“Get fit.” That’s the lead story in this month’s Cleveland magazine. Are you in shape spiritually?
“If God had intended for us to touch our toes, He’d have put them on our knees.” “I’m in shape – “Round” is a shape, isn’t it?”
But getting fit is really not a joking matter. I like the idea in this quote much better.
“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.” Lot of us are bleeding because of battles in our marriages, in our relationships with our kids, in the challenges at school and at work because we aren’t in shape. We weren’t ready for the trouble when they came. Why? We haven’t been sweating in training. We just aren’t in shape. We need to “get fit!”
Today, I want to talk to you about…
Food for a spiritually fit life
Fit 4 Life: Part 3
Text: II Timothy 3:16-17, p. 166
Let me remind you that on February 29, we are beginning a new series responding to issues raised by Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ.” The talk on the Sunday after the movie opens will be answering the question “Who really killed Jesus Christ?” I hope you are praying about who you are going to invite. Buy some friends some tickets and take them.
Next week, we’re going wrap up the “fit 4 life” series and we are going to ask you for a 16 week commitment to get fit. We’re going to provide a tool – a booklet – we can use over the next 16 weeks to guide us as a church family. Remember, there are no shortcuts. So, we’re going to ask you to commit to spend time with Jesus by reading His Word and by praying. The first four weeks, we’re going to challenge you to spend at least ten minutes a day with Jesus. The second four weeks, 20. The third four weeks, 40. By May, we’ll be spending 60 minutes a day with Jesus. If enough of us do this, we’ll be a spiritually fit church. You’ll be a spiritually fit dad, mom, teacher, teammate, friend – filled with joy and peace and ready to face the battles to come.
Let’s review where we’ve been in this “Fit 4 Life” series. Two weeks ago, Gary Nave encouraged us to ask…
What does a spiritually fit life look like?
It looks like Jesus’ life – the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)
What comes out when you are tipped over?
Last week, we asked…
What is keeping me from being spiritually fit?
Sin holds me back. (Eliminate the “donuts”!)
Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily
hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set
before us. Hebrews 12:1b (NLT)
Father, search me.
Jesus, wash me.
Spirit, fill me.
(Illustrate with the cup, the donut, and the pitcher of water.)
Talk about “The Calvary Road.”
What will help me become spiritually fit?
Scripture helps me out. (Eat the right stuff!)
To be physically fit requires proper nutrition. The same is true spiritually. The proper nutrition for us as believers is the Word of God.
Over and over in the Bible, God’s Word is referred to as food. Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” David wrote in the Psalm 19 that God’s word is sweeter than honey. Peter calls the Bible “spiritual milk.” In Hebrews 5 the Word is called “solid food.” You want to eat the right stuff to be spiritually fit? Get God’s Word into your life!
I’m reminded of a verse in Jeremiah:
Your words were found and I ate them. And Your words became a joy to me and
the happiness of my heart.
Jeremiah 15:16 (NLV)
See what happens when you get God’s word into your heart and life? Get the Bible into your life on a consistent basis and over time, His word will become a joy! There it is! An element of the fruit of the Spirit!
How should I feed on God’s word?
Five ways. Notice the little hand drawn on your notes. If you grab the Bible this way, you will be able to feed yourself spiritually.
We feed on the Word when we hear it. You’re hearing it taught now. Show up on Sundays. And why not take notes? We hope you will write things down that God teaches you. John Zachardelli came up to me a few weeks ago to say “Thanks.” He was looking through some old notes of talks he’d heard here over the years. He’d been fed from the Word of God. He took notes. He was encouraged by how much he’s learned and by how much he’s grown. Just remembering how he’s been hearing of the Word of God put a smile on his face. We feed on the Word when we hear it.
We feed on the Word when we read it. Polls show that among people claiming to be “born again Christians” only 18% - less than two of every ten - read the Bible every day. And worse, 23% - almost one in four professing Christians - say they never read the Word of God. In fifteen minutes a day you can read through the Bible in less than a year’s time. Only five minutes a day takes you through the Bible in less than three years. And yet the majority of Christians never read the Bible all the way through in their whole life. Make the time!
We have a plan available in the foyer for you to use. Get one an figure out a Bible reading plan that works for you. We feed on the Word when we read it.
We feed on the Word when we study it. Reading gives us breadth, but study gives us depth. Do you study the Bible? Lots of people say, “I don’t know how.” Donald Whitney has remarked that the basic difference between Bible reading and Bible study is simply a pencil or pen and a notebook. Write down your observations about verses. Make a note of questions that come to mind. Look up cross references. Record your insights. In just a few minutes, I’m going to give you four questions you can ask that illustrate just one simple method for Bible study. We feed on the Word when we study it.
We feed on the Word when we memorize it. Jackie Puliafico, our assistant in the Spiritual Growth area put together a memory verse packs for you. You can get one for yourself in the café bookstore. She wrote an email to me this week. “I was filled with such joy and delight to put this pack together. Ever since January, I have memorized 7 out of the 14 scriptures in this pack and I think back at how God had brought me to those verses during my quiet times with Him and how those verses have brought me great comfort. It’s such an honor to have been a part of this project. I pray that… people will be moved to allow God’s awesome Word to penetrate their hearts, souls, and minds.”
She gets it. When we memorize scripture, then it’s available for the Spirit to use in our lives to reinforce truth just when we need it the most. God will often use memorized scripture to give us guidance in our own lives. No wonder the Word brings joy. We fed on the Word when we memorize it.
We feed on the Word when we meditate on it. Just hearing or reading the Bible can be like a short rainfall on hard ground. No matter how the intense the rain, most of it runs off and little sinks in. Meditation – thinking deeply on verses – opens the soil of the soul and lets the water of God’s Word percolate in deeply. The result is extraordinary fruitfulness, spiritual prosperity, and joy. We feed on the Word when we meditate on it.
We feed on the Word when we apply it. As you live out the Christian life, expect God to challenge you to obey Him more and more. He’ll be asking you to step out in faith to actually do what He is teaching you in His Word. It is my prayer that CVCC will develop a reputation as doers of the Word. “Those people at CVCC practice what the word of God says! They live it.” You should be a Living Bible. What’s the best translation of scripture? The best translation of Scripture is when you translate it into your life and let it change you.
This is the way to joy. Don’t you think you’ll have more joy when you really, consistently get God’s word into your life? Don’t you think you’ll be more equipped o handle the adversity that will come into your life? Let’s read…
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
II Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
I see four questions we can frame that will help us read and study God’s word day by day.
1. What does Jesus want me to start believing?
(All Scripture is… profitable for teaching.)
2. What does Jesus want me to stop believing?
(All Scripture is… profitable for… correction.)
3. What does Jesus want me to stop doing?
(All Scripture is… profitable for… reproof.)
4. What does Jesus want me to start doing?
(All Scripture is… profitable for… training in righteousness.)
Let me give you just a little glimpse into how encouraging using this approach can be.
Isaiah 42…
I want you to see an interesting parallel in Colossians and Ephesians.
… teaching and admonishing one another
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16 (NASB)
speaking to one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks…
Ephesians 5:18b-20a (NASB)
Do you see the similarities? Now, notice that the Colossians passage starts this way: Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,
The Ephesians passage begins like this: Be filled with the Spirit,
Being filled with the Spirit and letting the Word of Christ richly dwell in you get you the same results: a joy-filled life filled with singing and thankfulness to God. There’s that fruit of the Spirit again – that peace and joy again.
My cup overflows when I’m filled with the Spirit. And I’m filled with the Spirit when the Word of Christ dwells in me richly. Listen, Bible intake is not optional. It is essential. Could it be that your cup is not overflowing with joy and peace because God’s word is not really a part of your life?
A point to ponder: God’s Word is the spiritual nourishment I must have to be spiritually fit.
A verse to remember: Your words were found and I ate them. And Your words became a joy to me and the happiness of my heart. Jeremiah 15:16 (NLV)
A question to consider: What is one thing I can do to improve my intake of God’s Word?
A quote from an Irish pastor, Geoffrey Thomas, might encourage you to make sure that Bible nourishment stays an essential part of your spiritual fitness program.
Do not expect to master the Bible in a day, or a month, or a year. Rather expect to often be puzzled by its contents. It is not all equally clear. Great men of God often feel like absolute novices when they read the Word… Do not always expect to get an emotional charge or a feeling of quiet peace when you read the Bible… Let the Word break over your heart and mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come some great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct. You will probably be the last to recognize these. Often you will feel very, very small, because increasingly the God of the Bible will become to You wonderfully great. So go on reading it until you can read no longer, and then you will not need the Bible any more, because when your eyes close for the last time in death, and never read again the Word of God in Scripture you will open them to the Word of God in the flesh, that same Jesus of the Bible whom you have known for so long, standing before you to take you forever to His eternal home.
