Saturday, May 09, 2009

SERMON: Mornings with Manna

MORNINGS WITH MANNA

29 March 2009


 

I. Introduction

    -- turn in Bibles to Exodus 16


 

11. The LORD said to Moses,

12. "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.'"

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

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

15. 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.

16. 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.'"

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

18. 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.

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

20. However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

21. Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.


 

    -- I don't know if I told you about my new endeavor or not -- during this time of the year, I have to get ready for Course of Study up at Emory University -- and as part of that, I have to read quite a few books for my classes and write several research papers as pre-work for the class and I have to get this pre-work turned in before I go up there each summer

    -- during most of the year, I am able to balance all of my responsibilities at work and at church and at home -- but things get rather hectic at this time of the year -- and I noticed that I tend to let my quiet time with God slip away when I get busy -- I found that I was just not reading the Bible as a devotional as I should -- I was reading it -- I was using it to prepare sermons and Bible studies, but wasn't taking the time to read it devotionally and let God speak to me through it

    -- and that's not uncommon for most of us in this busy time that we live in -- George Barna reported that 92% of American homes have at least one Bible -- most of our homes have more than one Bible -- but less than 40% of us are reading the Bible during the week outside of church -- and only 24% of Christians have a family Bible time -- most of us are just not reading the Bible much at all -- we go through times, like at the start of the year, where we read the Bible a lot -- but most of the time, we just let it sit on the shelf until a crisis hits


 

    -- it reminds me of a joke I saw on the internet the other day about reading the Bible -- it was called "The Diary of a Bible" -- and it's the journal of a Bible from a typical American home recording what is going on with it throughout the year -- listen to this and see if you can't relate

    -- January: A busy time for me -- Most of the family decided they were going to get serious and read me every day this year -- They kept me busy for the first two weeks, but they seem to have forgotten me now.

    -- February: Clean-up time. -- I was dusted yesterday and put back in my place on the coffee table -- My owner did use me for a few minutes last week -- He had been in an argument and was looking up some references to prove he was right.

    -- March: Had a busy day first of the month -- My owner was elected president of the PTA and used me to prepare for a speech.

    -- April: Grandpa visited us this month -- He kept me on his lap for an hour reading 1 Cor. 13 -- He seems to think more of me than do some people in my own household.

    -- May: I have a few green stains on my pages. Some spring flowers were pressed in my pages.

    -- June: I look like a scrapbook -- They have stuffed me full of newspaper clippings -- one of the girls in my home was married, and they put the clippings in me to keep them safe

    -- July: They put me in a suitcase today -- I guess we are off on vacation -- I wish I could stay home; I know I'll be closed up in this suitcase for at least two weeks.

    -- August: Still in the suitcase -- they forgot to unpack me

    -- September: Back home at last and in my old familiar place on the coffee table -- I have a lot of company -- Two women's magazines and a couple of old newspapers are stacked on top of me -- I wish I could be read as much as they are.

    -- October: They read me a little bit today -- One of them is sick -- Right now I am sitting in the center of the coffee table and they've cleared everything from around me -- I think that the Pastor is coming by for a visit

    -- November: Back in my old place -- Somebody asked today if I were a scrapbook

    -- December: The family is busy getting ready for the holidays -- I guess I'll be covered up under wrapping paper and packages again.... just as I am every Christmas.


 

    -- when I read that joke, my toes started hurting because that thing stepped all over them -- I can really relate to that diary of the Bible -- I can't tell you how many Bibles I have at home -- I've got Bibles in all different translations -- the NIV -- the KJV -- the NKJV -- the American Standard Version -- the Revised Standard Version -- and the New Revised Standard Version

    -- I've got study Bibles -- life application Bibles -- Spirit-filled Bibles -- paraphrases like the Living Bible and the Message -- I've got big Bibles that fit on my coffee table and I've got little bitty New Testaments that fit in my shirt pocket

    -- but, you know what, I wasn't using any of them except in Bible Study and in sermon preparation -- I wasn't taking time to spend with God -- I wasn't giving Him part of my day so He could speak to me and give me guidance and encouragement and instruction

    -- so, I have a new endeavor -- I am trying to start taking an intentional quiet time with God every day, regardless of what's going on -- I went out and bought me a new Bible, if you can believe that -- this is a one-year Bible that is set up to help you read through the Bible in one year, reading from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms, and Proverbs daily -- I got it because a friend of mine is using it, and now we can get together and discuss the same scriptures on a regular basis and talk about where the Lord is leading us


 

    -- God wants us to spend time with Him -- that's the message of the Bible -- God created Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden so that they could be in relationship with Him -- so that they could spend time with Him and love Him and worship Him

    -- and when we broke that relationship through our sin, God sent Jesus to earth -- God became a man -- so that we would know what it meant for a man to live in perfect relationship with Him -- so we could see what it looked like -- and so that Jesus would pay the price for our sins and restore our relationship with the Father once again

    -- God loves us and wants to spend time with us -- we see that over and over again in the Bible -- but most of us don't give God the time that He wants or that He deserves -- we don't read our Bibles or pray or spend time with Him daily like we should

II. Scripture Lesson (Ex. 16:11-21)

    -- this morning, we're going to look at an event from the Old Testament that happened with the nation of Israel and see how it demonstrates just that -- how it demonstrates that God wants us to turn to Him and trust Him every day for our sustenance -- physical and spiritual

    -- before we look at the scriptures again, let me give you the context -- as you know, the nation of Israel had lived as slaves in Egypt to Pharaoh -- working on his construction projects and serving him in very poor circumstances

    -- so God sent Moses to the people of Israel and to Pharaoh with this message -- God had heard the cries of the people and was going to bring them out of Egypt and into the promised land -- and as Chapter 16 opens, we see that God has indeed brought the people out of Israel -- after the 10 plagues fell on the Egyptians, God led the people to the Red Sea and parted the Red Sea to deliver them from the advancing army of Pharaoh -- leading them to safety on dry land while Pharaoh's army was destroyed

    -- at this point, they have now crossed the Red Sea and have been wandering in the desert for several weeks -- things haven't really turned out like the people expected -- they were expecting to immediately walk into a land of milk and honey -- and instead, they are in the middle of the desert -- there's no food and there's no water -- and they start complaining and murmuring and grumbling -- they blame Moses and his brother Aaron for what's going on -- but their gripe is really against God, since Moses and Aaron were just following God's commands

    -- the problem is that the people don't have a relationship with God -- they had been in Egypt so long that they had forgotten Him -- in a sense, they had taken their Bibles and put them on the coffee table and just ignored them for hundreds of years -- and they can't go into the Promised Land until they know God -- not just know about Him -- not just know Him through Moses and Aaron -- but know Him as a real and living person -- know Him intimately as someone who loves them and cares about them -- know Him as their God and Creator and Redeemer

    -- so that brings us to verse 11 -- look again at verse 11 with me


 

    -- 11. The LORD said to Moses,

12. "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.'"


 

-- God knows our wants and our needs -- He hears us murmuring and complaining even when we aren't spending time with Him -- and so He gives us what we need -- He meets our needs so that we might recognize His hand in our lives -- so that we might recognize His presence in our lives -- God was trying to get the Israelites to look past their situation -- to look past Moses and Aaron -- and to see Him and to know Him and to experience Him in their lives


 

    -- verse 13


 

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

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

15. 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.


 

-- so God sent quail that evening, and in the morning, the Israelites woke up to find the ground covered with these tiny flakes that looked like frost -- they had never seen anything like this before -- they didn't know what it was

    -- so Moses told them, "This is the bread that God has sent you" -- in verse 31 we read that they called this bread "Manna" -- which literally means, "What is it?" in Hebrew

    -- that's the thing about God -- He always provides -- He always gives us what we need -- the problem is that God's provision in our lives doesn't always look like what we expect, and so sometimes we fail to see His hand in the miracle and continue to grumble and complain -- when we spend time with God and ask for His presence in our lives, we have to receive Him as He comes, not try to force Him to look and act like we want

    -- verse 31 goes on to tell us that the manna God provided was white, like coriander seed -- and that it tasted like wafers made from honey -- the people could eat it just like it was -- or they could boil it and cook with it and form it into loaves -- it was truly a miracle food that had never been seen before or since


 

    -- verse 16


 

16. 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.'"

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

18. 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.


 


 

-- God's plan was for each person to go out and physically gather the manna every day -- if there was someone in their tent -- in their family -- who couldn't go out and gather it themselves, then someone in their tent was to do it for them

    -- relating this to spending time with God and spending time in God's word, there's a few important principles here

    -- first, everyone has to spend time in God's word -- God wants a relationship with you -- you can't just sit back and expect someone else to just give you God's message for you and your life -- you have to take the initiative and go out and gather it in every day

    -- there is one exception to this -- God does make the provision for you to receive His word once a week from another source -- from His church -- in verses 22-29, Moses tells the people that on the sixth day of the week, they are to gather twice as much manna as normal, because they can't go out and gather it for themselves on the seventh day -- this is the Sabbath -- the time when the community was to stop work and to come together to worship the Lord corporately, together -- corporate worship and attendance to God's word is important

    -- second, another principle we see here is that if you are the spiritual leader of your home, it is your job to gather and distribute the manna for those in your home who can't gather it themselves -- your children -- your grandchildren -- those who are sick -- you need to make sure they are getting fed -- that means that you take time out of your day every day to read the Bible with them as a family reading time

     -- finally, we see that God gives us just what we need -- when we need more of His word -- when we need more of His presence -- God leads us to gather more -- to spend more time with Him -- when we need less, He leads us to spend less time with Him -- but, at the end of the day, we'll find that He has given us just what we needed


 

    -- verse 19


 

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

20. However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

21. Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.


 

-- here's the thing that really got my attention in this passage -- not only do you need to gather the manna every day -- not only do you need to be spending time with God in His word every day -- God's word indicates that you need to gather your manna first thing in the morning


 


 

III. Morning Time with God

    -- if you look at all of the great Christians -- at all the men and women of faith whose names are well-known -- those who made a difference in the world -- you'll see that they all had one thing in common -- they all made a daily habit of going to God in a quiet time first thing in the morning before they started their day

    In his book Power Through Prayer, E. M. Bounds wrote, "The men and women who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees -- When we fritter away the early morning opportunities and freshness in pursuits other than seeking God, we will make poor headway seeking him the rest of the day -- If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in last place in the evening."


 

    -- spending time with God in His word and in prayer each morning does several things for us -- first, it puts Jesus on the throne of our life -- when the first thing we do every day is to go to Jesus, it confirms that He is the most important thing in our life -- that it is to Him that we look for guidance and direction and encouragement to start the day -- not our job -- not the news -- not even our family -- but Jesus

    -- secondly, it let's Jesus set the priorities for our day -- I got to thinking about it, and I realized that every morning when I got in the shower, I immediately began to plan my day -- I thought about all I had to do that day at work and at school and at home -- and I set goals and I came up with the way things should go

    -- but that's not what we should do as Christians -- as Christians, we should start out day be going to God and asking Him to show us what is important today -- what He wants us to work on -- who He wants us to relate to -- and when we do that, we'll find our days go by easier and that we are more productive and successful

    -- God told the Israelites to do just that -- to get up every morning and start their day with Him -- to gather in the manna that He had provided for them for that day -- and it's important to note that the manna was only good for that one day -- God gave them what they needed for that day and no more -- if they tried to hoard His word -- if they tried to skip a day or plan out their own day, the manna started to rot and stink

    -- we need to gather our manna every day -- and, as it points out in here, we need to do it first thing in the morning -- doctors tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day -- if we don't take time to eat breakfast every morning, we're just not going to be as productive and energetic as we would be if we stopped and ate breakfast -- you can't get by until lunch on yesterday's food -- and you can't get by today with yesterday's communion with God

    -- I like what Hudson Taylor said about spending time with God first thing in the morning -- he wrote, "You don't tune up the instruments after the concert is over -- that's stupid -- it's logical to tune them up before you start" -- in the same way, it's stupid to take our quiet time with God at night after our day is over rather than spending time with Him first thing in the morning so He can help us get through the day


 

IV. Closing

    -- I'm going to wrap this up now and I want to issue a challenge to you -- I don't know what your private life is like -- I don't know how much time you are spending with God every day -- it could be this message was just for me -- but, if God has been speaking to you, then I want to challenge you to come along with me on this journey and let's commit to spending time with God every single day

    -- psychologists tell us it takes three weeks for us to get used to a new way of doing things and then it takes another three weeks for that new practice to become a habit -- that's why most of our New Year's resolutions never stick -- it's because we're giving up before they become part of us -- if you're going to commit to spending time with God every day, then make the commitment right now to give this at least six weeks so that you've got a fighting chance of succeeding

    -- you don't have to get up and give God two hours every morning -- just start with five minutes and let it grow from there -- all of us can find five minutes first thing in the morning to spend with God -- try to increase it and build it up to at least 15 minutes a day -- if you did 15 minutes a day, that would amount to only 1 hour and 45 minutes a week -- there's 168 hours in every week and I don't think 1 hour and 45 minutes devoted to God is too much to give

    -- let me close by giving you some suggestions about getting started on this


 

    1. Pick a specific time and place to meet with God every day -- make that your holy place -- carve out that time and place and give it totally over to God -- I'm going to recommend that you do this in the morning, because that just seems to make sense

    -- Oswald Chambers wrote, "Specific times and places and communion with God go together. It is by no haphazard chance that in every age men have risen early to pray. The first thing that marks decline in the spiritual life is our relationship to the early morning"

    -- if you don't want to see a decline in your spiritual life, go to God first thing in the morning

    2. Follow a standard plan in your quiet time:

        -- once you're in your special place at your specific time -- before you do anything else -- just sit there for a moment to center yourself and let your mind relax -- think about who it is you are coming to meet -- approach God with a sense of reverence and awe

        -- next, pray briefly -- just a quick prayer -- and ask God to speak to your heart -- ask Him to calm your spirit and make you open to His presence

        -- then, read a section of scripture -- I'd suggest following a daily reading plan but whatever you turn to or feel led to go to is fine -- there's a spiritual practice called "Lecto divina" -- it literally means, "Divine Reading" -- you read the scripture slowly -- not so much for information as for formation and union with God

        -- then, you stop and think about what you read -- you meditate on it -- were there any words that really spoke to you? -- were there any concepts or ideas that God sent your way? -- is God leading you to do something?

        -- finally, you close in prayer -- worshiping God and thanking Him for His presence -- asking Him to direct your paths -- to be with you this day -- to keep His word fresh in your mind and in your heart as you go about your day


 

    -- I encourage you to take some time this week with God -- to get serious about spending time with Him -- to get serious about letting His word feed you and sustain you through your days -- this is a challenge that I am taking up -- and I encourage you to join me in this

    -- let's pray In his book Power Through Prayer, E. M. Bounds wrote, "The men and women who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. When we fritter away the early morning opportunities and freshness in pursuits other than seeking God, we will make poor headway seeking him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in last place in the evening."

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