Jesus is… Your Source!
We have been going through our Jesus Is series all of December and it has been great. This past weekend we presented the gospel through our Jesus Is Christmas Program and it was absolutely amazing. Everyone worked so hard and the final product was a success. The gospel was preached, Jesus was glorified and people responded in faith.
Although our series has primarily been focused around the Christmas story this thought crossed my mind this past week, “Jesus is your source”. When you first hear that you might immediately think yes, Jesus is my source of strength, my source of provision, my source of salvation, etc. All of these things are good and true but this is not the source I was thinking about at the time.
You see Jesus is our source of those things and He is our source for everything. I love the way John puts it, “I am the way and the truth and the life”(John 14:6). This claim Jesus made is a powerful claim of being our ultimate source, especially in the area of knowing God. In the Old Testament God declared in Exodus 3:14, “I am who I am”. Wow talk about the ultimate source! Everything we need is found in The Lord Jesus Christ.
The fact that He is our source for everything means that he is our source for both natural needs and spiritual needs. Look at this verse in 2 Peter 1:3, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence”. Who is our source for natural needs and spiritual needs, for natural food and for spiritual food. Jesus is our source!
We must come to this full understanding as Christ followers because if not we have a funky understanding of where our spiritual food comes from. To be completely honest it is amazing to me how many people cry out to God for their natural needs, financial provision, food, job, spouse, etc. Yet when it comes to spiritual things such as a deeper understanding of scripture, prophetic word, word of wisdom, direction for their life, etc that they rely on a man or more specifically a pastor. Do pastors and Christians play a part in your spiritual walk and can God’s direction come from and through them? Yes, absolutely it can! But a pastor or another believer is not responsible for making sure you get feed spiritually, that is your personal responsibility. 1 Timothy 4:7 says, “exercise YOURSELF toward godliness” and in Philippians 2:12, “workout your OWN salvation with fear and trembling”.
The majority of the time the problem of getting fed or not getting fed spiritually does not reflect on the preacher, leaders, staff or church (entity). It more than likely reflects on the inability of the one who attends on Sunday to take the ingredients (the message) home and prepare a spiritual meal for them and their household. Or worse yet the inability of the person who on Sunday was given a prepackaged meal and they cannot even lift the fork to their mouth and eat it. I am not speaking of those who have just come to Christ, as I understand the dynamic of discipleship. Last time I checked however, there are not too many “Baby Christians” saying, “this place just cannot feed me spiritually”.
The reality is this. No matter what denomination, church, tribe or whatever you are a part of, all leaders and pastors have heard at some point in their life, “I do not feel like this church is feeding me spiritually” and unless the church is preaching heresy I completely disagree with that statement!
If we believe the truth we find in Matthew 16:17-19 that Christ is building HIS church and the truth we find in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 we understand that we are members of a larger body being set in to the right place by HIM. In other words I am at this church, this place, this city because this is where Jesus has placed me. The problem really becomes the way we view church. Too many of us view church like a Hometown Buffet rather then a local grocery store (simplistic analogy for the purpose of this blog. Yes, the church is more than a grocery store).
At a Hometown Buffet we might all have our favorites and it has a little something for everyone. Not only that, it’s all you can eat! Get there, get in, get filled, get fat and be out in an hour. You go there with one purpose, to get a variety of precooked (overcooked, sitting under a warmer forever) meal and to eat all you can so you’re nice and full. No work required for this one, just in and out and filled for days! This is how many view church. Come get in, wow me pastor, give me some “glory bombs” some “golden nuggets of wisdom” some “Holy Ghost rabbit trails” and I’ll be riding high off that for a couple of days… Now that is being fed spiritually! As you are reading this you might be that person but of course no one would admit to that.
The local grocery store on the other hand is the place you go to pick up food, spices and other ingredients that you can then take home and begin to mix together and prepare a meal for you and your family (last time I checked the FDA claims that this is a much healthier way to eat). Here you can get a lot for a lot less and if you are in a hurry you can pick up a pre-cooked meal every now and then. The purpose of the grocery store though is so you can get what you needed and be feeding off of it for weeks (especially if you shop at Costco). This to me is more like what I believe church should be like. A place where people come hungry and leave with the wisdom and tools they need to make spiritual meals all week long. We should not leave church fat, full and happy but rather with bags full of things we are excited to put together to feed those we love and care about. And yes from time to time pick up a really good pre-cooked meal.
As a pastor I see myself more like a grocery store manger rather than a master chef. I just keep providing a nice clean environment with stocked shelves of food and necessities as well as baskets and carts so people will come and leave with what they need. They will come hungry, learn about Jesus and leave even hungrier for Him. When they leave however, they will leave with the tools they need to meet with Him on a daily basis so they can grow.
I am not your source, I am not your iron chef and I am not your Sunday morning celebrity pastor. I am simply a local grocery store manager giving you the place and things you need to connect with JESUS, your source.
Blessings
Ben Brinkman
