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All You Can Eat Buffet
Genesis 18: 1-8
Growing up in a military family I have
had to learn how to adjust. When we moved from Texas to California we
had to learn how to forget that Bar-B-Que existed and move on to other
things. When we moved to New Orleans we had to adjust from beautiful
mountains in the back yard to flat everything.
Moving from Nashville to Gainesville we had to adjust from being one
church in a town with 100 to being the only church in town.
And now since this is the first small town I have ever lived in we are
doing some more adjusting. One of the areas we are adjusting to is
restaurant situation. Living in Atlanta for 4+ years there are still
some restaurants that we never made it to. But there were some that we
liked and went to often.
We love to eat out! It makes it easier for Trista, because there is less
mess and clean up. I don’t have to cook. Everyone can order what they
want, we don’t all have to have the same thing.
Of course, on the down side, it is more expensive. And you really don’t
know who is back there cooking the food or the care they take in their
food preparation. You know I’ve gotten food poisoning on occasion in a
restaurant; but I can’t remember ever getting food poisoning from
home-cooked meal.
One of our favorite places to go is a buffet. Now Dan and I joke every
time we go to the Hospital in Jasper about not having enough self
control to eat at Ryan’s but there is merit to an all you can eat. Not
only does everyone get what they want to eat but they can go back and
eat as much as they want!
I can assure you that regardless of whether Dr. Phil would call me an
Apple or Pear shaped person I am aware of the healthy eating habits. I
know about those things called “vegetables”. And I have been to a salad
bar or two in my life. But to be honest when I get to the buffet line, I
usually don’t load up on salad and vegetables. I head straight to the
good stuff Fried Chicken, Red Meat, Pizza, with lots of cheese, sausage,
and pepperoni. And when I do get vegetables, they are usually breaded
and deep-fried, and dipped in sauce.
Now before your stomach starts growling and you get lost in thoughts of
Moo Go Guy Pan, or Sesame Chicken with extra Sauce let’s try to make
this relevant to our text tonight.
Unfortunately there are many people who live their Christianity like
they are standing at a buffet line! They have their favorite parts and
then there are some parts they don’t understand or like so they pick
some of this and some of that, trying to make them selves happy.
It’s like the time I got a call at a church where we were working and
the voice on the other side asked me about our worship style and how it
compares with other denominations. Do you have a long sermon or is there
plenty of music? How long will we be there? Is there much congregation
participation? I answered his questions… But after we hung up, I got the
feeling he wouldn’t be coming to our church. He didn’t want to know if
the people were friendly. He didn’t want to know if he would hear
Biblically based sermons. He didn’t even care what we believed. What our
doctrine was. I got the feeling he was looking for a church that was
entertaining. Where he could sit back and get a blessing and leave
without getting involved.
He was going through the Christian buffet line taking a little of this
some of that and probably never really got to the vegetables the stuff
that is so important to our spiritual health. Paul says in I Corinthians
3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to
men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid
food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are
not yet able, for you are still fleshly.
Most people think worship is like a buffet line where you go and gorge
yourself on things that satisfy your appetite your taste buds without
ever realizing that they are missing the point of what worship really
is.
If I like to pray then I want to go to a church that has regular prayer
meetings. If I want to hear the Scriptures read than I look for a church
that spends time in the Book. But most of us like the singing, and would
rather have shorter sermons and more singing.
Worship appears throughout Scripture you can find it from the earliest
pages of Scripture.
God was pleased by Abel’s worship but Cain’s worship was displeasing to
God. Scripture doesn’t tell us exactly why God accepted Abel’s
sacrifice, and rejected Cain’s. Jewish tradition says that Abel brought
the best of his flock for sacrifice while Cain brought a few scrawny
ears of corn keeping the best for himself. But whatever the reason we
see in Genesis 4:7 that Cain new what was the whole will of God and
chose not to do it.
In Exodus 3 we see Moses getting a crash course in Yahweh worship in the
form of a burning bush.
Then in the Book of Psalms we read 38 different Psalms dealing with
Worship.
Worship is weaved in the very fabric of the Old Testament through the
practice of bringing animal and grain sacrifices to God.
And we read of Christ worshiping the Father during His life, through
fasting, prayer, teaching, and singing.
I believe that we are aware of the importance of worship in our lives
but tonight I want to impress on the importance of complete worship.
Tonight I’d like us to look at one incident from Abraham’s life as an
example for us as it relates to worship. I’d like to put 4 items on the
buffet of worship and no...you can’t just go and pick what you want
gorging on 1 or 2 things while leaving the other parts out. you need to
partake of all 4 in order to have a healthy worship
Lets read Genesis 18:1-8 and then we will pray.
The First Item on the buffet of Worship is learning to recognize the
Presence of the Lord.
Abraham was sitting outside the front flap of his tent trying to cool
down, in the heat of the day. Our text tells us "The LORD appeared to
Abraham"
How do you think that Abraham knew that this was the Lord? Do you think
that God was wearing a Hello my name is tag? Do you think that He and
the two others with Him were glowing? The Bible doesn’t tell us how
Abraham knew. But I think that it is interesting that Abraham knew who
God was.
What about you? Have you ever had an experience where you felt that God
was near? Near enough to feel His comfort and Peace? Near enough to feel
the strength that Only God can give? I believe that we have all had an
experience like that, but that was not what Abraham was feeling.
Abraham was looking for God to show up. In verse 2 we see that the men
were standing opposite, or nearby but Abraham still had to run to them.
Abraham recognized God drawing near to him and in turn he ran to draw
near to God. He was searching God out. He wanted an opportunity to
worship, to be in the presence of God so he was looking for
opportunities to do just that.
In the same way we need to learn to be sensitive to the Lord’s presence
in our lives every day whether we are sitting on the front porch after
lunch, or washing dishes, at work, or driving down the road.
In the New Testament there are 2 words that we translate into Worship
Proskuneo and Latreuo.
Latreuo – Is defined reverent service, or religious respect.
We have given ourselves as living sacrifices and He has declared our
very lives to be worship to Him. One of the best definitions of worship
I have ever read was penned by Warren Wiersbe: “Worship is the believers
response of all that he is – mind, emotions, will, and body – to all
that God is and says and does. It is a loving response that is balanced
by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer
comes to know God better.”
If we are truly living a life of Latreuo then we are looking for God in
every aspect of our lives. And when the Lord appears to us wherever we
are whenever it happens we will be able, like Abraham, to recognize it.
The second item on the buffet, when the Lord shows up, we need to run to
meet Him.
Abraham certainly enjoyed sitting in front of his tent it was nice
sitting in the shade, listening to the wind through the trees, enjoying
the pleasant breeze. I am sure that it was a place of comfort.
When the Lord showed up He didn’t say, "Sarah, tell Him to come back
later...so I can finish my nap" He didn’t watch the Lord approaching and
wait for Him to get there. Our Scripture says, "he ran from his tent to
meet them"
When the Lord shows up we need to get out of our comfort zone we need to
get up and get going. But that’s hard. So many of us have settled into a
routine that our Christianity has become comfortable. We don’t read the
Bible like we should because we think that we know what’s in there. We
don’t pray because God knows what’s going on. And like the man who told
his wife that he loved her 50 years ago, the people here know that we
care and when we change our minds we will tell them.
We have forgotten that living the Christian life requires effort. But
doesn’t everything.
Last week when the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl they won
because of the effort they put in. Tom Brady knows how to throw the
football, Deon Branch knows how to catch, Corey Dillon knows how to run,
and Teddy Bruschi knows how to tackle. But do you know what they will be
doing in 5 months? Going back to Summer Training Camp. Sweating and
straining in the heat, spending sleepless nights looking over play books
and videos, and spending hours in the weight room. Now they know how to
play, they have won 3 out of the last 4 Superbowls, why would they go
through all of this. Couldn’t they just sit back on their knowledge?
Aren’t they strong enough?
You know the answer to that is no. They have got to put forth the effort
to get better. They can’t sit back and get comfortable. Comfort breeds
complacency, and complacency leads to death in Football and in your
Spiritual life.
When the Lord shows up and we must recognize His presence and not only
get out of our comfort zone but do like Abraham did and run to meet Him!
We are at an exciting time in our families life. When I go off for the
day and return home Trafton is always waiting for me. When he sees me he
gets so excited that I’m home that he doesn’t just walk non-chalantly
over to me, he runs as fast as his little legs can carry him and jumps
into my arms!
That’s a perfect example of how we need the meet the Lord!!!
Do you have that excitement for the Lord? Are you excited about the
opportunity to worship that you get here early? Are you so excited about
what God has in store for your life that you search the scriptures
daily? Or have you slipped into complacency?
The Third item on the buffet, we need to worship the Lord with humility.
We read that Abraham "bowed low to the ground", actually a better
translation would be that he fell to the ground and placed his face in
the dirt. When we come to God in humility we are simply putting
ourselves in the proper relationship to God.
Part of worship is recognizing Who God is but we also must recognize who
we are by comparison. Too often, we have the attitude of "what did I get
out of that Church service"? But the real question is "what did GOD get
out of that church service"?
Was He exalted,? lifted up,? elevated,? raised up,? glorified,? honored?
Abraham was not a man of common means. He was accustomed to having
servants to do his bidding. If the camels needed fed, his servants fed.
If he was hungry his servants made him dinner. He said go and they went.
He said do and they did. They were his servants, and they acted like
servants.
But Abraham didn’t have a high opinion of himself because he knew that
even though He had servants he also had a master.
That’s one reason that we are called to worship God. It allows us to
recognize that we are God’s servants. God is in control. And within His
hands are all of our problems, cares, and worries, because He is Lord of
All.
Finally we need realize that true worship costs us something.
In verses 4-8 we see that Abraham was ready to give of his means to meet
the needs of God. He had Sarah, make bread while he took a choice calf
and prepared it. And even made curds and milk.
Now the first place my mind went when I was studying this week was if
God is truly Lord of All then what do I have that I can give? He owns
the Mountains, the seas and everything is at His disposal. What do I
have that I can give, what do I have that is worthy of a sacrifice.
Well a sacrifice needs to be just that a sacrifice. If I were to offer
God something that cost didn’t cost me anything there is no way that it
could be acceptable because it is not a sacrifice, it is not the best I
have to offer.
My mind goes to two illustrations that I believe teaches us how to make
acceptable sacrifices. The first one is found in Mark 12: 41-44
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and
watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many
rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two
very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his
disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has
put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of
their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she
had to live on."
Though the widow’s sacrifice was small it was acceptable. The size of or
sacrifice, is not what is important, it is what it cost us, is it our
best. Once again God does not desire your better than, He desires your
best.
The other example is found in the book 2 Samuel 24. The background of
the story is that David had again sinned against the Lord and he is told
to go to the threshing floor of a man by the name of Araunah, and build
a sacrifice there. When Araunah sees David approaching he goes out to
meet him and bows down before him asking what does David require from
him.
David tells him that he is there is buy the threshing floor and to build
an altar to the LORD, so that the LORD will stop the plague."
David is told to just to take whatever he needs free of cost to make the
sacrifice. But listen to David’s answer in 2 Samuel 24:24:
However, the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from
you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God
which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen
for fifty shekels of silver.
David wanted his sacrifice to be acceptable to the Lord. And he knew
that if cost him nothing, it would not be sacrifice.
Many times we make sacrifices that cost us nothing. Sometimes in the
form of money, we say well I guess I can give a little extra to the
church this week, I have some left over. Sometimes in the way of
service, well I’ve got nothing better to do, I guess I can stop by the
church and do whatever.
But in matters of money, talents or time our sacrifices must cost us
something to be acceptable. Our sacrifices need to be just that
sacrifices.
Like I said at the beginning tonight I love a buffet. Tonight as we
gather, we have a big, beautiful, buffet table before us. Its tempting
to head straight to the junk food and fill up on that But if we truly
want to worship God We need to fill our plate with 4 things:
We need to recognize God. We need to run to meet Him. We need to put
some humility on our plate. And we need to be aware of the cost and pay
it joyfully.
Today are you here to drink deeply in worship of our creator or you
picking and choosing what you want?
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