The LORD's Day, April 19, 2009

Bread From Heaven

Matthew 4.1-11

Think about something we do each week, sometimes several times: grocery shopping. King Kullen, Shop Rite, Produce Warehouse, etc. We all shop. Sometimes we go out to eat. I like doing that from time to time.

We need to eat. While we can go at times missing a meal (and for some of us it wouldn’t hurt) we should not making a practice of it unless we are purposely fasting. Women who are expecting and those with diabetes should not fast. The rest of us should.

We love to eat- most of us. We enjoy good food. We enjoy our fellowship time downstairs after church on Sunday and the homemade goodies are delicious

We love home cooked meals. We all have our favorites. We enjoy holidays and the delectable culinary things that accompany them. We have favorite recipes.

There is nothing wrong with this. The Old Covenant had its feasts. The New Testament speaks of Love Feasts.

We see Jesus eating at people’s houses and we even see Him feeding thousands to the point of them being glutted or stuffed. (John 6)
1. We do live by bread.

Jesus taught us to pray to the Father, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Now we have a problem. That prayer is very applicable in third world countries where there is no refrigeration. The people literally go to the market each day.

What about here? They had a great deal on Mozzarella cheese at Shop Rite the other day and we have enough to last us til summer If we have stocked cupboards and pantries and we have food and enough to spare, praying that prayer like brothers and sisters in 3rd World Countries just does not make sense. We need to apply it not ignore it. We should give thanks daily for the food we have and in so doing realizing it is from the LORD.

It is easier or more natural to ask God for something we need than to thank Him for things we already have. In giving the LORD thanks we need to remember (and giving Him thanks helps us to) that He is Creator and Sustainer and the One behind providing the food source.

We need food for strength.

We need food to maintain a healthy body.

Without food we would starve to death. That was the point Jesus was at after fasting 40 days and 40 nights.
As good and as necessary food is and as we just concluded we cannot live without it:

2. We do not live by bread only.

We are not just physical beings.

We are spiritual beings
God has placed eternity in the hearts of men. Ecclesiastes 3.11 We have eternal souls. We are different from all of God’s creation. We are the only ones that had the LORD breath into his nostrils. He breathed His Spirit into Adam. Genesis 2.7 There is a hunger inside us that longs for eternal life.

Sad that so many do not realize this. Many today are trying to fill that spiritual spot with material things. It doesn’t work. Things wear out. The rust out. Everything is going to burn one day. But the eternal lasts forever.

This eternal part of us needs eternal food:

3. We need the Bread from heaven.
Deuteronomy 8.1-3

Manna

Jesus’ Words about Manna John 6.30-40
The word “life” means absolute fulness of life.

Jesus is the Bread that has come down from heaven. He is the Word of God in the Flesh.

The Bible is the written Word of God.
II Timothy 3.16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

II Peter 1.21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

4. We need to feed on the Word of God, the Bible

Daily Daily Bread is more than physical food. We need to take in God’s Word each day. We are given instructions throughout God’s Word read, remember, ruminate.

Faithfully regularly take in the Word of God. Don’t let it be hit and miss. Set a time.
Make a date with the LORD. Set an appointment with Him.

Each moment Meditate upon His Word day and night.
Psalm 1.1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

New recipes Ask the LORD for new insights. He will give it to you. The Word of God is unfathomable. We will never get to its depths. Men who have studied it their whole life have admitted at the end of their lives that there is just a little they know about it.

Old recipes We need to go over the old truths. We need to hear them again and again. Our faith is being challenged today in a big way. There are ridiculous things being put forth in the name of Christianity.

There are things that are in the Bible plain and simple that people who call themselves Christians no longer believe. God help us. Interesting that the scripture we read in II Timothy begins that chapter with talking about the perilous times in the last days.

5. We need to remember how important the Word of God is

Stay true to the Word of God. Don’t let any of pass from your heart.
Remember Jesus’ Words:
Matthew 5.17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

I Peter 1.23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Jesus said in John 15.7 If you remain in Me and My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Matthew 24.35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Hunger for it.

There ought to be a deep longing in our hearts to open God’s Word and read it and seek to understand it.

Let it satisfy your soul