INTRO.- ILL.- Someone said: According to a recent article I just read on nutrition, they said eating right doesn’t have to be complicated. Nutritionists say there is a simple way to tell if you’re eating right. Colors. Fill your plates with bright colors. Greens, reds, yellows. In fact, I did that this morning. I had an entire bowl of M&M’s. It was delicious! I never knew eating right could be so easy.
ILL.- A wife said: I have my changed my system for labeling homemade freezer meals. I used to carefully note in large clear letters, "Meatloaf" or "Pot Roast" or "Steak and Vegetables or "Chicken and Dumplings" or "Beef Pot Pie."
However, I used to get frustrated when I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner because he never asked for any of those things. So, I decided to stock the freezer with what he really likes.
If you look in my freezer now you’ll see a whole new set of labels. You’ll find dinners with neat little tags that say: "Whatever," "Anything," "I Don’t Know," "I Don’t Care," "Something Good," or "Food." My frustration is now reduced because no matter what my husband replies when I ask him what he wants for dinner, I know that it is there waiting.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
ILL.- Little Johnny and his family lived in the country, and as a result seldom had guests. He was eager to help his mother after his father appeared with two dinner guests from the office.
When the dinner was nearly over, Little Johnny went to the kitchen and proudly carried in the first piece of apple pie, giving it to his father who passed it to a guest.
Little Johnny came in with a second piece of pie and gave it to his father, who again gave it to a guest. This was too much for Little Johnny, who said, "It’s no use, Dad. The pieces are all the same size."
What’s your favorite dessert? And what’s the best tasting food you ever had? We Americans are blessed with good food everywhere, at home and in restaurants.
Our text talks about a different kind of taste; a taste of the Lord’s goodness. And have you tasted of His goodness? Wow! Who hasn’t tasted of the Lord’s goodness? Even if a person didn’t know the Lord personally they have still tasted of His goodness. However, we who are in Christ should be quick to admit that we’ve tasted of the Lord’s goodness. HOW SO?
Have you counted your blessings lately? Both material and spiritual blessings? Have you looked around lately?
ILL.- A certified public accountant did something that maybe all of us should do. He decided to open a journal with God. He wanted to write down everything that God gave him and everything that he gave to God. He started keeping a debit and credit book with God.
If someone did him a favor, he put it down as God’s gift to him. He credited God with the sun, his food, his health, his friends and relatives, and a thousand other benefits he received.
On the other hand, he put down what he did for God. Finally he gave up saying, "It is impossible for me to balance the books. I find that God is indeed my creditor and what I have done for Him is next to nothing." YOU CAN’T OUTGIVE GOD!
We all have been given more than we have given back to God. We have indeed tasted of the Lord’s goodness! And it may well be pay back time. At least, we should be trying to giving back to God for what He’s done for us.
PROP.- Because we have tasted of the goodness of the Lord, what should we do? Here is some of our pay back to Him.
1- We should rid evil
2- We should crave good
3- We should grow spiritually
I. WE SHOULD RID EVIL
1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
ILL.- A grouchy husband came to breakfast. His wife had prepared two eggs - one fried and one scrambled. He said, "Yep, just like I thought, you’ve done it again." "Now what’s wrong?" she asked. He replied, "As usual, you fried the wrong egg."
It could be that she married the wrong egg! Often, in marriage and in all of life, we are quick to point out wrong in others. We may be completely blind to our own short comings, but we can see the errors of others very easily. And we may even be quick to point them out.
Matthew 7:3-5 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."
I suspect we’re all guilty of doing this kind of thing. However, if we go around pointing out the errors of others, there may not be many others around very long.
ILL.- Often on TV, we hear that this Hollywood couple and that Hollywood couple are getting a divorce and the reason is often: IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES. I think some of those irreconcilable differences could be criticism, or being judgmental toward one another.
1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Rid YOURSELVES..... In other words, you rid yourself of evil.
We all need to work on cleaning up our own lives more than we try to clean up the lives of others. I need to preach to me more than I do to you!
Eph. 4:25-29 "25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Col. 3:8-10 "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."
There are certain evils that need be removed, ridded or perhaps killed in our lives. Got any bad habits that you need to shed or get rid of? Any malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander???? I suspect we’re all guilty of some of these.
ILL.- In 1972, it was the title of a book, Pogo: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us. Sometimes he is us. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.
ILL.- C.S. Lewis wrote, "The greatest evil is not done in those sordid ’dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint...it is conceived and...moved, seconded, carried, and minuted...in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices." THAT BE US! Could be.
Because we have tasted of how good the Lord is, we need to work at cleaning up our own lives. The Lord will help us to get the job done but we have to personally do something about it.
II. WE SHOULD CRAVE GOOD
2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
ILL.- When Ole quit farming, he discovered that he was the only Lutheran in his new little town of Catholics. That was okay, but the neighbors had a problem with his barbequing beef every Friday. Since they couldn’t eat meat on Friday, the tempting aroma was getting the best of them. Hoping they could do something to stop this, the neighbors got together and went over to talk to Ole. "Ole," they said, "since you are the only Lutheran in this whole town and there’s not a Lutheran church for many miles, we think you should join our church and become a Catholic." Ole thought about it for a minute and decided they were probably right. Ole talked to the priest, and they arranged it.
The big day came and the priest had Ole kneel. He put his hand on Ole’s head and said, "Ole, you were born a Lutheran, you were raised a Lutheran, and now," he said as he sprinkled some incense over Ole’s head, "now you are a Catholic!"
Ole was happy and the neighbors were happy. But the following Friday evening at supper time, there was again the aroma of grilled beef coming from Ole’s yard.
The neighbors went to talk to him about this and as they approached the fence, they heard Ole saying to the steak: "You were born a beef, you were raised a beef", and as he sprinkled salt over the meat he said, "and NOW you are a FISH!"
That guy was bound and determined that he was going to eat beef no matter what! What do you crave? Beef, pork, turkey, chicken, or fish? Yes, all of the above. And the truth is, there is nothing wrong with eating any of these, eaten in moderation.
2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.
Fleshly/food cravings are a pretty normal part of our lives. We may say, "Man, I’m hungry for...." And we go get it, if it’s possible.
However, we need to be reminded that we are more than flesh and blood. We are eternal beings. We have eternity within us, in a sense. Consequently, there should be a certain amount of desire or craving for the spiritual things of life: God, Christ, the Bible, worship, etc.
ILL.- I was baptized into Christ at the age of 20 at the Park Plaza Christian Church in Joplin, MO, and after that I couldn’t get enough of church, sermons, and revivals.
I remember going to hear preacher Roy Weece in a revival in Carthage, MO, not long after I had been baptized. Roy was an excellent preacher. I remember leaving that revival saying, "Boy, if I hadn’t already become a Christian I would now."
What has happened to that kind of craving for spiritual things? Do we still have it? And if we don’t, what’s wrong? I believe that it’s the principle of use or lose it. The more we read it and practice it, the more we’ll want of it. And this is especially true when it comes to the things of God.
God has created within us an inborn desire to know Him and have a relationship with Him. There should be a craving within us for Him and His Word. If we don’t have it then we need to start reading until we get that good craving again.
III. WE SHOULD GROW SPIRITUALLY
2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
The idea is this: you’re already saved, but you need to grow in your salvation or grow up in your salvation.
ILL.- Dr. Scott Peck is the author of the best-selling book called "The Road Less Traveled." As a psychiatrist, Dr. Peck spent a great deal of time working with patients in a large psychiatric hospital. He says that he has discovered in his practice an almost universal apathy: lack of interest; no desire to ask questions; no desire to seek the new and to grow; "no taste for mystery" as he puts it. He says he has discovered also that if he can cultivate in the patient a willingness to want to search and to grow, then there is some hope. But if not, he sees little hope.
Interesting observation. Apparently, there must be a desire to grow in some form in order to make progress in life. This is especially true in the spiritual realm. We need to grow up in Christ but if the desire isn’t present, nothing may be done about it. And we’ll just be a bunch of whiskered babies.
II Cor. 10:15-16 "Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you."
Eph. 4:15 "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ."
Col. 1:10 "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."
II Thess. 1:3 "We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing."
Growth is a natural part of growing up! Of course, some grow higher than others. My son Shane is about 6’ 2" or 6’ 3". All I know is, he’s a whole lot taller than I am! And I also hope that he grows up to become even more spiritual than his daddy. At least, I know that he’s headed in the right direction and I pray that he keeps going in that direction. If so, he probably will become more spiritual than his daddy.
We generally want our kids to do better in life than we did but what about better spiritually? If should be obvious to us that if we want our children to be spiritual then we must be spiritual. If we want them to go to church then we must be faithful in going to church. If we want them to grow spiritually then we must grow spiritually.
How does a person grow even if the desire isn’t present? You may have to force-feed yourself. How’s that? Force-feeding is feeding a person against their will. This might be done to someone who has gone on a hunger strike or perhaps they are so ill that they can’t feed themselves. AND THIS COULD BE THE PROBLEM WITH SOME CHRISTIANS!
Some are on a hunger strike spiritually. They don’t want to be fed with God’s Word or with anything spiritual. That may be why they don’t come to church. Or they may be so spiritually sick that they don’t want to be fed. Either way they must be fed with the Word of God if they are to survive.
I know of people who are so steeped in their sin (or soaked in sin) that if the Word of God doesn’t get to their hearts, they may die spiritually.
How do we get a desire for growing spiritually if we don’t have it? We force-feed ourselves with spiritual things: reading the Word of God or perhaps reading some author who is spiritual enough to whet our appetite. This is what author Max Lucado does for me. He presents God in such a way as to make me want more of Him! Not many authors can do that.
We may need to force ourselves to read the Word, go to church, listen to Christian gospel music (that does me a world of good even when I can’t sing it), read Christian books, associate with good, Christian people, etc. Whatever we do, we must do something to grow in Christ if we have indeed tasted of His goodness, even the tiniest little bit.
CONCLUSION------------------------------------
ILL.- Last August Elaine and I went to Branson, MO, to celebrate our anniversary. We did some shopping, went to one show and ate at two special restaurants that we don’t have in Jonesboro: Applebees and Olive Garden. Elaine and I both say, "Let’s go back for more."
Wouldn’t it be great if we always felt that way when it comes to the Lord? His Word? His church? His fellowship?
If you have tasted of the Lord’s goodness then surely you’ll want to go back for more!
