We recently completed a three-week series at Serenissima entitled Major Ministry Tools. We looked at how our food, homes, and families are things we live with every day that can share the great story of the Gospel.

Here were 3 insights from the message on Food as a Major Ministry Tool.

1. Food is not just fuel; it’s faith:  If I only regard food as fuel, then what I’m really doing is using food to fuel my own agenda instead of being nourished by it to follow the Lord’s will. Physical hunger takes me back to the table where I remember (repeatedly) that I am a dependent being. The very act of eating shows that I have to trust in provisions beyond myself. We give thanks to the Lord to recognize that He is the source of all of these provisions. Eating is our act appreciation and trust for our lives. It gives us a window on faith.

2. Food is not just good; it’s grace: By God sharing his bounty with me to meet my need (common grace), I can share with others to point them to God through Jesus (special grace). I wrote about how food is an image of grace in our last post. In previous centuries, food was much harder to come by so it was easily hoarded. But God desires a righteous and generous people who live like He thinks. Both the act of sharing your food and the people with who you share your food is telling a story of grace. Could it be that food and hunger were both created to give us the ways to understand and re-tell this Good News?

3. Food is not just for consumption; it’s for communion:  Jesus compared himself to food (bread & water of life). When you invite someone in to your home to share a meal, you are sitting down with them as a peer. You’re looking eye-to-eye with them and sharing in each other’s lives by allowing them to have a seat — where you are. That’s how God offered the most precious meal of Jesus, the Paschal Lamb. God invited his enemies to come through the Door of his home and sit at his lavish banquet feast and commune with him. The table of the Lord is offered to those who will turn to Jesus (ie. consume & assimilate) and commune with him.