You Are What You Eat
The Life – part 8
The Practice of Studying
In the 5th chapter of Acts the apostles are in Jerusalem – they are preaching the gospel, healing the sick, driving out evil spirits – and they are really ticking off the religious leaders. The high priest and his cronies were filled with jealousy because everyone was going to the apostles and not to them. SO – they had the apostles arrested and threw them into jail. BUT – during the night God sent an angel and the angel opened the prison doors and set them free. AND – the angel told them – “Go stand in the Temple courts (the place where you got arrested) and tell the people the full message of this NEW LIFE.” (Acts 5:20)
LISTEN – being a Christian is about living a NEW LIFE… The Scriptures tells us in Romans 6 when this NEW LIFE begins; “…all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father we too may live a NEW LIFE.” (Romans 6:3,4)
UNDERSTAND – the bible is very clear that this NEW LIFE begin the moment a repentant believer is baptized (is immersed into Christ)…. AND – as we read in 2 Cor 5:17; “…IF anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation the old has gone the NEW has come…”
AND LISTEN – this new life does not come automatically – YOU SEE, we have to work in order to bring about this NEW way of LIVING; the bible says in Ephesians 4:24; “You were taught, with your regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by it’s deceitful desires; to be made NEW in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the NEW SELF created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness…”
LISTEN – there is no doubt whatsoever that to be a Christian means to live a NEW LIFE. Means to live as Paul says in Ephesians 4:1 the life God has called us to live, means to live and as Peter says in 2 Peter 1:3; a life that pleases (not/ you, your spouse) but pleases God.
AND UNDERSTAND – this NEW LIFE is to be; the primary, the focus, the number one pursuit of our lives…. This new life, was most definitely Paul’s number one pursuit. In Philippians 3 Paul tells us that he considered everything else as garbage compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ…
BUT – even though Paul pursued this NEW LIFE, with great passion & intensity, he still knew that he wasn’t there yet… CHECKOUT what he wrote…
“I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me His. Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ TO THE LIFE ABOVE. All of us who are spiritually mature should think this way too…” Phil 3:12-15 (NCV)
Paul says I am not yet what God wants me to be
BUT – I continue trying
Why?
Because he knows that this is what Christ wants
He knows that this is why Christ saved him
Therefore…
Paul forgets the past and presses towards the future
He reaches towards being who God wants him to be…
He strains to live the Life above
TODAY – is our 8th week in our message series called THE LIFE…. A series whose purpose is to get us unstuck spiritually – to get us out of borderland that barren and often crowed place between where we were and where we should be… between where God brought us from to where God wants to take us to…
AND LISTEN – I can think of no reason why everyone in this room who is a believer would not desire to embrace the spiritual disciplines we have talked about so far (The practice of: solitude/joy/prayer/giving thanks). NO - I can not see any reason why anyone in this room today who claims Christ as Lord – who has had His blood wash away their sin – and who has the hope of heaven would not desire to strain toward the goal of being all that God wants them to be… At least no acceptable reason…
BUT YET – I know that there are some here today that do not have this desire that burned in the heart & mind of the apostle Paul – YES, there are some people who prefer being stuck in borderland and will refuse to strain toward this new life by embracing spiritual disciplines…
Read Philippians 3:14-21 (NCV)
PRAYER….
(what we do with our life matters…enemy wants us to remain stuck…)
The title for today’s message is, “You Are What You Eat.” AND - in a way that is a pretty timely title considering what holiday we just celebrated last week. WELL IF – we are what we eat then there is probably a lot of ham, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dressing, cheese, and turkey out there this morning….
Eating – is something that our culture knows much about. YES - we are pretty serious about our eating in America… In the center of most malls is a food court; we have fast food restaurants on almost every corner; food usually plays a pivotal role at movies and sport events…AND on Friday and Saturday nights people will stand in long lines for over an hour at places like Out Back Steak House… Food almost seems to be a national past time in our country…
You are what you eat. AND in your mind and your heart, what you eat is what you study.
Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X; Adolph Hitler, Genghis Kahn, Abraham Lincoln, the apostle Paul – they were all students. Each made a serious study of a certain philosophy, a system of thought and action. As a monk Luther studied St Augustine as well as a philosophy known as nominalism, but he was transformed by a penetrating and painstaking study of Paul’s letter to the Romans, and then a careful reread of the entire bible. Malcolm X began reading widely while in prison for larceny, but fell especially under the spell of Black Muslim Leader Elijah Mohammed. Adolph Hitler, a sulking and awkward teenager stung twice by rejection from Vienna’s elite art school, came under the teaching of Frederick Nietzsche’s will to power philosophy and Richard Wagner’s anti-Semitic nationalistic music that paid homage to the pagan gods of Nordic and Teutonic legend.
AND so it goes. Each of them was shaped by they books the read and reread, by the art they surrounded themselves with, by the music they soaked themselves in, by the teachers they bowed to. In heart and mind they were what they ate.
In His Book – Your God Is Too Safe – Mark Buchanan describes study this way;
Study is the ingesting and digesting, the chewing and swallowing and being filled with ideas, images, thoughts, and attitudes. To browse an idea, to skim it and dabble in it – that’s like getting a whiff of food, maybe a faint taste on the tongue. BUT to study: to really plunge into the depth of a thing, to interrogate it and allow it to interrogate you, to probe it and be probed by it – that is study. That is eating.
Today – we are going to talk about the spiritual discipline of study… AND UNDERSTAND – the bible in many places uses the metaphor of eating in connection with God’s word; for example…
Jeremiah writes in the 15th chapter of his book;
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty.” (15:16)
In the book of Ezekiel as Ezekiel tells us about his call from God we see this metaphor of eating again…
Ezekiel 2:9-3:3
Jesus in John 6 tells a great multitude of people that they must eat his words if we are to have eternal life…”the one who feeds on me will live because of me…”
AND – in the last book of the bible we see the apostle John meeting up with an angel who holds a scroll of God’s word, and tells John that he has eat it before he can go out and preach it.
(Rev 10:10)
SO YOU SEE - the idea of eating God’s word is a biblical concept… The Ethiopian emperor Menelik II took this literally. And whenever he got sick, he’d eat actual pages from the bible, believing that this would cure him. It is said, that he died in 1913 after ingesting the entire book of 2 Kings. NOW – we hear that and we think this guy was crazy or stupid or both to think that literally eating pages of God’s word would make him well…
BUT – let me ask you how many believers do suffer spiritually, relationally and emotionally because of their refusal to eat the word of God… SURE Menelik II was crazy to eat actual pages from the bible – BUT LISTEN – we are just as crazy to not eat the word of God spiritually; to not plunge it’s depths, do not interrogate it, probe and let it probe and interrogate us. NO – there is very little eating (studying) of God’s word going on today…
Checkout this quote from; Your God Is Too Safe, about studying the word of God,
“Curious times, these. There is simultaneously a glut of the word of God and a famine of it, a drought and deluge. We have every translation of the Bible you can imagine – the NIV, the NEVG, the KJV, the NJKV, the NASR, NRSAV, the preacher’s bible, the worshippers bible, the spirit-filled believers bible, the left handed bald gypsy fiddler’s bible, with versions for the nearsighted and the farsighted. (The last was made up).
You can have it in hardback, paper, leather, cloth, in pink, red, oxblood, turtle shell, iridescent orange, psychedelic paisley, with maps and charts and indices and appendices and concordances and holograms of the temple in the back , and a little sleeve with a CD-ROM that takes you on a guided tour of the Holy Land.”
The food is out there – and it’s a banqueting table. We’re just picky eaters. Oh, we’re buying bibles. And sometimes we’re even reading them. But there’s not much evidence that we’re studying them. We’re nibbling, not devouring. And you are what you eat…
Borderland is a virtual colony of biblical anorexics and bulimics, where appetites rage fro everything BUT the truth.
On an edition of NBC’s "Dateline," about a year ago, Stone Philips reported the unusual story of Brooke Greenberg. Incredibly, Brook—just 13 pounds and 27 inches tall—is 8 years old. She was born 1 month premature, and has severely dislocated hips. Her father said, “Brooke is a six-month-old baby frozen in time.” The nation’s top doctors and geneticists are baffled by what they call the "unknown syndrome," that, to their knowledge, has no duplicates in the entire world.
As a dad, I can’t imagine how tough and how frustrating it must be for a father to see other children growing and maturing, and through the years to see absolutely no growth in your own child. QUESTION – can you see where I am going with this?
LISTEN - this is probably the same way our Heavenly Father feels when he looks at some of us and says, “They’ve been my child for 8 years, or 20 years, and yet they’re still frozen in the infancy of their faith.” Their fruit resembles that of a six-month old.” I wonder if it baffles the Great Physician? I wonder if it breaks his heart that this ‘syndrome’ of not growing is duplicated many times over throughout the world?
Read 1 Peter 1:22-2:1-3
Feeding on God’s word is a must for spiritual growth. What a tragedy when growth doesn’t occur. AND – when growth doesn’t take place, it confirms that something is terribly wrong.
LISTEN - when we see the Bible as just a book on a coffee table, or as a book to carry to church and yet we never bother to open it, how can we expect to obtain any knowledge of what’s in it?
On a typical evening, an average Christian may sit and watch TV for 3 hours, but only read the bible for 3 minutes before bedtime. Is it any wonder many lack spiritual maturity? Many Christians are more faithful; to magazines, to the TV guide, to news papers and to the sports page then they are to the word of God. I’ve know non-Christians who would not leave their home in the morning until they read their horoscopes. QUESTION – what would happen if Christians committed themselves with equal vigor to reading their bibles each morning before they left for work or school? It would change their lives and the lives of those around them…
OKAY - In the time I have left this morning; I want to share with you the top 10 reasons why you should study the Bible. The first is because the Bible;
Is The Word of God
UNDERSTAND - this is first and foundational to your faith. BECAUSE - if the Bible is just a collection of 66 different books with some good advice, then it doesn’t merit the level of study or commitment that we are expecting from our members. BUT LISTEN – this is more than just a book of wise saying & good advise… THIS is the very words of God;
Read - 2 Peter 1:16-21 (NCV)
Read - 2 Timothy 3:16,17 (NCV)
LISTEN - the Bible is the Revelation of God, and that means 2 things: It means that the Bible is a book by God — the Holy Spirit used human agents to record the very word that God wanted us to read. And it means that the Bible is a book about God; Revelation means to reveal or to unveil something, and without this revelation there is so much about God that we wouldn’t know…
AND UNDERSTAND – since this book is God’s word it will be around forever….
Max Lucado says, “The Bible has been banned, burned, scoffed, and ridiculed. Scholars have mocked it as foolish. Kings have branded it as illegal. A thousand times over, the grave has been dug and the dirge has begun, but somehow the Bible never stays in the grave. Not only has it survived, it has thrived. It’s the single most popular book in all of history. It has been the best-selling book in the world for years.”
1 Peter 1:24,25 - “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.”
A 2nd reason we should study the bible is because the bible;
Answers Life’s Most Important Questions.
Is there a God? Why am I here? How did we get here? How can I resist temptation? Is there life after death? Why is there evil and suffering in the world? What is God’s will for my life? What is love? How can I be a better – husband? Wife? Parent? How can I – control my anger? Control my tongue?
UNDERSTAND – since the bible is written by the author of life – it is FULL of wisdom, guidance and direction for life…
“For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Pr 2:6
“I am but a foreigner here on earth; I need the guidance of your commands…
Ps 119:19
“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Ps 119:97-105
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Isaiah 42;16
A 3rd reason to study the bible is because the bible;
Nourishes Us Spiritually.
QUESTION – do you pretty much eat every day? AND - are you aware each day when your body needs nourishment…? I don’t know about you but I need very little encouragement to eat physically? YOU SEE – I have found out that if I don’t eat – my body doesn’t work so good, I loose energy, get tired, get a head ache….
LISTEN – in the same that we are aware of our need for physical nourishment we need to be aware of our need for the spiritual nourishment that comes from God’s word…
“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! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, which by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil Hebrews 5:12-14
The Hebrew writer describes the bible as milk and solid food…. Why does the Bible nourish spiritually? One reason is because it gets you to know the author, God himself.
I heard of a young lady who read a book and after reading it she told her friends that it was one of the most boring books that she had ever read. Some months later she just happened to get to meet the author. They struck up a friendship and soon they were dating. She read the book a second time and later told her friends that each page fascinated her. And we all understand why—now she knew the author.
To some, this book may not seem all that interesting to you, in fact it may appear boring in some parts. But once you get to know the author it takes on a whole new meaning. Read God’s word and allow his word to nourish you.
A 4th reason to study the bible is because the bible;
Encourages Us To See Ourselves As We Are
Rick Atchley says, “There are two ways to know what you look like. One is a photograph, the other is a mirror. Now the thing about the photograph is you prepare for it, you primp and you get ready for it to make sure you look nice. Even guys comb their hair for a picture.
NOW - my guess is that this morning when you got up, you didn’t get out of bed, pick up a photograph and say ‘Man, I’m looking fine today,’ and go get in your car and head off to church. NO - my guess is that you walked over and looked in the mirror, and said, ’Whew! I’ve got some work to do here.’ And you invested some time and effort to making the necessary alterations to your appearance.” CHECKOUT – what James says;
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25
The Bible is a mirror. The Bible shows you the things in your life that you need to correct so that you will look like what God wants you to look.
UNDERSTAND - we do not study the Bible to impress people with our superior knowledge – NO, the purpose of studying the Scripture is to help you straighten your life so you will look more like, the one in whose image you’ve been made.
The goal is not for us to get through the Scriptures. The goal is for the Scriptures to get through us… - John Orteberg
One writer puts it this way, “Keep looking into the mirror, until you no longer see yourself, but all that you see is Christ.”
A 5th reason to study the bible is because the bible;
Brings Transformation.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 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.” Rm 12;1,2
“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.” Hebrews 4:12
LISTEN – the word of God is living and active and helps to transform us by renewing our mind – by judging the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts… IN – Ephesians 5, Paul talks about how the word helps to wash us and make us clean – without stain, or wrinkle or any other blemish… The word of God has the power to wash away wrong attitudes, desires, thoughts, and hopes…
The brilliant Jewish philosopher Dennis Pragger was debating Jonathon Glover, the atheistic philosopher from Oxford. Pragger asked, “Let’s say you arrived in L.A. and were driving through a rough part of the city at 2:00 AM and your car dies. You open the hood, and you’re looking under it when you hear approaching footsteps. You look up, and 10 big, burly men are approaching. Would it, or would it not make a difference to you if you knew they were just coming from a Bible study?” Glover laughed and admitted it would be consoling. (From Ravi Zacharias.)
Why? Because even cynics have to admit that the Bible has the power to transform people’s lives! Martin Luther said, “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me, it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.”
QUESTION – has the living word of God, ever spoke to you; has it ever ran after you, laid a hold of you – told you about something that needed changing? The bible brings about transformation…
A 6th reason to study the bible is because the bible;
Is A Source Of Comfort & Hope
“…your promises to me are my hope. They give me strength in all my troubles; how they refresh and revive me.” Ps 119:49 (LB)
“When I am hurting, I find comfort in your promise that leads to life… I find true comfort, LORD, because your laws have stood the test of time.” 119:50,52 (CEV)
“I am weak from waiting for you to save me, but I hope in your word.”
Ps 119:81 (NCV)
“If your law hadn’t sustained with me joy, I would have died in my misery”
Ps 119:92 (NLT)
“You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my only source of hope.”
Ps 119:114 (NLT)
“In my distress and anguish, your commands comfort me.” Ps 119:143 (LB)
“I rise up early before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words…” Ps 119:147 (NLT)
LISTEN – when you study the bible you will uncover some incredible words from God that will comfort you and give you hope… LET – me share just 2 with you, both are found in the book of Isaiah;
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. – Is 40:30,31
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. – Is 49:14-16
LISTEN – so many believers because they do not study the bible live without the hope and comfort that comes from God’s word… A 7th reason to study the bible is because the bible;
Exposes False Teaching
LISTEN – there is much false teaching out in our world today. There are many who claim to be following the Word of God, BUT have distorted and twisted it. You have the cults of Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, Christian Science, Scientology, The World Wide Church of God and many others…. AND – even within what is considered to be main stream Christianity… Are many false and dangerous teachings that are not found in the bible…
NOW – though not a good thing this should not surprise us;
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Mt 7:15-23
“I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who in his love and mercy called you to share the eternal life he gives through Christ. You are already following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ.
Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other message than the one we told you about. Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed. I will say it again: If anyone preaches any other gospel than the one you welcomed, let God’s curse fall upon that person.”
Gal 1:6-9
LISTEN – the only thing that will keep us from becoming a victim of false teaching is for us to know the truth – is for us to study, understand and hold on to the message we find in God’s word. We need to be like a group of people Paul met in Acts 17;
“The Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians because they searched the Scriptures everyday to see if what Paul was saying was true. Acts 17:11
A 8th reason to study the word is because the bible;
Empowers Us To Resist Temptation
“How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word and following its rules. I have tried my best to find you-- don’t let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Ps 119:9-11 (NLT)
Dwight Moody said, “Sin will keep you from the Bible, or the Bible will keep you from sin.”
LISTEN - God’s word can help keep you clean; UNDERSTAND - a regular diet of the word will enable the Holy Spirit to work in your life. I have found that when I’m regularly reading the word, I tend to overcome temptation rather than give in to it. AND – remember that is God’s plan for all of us – to overcome it..
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Cor 10:13
AND – one of the best ways to use the word to defeat temptation is to memorize passages that deal with our struggles…
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”
James 1:19,20
“A fool gives full vent to his anger..” Pr 29:11
A 9th reason to study the bible is because the bible;
Equips Us To Reach The Lost
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have..” 1 Pe 3:15
LISTEN – the word of God prepares us to;
Answer their questions about life
About the struggles of life
About God and his love for them
Show them how to get saved
The 10th reason to study the bible is that the bible;
Prepares Us For Eternity
In John chapter 8 Jesus was having a pretty powerful encounter with the Jewish leaders; they are accusing Jesus of being demon possessed… He denies it and then he says something that causes them to try to stone him…
“I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death…” Jn 8:51
