I AM NOT A RECIPE, BUT A MEAL

Many years ago, there was a group of women in my community that were very eager to help evangelize their peers.  However, their method of helping people to know God was questionable.  They would try to convince people to make a decision and then lead them in repeating a prayer and pronounce them as saved.   I knew many of these women personally but did not agree that leading people to the Lord was merely manipulating someone by threatening them with hell, or by promising relief in circumstances from heaven.  No one in their right mind would choose to go to hell and everyone wants to have an easier life.  This type of ‘evangelism’ would be very misleading as very few of their converts would ever really have a heart change or experience true repentance from sin.

A STRANGE INVITATION 

I believe that only the Holy Spirit can give life and salvation is a miracle from God, therefore, it was strange when I was invited to be a speaker at one of their evangelistic tea parties.  It seemed that the lady who selected me was a new recruit to their group and she loved talking with me about Jesus when we would see each other at our children’s school.  This presented a conundrum, what a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel, but I was being instructed to make sure I did not speak of the Holy Spirit or being filled.  The leadership of that group wanted me to follow their format and say that my new life in Christ was a result of making a decision and repeating a prayer.  When it became obvious that I would not do that, I was downgraded from main speaker and just asked to give my testimony, another speaker was chosen. 

I really was conflicted wondering if maybe I did not need to speak at all.  I sought my pastor for advice and was encouraged to go because giving my testimony had loosed me from their format and freed me to give my experience.  I prepared to go.

On the day of the event, just moments before I left my home, I heard so clearly in my spirit,

“I am not a recipe, but a meal.” 

Hearing this brought a new resolve and boldness for me to give my testimony inclusive of the Holy Spirit.  And to fast forward, I delivered my full testimony much to the chagrin of those who were in charge.

TASTING AND SEEING

For the last 25 years those words have marinated my soul.  I think that Jesus was showing me how it is the Holy Spirit who enables our souls to taste His goodness.  The letter kills, but it is the spirit that gives life (2 Cor 3:6).  I am suggesting that when we hear the word and embrace it for our lives, we are allowing the word to become a part of us.  When we apply His word, it nourishes our very soul just as when we eat a nutritious meal all the nutrients know just where to go to bring health.  Eating and drinking the Lord can only come by the Spirit.  May God work the desire in us so that we will want all of who Jesus is to transform who we are.

I believe that true Christianity is not merely adhering to a belief system or agreeing that Jesus is the savior.  True Christianity comes from believing in Jesus as our savior, it is when our soul has tasted his goodness.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8.

The Psalmist is inviting us to taste and see, these are two natural senses, we are being called into a much deeper experience of the goodness of God.  Tasting and seeing is so much more than anything academic or any head knowledge.  I contend that we can have perfect theology, but theology does not save us; we must taste Christ. 

DISTURBING AND COMPELLING

I am sorry if some of you reading this have become disturbed, but we need to be disturbed in order to come out of complacency or deception.  There are such wonderful blessings promised to those who diligently seek him with their whole hearts (Ps 34:10, Ps 119:2).  We are told in Romans 10:9 that belief in the heart is essential to our confession with the mouth.  The heart is where all our emotions and desires lie, and it takes the operation of God to regenerate us into a new creation which causes us to go from loving self and sin, to loving righteousness and desiring holiness.  Jesus offended many in John 6 when he said,

⁵³ …. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”

My Lord, this is really disturbing.  What could Jesus have meant?  Why didn’t he say it in a less cannibalistic way?  Couldn’t he have been more politically correct? When I consider all this type of talk from Jesus and I hear him call himself the bread of life and that if we hunger and thirst, then we will be filled.  It causes me realize that he is inviting us into experiencing him in a very deep and profound way.    

THEOLOGY AND TASTING

I have recently come to know and love good theology, but only because it helps me understand and see the God that saved me in a deeper and more biblical way. Would it be better to have great knowledge of how to cook but never actually eating food, or would you prefer enjoying wonderful meals without knowing all the ingredients?  Our bodies never benefit from great recipes, we are nourished by good food.  Cookbooks have never satisfied anyone’s hunger, it might heighten it, but to be fulfilled, we must eat and drink.

There is also an effect on us when we taste something wonderful, many will run to loved ones and compel them with bits of food to taste how good it is.  My mother-in-law was famous for actually stuffing food into my mouth so that I would try something new and know how tasty it was.  That is like the effect on a newly born Christian, we can’t shut up.  We run around telling everybody about Jesus.  We don’t impart any deep theology, but simply we are excited and desiring that others experience the joy found in salvation.

MINISTERS OF RECONCILIATION

In closing I want to leave you with one more bit of information; I heard another significant thing on that day so many years ago.  After I had heard, “I am not a recipe but a meal,” I then heard “And you are my appetizer.”  Wow! 

Appetizer – NOUN       A small dish of food or a drink taken before a meal or the main course of a meal to stimulate one’s appetite.  

I have always loved how the Lord has given me these gems to help me understand our role as ministers of the message of reconciliation.  We are called ambassadors to represent the King of our true country which is heaven (2Cor 5:17-19) and now I commend to every truly born-again/regenerated/ believer or new creation in Christ, that we are designed to be an appetizer to the world so that they will have a stimulated appetite to desire more of the main meal, which is Jesus Christ.

PRAYER

Oh, my father in heaven, forgive us for any errors in how we have seen you.  We need you to bless us and fill us with your Spirit.  We need your Holy Spirit to help us partake of the meal that you serve us in Christ.  Nourish our souls today with your daily bread and increase in us a desire to know you more intimately.  Grant us also your peace and wisdom at this difficult time in our lives. In Jesus name, amen.