BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU
Theme Verse: For I know that as you pray for me and as the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will all turn out for my deliverance. (Philippians 1:19)
Monday: For I know: “What Do You Believe”
Tuesday: As you pray for me: “Jesus Prayed for Me”
Wednesday: As the Spirit of Jesus: “When Jesus Exhales”
Thursday: Christ helps me: “Biting the Hand that Feeds
You”
Text: Jesus said, "At my Father’s direction I have done many things to help the people. For which one of these good deeds are you killing me?" (John 10:32)
We have all heard in our lives, at one time or another, the term “Don’t Bite the Hand that Feed’s You.” We can assume that this cliche originated from the fact that when a man has a dog, and in most cases any other kind of animal, that dog will usually not bite the hand of the one that feeds it. The dog knows where its nourishment comes from and if it wants to continue to eat, it knows that it must not bite the hand of the one that is feeding it. However, we as humans beings, as intelligible individuals, have adopted this term as one that is used to tell somebody that they should not lay offense against those that are taking care of them. They should not abuse or stab the back of the person who is responsible for their day to day living. They should not hurt the one that is responsible for their well-being. In other words, they should not bite the hand that feeds them.. Have I got a witness?
But you know there is just something special about us human beings, especially us black folk. We seem to have a yearning and a capacity for hurting those that are close to us. I mean we KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that our parents are feeding us. We know that they are taking care of us. We know that they are providing for us in a way that we cannot provide for ourselves, and yet, we will do things time and time again, that we know will break their heart and cause them undue pain. We know that our husband or wife loves us. That they would give you the shirt off of their back and the shoes off of their feet. That they would do everything in their power to ensure your happiness before their own. And yet, we’ll cut out on them with another man or woman. We’ll spend more time on the phone with our girlfriends than we will with our husbands. We’ll spend more time out drinking or acting a fool with our so-called buddies than we will with our wife. And all the while, we know that we are causing them hurt. We know we are causing them pain. But we do it anyway, knowing that we are biting the hand that feeds us. Am I right about it?
And let me get you to understand tonight, that when you are fed by someone, it does not necessarily have anything to do with food. You can be fed with happiness. You can be fed with love and companionship. You can be fed with self-confidence and self esteem. You can be fed with gentleness and loving kindness. You can be fed emotionally and physically. You can even be fed spiritually, as should be the case when you come to the church and listen to the pastor deliver the Word of God. For I can hear Jesus tell that old devil that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Yes, there are many ways that you can be fed. Have I got a witness?
And if we look at the life of JESUS, will find that He was and is the good shepherd. But He came down not only as a good shepherd, but also as the master chef who specialize in feeding his flock everything that they need.
If it’s the Word of God that you need, Jesus will feed it to you. And it really doesn’t matter how much education you think you have or how much you think you already know about the Word of God. Because if we know anything about the early days of Jesus, we should be reminded that when Jesus was still a mere child, He went into the synagogue where He started feeding the teachers and doctors the Word of God. And the Bible tells us that they were all amazed and astonished at how well this little 12 year old boy gave answers and asked questions. Have I got a witness in here?
If you need to be fed with something that will clean you up, Jesus will feed it to you. And he won’t do it like the old folk used to do it. The old folk would get all the children together, make them line up in a straight line, and then give them some the nastiest tasting stuff like Castoria and castor oil. And that was supposed to clean out all of the impurities of their bodies. But if you are washed in the blood of the lamb tonight, all you have to do is ask the LORD to clean you up. And just like the man who fell down on his knees with leprosy, Jesus will stretch forth his hands and say “Be Thou Clean.” And you will be as white as snow. Am I right about it?
If you need to be fed with something that will rid your body of a long time affliction, Jesus will feed it to you. As much as momma loves you, there are some things that she just can’t do for you. As much as daddy would like to heal all of your troubles, there are some things that are beyond his control. But my Bible tells me tonight that there is nothing too great that Jesus can not fix it. For I heard that He made the blind to see. I heard that He made the lame to walk. I heard that He healed paralytics and even cast out evil spirits. And even right now in this place, if you turn your affliction over the LORD and have faith the size of a mustard seed, Jesus can, and Jesus will remove all of your afflictions. Ain’t the Lord Alright?
Even if you need to be fed with some real food, Jesus will feed it to you. For I can remember there being a time in the Bible days, after Jesus had finished preaching and teaching the word of God, it had gotten to a point where it was time to send the people home. And although Jesus and his disciples didn’t have any money, He still did not want to send the people away hungry. So as the story goes, his disciple found a little boy with 2 small fish and five barley loaves. But after he blessed the food, the bible tells us that he feed 5000 men folk, not including the woman and children. And not only did he feed them, but after he fed them, they were full.
Whatever it is that you need, Jesus can feed you. He can provide all of your needs. He is the one who came to help us on this Christian journey. For we find that in our text tonight that Jesus came at the direction of God and he did many things to help the brethren. And I believe my brothers and sisters, that if we would just follow God’s directions in our life, He would make it a whole lot easier for us to help somebody else. Have I got a witness?
But look what Jesus says next. Despite all that I’ve done to help you , despite all of the sickness that I’ve cured for you, despite all of the canes, crutches, and wheel chairs that you’ve been able to leave behind, why is it that you are trying to do evil to me while I’m trying to do you nothing but good. Why are you trying to tear me down, when I’m steady trying to build you up? Why are you scandalizing my good name, when I’ve done nothing by protect your reputation. In other words, For what good deed that I’ve done, are you killing me.?
My brothers and sisters a lot of us are still killing Jesus tonight. We are still driving nails through his hands and his feet. We are still piercing his side with our own brand of spear. We are crucifying Him all over again. Every time we do wrong we are crucifying Him. Every time we disobey his commandments we are showing that we don’t love Him. Because his Word says that if we love him we would keep his commandments.
Don’t we know by now that he is our provider? Haven’t we realized yet that He is our waymaker. That He is our burden bearer. That He is the one that supplies us with life and removes old death out of our way. Then why do we still bite the hand that is feeding us?
I mean we know what we have to do for salvation. We know what we have to do to get into the kingdom of heaven. And we can see all of the songs and pray all of the prayers about going home one day. But the plain old truth is that many of us have not turned from our wicked ways. We’ve gone from being club hopping devils to being church hopping devils, and we’re biting the hand that’s feeding us. Why???
It’s all because we keep giving in to temptation. The devil knows what we like so he keeps on coming back to us and waving it in front of our face and we keep giving in. But we’re Christians. We’re in God’s army. We’re a part of His fellowship. If we fall we keep getting back up. But why do we keep on falling?
Well, my brothers and sisters, the only truth that I can come up with is that it feels good. Our temptation is something that feels good to us. It’s just like some other things in our lives. I know I’m overweight and I know that I should not be eating all of the chocolate cakes, coconut cakes, and hummingbird cakes that folk make down at Jerusalem, but I love sweets, and I’ll be doggone if someone is going to tell me that I can’t have it. And a lot of us are just like that with sin. If feels too good to us. It tastes good to us. It smells so good to us. It looks good to us. And it even sounds good to us. Sin can mess with all of our senses and that same time and leave us senseless and all messed up nobody can stop us from doing that thing that we know that we know that we know that we should not be doing. Have I got a witness?
And in the process, we’re biting the hand that feeds us. The devil is not feeding us. He just makes his stuff look good. You know how it is with a glazed donut. It looks good on the outside. It tastes good when it’s going down. But it has no real value for your body. There are no vitamins in it that will nourish your body. There are no useful calories in it that will give your body energy to burn. There is nothing that it can do for you, except lead you to an early grave. It can give you diabetes by getting your sugar all out of whack. It can give you constipation, because it has nothing to stimulate your digestive system. Am I right about it?
And the devil in all of his cunning, throws sin in our face that looks like a glazed donut. If your sin is another man’s wife or another man’s husband, that person will look so sweet to you, but I guarantee they have nothing of any value to offer you but an early grave. If your sin is lying and cheating, it may sound good to you when it’s leaving your lying tongue, but I guarantee that it will lead you to an early grave. If you sin is taking things that you know don’t belong to you, you better believe tonight, that although it may feel good to you, it will lead you to an eternal grave. That’s why we should not trust our own thoughts. We should not trust our own intuitions. But we should let this mind what is in you be the same mind that is also in Christ Jesus. Oh LORD.
If you let Jesus feed you, you won’t have to worry about all the junk that the world is trying to force on you. Just let Jesus, Jesus, Jesus feed you hope for tomorrow. He’ll feed you love that will never break your heart. He’ll feed you strength when the weight of the world is too much for you to bear. And even when you’re down and out, walking along on your last leg, you’ve got to know that weeping, may endure for a night, but Joy, Joy, OH Joy is coming in the morning. I know it’s coming. Well how do you know it’s coming preacher? Well early one Friday morning they put my Savior on Calvary’s Cross. They left him there until he died. But it was early, early, early on the first day morning, that JESUS got up out of that grave with all power in his hands. (close)
