September 25, 2005

Series - Dinner's On Us - 3

When their son left for his freshman year at Duke University, his parents gave him a Bible, assuring him it would be a great help. Later, as he began sending them letters asking for money for food, they would write back telling him to read his Bible, citing chapter and verse. He would reply that he was reading the Bible – but he still needed money! When he came home for semester break, his parents told him they knew he had not been reading his Bible. You know how? They had tucked $20 bills by the verses they had cited in their letters!

Not reading his Bible ended up making him hungry. What about you? Are you reading your Bible? If I had been tucking $20 bills in your Bible at home, would you be finding them? Or…are you finding yourself a bit hungry? The college boy was not looking in the right places for nourishment. Are you?

Like the college boy, we so often look in all the wrong places for our spiritual nourishment. Where are people looking for food for their souls? Television, the Internet, cheap thrills, astrology, drugs, alcohol, sex, religious cults, fame, acceptance, and the pursuit of material goods. As food for the soul goes, these things are bad, unhealthy, junk food! Worse! They are poison! False lies starving us to death. We need the TRUTH to nourish us…

The truth isn’t a bunch of words or doctrinal statements. The truth is a person. Jesus Christ. We experience truth in a relationship with Jesus. And we meet Jesus in the word of God. The truth nourishes us. The truth transforms us. Spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” In other words, to come into a right relationship with God, we need his Word. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the Son of God. To become like Jesus, we must fill our lives with his Word.

The Bible is far more than a doctrinal guidebook. God’s Word generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the Devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, infuses hope, releases power, cleanses our minds, brings things into being, and guarantees our future forever! We cannot live without the Word of God! Never take it for granted. You should consider it as essential to your life as food! In our text, Job says: “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.”

God’s Word is the spiritual nourishment you must have for real life. The Bible is called our milk, bread, solid food, and sweet dessert. This four-course meal is the Spirit’s menu for spiritual strength and growth. Peter says: “Crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” The Word, the Truth, because it is one and the same with Jesus, has everything we need for strong and healthy souls. It’s in there!

The Bible is like Prego’s 100% Natural Pasta Sauce. At least that’s what the commercial suggests. A guy walks into the kitchen and finds his wife pouring a can of Prego tomato sauce into a kettle. He says, “My mother made her tomato sauce from scratch.” (In real life, one of two things would happen at this point. The wife would either say, “Then go to your mother’s and eat her sauce.” Or the guy would be wearing the sauce.) But in the commercial, the wife looks at her husband and demands, “And what are the ingredients in your mother’s sauce?” He begins to click off the secrets to his mother’s sauce. “Fresh vine-ripened tomatoes.” She reads the label: “It’s in there.” “Oregano.” Again, reading the label: “It’s in there.” “Onions.” “In there.” “Basil.” “In there.” “Garlic.” “In there.” “Parsley.” “In there.” “Salt.” “It’s in there.”

The same is true of God’s Word. Everything we need to be in a perfect relationship with God is “in there.” And the best thing about it is that this wonderful, heart-warming, soul-filling meal can be enjoyed right in the warmth of your own home. Even better than home-cooking, it is Home-cooking for Your Soul! Can we say with Job, “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread!”

There are more Bibles in print today than ever before, but a Bible on the shelf is worthless. Millions of believers are plagued with spiritual anorexia, starving to death from spiritual malnutrition. To be a healthy disciple of Jesus, feeding on God’s Word must be your first priority. And it isn’t enough to get a once-a-week bite of it at church. You only need to read God’s Word on the days that you eat. That means every day. We don’t eat once a week to feed our bodies. And neither can we eat once a week to feed our souls!

Spiritual growth starts at home with home-cooking for your soul. It means sitting down with Jesus, as Mary once did, and letting Him fill your soul with his Word. Each of us need this nourishment. When we are filled, it is time to fill our family. Families don’t only fend for themselves at dinnertime. Kids, find what you want in the fridge! Everyone is on their own! No, you parents provide meals for your family. The same thing is even more true with spiritual food. It is our highest responsibility to share the Word of God with our children and with anyone who lives under our roof. So personal Bible study leads to Family Devotions, Catechism Instruction, Bible lessons, and living examples out in our lives. Make your home one where Home-Cooking for the Soul always fills the house with its wonderful aroma!

For most of the 2000-year history of the church, only priests got to personally read the Bible. But now, we all have access to it! In spite of this, many believers are more faithful to reading their daily newspaper than their Bibles. It’s no wonder we don’t grow! We can’t watch TV for three hours, then read the Bible for three minutes and expect to grow.

Have you read the Bible from “cover to cover?” Many people who say they have haven’t. But if you will read the Bible just 15 minutes a day, you will read completely through it once a year! If you cut out one thirty-minute TV program a day and read your Bible instead, you will read through the entire Bible twice a year!

Daily Bible reading will keep you near God and connected to Him through the Word – Jesus. It will keep you at his feet, listening to his words, which He once told Mary was the most important thing. God instructed the kings of Israel to always keep a copy of his Word nearby: “He should keep it with him all the time and read from it every day of his life.” But don’t just keep it near you; read it regularly! A simple tool helpful for this is a daily Bible reading plan. It will prevent you from skipping around aimlessly and getting frustrated trying to choose what to read next. I would be happy to share a number of Bible reading plans with any of you.

Plan out your home-cooking schedule. Plan out your daily Bible reading time. Plan your home devotion time. Make these priorities that never get replaced by something else. Get a reading schedule from me. Get devotional materials from our staff minister. Then sit down with your family. Sit down with your Bible. And listen to God. Listen to the “Word.” Listen to Jesus. To truth. As you read, ask yourself these questions: 1.“What is this Word saying to me?” 2.“How does it show me where I have failed God?” 3. “How does it show me how God loves me anyway?” 4.“How does it lead me to thank God with my life?”

Reading the Bible without applying it to our life would be like putting food in our mouth to taste it, but then spitting it out without swallowing it to benefit from it. We need to apply God’s Word to our lives. We sometimes avoid that, because it can be difficult or even painful. The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable! This Word is a mirror that shows us our faults and imperfections. It is hard to listen to the Law of God. It can be hard to come to grips with what this says at times and admit: “That’s me.” God’s Word exposes our motives, points out our faults, rebukes our sin, and expects us to change. It’s human nature to resist change, so applying God’s Word is hard work. But don’t think God’s law is speaking to them. It’s speaking to you.

So is the gospel. Don’t miss that. The good news. The truth that sets you free. Don’t miss what Jesus has done for you. This, too, is speaking directly to you. It’s a love letter, sent to you to win you over to God. To assure you that He has reconciled you to Him. It promises you He has forgiven you through Jesus Christ. Let Joy win over Guilt! Jesus is what the Word is all about. And Jesus is the truth that has set you free from life without God!

There was an old man that lived in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. One day one of the old man’s grandsons approached him with a problem. The Grandson said, "Pap, I read the Bible and I don’t understand it, and what I understand I forget as soon as I close the Bible covers. So what’s the use of reading the Bible?" The Grandfather ordered the grandson to get the basket they used to carry the heating coal into the house and run down to the river and bring back a basket of water. The lad grabbed the basket, ran to the river, filled it with water, and ran back to the house. By the time the lad reached the house, the basket was empty!

The grandfather chided the boy, “Hurry, go bring me a basket of water! Quickly!” The lad ran quickly from the river, the basket full, but by the time he arrived at the house the basket of water was again dry. After his third trip, the boy told his granddad, “It’s no use, I can’t keep the water in the basket until I get here. It is useless.”

The grandfather looked at the disgusted young boy, and said, "You think it’s useless?" "Yes! Pap, useless!" the boy replied. The Grandfather said to the boy, "But look at the basket. What do you see?" The boy was amazed! After three trips to the river, the dirty coal basket was clean! Pap said, "See, that’s what the Word of God does to you. As you read, you say you don’t retain and understand it, but your basket is cleaned. The Word of God does the work of God!”

This story teaches us two things: 1) It is important to pass on God’s Word to our children. That is our primary responsibility. 2) Dwelling in God’s Word is a daily, regular thing. A regular diet of his Word will make us clean and healthy and carry out his purpose in our lives. Do you remember what you had for dinner a month ago Tuesday? I doubt it. But it fed you, didn’t it? Do you remember everything your last Bible reading said? I doubt it. But it fed you, didn’t it? That’s what God’s Word does. Dinner’s on Him. And He first wants us to enjoy that dinner at home. There’s nothing like Home-Cooking for your Soul! Amen.

 

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