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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
THE REAL MEAT OF THE WORD
Hebrews 5:12-14, "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
A few years ago the Burger King Restaurant Corporation ran a commercial on TV where an elderly lady would walk up to the counter with her hamburger in her hand, open the bread up and cry, “Where’s the Beef!” It seems that she got a burger with a meat patty so small that you couldn’t find it. Of course the commercial was trying to make the point that Burger King offered more “meat” for your money.
In the course of my ministry through the years I have heard many people say that they wanted to experience the real meat of the Word of God. Yet, when the meat of the Word was presented they went back to sucking their milk bottle because they couldn’t handle the real meat at all.
It was only about a year ago that someone who told me that they wanted to hear the real meat of the Bible approached me right in this very church. Their claim was that too many preachers talk about the real meat but never really get into the Word deep enough to bring out anything with real meaning to it. I want you to know that the same person who said this to me was one of the very ones who would not hear the real meat of God’s Word and continued to live only on the milk. Today I don’t even know if they are drinking the milk of the Word. I fear that they have quit tasting of the Word altogether and are spiritually dead.
If we are to grow in Christ and mature into vessels of honor that are useful to the Kingdom of God it is important to know what “meat” Paul is talking about in his letter to the Hebrews.
As our example in all things spiritual, the life of Christ is referred to in this chapter. Jesus is God’s Son and as God’s Son, he came to earth and was born of a virgin and became a man, a human being, with all the ramifications of being a human being in a world of sin except that He knew no sin, committed no sin, and never came under the same penalty of spiritual death that other men have known.
Hebrews 5:8-9, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;"
Before He could be our example, Jesus had to go through some pretty rough times of learning obedience to His mission as our Great High Priest.
It is no coincidence that Paul talks about the suffering of Jesus in the Garden just prior to the Crucifixion and Jesus’ obedience even unto death before Paul writes concerning maturing through exercising your spirit by chewing on the meat of the Word.
So, just what is the milk of the Word? What is it that only baby Christians can stand to eat because they aren’t strong enough to digest or absorb anything any stronger?
Here’s what the milk is:
1 Peter 2:2-3, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
The Milk of the Word consists of those promises, blessings and good things that God has given in His Word that are easy to swallow and require no real commitment to obedience and suffering for the cause of Christ.
The milk is great and we must all begin at this place of growth as babes in Christ. If we were to know everything that God would require of us before we begin to walk with Him, most of us would never begin the journey. Thank God that He takes us one step at a time, gives us baby steps into learning obedience and knowledge of the greater things of God that are in His Word.
Over a long period of time, through much study and through hearing the Word taught and preached over and again, we learn to “rightly divide” or correctly understand the Bible.
Elementary to understanding and getting into the meat of God’s Word is establishing a prayer time and building a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Some of the baby Christian words of God that we must learn to live by are things like:
Giving of tithes and offerings systematically
Malachi 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Sharing our testimony in soul winning
Mark 16:15, "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
Honor and loyalty to your pastor, youth leader and other spiritual leaders
Ephesians 4:11-14, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"
These are all such wonderful teachings and they are absolutely necessary for growth of the Baby Christian. They are not hard to understand or hard to swallow and digest because they are simple and straightforward.
But what about the meat of God’s Word? What is that we should be seeking after if we are to become more mature Christians?
John 4:34, "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."
There we find the general definition of what the real meat of the Word of God really is. That meat is to search the Word to learn what God demands of us in His service and then to do what God requires.
We all have a work to do and a calling upon our lives from God. We have to learn to dig deeply and immerse our lives into God’s Word and His service. We must learn to conform into the very image of Jesus Christ so that we can perform our calling to God’s expectations.
We cannot compare our commitment to that of other people during this process for it is too easy to say that we are better or more committed than anyone else in the church, therefore I must be okay. My commitment and your commitment to the call of God and the ministry that is set before us should only be compared to that of Jesus who gave His very life to accomplish His mission on this earth.
What if Jesus had said to himself, “I am good enough. No matter what I do I am better than any other man. After all, I am the Son of God and I shouldn’t have to suffer or bear these great burdens anymore than anyone else. I might me a man but I’m also God in the flesh. I won’t die for these sinners. I refuse to suffer and walk in obedience to my ministry. I will do only those things that are pleasant and easy and that make me popular.”
If Jesus had lived like that where would we be today?
If we are to learn to live upon the strong meat of spiritual things then we had better get prepared for some hard chewing and get a stronger digestive system. Even as a baby cannot handle solid food until its stomach and digestive system has developed a little more, we need to exercise our spiritual stomach so that we can endure the stronger teachings of the Word of God.
2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Too many people stay baby Christians forever. They never learn to grown up and be mature in Christ. They never grow up because they never get really committed to God. They like to hang around the fringes of Christianity, but they never jump in and give it all to God.
You can see these folks everywhere. They are the ones who appear to love Jesus but don’t preach a strong message of repentance to them. They love to hear of Jesus’ love, mercy and grace, but don’t talk to them of His power to judge and condemn a soul to hell. You can talk about relationships with people, financial planning and building up their ego but don’t preach to them about living a sanctified life. Don’t preach to them about being holy. Don’t preach to them about giving their time, their energy and their talents in service to God continually.
These folks are too self-centered to swallow that kind of sound doctrinal teaching. They like to hear good things but don’t bring anything that requires something of them.
Titus 2:1-13, "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;"
Do you want some real meat from the Word of God right now? Well listen to what is being said in these verses!
Watch what you say and how you say it! Do your words build up or tear down; do they increase faith and commitment or do they glorify the works of the flesh? Do you spend your time in trivialities or is your whole heart, soul, mind and body engaged in doing those things that will make an eternal difference for yourself and those around you?
What’s more important to you; going to church, reading the Word of God, prayer or watching the TV, enjoying your favorite hobby or just sleeping and laying around the house.
Don’t tell God you’re tired and that you deserve a rest! Don’t you think that Jesus was tired in Pilate’s hall? Don’t you think that He deserved a rest? Don’t you think that every man or woman who serves God has had times that they deserved to rest but their commitment to the call of God meant to continue on even when they were tired?
Like I have said many times before, “Your ministry, your calling of God to work for Him, will be built on inconvenience and it will not always be easy or fun, but it will require things of you that are not pleasant and you will lose some sleep.”
The aged people in these verses are not referring only to those who are older in terms of time. In a far greater sense, it also means those who are more mature spiritually.
…That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
Mature Christians who have lived upon the meat of the Word of God will be more sober minded because they know that this world is winding down and that the souls of people are at stake. They don’t have time for a lot of the pleasures of life because they know that eternity is rapidly approaching and there are many that need salvation.
They have learned to have complete trust and faith in God to supply every need and deliver them in every circumstance. Their heart is set upon God. They have learned to love all people and they have learned to let God be God in reaching into the heart of those around them. A mature Christian is not an “in your face” Christian, but they know how to make a friend and will endure great persecution in the process of reaching a soul for the Lord.
The mature Christian has learned to eat even the bitter tasting Word of God for they know that the stronger Word gives them greater strength to live holy and to teach good things.
In a natural sense, mustard greens, spinach and a lot of the less desirable foods that God has provided for us have proven to be far more beneficial to the body than the sweet cakes and candies that taste so good!
A man or woman of God has learned that their spiritual diet must consist of more than the pleasant teachings of God’s Word. They have learned to dig in and learn those things that are bitter to the taste but are so good for us.
…That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
This is the kind of teaching that we really need in our homes and churches around the world instead of the teaching that we get from the radio, TV and friends.
1) We teach our kids how to lust through the movies and magazines but we don’t teach them that love requires a lifelong commitment and self sacrifice.
2) We teach our kids to be promiscuous by using safe sex methods rather than to abstain until marriage like the Word of God says and then we wonder why sexually transmitted disease is so rampant and abortions are on the rise.
3) We teach our kids that its okay to hang around undesirable elements of society because we don’t have time for them in our self-centered world.
4) We teach our youth that its okay to shack up, live together and see if you are compatible but we fail to tell them that God calls it sin because we don’t want to see the pain of divorce that just might come later.
Read through these verses again some time and see the type of holy and sanctified life that Paul is trying to teach us that we must live if we are to be mature Christians.
They even talk about the servants and the way they do their job. We are all servants of one fashion or another. Nearly all of us have a job, either in the church or in the secular world or both. In Titus we are told that we are to be honest, above reproach, industrious, obedient and not back talk those who God has placed over us. We are told not be “purloining” or stealing from our job either in time wasted or in products or other job related items. We are be examples of trustworthiness and hard work, giving our best for a days wages.
Are we really ready for the real meat of God’s Word? The meat of God’s Word is that we should live by it always. The meat doesn’t just consist of some new revelation, or some deep meaning in a familiar passage, or learning some new thing. All of this is important certainly, but the real meaning of getting into the meat of the Word of God is learning to live obediently, in sanctification, holiness and commitment to doing the will of God in your life with persistence, knowing that God will bring us to maturity in Him.
