We have been spending the last four weeks talking about the rest Jesus
offers us and how to obtain it.
We spoke about rest, the promise of rest that God offers us, the power
that God has over all our problems, and situations, and discussed the
truth about the healing powers of God. Today I want to discuss believing.
To set the stage lets turn to a couple of portions of scripture.
John 4:31b-34, "The disciples were begging Jesus, 'Teacher, have something
to eat!' But He answered, 'I have food to eat that you know nothing
about.' So the disciples started asking among them selves, 'could
somebody have brought Him food?' 'My food,' Jesus said to them, 'is to
obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to
do."
John 6:51-58, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you
eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is
my flesh, which I give so that the world may live. This started an angry
argument among them. 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' they
asked. Jesus said to them, 'I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in
yourselves.' Those who eat my flesh and drink My blood have eternal life
and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real
food; my blood is the real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my
blood live in me and I live in them. The living Father sent me, and
because of Him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live
because of me. This then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is
not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. Those
who eat this bread will live forever."
Listen to this statistic: Knowledge is exploding at such a rate--more than
2000 pages a minute--that even
Einstein couldn't keep up. In fact, if you read 24 hours a day, from age
21 to 70, and retained all you read, you would be one and a half million
years behind when you finished (Campus Life , Feb. 19??).
An amazing statistic. Now tell me when do you suppose this
information was compiled? Would it surprise you if I told you that these
statistics did not even take into account the internet. They don't even
take into account the personal computer. And, why not? It's because the
statistics are from 1979.
It's crucial that we don't gorge ourselves on all the information that is
screaming down towards us on the information super highway, but what we do
need to learn is what will sustain us for the days to come.
The Prophets from of old proclaimed: They will all be taught by God. The
question is; Are we listening?
Today we are talking about believing and the "Bread of Life," what it is,
how it can sustain us and give us rest.
We all know what it means to eat. The body cannot maintain itself
independently; it depends on the fuel that we put in it. Without food and
without nutritious food; what happens? Our body grows weak, sick and may
eventually die.
Why is it that we know and understand that the body can't survive without
being fed; yet, we never even consider the fact that in order to have a
healthy spirit we need to feed our spirit? To feed and sustain our
spiritual, we need food from a spiritual source; we must eat heavenly
food.
· And Jesus say's that the spiritual food is the will of God.
What is spiritual food?
If Jesus Christ were to meet you physically, face to face, what would you
want to ask Him?
I have asked that of many people and the most common answer I receive is,
"I'd want to know what the Lord would want me to do."
God definitely has a will or a plan for you and me. If you look through
any bible concordance and look up "the will of God" and "God's will" in
the New Testament; you will find that it falls into three categories.
1. God's Moral Will, which is the "do's" and "don'ts," the "Thou shalt do
this, thou shalt not do that." And we find out that these do's and don'ts
are not to keep us from having fun, but rather to keep us from getting
harmed. God's moral will helps us enjoy life to it's fullest.
2. The Principles God's Word. Principles are more like equations. This
is where God says, "If you do this, you can expect that to happen. A good
example is the law of sowing and reaping, we always reap what we sow.
3. God's Personal Will, this is God's personal agenda for your life. The
things that God has specifically designed for you. Interesting enough,
the first two categories will guide you into the third.
So in other words, "Spiritual Food" is God's Will and God's Will is in the
Word, the bible.
If you want to know God's will, go straight to the source! Go to the
bible.
How do we eat this Heavenly Food?
You could say that the bible is a ten-course spiritual health food meal
and we begin to dine when we use the bible, a devotional, or other
biblically based reading or listening material. That is why we have the
devotionals and Christian Readers available at the back of the church.
That is also why we have alternate radio stations, internet sites or other
articles listen in the Newsletter offering you as many alternatives to
receive spiritual food.
Now EATING is not as some may think, just accepting God's Word that we
receive through these recourses. We may think or ponder about what the
God say's through the bible, we can agree that the bible is right, we can
pride ourselves on our knowledge of it; but all this does us absolutely no
good.
This does not feed the soul, until we do it. You see, action is what
brings the food from the head to the heart. Action is what brings causes
the spirit to digest the food!
Jesus told us that, "My food is to is "to obey, to do" the will of the one
who sent me.
I may accept the Word of God, the bible, but as long as I fail to do it,
it remains outside of my life.
The will of God is food that keeps our spiritual life alive; I may have
taken it into my mind, but not into my will and not into my life until I
begin to believe the will of God.
I like how the New Living Translation explains it in James 1:22, "And
remember, it is a message to obey, not just listen to. If you don't obey,
you are only fooling yourself." Verse 25, "But if you keep looking
steadily into God's perfect law - the law that sets you free - and if you
do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you
for it."
What happens when you eat Heavenly Food?
· The Will of God is nourishing heavenly food that we need every day and
we take it into our spirit by doing it. But also doing God's will makes
our spirit healthier. Each act of obedience to the will of God makes us
stronger. This is the reason for the greatest difference between a weak
and a strong Christian.
· The weak Christian is one who only looks for the warm fuzzies, peace,
comfort and happiness. To this person, knowing and doing the will of God
is only a way to achieve these feelings and they find achieving very
difficult.
The strong and healthy Christian is one who understands that all things
must be subject to the will of God and makes "the doing of God's will"
their chief aim in life. For everything they do, they understand that a
Loving Heavenly Father wants to give them the best of every situation they
find themselves in.
Their purpose and joy is to discover the will of God and do it.
The strong Christian knows that when he or she does the will of God, They
are eating the bread of heaven.
Unfortunately many Christians do not understand this truth.
To them doing God's will seems like a heavy burden, a difficult and
exhausting task that takes up time and energy. They prefer to think of
the promises of God and the life of Jesus as the food that strengthens
them. They fail to see that the will of God is the power that will help
them do the will of God.
The will of God is the power that created the universe, the power that
worked through Jesus and is at work in us right now through the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. The will of God is not intended to be a heavy yoke
laid on us as a burden. It is a power given to us by our loving Father in
heaven, intending to lead us to a healthy Spiritual life and a growing
relationship with Him.
But how are we doing?
This doing is not an attempt to earn approval from God or earn brownie
points with God.
Now before we become too pleased with ourselves because of all the work
that we do.
With the church dinners, our giving to the food pantry, or helping out in
the community in different ways.
I thank you for all your work and efforts in these areas and your efforts
are appreciated in building God's kingdom on earth!
But we have a good gauge to measure our doing God's will by looking at
Romans 13:8-10 (Good News version). "Be under obligation to no one, the
only obligation you have is to love one another. Whoever does this has
obeyed the Law. The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery; do not commit
murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else' - all
these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, 'Love
your neighbor as you love yourself.' If you love others, you will never
do them wrong; to love, then, is to obey the whole Law."
Let me ask you a question: How are you at home with those you love?
Are you forgiving and patient, kind and merciful?
· Kids & adults - are you patient, kind, and gentle with your brothers and
sisters even when they are mean to you? Do you obey and respect your
parents? Adults - are you thoughtful, considerate, and respectful to your
parents, inlaws and other assorted relations?
· Husbands - are you patient, faithful, understanding, gentle and kind to
your wives? Do you keep your promises and help without being asked twenty
times? Do you humble yourself and show self-control?
· Wives - are you respectful, patient, understanding and help your
families in their weaknesses?
· This next question is to everyone who is in a family - do you pray for
each other and with each other?
In The letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul wrote to each that when they
look for leaders in the church, they must look at how they are at home.
It is often easier to be nice and Godly in the world, but it is much more
difficult to be Godly at home.
When Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If
you eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you
is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live." He was talking
about his sacrifice on the cross for all the sinful, selfish mistakes we
made. He also made the ultimate sacrifice
to bring us rest for our weary lives. But to receive the Heavenly bread,
to receive the rest we search for, We must first receive the gift of grace
from God through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. If you had never
received the gift see me after service.
But it is with the gift of grace we can consider the will of God in all
its perfection and glory. When we think about the blessings of having
your will at one with our God Almighty, and knowing that you are actually
performing the will of God here on earth. Then you can truthfully say,
with Jesus that, "My food is to obey the will of the one who sent me and
to finish the work he gave me to do."
And you will understand the beatitude "Blesses are they which hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."
