Monday Morning Insights

Photo of Todd
    .

    Get a Bible, For Crying Out Loud…

    Bookmark and Share

    David then shares some quotes on this subject from Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, and Ben Arment on this subject:

    Steven Furtick says: “Churches are filled with those who have known Christ for decades, and still need a bib, a high chair, and want Daddy to do ‘open wide, here comes the airplane’ tricks with the fork before shoving it into their mouths.
    I try to serve up the Word, hot and fresh every single Sunday. But if you refuse to apply it, study your Bible and pray some during the week, join a small group and dig deeper with others…if you refuse to bring it back to your mouth, I can’t help you.

    Get your own fork, and learn to feed yourself. Stop burying your hand in the dish and spitting out every thing that doesn’t give you a spiritual sugar high. Eat some vegetables. Serve. Pray. Practically apply the Bible to your life.” Read more here.

    Perry Noble says: “I’ve heard it…you have too…’Christians’ saying, ‘I just want to be fed!’ It blows my mind! This would be equal to you and I going to an all you can eat restaurant and crying because no one would bring us any food. Food is all around in this environment…but if the person is lazy and self centered, wanting to be waited on hand and foot, then they could possibly starve to death when food is merely a few feet away.

    “Today as Christians we have WAY more information than we could ever apply. However, I think many people use ‘going deep’ as an excuse as to not actually apply any of the knowledge they claim to be soaking up. I believe it breaks the heart of God when arrogant people claim intellectual superiority out of pride and stupidity rather than just seeking Jesus and trying to honor Him on a daily basis.

    “In reading through the Scriptures I have found that Jesus’ strongest words of rebuke were for the ‘deep,’ the professional religious people of the day. If ‘deep’ is being a part of the group that knows tons about the Bible but missed Jesus–then I don’t want to be affiliated with them. Give me Jesus Christ, crucified, risen and who will one day return…not another Bible study on the weight of the Ark of the Covenant.” Read more here.

    Ben Arment says: “I’ve always felt troubled by phrases such as ‘I need to be fed’ or ‘I need meat’ when referring to spiritual growth. And not just because they’re usually meant to be critical of a pastor’s content… but I could never see this thinking in Scripture. Paul uses ‘feed’ and ‘meat’ in terms of where he expects Christians to be in their maturity, but it’s never used by people to demand something.” Read more here.

    You can read David’s entire post here...

    David is starting a new series specifically about how members of his church can do this.

    How have you combatted the “I’m not being fed” cry at your church?

    Pastor David Trotter says that in ten years of ministry at three different churches, he has heard hundreds of people say that they aren't being 'fed' enough -- they they are getting too much milk and not enough meat. But he makes the point that several other prominent pastors and bloggers have made recently: As followers of Jesus, we are called to feed ourselves and feed others who are new in the faith...

    Comments

    if you want a Globally Recognized Avatar (the images next to your profile) get them here. Once you sign up, they will displayed on any website that supports them.

    1. Leonard on Mon, December 17, 2007

      I have said for some time that my goal is not to feed but to lead.  The objective of my preaching is to lead people to Christ, to discovery, to character, to maturity, to mission…  The objective of the Body is to be the place where equipping happens.  I often tell people that if the are not growing it is not my nor is it our churches fault Everything you need to grow is being provided. 


      One question I ask about 4-6 times a year through my preaching is; “what did you come here expecting?”  Expectations have much to do with development of relationships.  I then tell them, if you came expecting to be fed, I am sorry because I rarely prepare a sermon with feeding in mind.

    2. Wendi on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Well . . . my experience is a bit different.  Most of the people I know who complained about not getting meat were very solid Christians, well studied and grounded in the Word.  I believe that the complaint, at the core, is less a reflection of what they want and more of what they don’t want.


      They don’t want “seeker” messages from the pulpit that will attract messy unreached people to the church (and maybe to the youth group where some pierced or tattooed kid might make a pass at their squeaky clean daughter).  They don’t want to be asked give up “christianeze” in their conversations with one another.  They don’t want to use church programming dollars on things that aren’t about them and their family and their needs.  And so on and so on . . .


      I think they reason they don’t want milk from the pulpit is that they know the reason for messages they term as “meatless” are targeted at people they really don’t want in “their” church.


      I guess this is what Perry, Steven and Ben are talking about; people who haven’t been transformed enough by the message they’ve received to become selfless and sacrificial in their spirits.


      Harsh, I know . . . but it comes from a bitter experience.


      Wendi

    3. slw on Mon, December 17, 2007

      It’s one thing if people who are trying to serve and reach out don’t feel like they’re hearing what aids them in doing so, it’s another if “gourmands” are sitting idly in the chairs (or pews) playing sermon critic. The claim could be justifiable for one and hot air for the other.

    4. Peter Hamm on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Oh, boy I could go on and on. I think it was Andy Stanley who said that most Christians are educated far beyond their obedience. In my experience it’s true, but I am constantly encouraged by the fact that in our congregation, with the people I know and love, that is just NOT the case. They get it!


      Alas, the problem is a mis-understanding of what “food” is, spiritually speaking. I’m not more spiritual because I memorized the dimensions of the tabernacle or because I know who the Jebusites were. I’m more spiritual if I love more like Jesus loved and do the things that he did and that he sent me to do. Things I learn from studying his word and doing it.


      My life verse is John 4:34 “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.” Notice Jesus doesn’t say that his nourishment comes from Bible Study and Wednesday night church services.


      Do the things Jesus did, love how he loved, read your Bible to be able to do that better… and you will be growing and you will be fed, and you will be feeding others.


      The problem with many of us is not that we aren’t being fed, it is that we have an eating disorder…

    5. Mark on Mon, December 17, 2007

      I believe that the “I am not being fed” syndrome is possibly connected to one of the precepts of modernity, in which the acquisition of knowledge is considered the highest pursuit. Of course, people seem to think that knowledge is learning, with very little influence on how one actually lives. I have been thinking a lot lately about how people learn and grow spiritually. From my experience, the times of greatest spiritual growth have come through either a crisis in my life or when faced with an opportunity that exceeded by perceived abilities. Even though I have heard and delivered hundreds of sermons in my life, and they do play a role in my spiritual development, how I live my daily life in Christ and apply spiritual truths to those situation is the primary factory in determining whether I am growing in Christlikeness.

    6. Derek on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Right on Peter…


      It is not information but transformation that is a better gauge of spiritual growth. Knowing more Bible knowledge normally doesn’t translate into spiritual growth.


      I had a someone comment to me recently, that he wasn’t being challenged at church. He said that he felt like our congregation was of a social club. AGHH.


      I have worked hard to move our church past the ingrown koininitas of the previous years. My response was, “Are you challenging others?” I think that was similar to David’s comments in the original post. We are called to eat spiritually so we can feed others.


      As I began to talk with him about why he felt this way, the conversation revealed that he was just a bit lonely, because many of his friends had moved away.


      The point: The FED ME mentality is really just a symptom of a larger problem. There is normally something below the surface of comments like that.


      Derek

    7. Peter Hamm on Mon, December 17, 2007

      I am going to get flamed for this.


      My church IS a social club… with all the attending love and community that a true social club should have. The problem with that criticism of church is that it downplays that the whole reason we come “together” is to BE “together”… and the “social club” aspects of that are GOOD. Sharing meals is GOOD. Small talk is GOOD… Deep friendships that often result from this are VERY GOOD!

    8. Eric Joppa on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Wendi,


      You called these people in most cases solid, and that they don’t want the “messy unreached” people in their church. How is that solid? I agree that that is a huge reason for christians not wanting the messages to be less meaty. I have even heard “solid” christians say that ‘the church is for christians, period!”


      My struggle is that the church is not for christians, it is made up of them. What’s most frustrating is that if you speak enough christianese and serve on a deacon board or elder board or two, you are thought to bee mature, or “solid”. Many of these men and women have been of that mold.


      To me, that is so far from solid that they need milk more than the unreached do. It is truly sad to me that so few churches or their leaders are aware or even willing to say such a thing to these “solid” christians.


      As a youth worker for over 10 years, I have seen this thought trickle from these parents into the minds and hearts of their kids. I tell them and their parents that if they look at history, no shepherd ever opened the mouth of a sheep, stuffed hay in there , shut and chewed for them. The shepherd protects sheep from predators, loves them, and guides them to the source of good food, green pastures. The sheep get there, see the food and eat.


      I will not feed you. I will care for you, protect you from predators as best I can, and show you where it is good to eat. That is my call. That is what God wants from me and from you.


      The solid parents, agree that it is their job to raise their kids, and that it is their responsibility to feed themselves. anything else is not solid at all.

    9. Brent on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Wendi, you are so right.

    10. deaubry on Mon, December 17, 2007

      i agree with joppa, the older christians should be on the front line helping with these messy people all they can, instead of on the front pew talking down on whats going on, i took a woman to church one time and she had been drinking, and when we walked in you could hear a pin drop, some of the people ask me after service , did you know that woman was drinking, and i said yes and god knew too, and he was not shocked why should you be, but the woman keep coming and accepted the lord, and she is a good witness for jesus now, i believe you feed people the word at where there at, i can read my bible and know what god is saying, and if i need help the holy spirit will let me know what i need to know, or my pastor sometimes tells me,i think some of the older christians should grow up.but the main thing is not just tell people about jesus , but show them jesus, and he came to save , heal, and set free, and he told us to do the same by his power and his name.

    11. Derek on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Peter,


      Certainly a true Christian community should include the best of the social club. We are given all of these ONE ANOTHER commandments (love, forgive, pray for, care, encourage, bear the burderns of…one another) to do in community.


      The “social club” that my friend talked about was where Christian community becomes an ingrown and the community exists purely for itself. These kind of communities become stale, stagnant and closed communities where evangelism becomes impossible.


      Our church was there once.


      Derek

    12. Peter Hamm on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Derek, we probably need a new word, then, because that is NOT a social club, in any sense of the word, imho… See what I’m saying?

    13. Camey on Mon, December 17, 2007

      This may sound off topic but isn’t really…


      Made me think of what happened when we went to our clubhouse here in our highly secure gated community for the Mother’s Day brunch this year.


      As soon as I told the hostess what name the reservations were under… She immediately had us shown to a private dining room instead of in to the main dining hall. There were many individuals dining there who were literally ticked off that they did not get their own private room. That they had to sit in the main room just like everyone else… except for “THOSE people in the private dining room.”

    14. Derek on Mon, December 17, 2007

      Peter,


      I guess I use the term “social club” to refer to any kind of social gathering that exists for itself. This would differ from a “civic club” that refers to groups that gather to serve others. So “social club” carries that negative type of connotation for me.


      Derek

    15. Joey Smith on Tue, December 18, 2007

      Henry Blackaby seems to agree. Here are a few quotes from his devotional site this morning:


      “There is no secondhand spirituality. No one else can develop Christian maturity on your behalf. “


      “Paul had a powerful walk with God.  Paul’s ministry was so impressive, in fact, that others tried to duplicate it.”


      “They could imitate Paul’s words, but they could not duplicate the power that was his through his personal relationship with God. “


      “Christian maturity takes effort; it comes over time. If you ignore the place of prayer and if you neglect your relationship with Christ, you will not grow in your faith.”



      “Only as you nurture you own relationship with Jesus will your life be filled with spiritual maturity and power.”

    16. Page 1 of 3 pages  1 2 3 >

      Post a Comment

    17. (will not be published)

      Remember my personal information

      Notify me of follow-up comments?

    Sponsors