Sidney UMC - Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost - 08/08/21 - Sermon - “Earthly Hunger and Thirst Vs. Heavenly Hunger and Thirst!” (“Feeding the Body and the Soul” - Series: Part 2 of 5)

Sunday 08/08/21 - Sidney UMC 

Sermon Title:                                                                                             

“Earthly Hunger and Thirst Vs. Heavenly Hunger and Thirst!”

             (“Feeding the Body and the Soul” - Series: Part 2 of 5)

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 130                                      

New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Gospel Lesson: John 6:35, 41-51

          Last Sunday I started a five-week sermon series called “Feeding the Body and the Soul”. In this sermon series I am comparing our earthly lives and needs to our spiritual lives and our heavenly needs. Both of these sets of needs matter, and as Christians we should seek to help with and to feed both.

          In fact, last Sunday my sermon was once again called, “Feed People and Feed People”. In this sermon I talked about physically feeding and caring for people and their bodies, as well as offering people spiritual food. The church is called to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, and to bring people to Christ as our primary mission. Yet, we are called to care about people’s physical needs. We can both feed people physically and spiritually. This means that we should be concerned about people’s eternity, there transformation in Jesus Christ, and their salvation, but should also be concerned if they need food, water, or clothing. We can “Feed People and Feed People”

          Like last Sunday, as well as this Sunday, we were and are given the same verse from the gospel of John. This verse 6:35 says as I just read once again:

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (Jn. 6:35, NRSV). 

          While the rest of our gospel of John reading for this morning is different from last week’s gospel of John reading, we have this “I Am” statement once again from Jesus. In this statement, Jesus is saying that if we put our trust in him and live for him and like we that can draw spiritual food and drink from him, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

          So, as we talked about last Sunday, as Christians we are called to “Feed People and Feed People,” but this morning I want to go a little deeper with this. Specifically, I want us to think about ourselves for a minute and to look at own lives for a minute. For this reason, my sermon for this morning is called, “Earthly Hunger and Thirst Vs. Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”.

Imagine for a moment then that you are looking in the mirror in your bathroom. You are just looking at yourself in your mirror. What do you see? Do you like what you see? Why or why not? When you look at yourself in your mirror do you see the love of Jesus Christ in yourself? Or do you see something else? What do you see?

Do you see a person who is seeking “Earthly Hunger and Thirst,” or “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst? If you were to look at yourself in your bathroom mirror every day like this for a month, how many days would you see your personal desire for “Earthly Hunger and Thirst Vs. Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”? Would you say that you had many more days that you had a desire for “Earthly Hunger and Thirst,” or “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst? Why would this be?

          You know it is interesting for me to talk with some people who are older and to talk with some people who are younger. Not all, but many young people that I talk to are in the process of accumulating possessions and other earthly things, and many, but not all of the older people that I talk to are in the process of downsizing and getting rid of things. Fascinating how that works.

We certainly all need some things to live, but what are we focused on most days of our lives? What do we see when we look in the mirror? Are we focused on “Earthly Hunger and Thirst” or are we focused “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”? I think if we are all honest, we can say that sometimes say that we are focused on one or the other, or a combination of the two. If you look at yourself in the mirror every day for a month and all you see is “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst” then you are doing great. Maybe one day though you are really excited to buy that thing you want or do that thing you have been wanting to do. This earthly reality is so strong that on that day is squashes your “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”.

          I think if we are honest, our walks with Jesus are ones that should bring us increasingly into being focused on “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst,” but we all have times where we are focused on “Earthly Hunger and Thirst”. It is this “seesaw” of sorts, where we grapple with being focused on God, and getting caught up in the world. It really is a day-to-day struggle to be in the world, but not of the world. Some days some of us are entirely in the world, and some days we are so focused on God that we are indeed in the world, but not of the world that day.

          The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3:2:

² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,                (Col. 3:2, NRSV).

          This is very easy to say, but sometimes it is very hard to do. The great Mother Theresa had times where she was completely connected to God, and times where she felt that God was very distant. We all go through these ups and downs, but hopefully, prayerfully, as we continue to walk with Christ, we will all increasingly be focused on “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”.

Infants certainly are not focused on “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst,” but instead are focused completely on physical needs. A small baby is driven by its need to eat, to be changed, to be held, to have human interaction, and etc. The idea that there is something beyond an infant’s physical needs and wants or their parents, is beyond them. As we learn about God, as we begin to follow Jesus, may we continually focus on our “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”.

          In our reading from Psalm 130 for this morning, we hear once again in 130:5-6,

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; ⁶ my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning         (Ps. 130:5-6, NRSV).

          I would love to say that every minute of every day that I am fully focused on waiting for the Lord, and that am always fully connected to God. Being connected to God, however, is something that we have to pursue and something that we have to work at. I am certainly more connected than I was ten-years ago, and hopefully will be even more connected ten-years from now.

          I had the honor and the privilege of officiating the burial service for John Short this past Thursday. What I said at his service was that I found John to be a kind, Godly, and very Christlike man. When I visited him, I left feeling holier and closer to God. When I looked at someone like John Short, I was convinced that he had less days looking in the mirror and being focused on earthly things, and more days being focused on “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”. I can imagine that John’s faith grew over the years, as hopefully our faith has grown to. This faith grows in us individually, and within the community of faith. We are in the world, but not of the world, but some days the things of this world draw us in and consume us, don’t they?

          In fact, in our reading from Ephesians 4:25-5:2 for this morning, that Apostle Paul reminds us in 4:31-5:2:

³¹ Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, ³² and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5 ¹ Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, ² and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God                            (Eph. 4:31-5:2, NRSV).

          If we are living like God, and imitating God, then we are feeding our heavenly hunger and thirst. We can also do this as we are feeding our and others physical hunger and thirst, as well. This is not always easy as I said either, but I am the happiest, I am the most at peace, and my life makes the most sense when I pursue my “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”. We all do it through don’t we? We are trying to stay focused on God, and then boom we see that shiny new fishing boat. We really want to buy that shiny new fishing boat! We plan to do buy that shiny new fishing boat, and that temporarily becomes our focus, rather than our “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”.

          In our gospel of John reading for this morning once again, we hear Jesus tell his listeners that he is the bread of life, and the source of spiritual hunger and thirst. Once again, the gospel then says:

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”                                   (Jn. 6:41-51, NRSV).

          We need to eat physical food and drink physical water, but is this all life is? Jesus tells us in Luke 12:24-28:

²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵ And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  ²⁶ If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! (Lk. 12:24-28, NRSV).

          It is not that we do not physical food or drink, but these things are not all that life is. Jesus is saying focus on him and the things of heaven. It can be hard to do this sometimes, believe me I know!

So where are you doing with this today? On this day, are you pursuing “Earthly Hunger and Thirst,” or “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst? Why are you pursuing “Earthly Hunger and Thirst,” or “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst? Further, are you happy and more at peace when you are pursuing “Earthly Hunger and Thirst,” or “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst?

          It is my hope and my prayer that as we continue to feed our bodies and souls every day that more and more we can be focused on “Heavenly Hunger and Thirst”. Amen.