Formed by Food – Part 2

So, good morning, my fellow Jell-O people. Now, if you’re visiting with us today or new to North Hills and you weren’t here last week, that’s a very odd greeting, I know, and reflects what we discussed last week, that followers of Jesus are like Jell-O, which is an equally odd statement to make. But what we meant by that is followers of Jesus are moldable. We can take on an image, and the image that we want to retain is the image of Jesus Christ, the words and ways of Jesus.

So, I argued last week from the Scriptures that food, eating forms us into followers of Jesus. Eating is a transformational moment to become more like Jesus. Food forms us because we have to fuel our bodies. And the fact that we have to fuel our bodies demands humility — we’ve got to be humble — and it generates thanksgiving because God gives us food.

So, food forms us through fueling, and food forms us through fasting and feasting. That’s what we’re going to talk about today — fasting and feasting. So, in the Bible, we fuel with, fast from, and feast on food. And each time we do that, any of those three things, each of those is a free opportunity to be formed into the image of Jesus.

So, fasting as an action forms us into praying disciples. Fasting forms us into praying disciples. Fasting is the purposeful removal of food to focus on prayer. So, if you read the Bible, and you see fasting come up, fasting and prayer hold hands. They’re like that dating couple in college. They’re inseparable. They’re always together. Fasting and prayer — they always go together. So, fasting is a prayer posture. Fasting is not self-punishment so God sees you or hears your prayer. Fasting is not a way to show God you’re really, really, really serious so that he can do what you want. Fasting seems to be a physical response to a spiritual reality to focus on prayer. There is something going on, and you want to respond to it physically by removing food to focus on prayer and talk to God.

So, let’s walk through Scripture together, and we’re going to observe this whole thing about fasting and then see what that means for our lives. So, we’re going to start with Jesus because we want to be formed into the image of Jesus.

Jesus himself fasted. Matthew 4:1-2,

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”

Yeah … Perhaps the greatest moment of understatement in all of the Bible, right? Anybody want to take an idea of what I would be like after fasting for forty days and forty nights? No, not angry. I would prefer to say less than gracious, not angry … maybe a smidge hungry by the end there. Yeah, forty days! This spiritual event happened in Jesus’s life, and he took forty days to process it with God without food.

Two other people in the Bible did the same thing, Moses and Elijah. Both encountered God and then took forty days to process it with God in prayer by not eating food. So, fasting in this moment left Jesus physically weak. You can’t go forty days without food and not be physically weak. He was hungry and probably beyond that weak, but it left Jesus spiritually strong.

I’ve heard people describe Jesus in this moment of being tempted in the wilderness, and they say something like, “Jesus was able to withstand temptation at his weakest moment.” Yes, physically, but not spiritually. Jesus was spiritually strong. He removed food to focus on prayer and his Father, and that prepared him to deal with temptation. So, Jesus fasted.

We learn that fasting can be fake. Matthew 6:16-18. This is Jesus talking to his followers. Jesus says this.

“And when you fast …”

So, stop for one second. Jesus is talking to his disciples and assumes they’re going to fast. That’s his operating assumption. And when you do this thing called fasting, here’s how you do it.

“Do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you fast,”

Again, Jesus is assuming if you’re a follower, you’re going to do this at some point.

“anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

So, Jesus is criticizing the way people fast here. So, the Pharisees, the hypocrites, fast like CrossFit athletes work out. They’ve got to be seen. Pharisees, they show on their face how bad it is; so, you ask them. And CrossFit athletes put it on Instagram. That’s the reward is being seen and Jesus is like, “No! Fasting is a posture between you and God. It’s not about you and other people.” Fasting is a prayer posture.

So, Jesus fasted. It can be fake. So, in Scripture, when do we see it being used? When do we do this practice of fasting? And I think if you look at the entirety of all the uses, there are three general categories, and you could describe them in lots of different ways. I’m going to give you my attempt. So, three times where followers of Jesus fast.

Number 1, times of intercession or direction, praying for somebody else, or needing direction. So, throughout today, I’m going to read a lot of Scripture from all over the place. It’ll be up on the screens. So, just hang on for the ride. Here we go.

Times of intercession or direction — Judges 20 [verses 26-28],

“Then all the people of Israel, the whole army went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the people of Israel inquired of the Lord saying, ‘Shall we go out once more to battle?’” What do we do? … Seeking direction.

A moment of healing in 2 Samuel 12 [verses 21-22] — David’s baby had just died, and this is the interaction right after that.

“Then his servants said to David, ‘What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.’ David said, ‘While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, “Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?”‘”

He fasted and prayed for his son to live.

Protection while traveling, Ezra 8:21.

“Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.”

So, I know not everybody here has grown up in the same church world I did, but I’m just curious. You know, Christianity is a subculture. We kind of make up our own language about things. Has anybody ever heard the term in a prayer meeting, if you grew up in church, the term “traveling mercies”? Anybody else heard that? Okay, good. I’m not alone. I always thought that was the weirdest phrase. Where in the world does that come from? Well, maybe there’s a little bit of a link to protection while traveling from the book of Ezra. So, there you go.

Intercession, praying on behalf of someone. I’m going to give you a worst case scenario. This is David interceding for an enemy. Psalm 35 [verses 11-14],

“Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask of me things that I do not know. They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft. But I, when they were sick — I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with my head bowed on my chest. I went about as though grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.” Sounds a lot like Jesus’s command — love your neighbor, pray for those who persecute you, even fast on their behalf.

Spiritual leadership, asking for direction with spiritual leadership.

Acts 13:2-3, “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

Acts 14:23, “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

So, in your life, moments of praying on behalf of other people or moments where you’re seeking direction seem to be opportunities to fast, to remove food, to focus on that prayer. And whether that’s a couple of hours or forty days, the point is you’re uniting yourself with God in an ongoing conversation, and that action, that fasting forms us into praying disciples.

Second time we can fast — times of mourning, literal grief, suffering, loss, death. It’s very sobering. Fasting as a whole in the Scripture seems to be a sober activity. And I think us removing food to pray during times of loss is actually a countercultural movement because in our culture, if someone experiences the loss of someone in their life — death — we take them food. Our culture, when we have a funeral here at North Hills, we schedule a room for the family to have dinner afterwards.

You know, I’m a little over two years removed from losing my dad. So, we’re at a point where we can kind of laugh at some things, one of which is when my dad died, we never had so much Kentucky Fried Chicken in our entire lives. It was everywhere. Never again. I shouldn’t have then. Never again. Not with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Feasting at a funeral feels funny. I don’t want to eat. I just lost my dad.

So, perhaps the best advice we can give to God’s people is to actually choose to feel the grief you’re going through. Physically experience the grief by not eating to focus on prayer during this really big time of grief. A couple of examples — 2 Samuel 1:11-12,

“Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul [who was an enemy of David] and for Jonathan his son [best friend of David] and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.”

Saul and Jonathan had died, and they wept and fasted for a day.

In the book of Esther, it’s discovered that the government is going to try to kill all of the Jews, and the news becomes public. This is what happens — Esther 4:1-3.

“When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry…. And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.” So, these two examples are literal loss of life, potential loss of life. But that type of mourning and suffering and grief goes beyond literal death into moments where we can mourn the condition of worship.

We can grieve over worship — Psalm 69 [verses 9-10],

“Zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.” So, when our hearts are grieved by loss, death, suffering, that may be a good time to remove food to focus on prayer. Feel the grief, feel the mourning, feel the reality of where you are in life by not eating and having that feeling of “I’m hungry” and pray.

Third time we can fast (general categories) is times of repentance and confession. Repentance and confession. So, those two things together — repentance and confession — is the admission of wrongdoing and a change of heart moving forward. So, you come face to face with how God wants you to live; you realize I’m not living that way; I confess that; and repentance is, I’m now going to choose to turn and live the way you want me to, okay? So, I want you to listen to all the situations where God’s people do this, and I want you to feel. I don’t want you to understand; I actually want you to feel. Listen to the way the language talks about confession and repentance, all right? And how it connects to fasting.

I Samuel 7:6, “So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.’”

Ezra 9:4-6, “Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying: ‘O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.’”

Daniel 9:3-5, “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, saying, ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.’”

Joel 2:12. This is God talking. “‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’”

Jonah 3:4-5, “Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.”

It’s sober. It’s a little scary, the feel of it. I’m appalled! I can barely lift my face! The grief in the passages! Once more, we’re grieved, but it’s not because death happened or we’re mourning worship. We’re grieved to the point of pain because of our own sinful choices. And God in those moments may drive us to remove food, to focus on prayer with him about it. Repentance and confession with fasting is a declaration of our ultimate need. I do need to eat today or in the next couple of days to survive, but I need peace with God way more than I need food.

So, in a way we can think about it like this — Sometimes athletes talk about carb loading. Before a big event, they take in a lot of food for fuel so that they can make it through whatever event they want to complete. A follower of Jesus may choose to do the same thing by removing food. I’m going to prep by removing food to focus on my real need, to focus on prayer with God about whatever’s going on, whatever I’m grieved about, whatever I’m suffering through, whatever direction I need, whatever confession I need to make. Fasting forms us into praying disciples.

Now, I think I’m about to create an awkward moment for us all, all right? But by saying that, it makes it less awkward. In my life, I’ve not practiced anything I just taught you to do. I’ve been a pastor here fifteen years. I’ve been a follower of Jesus for many more than that. I’ve been at this church for twenty-nine years, and this isn’t a part of my spiritual practice. And after studying it, I’ve got to be honest with you — I’m a little embarrassed by that. Not in the sense that it’s a law because I can’t teach it to you that way, that this is a law you have to do and look at it this way. It seems to be more of an invitation, opportunities. So, I’m not teaching it to you as a law. I’m embarrassed because I’ve missed out on an opportunity to be formed into a follower of Jesus and interact with God in a unique way that seems to be from God’s people in Israel on until very recently, even to the point where the Western Church in America might be the ones who let fasting go. We might have dropped it as a practice of God’s people. It’s thousands of years old. So, in my brain this is a practice that’s been around God’s people for thousands of years. It’s something that Jesus did. It’s a tool that conform me into the image of Jesus. So, it just makes sense to do it.

I know that doesn’t sound super spiritual or über-pastory to say it that way, but it just makes sense now. So, as I apply this and give us things to do, I just think it’s fair for me to go … I’m actually telling you what I’m going to try to do, and I want you to come along for the ride. Okay, so, there you go. Awkward moment over.

So, what do we do with this fasting thing? Consider our life. I’ve got to consider my life. Where do I need direction? And you can ask the same question. For whom are you praying? Who’s on your intercession list, especially enemies? What loss, suffering, grief do you need to mourn? What in your life needs confession and repentance? And have you ever had the tone of confession and repentance that I read throughout the Scriptures? Any of those four questions are moments, invitations, opportunities to remove food and focus on prayer with God. These moments could be warning signs, cautioning you. Take a moment to actually feel what’s going on in your life with God. Experience it with him, not apart from him. They’re triggers that can click and remind you to remove food and talk to God about whatever’s going on in your life. You can use the absence of food to focus on prayer, and I believe that that will form us into praying disciples. So, that’s fasting. Sober, serious, right?

The other side of that — whiplash transition — feasting. Feasting forms us. Food forms us through feasting. Feasting forms celebrating disciples. Celebrating disciples. My mom Judy … Judy texts me every Sunday morning and tells me she’s praying for me throughout my day, serving you all today. She’s said, “Hey, I’m praying for your sermon on feasting and fasting. I’m really pro-feasting myself.” That was my mom’s message. Amen, Mom! Feasting forms us into celebrating disciples. Feasting is the purposeful consumption of food to celebrate. I’m choosing to eat this to celebrate on purpose.

Now, I want you to think about what I just said and what it implies. This whole series for two weeks is about forming you into the image of Jesus, right? And I just said it makes us celebrating disciples. Well, I just implied to you that God and Jesus are inherently celebrating beings because we want to be formed into their image. So, if you’re supposed to be celebrating, it’s because God and Jesus, the Spirit, are a being that celebrates in and of themselves.

So, I have a couple of questions I want us to wrestle through before we talk about actually feasting. Are you comfortable with a God who does this? “Woohoo!” When you see Jesus and God in your mind, do you see them having a great time looking at their children and their disciples and responding over them with joyous shrieks?

Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.” [We love that part!] “He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

Now that translation … All of those words are really churchy words. So, the word “exult” is joy expressed through loud songs, shouts, and shrieks. The root word of “rejoice” means to circle around, circle around in joy. So, God celebrates over his saved children with shrieks and circles. He does the dad dance. He’s so proud of his kids that he shrieks.

Another question for you — in your mind, is God a chef who would make a lavish meal with all the trimmings for his people to join him in some type of celebration?

Isaiah 25:6-8, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts [the God of the armies, the general of the angels] will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.”

And what is that? Why are we having this big feast with God?

“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”

Now get the image he’s giving you here. The general of all the angels of heaven is a chef, who is going to make us an amazing meal, and we’re going to celebrate the reality that death dies. The only funeral we go to and have a feast is when death dies. Feasting forms us into celebrating disciples because God, Jesus, and the Spirit are celebrating beings.

So, what do we see as we look through the Scriptures that was celebrated? Well, we see they celebrated life events, just normal life events, kind of like we do. Here’s a list of them — there’s a wedding in Genesis 29, and in all the Gospels; there’s a birthday party in Genesis 40; there are moments of honor where they just want to honor somebody, so they’ll throw a feast, like in II Samuel 3; there are political feasts that happen in Esther. And then there’s just what I would call Sunday dinner with family in Job 1. Job might have been an empty nester because all of his kids come back to his house, and he throws this huge feast for them. Community — the idea of us all being followers of Jesus — that’s feast worthy. When God’s people gather together in a home — Acts 2, Jude 12, I Peter 2 — there was actually a name for it. It was a love feast. You get together in a home. Why? Because God loved us, and we love each other, and, well, we’ve got to celebrate that with food! We feast with the idea of community. Community is feast worthy. So, we celebrate life events.

Additionally, we celebrate God’s works. Feasting is meant to celebrate God’s works to the point where God commanded certain feasts to happen so His people would celebrate certain things. And I’m just going to walk through the list of the prescribed feasts for God’s people. God commanded these. They were part of the annual Jewish calendar. And God commanded a lot of feasting.

Sabbath is celebrating who God is and who we are.

Passover, celebrating God’s deliverance from the last plague in Egypt.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, seven days beginning after Passover, celebrating God’s deliverance from Egypt.

Feast of the First Fruits — we’re just going to celebrate the reality of harvest. God provided us food.

The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost — seven weeks after first fruits, we’re going to have another one celebrating food, but we’re going to use bread.

Feast of Trumpets, celebrating the Sabbath and rest.

The Day of Atonement, celebrating the forgiveness of sin.

Feast of Tabernacles and Booths is after the Day of Atonement, we celebrate God’s provision during the forty years in the wilderness. They would set up these booths with tree branches on them and live in them, remembering how God provided for them.

Feasting is a way to celebrate all that God has done. We connect our feasting to God. It is worship. What has he been doing? What has he done? So, think of celebrating God’s works in real life. Why would we have a birthday party as a follower of Jesus? There’s so much to celebrate. God created life. God’s preserved your life. You’re still alive. You’re part of our family. God loves you. We love you. So, let’s throw a feast and have some cake! It’s a great idea, but it’s worship. We can connect all of those things to remembering what God has done — Christmas, Thanksgiving, anniversaries, having people in your home that love Jesus. We can do all of those things. We can feast to remember what God has done.

So, life events, God’s works … Now let’s look at Jesus. Just like fasting, did Jesus feast? And he did. Jesus feasted at a wedding. So, he celebrated life events.

John 2:1-5, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples,”

which I just think is a hilarious part of Scripture, where it’s like, yeah, Jesus got an invitation to a wedding, he and his buddies. So, they’re going.

“When the wine ran out [emergency!], the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her …’”

Now, in our culture, this first word “woman” can be a very unkind way to speak to a lady. That’s not what Jesus is doing. That’s a term of endearment.

“‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My time has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants…”

So Mom doesn’t even address Jesus again, right?

“[Mom says] to the servants, ‘[Hey,] do whatever he says.’”

He’s going to solve this problem at a wedding.

So, last summer, one of my good friend’s daughter got married. I go to weddings. I run weddings. It’s the best wedding ever that I’ve been to because I’m at that age now where I’m celebrating with my friends the reality of their kids getting married. And I’ve watched those kids grow up, right? I mean, at one point, all of us old people … All the couples were out on the dance floor, and it was hilarious. I hope video evidence never arises to prove that it happened, but it was awesome! It was this feast of celebrating mundane things like a wedding in a sense, but great things. God’s preserving all of us to be there. It was amazing! But here’s the one problem — it only lasted from late afternoon until evening.

The wedding in Cana, culturally and historically, probably lasted seven days. Jesus attended a wedding reception for seven days. Now think of this. The ministry of Jesus … and this is the first event of the ministry of Jesus … lasted about three plus years, right? Jesus invested seven days of that time hanging out at a wedding and eating. Jesus feasted and celebrated a life event and the reality of God in all of it.

Jesus celebrated Passover, the Jewish feast. He celebrated God’s works, both as a kid in Luke 2 and an adult in Luke 22. Jesus even created a brand new feast out of Passover that we call the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist. We’ll talk about that at the end of July. I’m not going to talk about that feast today.

Jesus feasted with people. Jesus feasted, celebrating the expansion of the kingdom of God. So, this is the new feast. As the kingdom of God expands, well, let’s throw a party. This is in Luke 5:27-30.

“After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth.”

So, if you’ve grown up in church or you’re a little bit familiar with the Scriptures … tax collector — good guy? bad guy? Generally a bad guy, right?

“And Jesus said to [the bad guy], ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything, Levi rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast.”

And Levi would have been a very wealthy man. So, when it says, “great feast,” this was a great feast.

“And there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’”

So, Levi, tax collector-turned-disciple, throws a huge party, and Jesus attends as the gospel begins to expand into the tax-collector bracket.

Luke 7:33-34 shows us that Jesus feasted enough that it became a fuel for criticism. Jesus speaks about himself this way. Speaking to these religious leaders, he says,

“John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’”

So, John the Baptist adopted a certain way to live his mission with food and drink, right?

“The Son of Man [a nickname Jesus has for himself] has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”

So, John’s methodology of mission involved a certain way of eating, as did Jesus’s. Jesus literally used feasting with people as part of his expansion methodology for the kingdom. Jesus chose to eat and drink and dine with people to accomplish His mission, and Jesus celebrated in the midst of saving the world. He feasted. Feasting creates celebrating disciples because it’s connected to the reality that God and Jesus, as beings, are celebratory beings. We can connect all of our feasts to celebrating who God is and what he’s done and what he’s given us. We can have birthday parties, dinner parties, Christmas parties, Thanksgiving dinners, any other feast expanding of the kingdom, celebrating what God has done, His kindness to us in any way. We can do all of that over food and drink because that’s how God and Jesus seem to act in the Scriptures. It becomes a moment of worship.

And here’s what we get in every feast. Every time we choose to feast, we get a clearer picture of God, the God who celebrates and cooks dinner. That’s what Yahweh’s like — rich meal.

We get a clearer picture of Jesus, the Savior who celebrates with the wrong type of people. That’s the criticism he keeps getting in the Gospels for his feasting. “You’re feasting with the wrong type of people!” And the beauty of those stories is we’re the wrong type of people. Jesus invites people like me to feast with him forever.

We get a clearer picture of community. The family of God is feast worthy. Your brothers and sisters that you live life with right here in this gathering that Jesus has saved, that’s worthy of its own feast.

We get a clearer picture of worship. We can worship at a birthday party or a dinner party or when we go out for our anniversary, the baptism of a child, the rescue of a marriage, the kingdom of God advancing in places like Egypt. We hear news about what’s going on with Emad [guest from Egypt visiting North Hills]. The best thing we can do is invite three or four families over to your house this afternoon and eat and celebrate that God’s on the move. That is worship. Feasting forms celebrating disciples.

Final observation, and then I’m done. Fasting and feasting balance the Christian life. There’s a time for both. So, one of the things I think we battle as followers of Jesus right now is a message of the gospel that everything in your life should be good if you follow Jesus. Your life should be a perpetual feast. But that’s just not the picture that we’re shown in the Scriptures. There is a time for fasting. We are going to grieve. We are going to sin. We are going to need to seek direction. There is a time to remove food, but there are also many times to celebrate. So, fasting and feasting work together to form a holistic follower of Jesus.

Food forms us through fueling, humility, and thanksgiving. Food forms us through fasting into praying disciples, and food forms us through celebrating. We become celebrating disciples.

So, brothers and sisters, in the words of Paul, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Amen? Amen.