If I were going to cut to the chase this morning, the central theme I want to share with you today is; the things I chase after so often are empty and do not satisfy, while the things God provides are not only satisfying, they lead to life eternal. For;
It seems like in this life, many of us spend our time, a multitude of hours, and countless days if not decades; chasing the dream. In fact, it would appear that a vast segment of the population is all consumed with chasing after, and getting stuff. And in the race for more and more, you get to pick the stuff that you are obsessed with, scheme for, and dream of.
Just be careful, for the selection often becomes the burden. Either immediately or over time, our hard-wired natures have a way of imprisoning us in yet another of the countless addictions or outright sick behaviors we as people battle. If by chance you are thinking that you are free of the smorgasbord of the addictive challenges out there cursing humanity, … my council for what its worth is to take another deep look at what is important to you.
Oh, and before I go any further, I want to assure you that the only fallen person I have in mind today, is me. Because at the end of the day, the only person I really can control to any extent, the only person I can really out, or criticize correctly and accurately, and the only individual that will listen intently to my whining, is me. And that’s only on a good day, when I am actually paying attention to my talking to myself. Before I go much further, that behavior in itself is yet one more addiction I must combat, feeling sorry for myself. And on it goes…
The idea for today’s title came about by the thoughts stirred up by today’s scripture passages. I saw the contrast of what Isaiah speaks to, spending our labor on what doesn’t satisfy, and then his assurance that God gives us what does satisfies with the multitude being fed spiritually, emotionally, and physically by our Lord, in Matthew.
In fact, let’s revisit the promise of better things God offers in life such as the events portrayed in Matthew, by revisiting the Prelude Reading from Isaiah 55:1-5;
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
*Interrupting to say; too often, I have chosen the junk food that leaves me feeling hollow (when the family size bag of Lays Barbeque potato chips have been inhaled by me), over the Mana that God offers in my wilderness of life. Mana, being what God fed Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. Yes, Israel lived hand to mouth relying on no one but God, and thrived, for over a generation. Isaiah goes on at verse 3;
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”
The children of Israel are endowed with splendor, and continue to be a blessing for all of the earth. Our Bible repeatedly uses Israel for all of humanity’s benefit, by showing us God’s law (right and wrong), and then the consequences of disobedience and sin.
And as described by Isaiah, all the nations of peoples have been invited to become part of God’s family. In fact, when we start to think that we are the exceptions to all the sin, greed, and fears out there in the world, God has a way of bringing us back down to earth and humbling us.
Perhaps our beginning in understanding of God’s greatness, and the availability of refuge from all of the junk that is in this world, begins when we surrender ourselves to the Lord in prayer. Today’s Call to Worship is actually a prayer of David’s during one of his many episodes of challenge, need, and relief found in the Lord. Just listen to David’s confidence that the Lord not only hears his prayer, but that God wants to be a part of his life. Reading again from Psalm 17:5-7, and 15;
5 My steps have held to your paths;
my feet have not stumbled.
6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
7 Show me the wonders of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes…
…15 As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
As for you, you will be vindicated when you sometime in your future, wake up to see the likeness of the Lord. Will the two of you discuss how you were able to choose the finest of fair that he offers, the things that satisfy thru eternity? Or will you discuss all the junk that you were consumed with in this life. That stuff that really didn’t satisfy. Will the story be, I: Ran the Field Only to See, My Search Empty!
My suspicions, in fact I’m pretty certain, that we will be talking a mixed bag of good days, and days of missing the mark. In which I am not proud of! Yet He will love us in spite of us, cover and outright blot out our sin, and we will begin to really live in and with Him. Into eternity!
What is essential, I believe, is that we remember to learn from our brothers and sisters of Israel from days of old. Learn how they were right when coming to the Lord, and learn from their mistakes as well. That’s why they are a blessing to all the nations. A key lesson that we can learn from the children of Israel, is not to project ourselves at the expense of receiving the gifts of grace from our Lord.
Case in point, we have the words of Paul, sharing his torment over the fact that his own people refused to see the new thing that God was doing in the world that Paul lived in. Please let me read Paul’s own words from his letter to the infant church in Rome two thousand years ago. Reading from Romans 9:1-5;
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
Paul, in his grief is saying that if he could offer up himself for destruction in place of his own people who are rejecting the Lord, … he would do it. My thought is that Paul loves his neighbors, the children of Israel so much that he would suffer eternity for their sake. Wow, and wow again! Our Lord tells us about this kind of love, because it comes from God Himself. Reading from John 15:12-14;
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
My thought is that instead of our projecting ourselves, that we open ourselves up to receiving God’s grace, hope, and love, by living for each other. In a way that is offering up our lives by rejecting all that stuff we have been obsessing over, lusting, and chasing, and receiving that which is satisfying and everlasting from our God.
Maybe, instead of projecting what Israel knew about God and who the Messiah was going to be like, if they had been open to receiving who the Lord really was, their eyes might have been more open to the grace of our Lord. Again, a lesson learned and a blessing received if one has eyes to see, and ears to hear.
By the way, fairness is not what I am looking for from my God, I am in need of mercy, from His Holiness. For more on God’s majesty again from Isaiah, This time please let me read to you, Isaiah 55: 6-12;
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
*Cutting in to say; this truly is the Good News of the Bible. Now more insight beginning at verse 8;
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
**Interrupting just to say; God is so far beyond our ability to comprehend, that when we try to reason in our infant minds, some of the things God is doing in our world just don’t make sense. This is why the children of Israel struggled with understanding our Lord’s mission and earthly walk. It is why I struggle to understand myself in relationship to our incredible Lord. But someday all will be explained and we will see clearly. Verse 12;
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
Reminding me of one of the Hymns we sang last week, The Trees of the Field #764. Only our incredible God can make the world change before our eyes, and make the hills sings, and the trees clap their hands. Only God can provide the things that satisfy and fulfill you instead of draining you.
That is how our Christian Ancestors must have felt, being fed by Jesus out in the wilderness of their lives, all those years ago. Reading once more from today’s message reading from Matthew this time 14:15-21;
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
*I am only going to interrupt the narrative here to say; this is a reoccurring directive from our Lord. In fact, if you go to the end of the Gospel of Matthew you will see in the “Great Commission”, all of us are directed to go out into the world to share this Good News. When we do, we are feeding our Lord’s Flock. Now, on to verse 17;
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Just think what it must have been like to Run the Field and Find Your Search Fulfilled, because the field on a hillside was the domain of Jesus Christ. That the Lord and His Disciples were ready to feed the multitudes of people gathered, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Without cost the finest of food for those; curious, hungry, and searching for something better in this life.
My hope and prayer for all of you this week, is that you find that thing you have been missing in your lives, or rediscover what that thing is, and that thing turns out to be a deeper relationship with your Lord Jesus your Christ. Jesus your Savior. Jesus your Lord, Creator, and redeemer.
Amen!