On Super Bowl Sunday we had a few friends over, and they brought snacks. Good snacks. One in particular stuck out to me because I had never had it before — and, man, was it tasty! My wife made a point to get the recipe, and the creator of this exquisite treat even blessed us with a jar of the key ingredient the following Sunday.
My guess is that you, too, can recall certain meals that were “out of this world.” Maybe your ordered it at a restaurant, or friends fixed it for you when they had you over for dinner, or your spouse surprised you with a new tasty dish. Whatever the case, you remember the meal because it was exceptional.
That’s how some sermons have stuck with me. Having attended church as well as other Christian institutions and conferences all my life, I’ve heard thousands of sermons. But I can count on two hands the ones that have stuck with me over the years.
One such sermon came to mind today as I was reading Numbers 5. It’s an odd passage that describes a certain ritual a married couple is to undertake with the priest if the husband suspects his wife of adultery but can’t prove it. This “test” is described in Numbers 5:11-31, if you care to read it.
Fourteen years ago, this text went from becoming a “weird passage” to an unforgettable, gospel-centered meal as Dr. Ligon Duncan preached it at the 2007 Shepherds Conference in a sermon titled “Purity in the Camp.” (To listen to his sermon, click here.)
But this article isn’t really about that sermon or about any of the other ones that I can recall. It’s actually about the ones I can’t.
Can you remember what you ate for lunch last Thursday? How about dinner on December 9? In most cases we can’t recall past meals because they’re not exceptional, they’re ordinary. But ordinary meals give us the sustenance we need to survive.
The same is true spiritually when it comes to feeding on Scripture. While faithful pastors work hard to serve us satisfying meals from the word of God, we don’t remember most of them, because they’re not exceptional. But they give us the nutrition we need, along with our daily Bible reading, in order to stay spiritually healthy.
In the New Testament, Jesus reiterated a truth from the Old Testament, saying, “The scripture says 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'.” (Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3) A steady diet of Scripture gives us the nutrition we need to sustain our spiritual life. Every once in a while we will enjoy an exceptional meal, but it’s our normal daily diet that keeps us spiritually alive.
That’s why the Old Testament saint Job testified, “I have not departed from [the Lord’s] commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food” (Job 23:12).
Is this your testimony?