A Time For Feasting/Fellowship
Luke • Sermon • Submitted
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33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ”
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Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Food is a means whereby we are able to worship God, Love God, Love others and thereby serve, obey and glorify GOD.
We could say that another way. Fasting and or Feasting/Fellowshipping are merely means whereby we are able to worship God, Love God, Love others and thereby serve, obey and glorify GOD.
Last week I mentioned that there are times when it is necessary and appropriate to fast and pray and just weeks prior to that, we looked at Christ’s example of spending time in silence and solitude, as He went out into desolate places and prayed. So there is certainly a time and place for Solitude, Fasting and Prayer. Jesus was not teaching against fasting, He was teaching that there is an appropriate time for doing so, and there are times when it is not appropriate to do so.
This week however, we are going to continue that train of thought, which incidentally is more of the main message the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write down for us.
The main lesson Jesus was teaching in Luke 5:33-39 is the appropriateness and timing of feasting and fellowshipping together. Lord willing we will get a good understanding of the When, Where, Why and How of Feasting and Fellowship, as we consider the words of Jesus Christ, as He ministered to the crowds and the disciples.
Determining the appropriate response to situations and events ought to always be Spirit lead, as the Spirit guides us and counsels us in His ways, by the Word of God and as He uses the encouragement and edification that comes from other members of the body of Christ in our lives.
Can we agree that Feasting is about Fellowship?
Fellowship is a large part of us being created in image of God.
God desires fellowship. He desires relationship. In the beginning, God makes a statement that shows us that it is not good for man to be alone.
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
The “When” of feasting, in other words the appropriate and God pleasing time for our feasting is taught throughout the Old and the New testaments of the Scriptures.
TO summarize what we find in Scripture is that we ought to “feast/fellowship with rejoicing” anytime there is a cause or reason for celebration of the work of Christ and the blessings of God.
For example:
Sabbath- Weekly- For remembrance of God as Creator and to Rest
Passover Feast- Annually in the Spring- For remembrance of Salvation
First Fruits- Annually in the Spring for Dedication of His blessings/Thanksgiving.
Weeks- Annually in the Spring- for Dedication to the Lord
Trumpets- Annually in the Fall for Spiritual Preparation
Day of Atonement- Annually in the Fall for God’s Redemption
Booths- Annually in the Fall- For remembrance of God’s Guidance
We can and should and will celebrate the work that He has done, is doing and will do in our lives.
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Worship, Celebration and Obedience to God is the primary goal of all that we think, say and do.
It is the chief end of man to glorify God by enjoying Him forever!
1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Practice the Presence of God- Brother Lawrence
Desiring God- Piper
Experiencing God- Blackaby
Life Together- Bonhoeffer
“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community . . . . Let him who is not in community beware of being alone . . . .
Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.”
The Normal Christian Life- Watchman Nee
Read excerpt from pg 142-143
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Feasting/Fellowshipping are merely means whereby we are able to worship God, Love God, Love others and thereby serve, obey and glorify GOD.
God’s own happiness arises from that reflective image and participation in his own beauty. This reflection and participation happens when people behold God’s glory, highly esteem and love it, and rejoice in it.
It also happens when people carry out his love in the world, testifying of it to others, and displaying supreme respect for God.
When a creature made by God does all these things, it is the same as saying that the creature is exalting God as his chief good and making God his supreme end.
Edwards, Jonathan. The End for Which God Created the World: Updated to Modern English (pp. 211-212). Glory Focus (www.gloryfocus.com). Kindle Edition.
34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Lord, help us to rejoice and celebrate appropriately as a cheerful friend of the Bridegroom, bringing glory to Your name and Honor to Your bride.