But food is for life, not just for Christmas. Eating is central to who we are as human beings, and food has massive cultural significance. What we eat and how we eat it says at least as much about us as the clothes we wear.
We live in an age in which there is an abundance of food. We regard this as very normal, but historically speaking it is unusual. Pretty much all our ancestors before the 18th century would have lived with the prospect and experience of famine. Our food problems are not too little of it, but too much, and we receive all kinds of conflicting advice about what we should and shouldn’t be eating.
At a time of year when there is a particular focus upon food it is good for us to reflect about what the Bible teaches us on this subject.
1. We were made to eat
Genesis 1:29 God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”
We were created with physical needs, and were created to be dependent upon others. Every time we eat a mouthful of food it is a sign of our dependence – we depend upon shops to supply food, wholesellers to supply shops, farmers to grow food, the soil to produce food, earthworms and micro-organisms to keep the soil healthy – and ultimately all this depends upon God.
We are creatures and food is God’s grace to us. Jesus taught us to “Remember me…” Whenever we eat we should remember God’s grace to us.
2. We will always eat
Revelation 19:9 ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the lamb’
We won’t experience the same physical needs in the new heavens and earth, but food will still be important. In glory we will still want to celebrate God’s grace, and celebration always involves food.
God has given us an invitation to the greatest celebration of all – the wedding feast of the lamb.
3. Eating was our downfall
Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The first act of human disobedience involved eating. Adam and Eve preferred the forbidden fruit to God. Food is a basic human requirement but it is not to be preferred over God.
4. Food is good but it is not to be our master
Proverbs 23:20-21 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
Feasting is good, but gluttony is destructive. There are many current concerns about health and the Bible is concerned for our health too! The way to be truly healthy is to have God as our god, not food.
1 Corinthians 6:13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food” – but God will destroy them both
In eternity we will still have physical bodies and eat real food, but both will be transformed from our current experience. It does not make sense to make a god out of what is temporary. Food should be our servant, not our master; something to be enjoyed with thankfulness, and not a secret obsession.
5. Christians eat together
Sharing food is a fundamental expression of love and acceptance and Christians must practise love and acceptance! Hospitality is not a spiritual gift: All of us are to be hospitable:
Romans 12:9-13 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.
Hospitality is an essential Christian characteristic, which we are to joyfully:
1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
The reason that being hospitable can make us grumble is that it tests faith – “will we have enough” – and it tests servanthood – “am I willing to be put out.” We should not grumble, but be faithful servants and offer hospitality.
Hospitality doesn’t have to be elaborate to be meaningful:
Proverbs 15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
Also, we should extend hospitality to those beyond our normal friendship group, and especially to those who are not believers.
6. Food helps us communicate
We often use the language of food to help us express emotion. Jesus used food language to describe himself:
John 6:48-57 I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever…Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
Jesus makes a graphic point here – being a Christian is full-bodied and full-blooded. We need to feed on him. Our desire for God should be like a starving man’s desire for food:
1 Peter 2:2-3 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
7. God always makes covenant around a meal
Food is central to human experience:
• We were made to eat it
• We will eat it eternally
• We fell into sin because of it
• We need to master it
• We are meant to share it
• We couldn’t communicate without it
All this is brought together when we eat before God. God makes covenant around food because as we eat:
• We are reminded of the creator/creature relationship
• We are reminded of our need for forgiveness
• We are reminded of our connection to other people
• We are reminded of words that express what God has done for us
The Mosaic covenant was inaugurated around a meal:
Exodus 24:9-11 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
Whenever the Israelites sacrificed they also ate. Their religious celebrations were Feasts. And Jesus chose that his disciples would remember him through a meal:
1 Corinthians 11:24 “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
When we take the bread and wine we remember:
• We are not just here by chance, but we are God’s creation
• We have sinned and need forgiveness
• Jesus’ body was broken and his blood shed so that we might receive forgiveness
• When we receive God’s forgiveness we are made part of the one body
Food is a powerful reminder of the most powerful act – it gives us words to say in praise of our great Redeemer.
Happy Christmas! And happy eating! May your eating be in remembrance of Him.
Application Questions
• How does your eating need to be done more consciously in awareness of your dependence upon God and other people?
• If food is a gift of God’s grace to us, what impact should that have on our concern for how our food is produced? E.g., Is buying free range chicken a spiritual issue?
• Are you hospitable?
• Is food your master or your servant?
• In what ways does food remind you of what Jesus has done for you?
0 comments:
Post a Comment