Whose Food
As a family we have been slowly working through the gospel of John. In my personal study I have been going through Romans, albeit a little more methodically than just reading a few verses with my wife and kids after supper. But this past week those two worlds collided.
Romans 14:17
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
John 4:31-34
“Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.’”
Jesus just finished the incredible encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. There was no reason for Jesus and His followers to be near this town full of Samaritans other than to do this because that’s what the Father asked of them. This is super powerful as up until this point Jews and Samaritans did not interact well with each other. There is in fact centuries of opposition and hatred built up between the two people groups. Jesus shatters that in a moment. After Jesus tells her all that she did, many Samaritans in that town believed (John 4:39). They actually asked Jesus to stay!
In the middle of all of this is a strange little interaction between the disciples and the Rabbi. They were so concerned with Him finding something to eat. Jesus says something quite profound to them in that moment. “I have food that you do not know about…My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” These words of Christ started playing through my head when I was reading Romans 14 this week. In verse 17 Paul specifically says that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking.
Christ was showing everyone that the righteousness of the Kingdom is connected to only doing what the Father asked Him to do and saying only what the Father told Him to say. Christ did not self-initiate in any portion of His ministry, He waited until He heard from the Father. This is the whole point of John 15:5.
John 15:5
”I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Apart from Him we can do nothing. Our food, the sustenance of life for us, the fruit we bear is only from Christ in us. We can do nothing to gain righteousness, peace, and joy. Our experiencing His Kingdom will only come from a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. When we are learning how and actively laying aside the old nature, allowing the very Spirit of Christ to lead us, this is when we experience righteousness, peace, and joy.
For some reason, Christ’s closest followers, who were experiencing the power of God directly through personal interaction with Christ, missed this when they concerned themselves with trying to take care of Christ’s flesh by urging Him to eat. Christ wants to make sure with everything He is that we are eating the food that will bring us life and not death. It is so easy to grow weary in the constant battle between our old nature and the new nature. Some days it seems like we are never going to win. There will always be this war in a believer. Why? It is the process of holiness (being conformed to the image of Christ) which we are actively giving up control.
We are in the middle of the sermon series called “Distraction” at Corner Bible Church. Paster Jim brought out a great verse in Romans last week in Chapter 8. He shared verse 28 but the whole section is fantastic.
Romans 8:26-30
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
The whole point of God working all things for our good is the holiness process (being conformed to the image of his Son). We are so weak in our flesh that sometimes we don’t have a clue how to pray or what to ask for (vs 26). I believe that this is the first sacrifice of the old nature (Rom 12:1) we must learn. We sometimes want to pray so we can get the food our flesh needs. Whatever that may be comfort, control, riches, fame, success, health, the right house, the right car, the right spouse etc. etc. But we need to pray in a way that we are first asking the Holy Spirit how to pray in each moment and circumstance. When we are doing that, He will lay out His plans and purposes specifically, intentionally, intimately, for each of us, in all the different situations we are facing.
The process of giving up control first starts with how we are praying. Our prayers must be “Holy Spirit how do I pray in this moment, in this situation?” When our hearts become more positioned there, then we will walk farther down the holiness road He has for us. Lord willing the experience today He will bring us into something more beautiful and more righteous than where we were yesterday.
Are we asking Him about the food we do not know about? Are we asking Him to feed us His food? Whose food are we eating?