How to feast
“The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a King who gave a wedding feast for his son...”
One Sunday I preached about how Chrisitianity is a feast from Matthew 22.1-14. Jesus teaches that you cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God without feasting; there must be joy and celebration - your Christianity must party if it is the Christ-centered. God must be the generous host and we must be the treasured guest. What this means is that the battle fo faith is between the temptation to have “kitchen faith” where you must provide for yourself, where you cook the meal, you are the people pleaser, and “table faith” where we joyfully receive from God as his treasured guest. One lives by works and the other by grace. I received a great question during our post-sermon Q&A that asked:
“For those that are comfortable to live with ‘kitchen faith’ because accepting/understanding God’s love is that hard to grasp, what advice or early steps would you have them take to make ‘Table faith’ more realistic or understandable?”.
Friendship. Take in the stories of others. Investing in the lives of others as they have intersected with the Gospel can be particularly helpful. Sometimes we forget the long path of redemption in our own lives and others can help us to remember. I believe this is exactly what’s happening in Acts 2.42-47, and it’s no coincidence that the church grew accordingly!
Hospitality. Setting aside a regular time to welcome new people into our home places us back into the story of redemption. We re-learn what it means to have a generous host and a treasured guest. When we welcome others, we reflect the image of God. And the Bible teaches that merely reflecting the character of God is good for us. Imitating God is just one element of “Abiding” in Him (John 15.4-5), and God teaches us that this leads to much fruit in our lives.
Worship. God has given us the resource of worship to feast on the Gospel. Pray, confess, sing, listen to the Word, take the Lord’s supper, receive the benediction. All of this is able to remind you of the goodness and joy of your union with Jesus Christ. Come to worship expecting to be nourished, and recognize that your interaction with others may be an important part of their feast, too.
Beauty. Music, art, books, film; For a Christian these expressions of beauty will naturally lead to thanksgiving. But they also shape our hopes toward the future. Experiencing beauty makes us eager to find more beauty.
Thanksgiving. It is important to connect the goodness of the world, that feast of blessings we receive, to God himself. This is “table faith” and the act of thanksgiving is “table talk.” It can be especially helpful for thanksgiving to be a part of the spiritual habit of daily prayer. Thanksgiving is associated with being “grown up” and rooted in Christ (Colossians 2.6-7)