Eat

Two weeks ago I assigned some homework with my sermon. Did anyone do the homework? Does anyone remember the homework assignment? The homework was to bless three people a week. I would encourage you make this a part of your routine and do this for the rest of your life, but I’m asking you to do it at least through this series. To refresh your memory I want you to find three people to bless: one person from here at West Side, one person you don’t think goes to church anywhere, and then a third person. In that sermon I also suggested three ways you might bless someone:

Words of Affirmation: send them a note, write them an email, text them, encourage them in some way

Acts of Kindness: rake some leaves, babysit their kids, help a neighbor move

Gifts: it may be new, it may be something you already own but aren’t using

The point to each of these it that you help to lighten their load which is one of the definitions of bless: “to add strength to.” I hope you will ask God to show you people you can bless this week. I also hope that as you bless others that you will share your stories with me. That would be a blessing to me.

Blessing others is one of five habits I will be preaching on that we can use to share the gospel. The five habits, using the acronym BELLS are:

Bless

Eat

Listen

Learn

Sent

I didn’t come up with this acronym, nor am I sure who did, but I think it can be helpful when thinking about our call to share the gospel with others.

As I mentioned in the first sermon in this series, we are not all called to be evangelists, but we are all called to evangelize. We may get very uncomfortable just thinking about bringing up the subject of our faith and Jesus, but have been instructed to live in such a way that people ask us about our faith.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15b)

In other words, we are to live questionable lives. We are to live kind of lives that evoke questions from friends and neighbors about what we believe. But the truth is most of us don’t live differently. With the exception of attending church services most of us live just like everyone around us. We don’t do anything out of the ordinary that causes people to wonder about out our faith. That’s what this series is about – encouraging us to live in such a way that surprises the world. The first way is by be a blessing to others. The second way is by eating. I think we can all do that.

You may be familiar with the story of the kindergarten class that was asked to bring an item for show and tell that illustrated their faith. A Jewish child brought a menorah, a Muslim child brought a prayer rug, and a Christian child brought a covered dish. Eating is just a part of our faith.

You’ve heard Jeff Foxworthy’s jokes about being a redneck. You might be a redneck if. . . . Here are a few on being a Christian. You might be a Christian if. . . .

You might be a Christian if you believe you’re supposed to take a covered dish to heaven when you die.

You might be a Christian if you’re certain that Jesus and the disciples ate fried chicken at the Last Supper.

You might be a Christian if you woke up one morning craving fried chicken and interpreted that as a call to ministry.

You might be a Christian if believe “where two or more are gathered . . .” there’s bound to be lots of food.

You might be a Christian if your definition of fellowship has something to do with food.

You might be a Christian if you help put together a secret committee at your church to discuss how to get the preacher to stick to his thirty-minute time limit so that you can beat the Baptists to a good restaurant.

We may go overboard in our preoccupation with food, but really that’s probably true of most people whether or not they are Christians. That’s because everyone eats. Everyone gets hungry and everyone eats. However, perhaps what sets Christians apart from most is the understanding that while eating keeps us alive, eating with others makes us alive. In other words, it’s not just eating that is important, but who we eat with. After all, who wants to eat alone? We want to eat with people we know: family and friends. We also understand that there’s a difference between eating at the same time and eating together. Eating at the same time focuses on the food, eating together focuses on the relationship. And if you have children older than ten you know how difficult it sometimes is to be able to sit down together as a family.

Jesus understood the importance of eating together. In fact, one of the reasons Jesus came was to eat. Have you ever thought about how many stories in the gospels are about food and eating? There are more than a dozen stories of food and eating in the gospel of Matthew alone. Jesus came for more than that, but he also came to eat. If you don't believe that, finish this sentence: The Son of Man came. . . . The sentence is finished a few different ways by Jesus in the gospels. In Mark 10 we read:

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45, ESV)

Jesus said this after James and John came to him asking to sit on his left and right. The other disciples got a little mad – possibly because they didn’t think to ask first. They began arguing over who was the most important and Jesus it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that we serve one another.

In Luke 19 we find Jesus saying:

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10)

This idea was first in his mind and practice. He wasn’t there to be served or look out for himself, but to find ways to lead the lost to God.

The third was Jesus completes this sentence is found in Luke 7 where Jesus says:

The Son of Man came eating and drinking. . . . (Luke 7:34)

We understand the first two, but what about the third? While the first two describe his purpose, the third describes his method. Eating and drinking with people was central part of his ministry.

Some of the most dramatic parts of his ministry were around a table eating and drinking. His first miracle took place at a wedding banquet. And the Lord’s Supper was instituted around the Passover Feast. Jesus was about to be arrested, beaten, and crucified but his desire was to celebrate the Passover with his disciples. He wanted to eat one last meal with them. Then, after the resurrection Jesus shows up with two men on their way to Emmaus. When he reached the town he stopped and ate with them. And there was the time when Jesus showed up on the shore while the disciples are out fishing. They quickly came to shore where they ate breakfast with him.

Jesus ate with the disciples, his twelve closest friends, but he also ate with outsiders. Custom dictated that you never ate with someone outside your circle. You didn't eat with someone lower or less important than you, you never ate with someone of a different faith, and you never ate with your enemy. But Jesus did. Jesus ate with the most unexpected people. You would expect Jesus to eat with the disciples, but Jesus also ate with the Pharisees who were trying to get rid of him and he ate with tax collectors who didn’t seem to care anything about God.

The first of those questionable meals took place after Jesus called Matthew to be a tax collector. Matthew immediately threw a feast to introduce his friends to Jesus. When they religious leaders saw this they were indignant. They wanted to know why Jesus would eat with “tax collectors and sinners.”

12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)

This is another place where Jesus gives us the reason for his coming. It’s not that much different than what we’ve already read, it’s just worded differently. Jesus came for those who were far from God to bring them close to God. That’s our purpose as well.

The last of these questionable meals took place in Jericho. As Jesus was making his way to what would be his last to trip to Jerusalem he made his way through Jericho. There was a man in the town who wanted to see Jesus, but because of his lack of height he was unable to see over the crowds that had gathered. So he climbed a tree to see. When Jesus walked by he stopped at the tree, called the man by name, and invited himself over for dinner.

The people couldn’t believe it. They all knew who the man was. He was a tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus. Why would Jesus go and eat with such a man? We don’t know what all happened during the meal but we’re given the results.

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19:8-9)

This habit of eating with tax collectors and sinners was so surprising that it caused people to ask questions. “Why would he do that?” Jesus surprised the world through this simple habit. Jesus then answered their question by explaining the purpose of his mission.

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Jesus did a lot of ministry at a table eating and drinking with others. Jesus leaves us a great example to follow and the early church did.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. . . . 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42, 46-47)

They celebrated communion and they ate meals together and the church grew.

Sharing a meal can bring people together and get them to talk and open up. We might be able to surprise some people by simply eating with them whether it’s at the table in our home or in a restaurant. Concerning this habit of eating with others, Max Lucado writes in his book Outlive Your Life:

Long before the church had pulpits and baptisteries, she had kitchens and dinner tables. Even a casual reading of the New Testament unveils the house as the primary tool of the church. The primary gathering place of the church was the home. . . .

Not everyone can serve in a foreign land, lead a relief effort, or volunteer at the downtown soup kitchen. But who can’t be hospitable? Do you have a front door? A table? Chairs? Bread and meat for sandwiches? Congratulations! You just qualified to serve in the most ancient of ministries: hospitality.

Something holy happens around a dinner table that will never happen in a sanctuary. In a church auditorium you see the backs of heads. Around the table you see the expressions on faces. In the auditorium one person speaks; around the table everyone has a voice. Church services are on the clock. Around the table there is time to talk.

Hospitality opens the door to uncommon community. It’s no accident that hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you are sending this message: “You matter to me and to God.” You may think you are saying, “Come over for a visit.” But what your guest hears is, “I’m worth the effort.”

Jim Petersen tells the story of Mario, an atheist friend with whom he had studied the Bible for four years before Mario became a Christian. A couple of years after his conversion, Jim and Mario were reminiscing: “Do you remember what it really was that made me decide to become a Christian?” Mario asked.

Petersen thought of all their Bible studies and philosophical discussions. Mario’s reply took him by surprise. “Remember that first time I stopped by your house? We were on our way someplace together, and I had a bowl of soup with you and your family. As I sat there observing you, your wife, and your children, and how you related to each other, I asked myself, ‘When will I have a relationship like this with my fiancé?’ When I realized that the answer was never, I concluded I had to become a Christian for the sake of my own survival.”

Petersen said he did remember the occasion. He remembered his children behaving badly and his frustration at having to correct them in front of Mario. Yet Mario saw the grace of Christ binding that family together. Years later, Petersen would comment on this incident:

We tend to see the weaknesses and incongruities in our lives, and our reaction is to recoil at the thought of letting outsiders get close enough to see us as we really are. Even if our assessment is accurate, it is my observation that any Christian who is sincerely seeking to walk with God, in spite of all his flaws, is reflecting something of Christ.

Four years of Bible studies but it was that one meal that set this young man on the path to following Christ. And anyone can do that.

So that is the challenge: continue to bless three people and find three people to share a meal with this week. Three meals may sound like a lot, but it’s really not. If you eat three meals a day you eat twenty-one meals a week. Plan three of those meals to be intentional. One of them can be with your family. Like with the blessing, plan to eat one with someone you don’t think goes to church anywhere. And then plan to eat one more with someone. The meal may be with a neighbor or a co-worker you’ve never talked with much before. If you’re a student maybe it’s inviting someone to eat with you that everyone else avoids. Actually, eating that meal may be a way to bless someone as well.