Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have a meal with Jesus?
The experience might be closer than you think.
Pastor Jeff Vanderstelt reminds us that we live in a Spirit-empowered community that does ministry daily, even in the everyday-ordinary aspects of life. He shares advice and biblical teaching from his book Saturate, including Jesus’ personal ministry around the dinner table.
As Christians, we have all been adopted into God’s family. We have been called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
“What if we believe that God was sending us to our neighborhood, into our workplace, or into a community to love people who don’t yet belong to the family…before they ever believed in God’s love for them through Jesus?”
Jesus loved us as brothers and sisters, even when we weren’t. If we would love our neighbors in the same way, we’d be able to demonstrate the very heart of the gospel.
“We would love people like family in our neighborhood so that they can both experience a level of God and see it in tangible form, while they also get to hear us speak about it.”
The 6 Rhythms of Life provide us with opportunities to demonstrate Christ’s love in our communities.
1. Eat
2. Listen
3. Story
4. Bless
5. Celebrate
6. Recreate
These are the rhythms you engage in daily.
We realize that a lot of people didn’t know how to be disciples in the everyday stuff of life because they didn’t realize that stuff like eating meals together should be one of the primary ways we think about being a disciple. You’re probably going to eat 21 meals a week; if you just engage those intentionally with a gospel mindset, then you would start thinking about eating a meal a very different way.”
Genesis 3 gives the first example where food is introduced as a way to show our honor to God, but there are many more examples found throughout the entire narrative of the bible.
“We start in the very beginning, in Genesis, where God says: This is how you’re going to show that you trust Me as by how you eat. Don’t eat this tree, but eat all these other ones and that’s your way of expressing that you trust what I say to be good.”
“Meals have played a gigantic part in calling to God’s people to remember His deliverance from Egypt, His provision, and ultimately to remember His provision of Jesus. Even our regular meal that the church is meant to remember Jesus through is something that should harken us back to Jesus being the bread of life given to us…that Passover meal fulfillment in Jesus is a big part of this us learning how to worship around the table.”
We can all experience the undeniable presence of Christ by participating in His ministry around the table.
“If you engage the table like Jesus did, you actually have a great opportunity to call someone who doesn’t yet know Jesus; to see that the table is a great place to express your faith in Jesus. Whether that’s just giving thanks, whether that’s eating with great joy, whether that’s listening to one another’s stories, or getting to know each other’s hearts. It’s amazing how much happens around the table in Jesus’ ministry as you read the gospels.”
