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What Do We Really Want?
Philippians 4:19 (NIV)
When I was still coaching, but had surrendered to the ministry, I asked another pastor who taught school with me, “what scripture should I memorize to help me in the ministry?”
He instantly came back with “Philippians 4:19.”
Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
I memorized the KJV which says, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Some months ago, a preacher decided to keep track for one week of all the requests people made of him at the church and of all the questions that he was asked.
When people stopped by to see him, what did they want?
When people called him on the phone, what was on their mind?
What was bothering them?
What did the people really want?
When I heard about that, I wondered, "What would be the result if I did the same thing here?
What is it that people really want?"
So I kept a list.
Now it goes without saying that almost everyone wants something.
There is a passage in Psalms that tells us that even as a deer pants after, or longs for, water, so also we ought to long for God.
"I pant after you, O Lord," And Isaiah asked, "Why do you spend money on things that are not bread?
And why do you labor for things that do not satisfy?"
Think about this.
"What do people really want?" and "Just how important are these things, anyway?"
Now let’s look at my list, and see if we can find some answers to these questions.
\\ \\ 1.
People Ask For Food
Now that doesn’t come as any great surprise, I am sure.
But I mention that first because every week people call the church office, asking for food, asking for money, saying that they’re hungry and need something to eat.
Hunger can cause pain beyond description.
Most of us can’t even imagine the pain because we have never really been hungry.
Of course, some of us seem to be dieting constantly, and we think we’re hungry.
But there’s no comparison.
We eat regularly, and we go to bed having had plenty to eat.
Yet we’re told that half of the world is starving.
And even in this land of plenty, there are always people asking for food.
But not everyone who asks for food needs food.
At a former church I pastored, I was walking across the parking lot to my office and noticed a pickup truck sitting off to the side with a man in it smoking a cigarette.
I walked over to say hi and see if I could help him with anything.
Then I noticed the whole back of the pickup was filled with bags of groceries.
He didn’t want to talk, so I went inside to find his girlfriend filling out the form we used when we gave people food.
I told her I had seen the pickup and that we weren’t going to give her more.
She got very angry and left.
This is not uncommon with people asking for food.
A church in Florida was burned in an act of arson.
The preacher said, "I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure I know who did it.
A man came by asking for food.
But we don’t keep any food here.
So he became very angry, and I’m convinced that he started the fire on his way out."
People will do almost anything to satisfy their hunger.
In the O.T., when famine swept across Egypt, and only Pharaoh had food stored up for that famine, people were willing to sell their property, their lives, their clothing, anything, for food.
Do you remember what happened after Jesus fed the multitudes?
They wanted to make Him king.
They wanted a king who could always miraculously give them food to eat.
Jesus can supply all our needs, but He is especially concerned about our eternal needs.
He said, "I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."
\\ 2. People Ask For Answers To Their Questions Or Knowledge
Secondly, I wrote down the word "knowledge."
Hardly a week goes by without someone asking me questions about the Bible.
Sometimes the question is like this, "Where in the Bible do you find, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"? (I trust you all know that’s not in the Bible.)
Then again, someone may ask, "Whatever happened to the ark of the covenant?"
Or they ask “when is Jesus coming back,” I wish I knew the answer to both of those, but I don’t.
You see, there are some questions that we just can’t answer.
People ask all kinds of questions.
It seems that people are hungry for knowledge.
We want to know God’s Word.
We want knowledge of the world around us.
We want knowledge of other people.
We want knowledge about ourselves.
God has given us a desire for knowledge, and this has brought about many of the conveniences we enjoy today.
Without that desire we would probably still be living in the horse and buggy age.
Or for those of you who are under 30 the pre computer age.
But because the horse wouldn’t get us there soon enough, we invented other ways to travel.
Because we’re basically lazy, we have come up with all kinds of gadgets to make life easier - all because of our desire for knowledge.
But Paul mentions a knowledge that is evil, "a knowledge that puffs up, that causes pride, that brings about arrogance, and even division."
I think we can see that in our modern world.
When our children are small we test them to determine how intelligent they are.
Then we divide them into categories.
"Here are the slow ones, and here are the average ones, and here are the fast learners."
It doesn’t take children long to figure out which group they’re in.
And they develop complexes in keeping with that group.
Then we send them off to college, and in college all kinds of different things are pumped into their minds.
Their personalities change and they become different because of the knowledge they are fed.
I heard a story about a girl who went off to college.
She didn’t write very often, but on this one occasion she wrote her parents.
When they got the letter they were elated.
But when they opened it, it read, "Dear mom and dad, I would have written sooner but all my stationery burned up when the dormitory burned down."
Then she went on to say, "Please don’t worry.
I found this good friend, and I have been living with him now for the last 3 months.
And mom, I think you ought to know that he is such a good friend that we have decided to get married.
And oh, by the way, you’re going to be grandparents soon."
After she had written all that, she signed her name and then added a P.S. "Please disregard all the above.
The dormitory did not burn down.
I am not living with a man.
I am not going to get married.
And I’m not pregnant.
But I did get an ’D’ in History."
I guess that she wanted them to look at things in a little different perspective.
Knowledge is a tremendous thing.
But the most important knowledge is our knowledge of God.
The Bible teaches that we should always be in pursuit of that knowledge.
And the fear or awe of God is the beginning of all knowledge.
In John 8, are these words, "Jesus was saying therefore to those Jews who had believed Him, ’If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
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