Corn Flakes.  Really???

One of the bosses that I used to work for would tease that he could prepare a dish when his wife was away.  He could prepare a dish of corn flakes.  Of course, it was a joke.  Nobody would consider pouring milk over a dish of corn flakes as food preparation and nobody would insult their guests at a dinner party with a bowl of corn flakes when they are expecting a casserole, salad, and something cooked in the oven with meat in it, be it beef, chicken, pork, or one of our favorites in Wyoming, antelope.  What would you say if you were new to a community and the pastor invited you over for a bowl of corn flakes?  You would probably say something like this, “Corn flakes.  Really???”

So then why is it the big thing in our day and age to go to church to receive a corn flake sermon?  People want a dish filled with milky stories of work and school and politics and family life on Sunday morning.  I am not saying those are bad things to talk about.  After all, they are the corn flake experiences everyone encounters in our world 6 days a week.  But shouldn’t we all desire a platter heaped with extraordinary and out of this world delicacies when we come to church to worship the Almighty God?  Woe to those pastors that spend all week in the corn flake world only to dish their experiences of the world back out to their sheep on Sunday morning with a sweet glaze of superficial grace or maybe some chopped up fruits of the Spirit to give it appeal.  “Corn flakes.  Really???”

Let’s get this straight.  Sunday is only one day a week.  After 6 long days in the corn flake world, we should be anticipating a sermon that has been simmering in the word of God for 2,000 years and is just now ready to be served up Sunday morning as a wholesome and satisfying spiritual meal. Yes, we will have some corn flakes from this world in there too, but only after they are crushed and baked with that main dish of theology, dripping in a hot pan of succulent promises of salvation, seasoned with a sprinkle of sanctifying salt, and wafting an aroma of amazing grace throughout the sanctuary.  Come and be filled.  Come and be satisfied.  Come and enjoy the Godly and heavenly delicacies you long for 6 days a week.  Just don’t come for corn flakes.  Really!

“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”  1 Corinthians 1:22-24

“For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  But solid food belongs to those who

are of full age…” Hebrews 5:13-14