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The second major problem with believing in the right to accessible teaching is that it's not how Jesus taught. Jesus was compelling, but he was not always clear. He spoke in parables for the express purpose of making the message more difficult to understand. There were numerous times when even his closest followers had to ask him what he meant because they couldn't figure it out. Jesus' example should point us in the direction of being provocative and compelling, but not necessarily easily accessible. Jesus' method of teaching points away from the "being fed" mentality. Jesus placed food in front of people, but it was more like crab legs than applesauce. If people wanted to be filled from his words, they had to work for it. They had to stick with it, deal with the difficulties, and be patient. Jesus gave people what they needed for sustenance, but he didn't put it in a bottle for them.

"Being fed" is also toxic because it allows people to believe that amassing knowledge translates directly to spiritual growth. Jesus' teaching and example, and the rest of Scripture are replete with the call to good deeds and obedience. All the knowledge in the world does not lead to Christian maturity. Yet if people are not displaying the fruit of a real faith, most of the time our solution is to feed them more. We suppose that if we can just cram enough sustenance down their throats it has to eventually result in some kind of action. Unfortunately, more and more food without action just leads to spiritual obesity. The longer someone lives in this state, and the more obese they become, the more unlikely it is that their continual feeding will ever result in anything. I was at a conference recently where a speaker compared the state of much of the church in the West to "obese babies with milk running out of the corners of their mouths." This picture is shocking, but sadly true.

So what should be done about this? For starters, we need to begin expecting that as people grow in faith they will be increasingly capable of feeding themselves. The United States is a place where the Bible is accessible in multiple translations; there are endless resources to help in explaining Scripture, and if we step back from our overloaded schedules to set priorities, we can meet with other believers to help feed each other. Some may be concerned that there will be people who choose not to feed themselves, which will cause their faith to suffer. Can you imagine Jesus, the man who taught things so difficult that most of his followers left, feeling a great deal of sympathy if that happens? Maybe people need to wean from the spiritual bottle so that they are confronted with the importance and validity of their faith.

Second, Christ will feed us as we participate with him in his redemption of the world. Jesus said his food was to do the will of the Father. As we do the will of God, which is revealed in Christ and through the Holy Spirit, we will be well fed by Christ. Participating with Jesus in the spiritual and physical redemption of the world will be more satisfying to our spiritual appetite than passively consuming words from a speaker. As we develop friendships where spiritual questions are shared, growth will naturally take place. We will be forced to seek out answers to questions we've never considered and through that process our faith will grow. We will be feeding ourselves.