Good Food

Introduction: What is Your Favorite Food?

7-Food is Good.

Genesis 1:29–31 NIV

Then 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. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

11 - What makes food and eating it so Good?

For Christians one key belief about food is...

12 - Food is God’s Good Provision for Life.

In his book Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating, Norman Wirzba writes, “The Psalmist invites us to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8). The goodness of creation, its delectability, but also God’s delight in its beauty, cannot really dawn on us so long as we reduce food to a product of our own hands or turn it into a commodity for purposes of power and profit. Food is a gift of God given to all creatures for the purposes of life’s nurture, sharing, and celebration. When it is done in the name of God, eating is the earthly realization of God’s eternal communion-building love” (Norman Wirzba, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating, [Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2019], xiv). When we look at food as a duty to fasting or feasting—as something we have to do—we miss the divine beauty built into our lives, according to God’s design. Food and the process of growing and harvesting that food is a process that reveals our dependence on the land, each other, and God for sustenance.

Food shows up in the very first pages of Scripture and the very last. It impacts every aspect of our lives, and it plays a large part in the overall arc of God’s story. The human body and the food to nourish that body were created by God and declared good (Genesis 1:29–31). After the fall of humankind and the great flood, God repeats his mandate, this time adding meat in Genesis 9:3. From the feasts (Leviticus 23) to Jesus’s tendency to dine with sinners, the table has been a place that reveals the heart of God. All of this culminates with the grandest feast of all, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6–9), when all is made right and the kingdom of God is experienced in its totality.

Jesus ate his way through the Gospels.

Many of us harbor baggage or confusion about food, its sources, and its purposes. When we look beyond the ideas that food is only fuel or that food only relates to the size of our jeans, we can see God’s good and divine purpose for a God-created dependence on food. Exploring how we grow in gratitude, understanding, communion, and unity around the table helps the believer to trust in God and revel in the nourishment of mind, body, and spirit that comes from feasting at the table.

13 - Chart of God’s Provision vs. the Pagan Worldview - Y Kaufmann, H.C. Brichto

- 14 - Story of not having energy, because I just consumed food any food that tasted good. I learned a little about how to eat better so that I had better health and more energy to do what God has called me. - But that can be taken too far. We need the right view of God’s provision so we don’t take idolatrous extremes.

Idolatry - Food as our Idol - This is called Gluttony where Food is put in place of God - it is what comforts us it is what we seek to make us whole. Where as God makes us hole, and we turn to him to comfort us and he gladly gives us food for our lives to sustain us and for enjoyment.

Idolatry of Health - The other extreme - is the idolatry of health - And this is where our health becomes more important in our lives than God. Health is helpful, but it helps us serve God and others. When health becomes number 1 then we can easily fall apart when a health issue comes up, or fear living life, or even make others feel guilty. God is the provider of health, so we steward our bodies out of gratitude so that they may be vessels to love God and others, not to love health for health sake.

Idolatry of lack - Some people starve themselves for a variety of reasons - the idolatry of lack. But we do fast from time to time not to prove our spiritual superiority, but to identify with those who are in need, and to remind ourselves that food is not our God, that we live by the word of God and what He provides.

Food is not just about fueling our bodies, It has other special purposes. Food is ordinary, but sometimes when we eat a meal takes on special meaning.

What do you enjoy about having a big dinner with friends and family?

Pictures of wedding feasts, friends having coffee together, eating at a restaurant.

Meals can mark anniversary, special events, birthdays, funerals - care. There is a social, relational component to it that makes the ordinary eating of food something extraordinary.

Birthday Breakfasts with the kids.

Communion takes the ordinary food that God created, for an extraordinary celebration of the Gospel.

15 - 1. What do we remember when we celebrate Communion?

A. That God created all things, and that God provides for our lives.

16 - Do you say grace before a meal. Why do Christians do that - Grace means to give thanks. Another name for Communion is Eucharist which is a greek word meaning to give thanks. So when we say grace we are thanking God for providing for our lives good food. ONe thing we are doing in communion is remembering and giving Thanks that God has provided goodness for our life.

But of course Communion goes much further than that...

17 - Jesus is God’s Good Provision for Eternal Life.

Howard John VanderKyle - Specialness of Communion - by son-in-law Ken.

18 - 2. What do we mean that Jesus has Communion with us?

A. Just as bread and juice strengthen our bodies, so Jesus through the Holy Spirit strengthens our faith.

Jesus is alive and so he is Spiritually Present with us.

19 - We Remember, We Commune, We expect.

In Revelation 19, the time has come to celebrate. Think of the most opulent wedding reception you’ve ever experienced, multiply it by the glory of God, and you will get what is about to go down. In a culminating celebration of God and his bride, the church, now ready and pure (vv. 7–8), will be united with her Bridegroom. They will feast. Believer and Savior will eat together and live in fellowship. The final battle has been won (Revelation 19:2), and peace will reign. Charles Spurgeon writes, “There will come a day when all who have died shall have been raised, again, from the tomb, and those who remain alive shall have been changed, so that their corruption shall have put on incorruption, and mortality shall have put on immortality. Then will the Church be perfect and complete. No one member will be missing. There will be no spot or wrinkle remaining in her. Then it shall come to pass that Christ will celebrate this marriage supper, which will be the bringing of the people of God into the closest and happiest union with Christ their Lord in Glory” (C. H. Spurgeon, “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb” [sermon, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, London, August 21, 1887], Spurgeon’s Sermons, vol. 41 [1895], Christian Classics Ethereal Library website, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons41.xxxv.html

Revelation 19:6–10 NIV

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

Notice the specialness of this wedding feast.

Communion points to what we expect will happen when Jesus comes again.

25 - 3. What future do we expect as we celebrate Communion?

A. Jesus tells us to celebrate communion until he comes again, and then he will share the meal with us.

B. Jesus uses the idea of a great banquet to describe our eternal life with him.

Conclusion:

Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Catechism: Q&A 26-28, 75-82, 128 Belgic Confession: Articles 12, 35