don’t understand it, and what I understand I forget as soon as I close the Bible covers. What’s the use of reading the Bible!" The Grandfather ordered the grandson to get the basket they used to carry the heating coal into the house and run down to the river and bring back a basket of water to the house. To please his grandfather, the lad grapped the basket, ran to the river and got a basket of water. The lad ran back to the house with the water. By the time the lad reached the house the basket was empty. The grandfather chided the young boy, hurry and go bring me a basket of water. DO IT NOW! The lad ran quickly from the river, the basket was full when he left the river, but by the time he arrived at the house the basket of water was dry. After his third trip, the boy told his granddad, it is no use, I can not retain the water in the basket until I get here. It is useless. The grandfather looked at the disgusted young boy, and said, "So you think it is useless?" "Yes! Pap it is useless to try!" the boy repliied. The Grandfather said to the boy, "BUT LOOK AT THE BASKET, CAN’T YOU SEE SOMETHING?" THE SMALL BOY WAS AMAZED, AFTER THREE TRIPS TO THE RIVER, THE DIRTY COAL BASKET WAS CLEAN. Pap said, " See, that is what the Word of God does to you. As you read, you say you don’t retain and understand it, but your basket is cleaned. THE WORD OF GOD DOES THE WORK OF GOD.
Reading the Word of God must be part of our diet, we must strive for the meat of the Word and never become content with just having the milk. I want you to see from our passage this morning, these people knew the basic truths once, you see the writer tells them that they need be taught the elementary truths of God’s Word ALL OVER AGAIN. Staying in the word of God is the most important this we can do to stay in Spiritual truth. The Word of God is revealed to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, we must pray before we read scripture asking God to reveal His TRUTH to us and not allow ourselves to get caught up with trying to figure out some hidden meaning. I love the little story;
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replies, "I see millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" asks Holmes Watson ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it’s evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. “ The after a pause, Watson says: “Well, Holmes, What does it tell you?" Holmes is silent for a moment and then he speaks. "Watson, you imbecile, can’t you see that someone has stolen our tent." There is a danger, when we come to Scripture that we look for the complicated rather than looking for the obvious.
Let me read today’s passage from the Living Bible;
Heb 5:12-14 You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others, but instead you have dropped back to the place where you need someone to teach you all over again the very first principles in God’s Word. You are like babies who can drink only milk, not old enough for solid food. And when a person is still living on milk it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life, and doesn’t know much about the difference between right and wrong. He is still a baby Christian! 14 You will never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things of God’s Word until you become better Christians and learn right from wrong by practicing doing right.
NOW, there is a second type of food mentioned in our passage and that is SOLID FOOD. These people, we are told, have trained themselves, by constant use, they are mature and they can discern between good and bad. You see, when we spend time truly reading the Word of God and allowing it to change us, allowing that living and active word to convict us, we will see God’s will for our lives. The passage here tells us that with constant use we will know what is right and what is wrong.
One Sunday, the Minister was giving a sermon on baptism and in the coarse of his sermon he was illustrating the fact that baptism should take place by sprinkling and not by immersion. He pointed out some instances in the Bible. He said that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, round about, or nearby. And again when it says in the Bible that Philip baptized the eunuch in the river, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, round about, or nearby. After the service, a man came up to the minister and told him it was a great sermon, one of the best he had ever heard, and that it had cleared up a great many mysteries he had encountered in the Bible. "For instance," he said, "the story about Jonah getting swallowed by the whale has always bothered me. Now I know that Jonah wasn’t really in the whale, but close to, round about, or nearby—swimming in the water. Then there is the story about the three young Hebrew boys who were thrown into the furious furnace, but were not burned. Now I see that they were not really in the fire, just close to, round about, or nearby—just keeping warm. But the hardest of all the stories for me to believe has always been the story of Daniel getting thrown into the lions’ den. But now I see that he wasn’t really in the lions’ den, but close to, round about, or nearby—like at the zoo. The revealing of these mysteries have been a real comfort to me. Now I am gratified to know that I won’t be in Hell, but close to, round about, or nearby. And next Sunday, I won’t have to be in church, just close to, round about, or nearby. Thanks. You have really put my mind at ease.
God’s Word is not as difficult to understand as many would say it is, if we will just read the Word, it will never come back void, it will change our lives. So many times we hear stories of how a steady diet of Bible reading has changed a life, how transformation has occurred in someone’s life just from reading the Word of God. I can testify that when I was a young man I knew little if nothing of the Word. As a Roman Catholic we were not encouraged to read the Word for ourselves. I was told what it said and what it meant. But shortly after I joined the Marine Corps, I started reading it for myself and found that it was a lot different then what I was told and what I had been taught. It was till many years after that before I found Jesus in a personal way, BUT when I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, I absorbed scripture like a sponge. Today I continue to read and reread scripture and always gain something from it.
The preacher stood on the street corner preaching to anyone who would listen. A man approached him who looked like he had lived on the street forever. "Can I help you" asked the preacher. "I think you can" said the bum. "Would you like me to tell you about Jesus?" "No." "Would you like me to pray for you?" "No." "If you don’t want me to tell you about Jesus, and you don’t want me to pray with you, how can I help you?" "You can give me your Bible." "Why would you want my Bible if you have no interest in knowing more about Jesus?" "I noticed that the pages of your Bible are very thin; I can use the pages to wrap a cigarette (or a joint)." Wisdom came suddenly to the preacher, who said, "I’ll give you the Bible, if you will agree to read a page (of the Bible) before you smoke it." The bum agreed, took his new Bible, and left. The preacher thought he had seen the last of the bum, but he could get another Bible. Several months passed, and the preacher was on the street corner once again. A man came up to him dressed in a three piece suit. "You don’t know me, do you?" said the man. "No. I’ve never seen you in my life." "Yes you have. I’m the man you gave a Bible to (about four months ago)." The preacher couldn’t believe his eyes and ears. "What happened? Tell me what happened." "Well, I smoked Matthew, and then I smoked Mark, and then I smoked Luke--and then John smoked me."
Have you allowed God’s Word to transform you? Paul tells us this in Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We can no longer allow the world, and the swing of liberal thinking to influence our lives, we must stand strong in God’s word and be transformed. The world will tell you that you deserve what you desire, BUT God’s word tells us that if we delight ourselves in His way, He will give us the desires of our hearts.
Folks, Jesus tells us John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
AND if we believe the scripture to be TRUE and RELIABLE Jesus is the TRUTH and in John 1 we are told that Jesus is the WORD of God.
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Now, if Jesus is TRUTH, than the WORD is TRUTH and we can grow and become a better body ONLY by following the WORD.
Last week we were invited to LISTEN to our trainer, I spoke of how LISTEN means that we will do something on our part, LISTEN implies that we have not only heard what was said, but that we must do something, and Jesus told us, that if we LOVE Him we will OBEY what He commands. This week we see that if we are going to build a Better Body, it will mean study of the word, it will mean getting involved in a study, and I encourage each of you to be active in a cell group. Becca and I are starting a new cell group in our home meeting on Tuesday evenings at 6:30. I encourage anyone that is not a part of a cell group to get active in one, there are many that meet on different nights. I honestly believe that this is one way to get OFF the milk and on too SOLID FOOD. Iron sharpens Iron as the Proverb tells us, and if you get in a group that is studying the Word, you will be sharpened.
This morning I invite you examine yourself and ask, what’s on my plate?
Are you dining on MILK, or on the SOLID, LIVING, ACTIVE Word of God, that penetrates and divides, that judges the attitudes and the thoughts of our hearts?
This morning, perhaps you have wondered away for a while and you really don’t want anyone to know, can I open the front of the church building up for you? Come and kneel, if you can, and pray here up front that God will place you on SOLID FOOD. If you desire me to pray with you, come up, don’t let eyes frighten you, do what God is telling you in your heart. Folks if some come to pray and you would like to pray with them, COME. Let’s all stand together and sing this morning!
