Yesterday during our Associational Prayer meeting someone brought up the subject of overeating. I don’t understand how that happens in a Baptist meeting, but it did. I quickly passed over the subject to talk about God Prefers FAT Christians. At least it made me feel better.
Tonight I am here to bring you some great news! God prefers FAT Christians! Now if you stop listening here, you are going to miss the entire point of tonight’s message, so stay with me. The rest of the story is that God prefers FAT Christians when FAT is an acronym for FAITHFUL, AVAILABLE AND TEACHABLE!
Joni and I recently began a new diet. We look at the sugar content for everything we eat and we are trying to drastically reduce the amount of sugar intake to try to lose weight. When we are serious about our health, one of the things we look at is labels on foods to see if they contain things that are healthy or not to determine if we should allow them into our bodies. Suppose that God placed a label on each of us describing our FAT content. Where do you think you would be on a percentage scale of zero to 100? 2%, 10%, 50% or more? Do you think that this church would consider you healthy and something that they want to allow in the Body? Before you answer that question, let’s look at some characteristics of those attributes for FAT Christians after we pray together.
FAITHFUL
Let’s begin with FAITHFUL. When I think of faithful people, I immediately look at Hebrews 11 and what is considered the Hall of Faith in the Bible. Turn there with me. The writer of Hebrews begins by giving us his definition of faith. (Read Hebrews 11:1-2)
Then in verses that follow, we read, “by faith, Abel; Enoch; Noah; Abraham; and on and on. Does anyone wonder if any of these people would have been remembered or mentioned had they not been faithful? Look at verse 6.
This definition of faith relates to our belief system. Do you really believe that God created everything? Do you truly believe? That is a question that only you and God can answer. The answer to that question will determine all the rest of your belief system.
Faithful can also mean dependable. There is a severe shortage of commitment in our churches these days. I don’t know if you have served on the nominating committee lately, but ask someone who has about the commitment level at your church. When I was in the local church, there were lots of times when folks would commit to something and never show up. That is also true in the work of the Association. We desperately need committed workers to come on board with the Kingdom work we are attempting to do through the Georgia Association. Considering the two definitions given, how faithful would you say you are? How faithful would God say you are? That’s just the first part of being FAT Christians.
AVAILABLE
God also prefers AVAILABLE Christians. I think that availability is a prerequisite to faithfulness. So many times God is attempting to communicate with us or wanting to use us for His work and all he gets is a busy signal. Now I know something about being busy. We are all busy these days and most of us are busy doing good things. Some are busy doing church things. But we must make some time in our busy schedules to communicate with God and that includes listening to Him. In most cases, this requires a major change in our time management.
According to George Barna’s research, the average Christian spends about 1 minute a day in prayer. The average pastor spends about 5 minutes a day. What if you only spent 1 minute a day talking to your wife or husband? Or even 5 minutes. What kind of relationship would you have?
Not only do we need to be available to God for prayer, but we also need to be available to put feet to those prayers. How many times do we pray for God to help someone and never make an effort to help them ourselves? When we spend time listening to God, He will give us instructions that He expects us to carry out. The Bible is like His “to do” list to us, but most of us don’t spend any time studying what it says. We depend on the pastor, Sunday School teacher, or someone else to tell us what it says. We need to make more time available for reading His Word.
Then there is our availability to work in His kingdom. We could camp out here, but let me simply say, “If you want to know how many workers are available in this body of believers, serve on the nominating committee one year.” We have become Christians who want to be served instead of being serving Christians. Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.” There’s an example we can follow and it would revolutionize our churches and our personal lives. How available would you say you are? How available would God say you are? So that’s two parts of being FAT Christians.
TEACHABLE
STUDY
Finally, I want to tell you that God prefers Christians who are TEACHABLE. You’ve heard folks say that the best time to hire anybody is when they are teenagers and know everything. That indicates that most teenagers do not have a teachable spirit, but I’m afraid that applies to many adults, too. What does it mean to have a teachable spirit? Let me mention five characteristics of a teachable Christian and I’m done. First, a teachable Christian studies God’s Word. (I heard that somewhere before!)
I’m going to give you several scriptures to write down and read later on studying God’s Word and also share a couple of key scriptures with you. Read Deuteronomy 17:18-20 and Acts 17:11 when you get a chance. My favorite verse on studying God’s word is found in II Timothy 2:15. “Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” Paul encouraged young Timothy to study. He also led by example. How much time do you spend studying God’s Word?
PAY ATTENTION
Second, a teachable Christian is attentive. How many of you have ever heard the phrase, “You never listen to me!” I hope you realize that most of us are terrible listeners. Instead of hearing what the other person is saying, we’re busy thinking about what we are going to say next. And in most cases, we want our story to be better than theirs. In Matthew 13:16-17 Jesus says to us, “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. For assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” Are you listening?
SEEK
Third, a teachable Christian seeks God. “And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” says the Lord…Jeremiah 29:13-14. Lately, I get the feeling that many who attend church on Sunday morning don’t think about God or church again until the next Sunday morning. Then they wonder why God isn’t blessing them. We need to practice seeking God. He has the ability to speak to us through TV, friends, work, many different ways, but we have to be seeking in order to recognize Him in every situation in life. Check out Proverbs 2:3-6 for a better understanding of the kind of seeking that God wants.
BE HUMBLE
Fourth, a teachable Christian is humble. Most of you can remember the Mac Davis song from some years back, “Oh Lord, It’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way!” We laugh at it still, but there is some truth to the song. I’m not suggesting that any of us think we are perfect but pretty close. Right? It is very difficult for us to apologize even when we know we were wrong. It goes against everything that society teaches us today. Proverbs 11:2 tells us, “When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.” So does that mean that there aren’t very many wise Christians?
STAY MEEK
Fifth, a teachable Christian is meek. James 3:13, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” Who do you think of when you think of someone who is meek? Do you consider meekness to be a weakness? God doesn’t think so.
People are rarely truly interested in learning from others; they are more interested in defending their position. Most will staunchly defend their position in the face of all of the evidence to the contrary. That is pride at work. Such people cannot learn because they are always trying to convince others rather than receive instruction. How teachable are you? How teachable would God say you are?
The labels are printed, our FAT content will be revealed. Maybe not this side of heaven, but God already knows and one day everybody else will, too. How are you doing? The world and the church would be much better if there were more FAT Christians.
MAYBE I TOUCHED A NERVE
All this talk about FAT could have stirred up some feelings of anxiety because you are dealing with an eating disorder like over 30 million Americans including me. I have found a great bio-hacking product that helps you lose weight while you sleep. Maybe this will help you as well. If it does, please let me know and be sure to share it with others. It has changed the lives of so many.
We are here to make the World a Better Place. And while hopes and prayers are effective; nothing beats true Resources applied to the Hopes and Prayers. CONTACT US for more details and to become a larger part of the “Pay It Forward” Online Community that we are all about.
