In the physical world our sermon title is literally quite true: the various proteins and nutrients we consume today become the cells, the living body that we will have tomorrow. But the same is also true spiritually. Jesus’ teaching in John 6 may have been a “hard saying” to those who heard, but it’s an important one nonetheless: If we want more of Jesus in our lives we need to dwell more upon Him, the Living Word.

<p>In the physical world our sermon title is literally quite true: the various proteins and nutrients we consume today become the cells, the living body that we will have tomorrow. But the same is also true spiritually. Jesus’ teaching in John 6 may have been a “hard saying” to those who heard, but it’s an important one nonetheless: If we want more of Jesus in our lives we need to dwell more upon Him, the Living Word.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

You Are What You Eat


The title of our thoughts together today is, You Are What You Eat. Have you ever heard that before? You know, I think that all of us, when we were kids, we heard our parents telling us, eat your vegetables. But we didn't want to become vegetables, right? There are many times when in our diet, we have certain things the mouth, the taste buds long for, which probably aren't going to be the very best for our body.

And we struggle sometimes with our diet. I think that's probably a pretty universal struggle. Appetite, isn't it? But you know, it's not just a physical struggle we face, it's also a spiritual struggle we face. Because just as we are what we eat physically, we are also what we eat spiritually.

Now, I remember that saying as a kid, you are what you eat. And, you know, I thought it was sort of cute and clever and whatever, you know, if you eat healthy food, you'll be healthy, that type of thing. You know, garbage in, garbage out. But I never really, it never really, really struck me until I began to understand a little bit, and I emphasize the little bit, about nutrition and assimilation and the body's use of our food. And the more I've learned about this, the more fascinated I've become.

And the more I've come to really believe the truth of the saying, you are what you eat. In fact, in reality, The person that we see, not the person, but at least the body that we see today, is the sum or the result of what we've eaten. In fact, some people have told me, some who have been involved in surgery and using the, the, you know, what do you call the, the, now my mind's drawing a blank, my wife should be giving this lecture, carterized, carterite type of thing, you know, Yeah, they say that as they burn the flesh that different people smell differently, depending, in part at least, on what they largely eat. I thought that was remarkable. I thought that was very, very fascinating.

And as I began reading more about it, I began to realize that in fact the very nutrients that we eat and that we ingest become a part of our body. Let's just take the digestion and assimilation of proteins as an example. Proteins are used by the body for the repairing and building of cells. And so this is very essential for our life, for our daily living, and for our continued life. And So this digestion happens, it begins in the mouth as we're chewing.

There's certain things that begin mixing with our food. And as it goes into the stomach, we have hydrochloric acid and pepsinogen interacting with our food to help break down the proteins. There's also a process called hydrolysis, very interesting, where actually water gets between amino acids and begins breaking them up. Just water, something very, very simple. And as this digestion happens in the stomach, it then moves into the small intestine and there are pancreatic enzymes that are secreted to help this digestion.

And from the stomach, this food goes into the small intestine where the breakdown continues until these proteins are just amino acids that are small enough that they can actually be absorbed through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream. Very, very fascinating. These amino acids then go throughout our bloodstream to where they are needed by the cells for the repair and the building of those cells. And not just for the repair and building of those cells. Those amino acids actually themselves become the next generation, if I'm understanding it right, they actually become our RNA and DNA, which in turn direct the cells in the use of amino acids for the repair and structure.

So that in fact, the very food that I ate becomes my skin cells that you're seeing. The very food that I ate becomes the hair that you're seeing. It becomes the fingernails. It's an amazing fact that we actually are what we eat. And what's even more amazing is that my wife and I can sit down at the same meal and eat the same food, eat the same proteins, the same amino acids, the same process takes place in each 1 of us, but her hair comes out black and mine comes out brown.

Isn't that amazing? Because of those DNA codes that tell the cells what to do with the nutrients and the enzymes, the proteins that we've ingested. And so, in a very real sense, we are what we eat. Now, proteins are just 1 of the nutrients that we eat. We also have carbohydrates, and this is involved most simply in the energy that we use.

We also have fats, and well, we know where those go when we eat them, right? But the fact is that we are what we eat. And as I was thinking about this, I was thinking about this miracle of the assimilation of what we eat into becoming who we are. The words of Jesus took on a new meaning to me. Again in John 6, our Scriptures, verses 51 and 52, And Jesus says here, this is the bread which comes down from heaven, that 1 should eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." Now, as Jesus spoke these words, He is teaching us the profound truth that just like in physical life, our longevity and our life is dependent upon the food that we eat, so it is also true in spiritual life. What we feed our soul with determines our health and our destiny. If we are going to feed our soul with the things of God, if we will imbibe of Jesus and His words, we will have eternal life.

It's very simple. Jesus' words caused great consternation to His listeners. In fact, this was probably the most controversial sermon Jesus ever preached. As He preached this sermon to the multitudes, many of them, the Bible records, heard His words and they turned away and followed Him no more. Because Jesus says, eat my flesh and drink my blood, and they said, what are you talking about?

We can't, what? What kind of a gross preacher are you? Eat my flesh and drink my blood? And it was overwhelming to them. But what Jesus was saying, He was not saying that we should literally be eating of His human flesh and blood.

He was saying that you have to take Me in entirely and break Me down and assimilate Me and Have Me become you. That's what He's saying. In fact, He says in a few verses later, John 6, and verse 63, it is the Spirit that gives life. Who gives life? The flesh profits nothing.

The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life. Jesus was not talking literally about his physical body, but about his spiritual body that he was presenting before them. He is called the living word, right? The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And as He invites us to eat His flesh and drink His blood, He is asking us to take His sayings into our hearts, into our lives, not just into our presence.

You know, you can have food on a table, and you can look at the food on the table, and you can smell the food on the table, and you can examine the food on the table. You could write foodie articles about the food on the table. You could get all the recipes for the food on the table. You could have all the photographs and the pictures, and maybe someday they'll be able to attach scents to those pictures, I don't know. You could know everything about food, but it does you no good, unless it becomes a part of you.

Unless it enters that digestive process. Unless it becomes broken down to its basic components, and then assimilated into the life of the soul. You see, my friends, it's not just enough to know about Jesus. We must taste and see that the Lord is good. It's not just enough to be able to describe all the Word of God, and the teachings of God, and the truth of God.

It's for that truth to become internalized into our hearts, so that it actually becomes to flow out of our lives. Because we've been taking of Jesus, and Jesus is becoming a permeating influence in every cell of our body, our spiritual body, our soul, so that our thoughts become of Him. Our thoughts turn naturally to Him. We speak lovingly of Him out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Is that not true?

Oh, that's what I want. I want more of Jesus. And the only way to have more of Jesus in my life is to take in more of Jesus through the windows, the portals of my soul. To spend time with Him, to spend time with His Word, to spend time in prayer. And as we do so, it's an amazing thing that happens, far more amazing even than the miracle and the mystery of digestion and absorption in the physical body.

As we spend time with Jesus, an amazing thing happens. You see, you and I might read the exact same Bible verse, but as our spiritual DNA is being cleansed by the very Word of God that we're reading. And as we're getting that new heart, the Holy Spirit is taking those nutrients from the Word of God and applying them in different places. So just like my hair may be brown and yours may be a different color. When you and I read the same verse, the Holy Spirit is able to take those same thoughts and make something entirely different out of them.

Isn't it amazing? And it's the reason that the Bible never becomes old and stale and dry. Because no matter how many times we've read a verse with that DNA of the Holy Spirit there to break it down for us and to put it where it needs to go, there's a new situation in our life, a new circumstance we find ourselves in, a new way in which we ought to be more like Jesus, that the Holy Spirit is able to teach us. Oh, I'm so thankful that God invites us to partake of Him. Aren't you?

The Bible says, Jesus says in John 6, John 6, our Scripture today, He says, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. He says in v. 51, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live... Did you catch that?

How will he live? He will live forever. Now talking about a good diet, eternal life. John would say it a little differently, but the same idea in the 1st John chapter 5 when he says, he that has the Son has life. That's the only way we find life, is eating, partaking of Jesus, allowing Him to become a part of us, allowing His Word to change our lives, allowing Him to permeate us and to live through us.

Today, we have the privilege of participating in the communion service. This is after the example of Jesus, who gathered His disciples together on that last supper in the upper room. They broke bread together, they drank the juice of the vine together, and they had also a time of humbling, as Jesus gave them an example of washing their feet. Today we have the opportunity to follow Jesus' example, And this ceremony is not something that of itself has any spiritual efficacy. In fact, just eating this communion bread or drinking this communion wine is not going to make us a spiritual person, but if it symbolizes what we are experiencing in our hearts, of taking Jesus into our lives, of opening our hearts to assimilate His Word, digest His Word and assimilate it and make it a very part of who we are, if it is symbolizing our experience, this is a very meaningful, meaningful ceremony indeed.

I hope that as we observe this today, that you with me will long for more of Jesus. That we can once again open our hearts to His love, to His word, to his teaching, and that he can indeed become a very part of every bit of our spiritual life, that he can be the nutrition, that he can be what people see of who we are. Adventists believe in an open communion service, and so if you are a believer in Jesus Christ as your savior from sin, whether you're a member of this church or not, we invite you to join us in this ceremony. And before we take of the Lord's Supper, we are going to have a foot washing. And this will be in, over at the school.

And so the men will be in classroom grades 5 and 6, the women in first and second, and the families in the seventh and eighth grade classroom. And as you return, I would invite you to be seated in every other row so that it would facilitate the service of the community. Let's bow our heads as we pray. Father in heaven, today we just thank You for Jesus. We thank You that He invites us to partake of Him, to take of His life, and that that life can become our own.

Lord, we need more of Jesus in our hearts and lives. We need more of His Spirit. We need a DNA change called conversion. We need the life of Jesus to be seen in our lives. And so as we take of this communion service, I just want to pray for each 1 here, that we might indeed be drawn closer to the 1 who gave Himself, His body, for us.

That as we partake of the bread and wine following our ordinance of humility, that we might indeed be opening our hearts even a little more fully to the nutrition that comes from reading and studying and obeying, following, surrendering to the living Word. We thank you for His love. We thank you for His grace. We thank you for His body that was broken for us and His blood that was spilled. And in His wonderful name we pray, amen.

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You Are What You Eat

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