True Food?

        They quickly pointed out that Jesus said, "...Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated? (Thus He declared all foods clean.)" (Mark 7:18-19).
        At this point I passed it over to Glenn while I had to think. I could see their reasoning: "The apostles said not to eat blood, that is clear enough, but on the other hand Jesus declared all foods clean."
        Glenn pointed out something that I had never considered, God never called blood food. Historically, from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were vegetarians only. Notice, Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you" (Gen. 1:29). So from Adam to Noah all that God called "food" was vegetation.
        Then, for the first time, after Noah got off the ark they were given this command, "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the terror of you shall be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood" (Genesis 9:1- 4).
        This command not to eat blood is repeated in the Law of Moses about 8 times. To me the answer was clear. God had from the beginning called vegetation food, after the ark God called meat food, but God has never called blood food. So even though Jesus declared all foods clean, blood was never given to mankind as a food.
        There is a bigger lesson for us here than simply whether to eat blood or not. If they want to eat blood, they will hold on to the phrase, "Thus He declared all foods clean". How great is our capacity to deceive ourselves, to rationalize what we want to do. Jeremiah said, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick" (Jer. 17:9).
        Do you want to get a divorce? You can find a passage that you can twist. Want to steal, have unlawful sex, get drunk, cheat etc. etc. I'm sure if you look hard enough, you can find a verse in the Bible to twist around. But if you want the truth, Jesus said, "If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself" (John 7:17). So you see, our willingness is the key to understanding God's will for us. So let us open our Bibles with a heart to do the will of God, it will help us in our understanding, and we shall know the truth. DP

  
      Loaf Evangelism

      In the Philippines and in other poor countries, there is a problem. A problem with people coming to the church buildings for the wrong reasons. They simply want free food, and don't bother with a sermon; they don't want to hear it.
        This happened once to Jesus, and he put a stop to it in a hurry. After the feeding of the 5000, the next day they came "seeking Jesus" (John 6:24). But they really were not "seeking Jesus", but had other motivations as Jesus points out. "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled. "(Jn. 6:26). What do you suppose Jesus did? They wanted free food, did he give it to them? No, not at all. They walked away hungry that day (John 6:66).
        Here in America a loaf of bread will not attract too much attention, the price needs to go up a bit higher. A full course meal might get some people out, or a big "gymnasium" where we can work out, play ball games, etc. Make the church into a country club, and put on a show. The churches will do almost anything now just to get those same kind of followers that Jesus sent away empty handed. What Jesus rejected, the churches have accepted.
        Far be it from us to hand you a hamburger to get you into a church building! We will not put on a show for your entertainment, no sir. Jesus did not bribe his followers into staying faithful to him. He bought them... FULL PRICE. Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself" (John 12:32). The cross is THE drawing card for people.
        We come together to worship, not to watch. We come together to pray, not to play. We come together upon the first day of the week to give, not to grill. Every Sunday we partake of the Lord's Supper (Acts 20:7) not to partake of a pot luck supper.
        Don't miss the point here; we like to play and eat, and have fun, too. But in the Bible, we don't read this was done in church. We come together because we have this in common: We love Jesus. We love everything about Him and we remember His death as we break bread and pass the cup. If the cross will not draw you to Jesus and to assemble with Christians, then we offer nothing else. We come together because of the cross. DP