Consume God’s Word

Intro

Last message in series Road of Faith

2 weeks ago — Love for God and for the church

last week — repentance of sin

this week — the final reality in Peter for a Christian is that the Christian is a consumer of God’s word (not in the economic sense—but as one who consumes or eats a whole meal)

1 Peter 2:2-3

If you have tasted that the Lord is good, then like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation.

ILL: Taste—Korean bbq with friends (social)

Today’s message is called Consume God’s Word, because there is a difference between tasting and consuming. To consume is to eat the whole thing; to taste is to just try it a little.

When we talk about consuming God’s Word, it’s very easy for us to taste the parts that we like and to leave other parts behind—to focus on one part and ignore others. But, we’re called to consume the whole of what God has revealed to us—to believe the whole thing.

The Taste

Direct reference of Psalm 34:8

Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!

Context: David facing hardships (life-threatening) because of his commitment to YHWH

refuge—There is nothing to fear when your life is in the hands of the almighty

TASTE: Try it; it’s good. ILL: When you get dessert at a restaurant

Tasting is not the same thing as eating, but you get to try it and experience it to decide for yourself what’s right.

cf. Job

Job 12:11

Doesn’t the ear test words as the palate tastes food

Hearing is like tasting in that you don’t get the whole thing all at once.

What Peter means by it.

1 Peter 2:2-3

If you have tasted that the Lord is good, then like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation.

You get to experience Jesus through the church and through the hearing of the Word—teaching of the scriptures—even before you are truly committed to it.

A lot of emphasis is placed on making a personal commitment to Jesus, but it’s a process of tasting the goodness of Jesus until you are ready for the full meal of the Word of God.

The Full Meal

1 Corinthians 3:1-2

For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it.

Paul is saying that there is something more than the basic principles of our faith—salvation through faith in Jesus.

Those who are just tasting are not spiritual, but in the flesh

not having a divine nature, but one focussed on the self like the world

cf Hebrews 5:12–14

Teachers should have risen out of the community

But they’re all still babies drinking milk

Does not understand the message of righteousness.

The mature understand the message of righteousness and are trained by it—they live as though it’s all true.

repentance (righteous living)

Love for God and brother/sister

THE WARNING

ILL: Hating Avocados — what if I tasted them as a kid and never again? What glories would I be missing out on?

The author of the letter to the Hebrews warns about tasting the goodness of God and then deciding it’s not good—not the right time, not for you, not the right whatever

Hebrews 6:4–6a

For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away.

What he’s not saying

That if you fell away from your faith for a time, Jesus doesn’t want you anymore

That if you knew the Gospel but never embraced it, that you can’t find Jesus now.

What he is saying

It hurts the people in the church when someone claims to follow Jesus and then betrays the congregation by returning to their former life

It expresses a heightened level of immorality when someone clearly understands the heinousness of sin and consciously chooses their sin over Jesus and his church.

When someone falls away from their faith, they aren’t going to come back and if they did, the church will find it difficult to believe their faith again.

The CHALLENGE

ILL: (A guest for dinner.) You offend your host if you taste your food but you don’t eat your meal. —

If you’re not eating the whole meal, but just tasting:

See it through to the fullness — don’t give up

Continue to consume the word of God anywhere you can get it (like a starving infant craves milk—Peter)

Service

Small Group

Online Small Group (supplemental)

Read/listen to the Bible

Read/listen to sermons and podcasts

Ponder, pray, and prepare to live the truth.

ILL: When you find a great restaurant you tell your friends (food pics on IG)

If you feel you have been eating the whole meal and you have a sense of spiritual maturity in the Word, then you need to be sharing that Word with others.