Are you Hungry?

Speaker: M.Noorhoff

Hungry?

 Hungry?

 This is the opening line of an award winning television commercial that played just around 15 years ago. There were several in fact that lasted over a few years with the same question “Are you Hungry?” It was the commercial for Cuppa Noodles. And one of my personal favourites. Such a simple question. In a world of million dollar commercials trying to catch our attention, stick a jingle in our head and persuade us to buy their product. This one word stick with us the longest and the clearest

 Hungry?

 Perhaps it reaches deep inside us something that cries out yes I am hungry or doe it cry out to a hunger that goes beyond the pangs in our stomach  to a constant hunger in our soul that we so often confuse for physical hunger. Is this why when we feel lonely we turn to food. Is this why ice cream soothes the broken heart.

 Are you hungry?

 Are you Hungry today?

 Does your soul cry out feed me give me something to sustain me to fill me. Do you crave the word of God more than bread. Do you crave that which comes from the mouth of the lord or have you filled yourself with the sugars of the world that give you that short high but not that sustained satisfied feeling.

 Can you hear your soul grumbling? Do you crave you daily bread?

 This week we are continuing to look at our attitude for coming to church. Last time we talked about church being the place where we may release freely all the thanksgiving we have built up over the week. Thanksgiving is the key to a joyful life but it is impossible to let out all we feel in the world we live in sometimes so on Sunday when the faithful gather we may let it all out. We learn from the word that as believers we have well of living water that flow out from deep within us and with this we may give freely to those who are thirsty but if we are thirsty is is because we don’t believe and or do not allow the water of the spirit to well up inside us being released in love joy and thanksgiving.

 This week we will look at something that may seem to go against this but it actually is the second part of a healthy church attitude and that is hunger. Hunger for His word, Hunger for revelation, hunger for fellowship (Koinonia) the fellowship that only Christians can have when we they speak together of the word and their Lord.

 Rev 2:17

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

Jeremiah 15:16

Your words were found and I did eat them. Now Jeremiah did not literally eat the scrolls on which the words were rather he consumed them with a vigor and hunger. He diligently sought and took it in.

Job 23:12

I have esteemed the words of His word more than my necessary food

Deuteronomy 8:3

  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

 Have we not walked long enough in the desert. Do we not hunger for His manna.

 The LORD said to Moses,

"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.

When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.

This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'"

The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.

And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.

Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."

 His manna for us is the word of the Lord and we must constantly desire it. If we are always hungry for it, it will always bring us satisfaction. But if we snack on the sweet things the world offers we are not hungry, Is this not true in your real life. Read any book that talks of healthy eating habits and the first step is to cut out snacking. For we eat even when we are not hungry out of habit and out of the mere fact that we like the abundance. Three square meals that allow a certain amount of hunger to build up is the key to good health and it is also the key to a finicky child. That is a child that has like and dislikes. Most of these children substitute the vegetables or other foods they should be eating with snacks and most likely sweets.  This is an important lesson we can learn and the manna in the desert does teach this. That a regular hunger for God’s word will keep us spiritually healthy for it will do more than that it will keep us happy and satisfied.

 Proverbs 27:7 states

 He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

 When we come to church in hunger we will find the sweetness we seek no matter what the message is or how harsh it is for it will still taste sweet.. But many do not come with this hunger and so even honey does not satisfy them. Have you been dissatisfied perhaps you aren’t coming hungry enough. Perhaps we aren’t showing out hunger enough.

 And this brings us to our bible passage today. Jesus feeds the 5000. Now the first thing we must remember about this passage as you all probably already know that the 5000 refers only to the men and does not include the number of women and children also present so the number is actually must greater. I have been thinking about this passage for a while now about how this miracle occurred. At the wedding in Canaan the guests we thirsty and so the wine was provided. In the healings of the bible the key seems to be faith.

 Matthew 9:22

Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.

 Matthew 15:28

28        Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Mark 10:52

"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you."

But what of the bread

John 6:35

Then Jesus declared, "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.

I can not separate these ideas and so they meld together and I will go out on a limb and say that the 5000+ were fed according to their hunger, both their bellies and their souls satisfied. When we come to church we will only be satisfied when we come hungry. When we open out bible we will only be satisfied if we are hungry for His word. We understand God best when we are hunger for him. We are filled with the Holy Spirit when we are hungry for it. And like manna falling from heaven it would fall down on us. And just as with the living water the more we are hungry the more food will be present for those who are still stuck in the desert. We may feed them as well because  when the baskets were passed around for leftovers they were filled

Are you Hungry?