WHAT DO YOU DESIRE?
ISAIAH 55:1-9
SUNDAY, July 19, 2009
Taken from the book “The Church That God Blesses” by Jim Cymbala

Introduction: You know, it is amazing to look around and see what is popular. Our society has transformed us into thinking that caring for ourselves should be our top priority. So people are spending much more time educating themselves in how to take care of their bodies. They exercise more, and they watch their diet and nutrition. Now dieting, and nutrition and exercising are important, but for many it becomes excessive. Did you know that diet and nutrition are 2 of the hottest topics around? Did you know that the diet and nutrition industry is a billion-dollar industry?
Obviously it is important to care of yourself, but the problem lies in this, that people are more concerned with their physical well being, than with their spiritual well being. People spend more time educating themselves about how to care for themselves physically, than they spend educating themselves on how to care for themselves spiritually.
Here’s a question: How long will you live on this earth? 70, 80, 90+ years?
How long will you live after this earthly life? For eternity! So, while taking care of your physical body is important, having a good spiritual diet to prepare you for the best on this earth and for eternity, is even more important! So let’s look at how we can have a good spiritual diet as individuals, and as a church.

I. Initiating Change- (Isaiah 55:1-2)
a. An experiment in diet- Example: Maria (pp. 40-41 from The Church That God Blesses, by Jim Cymbala). Let me introduce you to a woman
named Maria. Maria has many physical problems which began more than 16 years ago. It started with pulmonary disease and then developed into an asthmatic condition. The doctors increased the use of antibiotics using steroids of all sorts, a nebulizer, and 4 different kinds of pumps. Needless to say, all of this medication took a toll on her. If you saw her you would think that she was a very sickly lady, and that would be true. On top of this, the heavy doses of medication led to phlebitis in her legs (inflammation of the veins in the legs and blod clots). She also had contracted pneumonia 3 times in a four year period. Her sinuses became so impacted that doctors recommended surgery; and this surgery would not be routine by any means!
Just one week before the scheduled surgery Maria decided to contact a nutritionist fearing that the surgery wouldn’t be treating the root cause. The nutritionist examined her and recommended a specialized diet that he believed would improve her condition. Maria’s husband was skeptical wondering how changing the diet could correct 9 years of chronic physical problems that had become severe.
Maria went on the diet, and after a few days she canceled the surgery. One week later she was no longer gasping for air, she didn’t need the pumps, she didn’t need the nebulizer, and she didn’t need the antibiotics!!
To this day Maria feels great and is full of energy.
Obviously, not all medical conditions can be improved by a change in
diet, but, you can’t deny that our bodies operate according to physical laws. So, we see that health problems, energy levels, and mood swings are often related to diet. Poor diet can also create things such as migraines, lack of energy, stomach problems, and other health issues.
b. Nurturing our spiritual being- The point of this sermon this morning is to
show that diet is important, but even more we need to live a balanced, healthy life by being concerned with our spiritual diet as well; we need to learn how to nurture our spiritual being! Why? Because God made us more than just a physical being, we are spiritual beings as well. And so we must be pay attention to all aspects of our being.
God says to us through the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 55:1-2,
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”
In this passage God is referring to satisfying the hunger of the soul as one would satisfy the hunger of your body. That is why He uses words like “water,” “wine,” “milk,” and “bread.” These words refer to an important spiritual principle from which no one is exempt. Just as physical problems can result from improper diet, so spiritual problems often result when we are spiritually undernourished.
It is interesting to see how when things go wrong in our lives, we are so quick to blame or judge God. Instead, we ought to evaluate our own spiritual condition; we ought to look at our own spiritual diet; we ought to acknowledge the real cause of our problems. I bet that if you looked on a regular basis at your spiritual diet, you would be able to correlate between the struggles in your life, and the times you drift away from God.
It is very possible to be a Christian, to be someone who has accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord, but at the same time be sick spiritually due to spiritual malnutrition. This helps to explain the joylessness, the depression, the unfruitful living of so many believers today. How could we ever expect to be joyful in the Lord, to do great things for God, to experience God’s blessings when we are living on the bare bones of what God has for us spiritually?
How can we fight “the good fight” for the Lord, and stand strong against Satan’s schemes when our spiritual vital signs are so low? How can a church make a positive impact in its community when there isn’t the commitment to study God’s word and pray together?
HERE IS A KEY THOUGHT: “One of the keys to the church and the people God blesses is that they understand and follow the directions God Himself gives for maintaining spiritual vitality and strength.”
Did you know that the statistics show that only one-third of all churchgoing, professing Christians, read their Bibles even once a week?! Is it any wonder why they are spiritually sluggish and easy prey for Satan’s attacks? The practice of private prayer and collective praying together as a church has dropped to an all-time low in too many churches.

II. The Results of Spiritual Change- (Psalm 107:9, 63:5, 34:8; Hebrews 13:9)
a. God satisfies- Example- You know, if you think about it, the world is a
crazy place. On the one hand, you have thousands of Cookbooks that exist, and then on the other hand, you have a plethora of diet books. Do these cancel each other out? The cookbooks teach you how to make all this great food, but then the diet books tell how not to eat it! In the midst of all of this, it is no wonder that we don’t feel satisfied.
God has clearly promised that He will satisfy. Psalm 107:9 tells us this, “God satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Did you hear the language? The psalmist uses words like “thirsty” and “hungry.” Again, it is to show us how our spiritual nourishment is just as important as our physical nourishment.
The truth is, if we don’t ever sit down at God’s table to eat, we cannot receive the blessings God promises; we will not be satisfied and filled! If you never took the time to eat and drink, think of where you would be? This is just as true in regards to our spiritual condition as well. No wonder so many Christians feel unsatisfied and unfulfilled. We can only be nourished spiritually when we regularly partake of God’s Word and receive the refreshment that comes from the Spirit of God.
This lack of spiritual well-being also explains why there is so little praise, and
why there is so much negativity and complaining in our world. In Psalm 63:5, the psalmist says: “My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”
When we regularly feed on the choicest of food, the food of God, we will sing praise to the one who has fed us so well. We will be full and content. In the gospel of John, chapter 4, the disciples go away from Jesus for a while. When they return we read this in verses 31-34: “…… ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to complete His work.’”
We are in a place to give praise with our lips when we do God’s work and when we know God’s will. But to do this, we must sit at His table daily. When we do this, we can echo the words of the psalmist in Psalm 34:8- “…taste and see that the Lord is good.”
b. Spiritual growth- It is amazing how immature and foolish we can be. I
came across an e-mail the other day that reminded me of the foolishness of people: READ E-Mail, #’s 1, 2, 4, & 5. 1. When the man tried to shoot his 38-caliber revolver at his intended victim, the revolver failed to fire. The would be robber did something that can only inspire wonder; he peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked…..2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine, and after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company suspecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. The insurance man tried the machine himself AND LOST A FINGER! The chef’s claim was approved…..4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t discovered for 3 days!..5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the boy told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.
These are some obvious signs of foolish thinking. Likewise, there are some telltale signs of spiritual foolishness and immaturity. What are they? Selfishness, unforgiveness, a judgmental spirit, materialistism, and on and on the list could go.
KEY THOUGHT: “To grow into spiritual maturity, we need to be conscious every day of the needs of our inner being and the scriptural reminder that says ‘it is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace.’” (Hebrews 13:9) God’s grace comes in different forms and through various channels, but the truth remains the same. When we neglect such things as the Bible, prayer, regular church attendance, service, and fellowship with other Christians, problems of one kind or another will begin to show up in our lives. Why? Because, as the old adage goes: “We are what we eat.” And as scripture says, “we will reap what we sow.”
And so it is important for us to understand that no one is more aware of this truth than Satan. We don’t think too much about the spiritual warfare that exists, but the strategy of Satan is to cut us off from our food supply. Satan knows that a “strong-in-the-Lord” believer is very difficult to attack. So Satan tries to distract us, discourage us, use our busyness against us, and get us to substitute the junk food of the world for God’s truth.
Is it any wonder, then, that the Lord urgently calls out to His people to carefully listen to this message? “Come to the waters and drink.” He pleads with each one of us to let our heart reach out and take action/ so our soul can be satisfied. He invites us to come to the place where we can be refreshed and built up so that we won’t starve and shrivel up. The table is set. It is there to receive. Will we receive it?

Conclusion: As we look at the church, we can see that a church can only be as strong as its members; a church can only accomplish what those in it will do. As a church, we need to make sure that we are supplying opportunities and encouragement for each of us to have a healthy spiritual diet. As a church we need to make sure that we are focusing on God’s word and seeking God’s will.
The more that we study God’s word together, the more that we pray together, the stronger we will be, and the more God will be able to bless us. If there is something that we can do to help you meet this need for a more balanced spiritual diet, please tell me or one of the elders, so that we can do the things that will help us mature as individuals, and help us mature as a church.
My goal for this sermon is for you to recognize the need in your soul to be spiritually satisfied, and to understand that satisfaction only comes through giving yourself fully to God. My goal is that whatever we do, it would be well attended so that we can grow together. My goal is for us to be bringing others to church, who need the spiritual nourishment they aren’t getting right now. My goal is for us to be continually transformed as people, and as a church. It doesn’t require surgery, it only requires the right diet.
The Lord has prepared a wonderful table before us. As we eat from this table, we will experience God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s power, and God’s guidance, both as individuals, and as a church. I hope that you would look at your life, and decide today what you need to add to your diet, so that you will be spiritually healthy today, and always! Amen.