The Perfect Food Series

The Perfect Food

Purpose Driven Life #24

Cornwall/Montreal

January 31, 2004

We like to eat. One of the most popular activities around church is our community meals- potluck meals. They are always popular and attendance is sometimes higher- maybe, often higher- on a week when we have one of those meals. We all enjoy snacks with our coffee after church, too. It seems that coffee demands something with it; even when we go out for coffee, it’s nice to have a donut, a muffin, or a cookie with that coffee.

As we think about food for a bit, I’m wondering what are some of your favourites? What are your favourite beverages? Breads? Meals? And, most importantly, what are your favourite desserts? (get comments from the congregation).

I like a great cup of coffee. I like warm cinnamon raisin bread. For a meal, I really enjoy great lasagna or tacos, when Lynn makes them. And for dessert, above all others, I enjoy Lynn’s carrot cake, butter tarts, or date squares.

I’d like you to consider the perfect meal, and it is not what any of us has suggested; it’s not even what I have suggested here today.

1 Pet.2.2- God’s Word is the perfect beverage, we’re told- it holds the milk we need.

Matt.4.4- God’s Word is the finest of bread. It’s better than manna, which was referred to as ’angels’ food’, and was, apparently, as sweet as crystalline honey.

1 Cor.3.2- God’s Word is the meat we need to seek- it’s the finest of meats. I grew up with meat and I surely do enjoy a good beef meal or a good chicken meal. As a special meal, I would enjoy a beef Wellington, and, in Korea, one meal I really enjoy is a chicken dish called samgyetang (which is baby-chicken and ginseng soup).

Psa.110.103- God’s Word is the perfect dessert, too. Meals with dessert are special meals. I know that I grew up with hardly a meal without dessert. We had dessert for dinner, and supper, as well as for snack in mid-afternoon, and sometimes before going to bed, too. In our home, now, we hardly have dessert; it is a special meal for which we have dessert. This makes it special for us and is one mark of that more special meal.

Last week, we thought about our growing and I hope you have your cards to show yourself some growth. Do you have yours? I celebrate the growth you knew because awareness, alone, is growth. (Pray about the growth and the process each went through last week.) We thought, together, about how change begins in the mind. When we think differently, we feel differently, and then we act differently. To begin to think differently, we have to put different thoughts and different information in our minds.

Acts 30.32- have someone read this. Notice how powerful God’s Word is. It gives us everything we need. Transformation takes place in our minds as we put God’s Word there. As we fill ourselves with the Word, we change. Sometimes, the change is ever so slow, but sometimes we make monumental changes in a short time- sometimes simply changing the way we look at something can make all the difference, and we’re like new people. We need to feed richly on the Word- to drink it, eat it, and enjoy it.

Let’s continue to think about the process of having a meal, since we’ve seen that the Word of God constitutes a perfect mea.

If someone is going to prepare a meal- if you are going to prepare a meal- you have to know that someone wants that meal. There’s no point making a meal if no one will be there to eat it, right? If I’m home by myself, I don’t make a meal, most of the time. I can easily rummage through the fridge and grab some leftovers and heat them and eat them while I wander around the kitchen or the house, or I can make a peanut butter sandwich, and be quite content. Jesus is preparing us a meal. Whenever we come to him, he’ll prepare something special for us, and he urges us to stay around to enjoy the meal.

John 8.31- This is what staying around for the meal is called- abiding- waiting, anticipating, and preparing to enjoy it. This is what feeding richly and fully on the Word is all about. Jesus calls on us to want the wonderful meal that he will provide.

We show him that we want this special meal through three actions.

1. We accept the idea that this is a good meal for us- for me. We believe that this is the best meal available, or the best meal that we could possibly have at this time.

2 Ti.3.16- says something special about the Word that we have seen is the perfect beverage, bread, meal, and dessert. When we accept this meal, and when we think about the Word, we are accepting its authority. In life, we all have a way we use to judge everything. Often, people use themselves as the judge. Some use society as the judge- this is what polling is all about, especially, when leadership policies are set because of certain polling results. From what I can see, to use society or myself is to use very imperfect authorities. The Word of God is a trustworthy authority. It is one that is timeless and is above me, and is above society. So, this is the standard I want to use, and I want to show Jesus that I accept the meal he gives me from it.