JULY 26
Great congregation, Holy convocation
July 26: Welcome to our Table: Deity Dietary Dialogue Pt 2 – Maghan
This month, our theme has been Great Congregation, Holy Convocation. What does that mean? GATHERING!
PREVIOUS WEEKS REVIEW
Week one: Caleb talked about how God is in the midst of us and “choosing to partake in holy convocations for your vacations will change your WORLD”. Which I think is a great way to challenge our perception of is God in the midst? Even in our vacation time, choosing to spend time with God, in His word, in prayer, being affirmation zone tone-setters and relational GO getters – Yes Biblically vacations in a major way are intended to get more time with God including exercising Biblical Soul Winning wisdom.
Week two: Esther spoke on more and more: Mega return policy part 1 with 2 major factors: Jesus IS coming back and we don’t know what it will look like when he does…...so let’s gather more and more. Hebrews 10:25
Week three: Caleb spoke to us about Mega return policy part 2, talking to us about Dispensational Premillennialism. That there is a rapture, then the great tribulation, then the millennium, then the new heaven and the new earth. It’s what we believe is God’s timeline is. So we are in the time of preparation, we can continue to study the word and be prepared, as the oily virgins were prepared!
Week four, Phil spoke to us on Normal to be Formal and asked a great question, “have you ever thought how you might wipe away God’s tears?” God gets sad by things we do, When we respond as God desires, He is happy and He desires us to gather. Obeying God particularly when we choose to gather - that might seem formal to some however just because something’s formal doesn’t mean it’s not full of life, laughter and blessing.
Week five Shona spoke on part 1 of Welcome to the table: Deity Dietary Dialogue, emphasis on the deity dialogue, and Shona established that the God of the Bible is the one true Holy loving, living and enlightening God, indeed the only God and being just that - GOD - HE knows best in general and also in terms of what is healthy dialogue. Indeed this supreme being created dialogue because he’s all about relationship
Today we have part two which focuses on the dietary dialogue in the context of God’s Deity!
Through these previous weeks, our team has established that God: Father, Son & Holy Spirit has determined that Gathering is central to relationship and that dialogue is key to stimulating gatherings where relationship flourishes.
It’s important to note that the word of God outlines a raft of ways that the partaking of food is a God-ordained platform for generating such dialogue. So when it comes to our topic today, "Welcome to our table with an emphasis on dietary dialogue, God being the supreme being knows best as to what the optimum diet is, both in the supernatural and the natural. After all, who invented food???
So speaking of food orientated dialogue from a Biblical perspective we are going to look at 4 key things, say these after me;
1. The food Table
2. Types of food
3. Food Topics
4. Food Plans
The food table: a keynote Biblical place to gather
Gathering at the table and joining in a meal with others is Biblical.
Isaiah 21:5:Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint the shield!
Luke 11:37: And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat.
John 12:2:There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.
Luke 24:30:Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Nehemiah 5:17-18: And at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us.Now that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in spite of this I did not demand the governor’s provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people.
1 Kings 4:27: And these governors, each man in his month, provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table. There was no lack in their supply.
Growing up, I would watch tv or movies and in those movies and shows the kids, typically, despised eating dinner at the table with the family, in many of those scenes, they look so bored and disengaged, is it any wonder that so many people lack in dialogue skills!?!? But that’s not how God wants the dinner table to be.
One thing that anyone will experience when they walk into the Smith home, which is the family I married into, is an awesome meal at the table! We will squeeze in people so everyone can fit! It’s a welcoming environment with good food and good, intentional, affirming, inclusive and interactive conversation. We had a friend who recently joined us for Mother’s Day lunch. Sadly, she lost her mother a few years ago, so the day is hard for her, but she came and loved getting to spend time with a family that actually is a family. She experienced the jokes, the appreciation, the banter and even the intensity. She specifically said “a family that actually talks to one another...and ACTUALLY wants to hear what you have to say!?!?”
There are SO many ways you can transform dinner table experiences, one of the awesome things that we’ve been actively using lately is what we call the "Salt and pepper shaker game".
Here’s a clip HANDY LINK
As you can see this game is engaging, it gives space for people to be heard, and it’s fun and interactive, again, the food table is a place where we are meant to gather and it be engaging, relationship building.
As per the list above, scripture is showing us how gathering together at the table, sharing a meal, is Biblical. The Nehemiah reference states “there were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials”...150 people, at the table, so let’s not limit the size of our table either!! It is a great gathering place, that is universal for the world, gathering at the table for community AND FOOD! Let’s not forget about the food!
Types of food
Natural food was created by God to sustain us. God tells Noah in Genesis 9:3 “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs” That’s a lot of food!! Every! Moving! Thing! He even says have some greens with your meat (meat scale anyone?). So, I think it’s smart to suggest that God wants us to enjoy the bounty He has created for us, and that means ALL the bounty.
Taste and see that the Lord is good, Psalm 34:8. We believe that healthy food/healthy diets are not just about the biological breakdown of the various vitamins and omega threes, etc, that understanding can be helpful and knowing what your macros are can be helpful to eat healthily, but taste is a part of what stimulates healthy dialogue and relationship as well as over all health, plus conversation around the table also enhances health as does making the dialogue inclusive of the one true deity, saying grace, sharing testimonies, raising prayer requests, discussing fresh revelation, etc. In fact our taste can GROW - both in the natural and the supernatural
When we have delicious, good food, it brings joy, we want to share in it!! God’s plan for food, from the start, was for it to be enjoyed! Food was part of God’s plan, (it wasn’t an apple tree), from the very beginning.
So, not only does God provide natural sustenance, He also provides supernatural sustenance. Throughout scripture, references to the natural food and also, the supernatural food. Often times showing how the natural food is good but how the supernatural food is even better for us. 1 Tim 4:8: For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
Check out this slide: (play slide)
Food topics
As mentioned earlier, sometimes people do not want to have a meal at the table, and at times it can be avoidance of weighty matters. Similarly, many grow up without this round the table opportunity to develop their dialogue skills and capacity to develop intelligent informed hearty dialogue. This results in even a total lack of awareness that hearty counsel is a Biblical antidote to pride.
Prov 13:10: Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well-advised is wisdom.
Proverbs 1:5: A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.
Talking about weighty matters around the table doesn’t have to be heavy. Heart discussion doesn’t have to be heavy discussions, but fruitful and relationship building.
So here are some weighty topics!:
DOCTRINE OF DEMONS
1 Tim 4:1-5. Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is]sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Paul taught Timothy here how teaching people to not eat meat is a doctrine of demons!
So why is the teaching not to eat meat a doctrine of demons? We see in scripture, from the very beginning, Satan is seeking to put himself in the place of God, he resists God.”You will not surely die” he tells Eve, he is undermining God’s authority and questioning God’s integrity. He is a tempter, tempting Eve by implying what was offered was restrictive, and also by saying “your eyes will be opened”, saying that they will be better off if they eat of the tree, he deceives and manipulates. Satan is a deceiver of nations, he provokes. He takes away, in Mark 4:15, the scripture says he immediately takes away the words that were sown in the hearts. He has weakened the nations and is an accuser of the brethren (Rev). He is violent and sinful, he is proud, and dishonest, (Ezekiel 28), he is a destroyer, and masquerades as an angel of light.
Philipians 3:18-19: For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
- Food being a controller of someone’s life is a HUGE red flag that they are an enemy of the gospel.
If you choose to not to eat meat, that is your choice, as we see in Romans 14, when it a choice made unto the Lord, it is accepted but when someone chooses to teach others not to eat meat, that they shouldn’t eat meat, it becomes a doctrine of demons as it is messing with the liberty we have in Christ. Scripture tells us what is good and available to us, that God has provided sustenance for us.
DIETS
Right now, there are so many people, fads, supposed experts, trying to tell us that meat is bad, this diet is the best for your health, this food is the food that will help you live longer, and the list goes on and on, but we, as Bible-believing, born again believers, have the Word of God that tells us that we are given all food to enjoy, we are given meat to enjoy, giving thanks to God (Romans 14:6). When it comes to food, God has provided all manner of foods, meat, vegetables, nuts, the likes, and we are free in Christ to partake of them all! Not just a question that one of the ways, that throughout time and very much in the modern era, there’s not just an emphasis of not eating meat/particular parts of meat, but also that there are all these fads and all these ‘latest diets’ based on this ‘new scientific findings’, which in essence cut against the general scriptural principle that God provided the lot and not only does He provide us natural, delicious food and as we already discussed, He provides SUPERNATURAL food. Scripture speaks to the SUPERNATURAL food that he gives us. So not only do we have the natural food of meat, but the supernatural food of meat, which is…..to do the WILL of God (John 4:34 KJV).
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN
Acts 10: 14-16: But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.
Jesus died so we could enjoy bacon. In all seriousness, we are not to call something unclean which the Lord has cleansed. The Acts scripture is showing us that God changed this perception of clean and unclean, Jesus made clean those once unclean foods, so we are not to refute that, we are meant to live in the freedom Jesus Christ gave us through His death on the cross and enjoy such foods as bacon!
Acts 15- The church council writes a letter to confirm that we, as the Church, do not have to follow the Old testament eating laws.
FASTING & FEASTING
Daniel fasted and in doing so, he got the special blessing of receiving the prophecy of the Messiah.
Jesus was baptized and was filled with the Spirit, then He fasted for 40 days and nights and was filled with the POWER of the Spirit.
Isaiah 58: the acceptable fast.
God commanded feasts! Remember the scripture in Nehemiah, 150 at the table! God calls us to gather and calls us to feast. The Isrealites had many feasts, joyus times.
In the New Testament, we are told that apostates are blemishes at our love feasts. Jude 1:12: These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead.
Rev 19:9: “Then he said to me, “Write: Those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb are fortunate!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true. ””
Food plans
Gluten free and glutton free
From Mayo Clinic website, A gluten-free diet is essential for managing signs and symptoms of celiac disease and other medical conditions associated with gluten. A gluten-free diet is also popular among people who haven't been diagnosed with a gluten-related medical condition. Gluten is a protein found in most grains and the foods not included in a gluten-free diet provide important vitamins and other nutrients. For example, whole-grain bread and other products are natural or enriched sources of iron, calcium, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, so following a gluten-free diet will likely change your nutrient intake. Some gluten-free bread and cereal have significantly varied nutrient levels compared with the products they are replacing, often having higher fat and sugar content than the gluten-containing food being replaced.
Gluttony is a sin. Just as much as God doesn’t want us to be on the extreme of restrictions/supposed scientific breakthrough he doesn’t want us to overindulge. As mentioned, he commands us to feast and enjoy meals with each other, but we are called not to be gluttonous.
The Lord sent plague because of their craving (Exodus 32:35: Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
The Israelites craved an idol, they wanted something to worship and therefore Aaron made the calf, and the Lord sent a plague.
Classic would you rather: Would you rather suffer the consequences of Sodom and Gomorrah or the wilderness gluttons??
Gluttonous eaters of meat Proverbs 23:20: Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
Proverbs 15:17: Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.
Proverbs 17:1: Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.
It’s important to have a balance, know what is healthy, know what scripture says regarding foods!
Key elements of food plans:
Menus
Meal prep
Financial Plan
Variety
Macros
Calories
Nutritional elements
Flavor
Special treats
Fasting and feasting
Economies of scale (two loaves and fishes experiences - in one you had less loaves and fishes with more people and more left over)
Hosting (better too much than too little)
B.I.D
The God of the Bible, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the one true, loving living enlightening God. He’s the supreme being, Is he supreme in your life?
That same God, as the supreme being, is the supreme determinant of what is best for us, in terms of food: natural and supernatural, God?
The same God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit the supreme being, is the supreme determinate today what is enthralling dialogue, is He the supreme being in your dialogue.
Resources
Mayo clinic, gluten-free article
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/gluten-free-diet/art-20048530
Food ready reckoner:
Contact e.smith@megamorphic.church