Food to Sustain

Last week we noted Jesus’ unwavering commitment to fulfill His vocation. We saw how He viewed doing the will of God as His food – it was what sustained Him. Indeed when the devil tempted Him with food during His 40 day fast in the wilderness, He replied, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word of God.” He’s saying, though food is necessary to sustain your life, it is not sufficient in and of itself to sustain your life. Something more is needed for you to live the life that God has called you to live. Jesus says that “something more” is “every word of God.” Note it’s not just “a few words of God,” or “some words of God,” but “every word of God.” Jesus is saying that in order for you to be sustained to live the life that God has called you to live – as a man or a woman, as a husband and/or a father, as a wife and/or a mother, as a son or a daughter, as a student, as an employee or an employer – you need to know what Paul called “the whole counsel” of God’s Word. Indeed, Jesus Himself is quoting the Word of God from Deut. 8:3 to make this very point. This practice indicates not only a deep familiarity with the Word of God, but also the ability to apply it to life. Yet, as with prayer, isn’t it so often the case that the pattern of our life fails to corresponds to this necessity. If you want to live life well, faithfully fulfilling your callings, then you must make the Word of God central to your life. That is no doubt part of the reason you are here this morning. Even though, as we’ve seen in The Lord's Service, the primary purpose of the covenant renewal service is not education, nevertheless the Word of God is prominent and is intended to convey both a deep and broad understanding of Scripture and its application to your lives. Yet even this weekly diet of Scripture is not enough to sustain you. You need to build upon what you will read, and hear, and sing here this morning so that your life and the life of your family will become permeated by the Word of God. It is in this way that “every word of God” will sustain you to live the lives that God calls you to live.