PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 343: FOOD TWINS
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 343: FOOD TWINS
God is the originator of food. He loves food. He wants us to enjoy it too. There are 25 different things in God’s Word that are associated with food. We begin to discover them in this podcast.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Today we’re continuing a few thoughts about eating which we began last week. Now I remember I was telling you how we must watch the ingredients in our food, and when we’re at the supermarket to always read the ingredients before we buy, because often we get them home, and find, “Oh, goodness me! I can’t eat this!”
The thing I was trying to remember that we must not have in our food is high-fructose syrup. That is in so many foods today. If you see that in the ingredients, don’t buy it. Don’t bring it back into your home, because instead of being a healing food, it’s a poisonous food. Sugar, any kind of sugar really, unless it’s a natural kind, is a poison.
Of course, sugar in the sugar cane is not poison. It’s a wonderful thing that God has created. If you go to other countries, you can buy sugar cane on the side of the road. You can suck it and it’s totally healthy. But when they manufacture it and refine it, they lose about sixty or more of the qualities that are in the sugar. Instead, it becomes a poison to our bodies, so we want to watch that sugar intake.
Another interesting thing about eating is how we eat. Today, in our very busy lifestyle, many of us are eating on the run. Many who are out in careers, even men at work are busy, and they eat on the run. Even at home, mothers are so busy looking after their children, and doing everything, that they will eat their food on the run, as they’re walking around, as they’re doing other things.
But it’s interesting that in the Word of God, we see that God wants us to sit down when we eat. It’s so interesting. There’s not a thing that He left out of God’s Word; even the littlest practical things that He knows are so beneficial for us, He talks about in His Word.
I’m not going to give you all the Scriptures today, but even the example of Jesus feeding the 5,000. The record of that story is in all the four gospels and all the four gospels talk about this very important thing--It’s sitting down.
Let’s go to Luke 9:14-15: Jesus said: “Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so, and [the disciples] made them all sit down.”
Do you notice there, a word, “make”? Jesus didn’t say, “Well, get them all to sit down,” No, He said, “Make them sit down.” I think we really understand what He’s saying, don’t we, mothers? Because we know how we have to actually make our children sit down. It’s not unusual to say, “OK, children, come and sit at the table.”
Well, we get them there, and then we’ve got to keep them seated there, and teach them how to stay seated until the end of the meal. That takes training. Little by little, but we need to train them in this way, because this is how God wants us to eat.
Scientifically, they have proof that when you eat on the run, you really don’t get the same value from your food. Food is actually only truly assimilated and benefits our body when we are sitting down. The food is really meant to be eaten with others, sitting down, talking to others, fellowshipping and eating at the same time. Not talking with your mouth full but talking when your mouth is not full.
But fellowship is very much part of sitting at the table. The word in the Greek is anaklino, meaning “to recline, to take your place at the table, to make to sit down at a meal.”
We read it again in Matthew 15:35: “And He commanded them to sit down.”
Mark 6:39: “And He commanded the disciples to make them all sit down.”
Again, in John 6:10-11: “And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when He had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down.” Do you notice that Jesus did not even break the bread or give thanks to God until everyone was seated? Then it explicitly states that the disciples distributed it to those who were sitting down, Isn’t that interesting?
I know, dear mothers, it’s not always easy to make your children sit down, but this is an important training that we must do in our homes. Children always want to get up and down like yoyos. But unless they desperately need to go to the toilet, and they do ask, “Please, may I be excused?” Then you may allow them to go, and they must come straight back. But we are training them.
I am so amazed. We often have families sitting round our table and I notice that many of the children will want to get up and down. They are not used to sitting at the table. They haven’t been trained. Then some will need to go to the bathroom, and they just get up and go! They don’t ask, “Please, may I be excused?”
Somehow, etiquette and manners have gone out the door with this generation. It’s all because we, as mothers, are not passing on important etiquette and manners for our children, so they know how to behave in the home, when they go to someone else’s home, and when they go out into society.
READING THE BIBLE IS PART OF YOUR MEAL
Don’t be upset if you're always training your children on this matter. Keep at it, because it is important, and they need to learn to sit at the table until the end of our meal, and the end of devotions. Because having our family devotions, or Bible time, or whatever you call it, that is part of the meal. It’s not a separate part. It is part of the meal. In fact, it’s more important than the first part, because feeding our bodies is important, but feeding our spirits and souls is more important. We teach them to sit until we have finished reading and praying together.
If you’ve got little toddlers, when it comes to the time to read the Word, well, Daddy can hold a toddler on his knee. Mommy will be holding the baby, and if you've got teens, maybe another teen will hold another little one. If they’re getting tired, they’ve not having to sit up there on a stiff chair, but they can be held as it comes to the reading of the Word. But they’re still at the table.
As they get older, they’ll learn to sit in their chairs. So, we are training them, little by little. This is not only in the natural but in the spiritual as well. You remember how Luke 10:39 says: “Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His words.”
We can’t get our feeding from the Bible on the run, either, or just a quick sit-down. Many people say, “Oh, I have my Bible reading. Get a couple of verses, and on we go.” To really hear from Jesus, to really hear from God, we’ve got to sit down. We’ve got to take time. We’ve got to sit at His feet.
It’s only when we’re sitting at His feet that we will hear His Word or hear Him speak into our heart through His Word. We don’t hear it when we’re just doing it quick, quick, quick. “It’s done. I’ve got to get onto more important things!” No, this is THE most important. Let’s remember this very important principle.
Psalm 128:3: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine, flourishing within your home. Look at all those children. There they sit around your table, as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees. This is the Lord’s reward for those who fear Him.”
Where are your children? Sitting around the table! They’re not popping up and down, not running here and there. In many homes, children eat their food wherever they want. Just here, there, and everywhere! No, the picture God gives of a blessed family is the family sitting—sitting around the meal table. That’s God’s plan.
Now, I’d like to share with you just how much God thinks about food. He’s the One who provided it and He’s the One who created it. He’s the One who designed it and all the glorious flavors. A different taste for every fruit and vegetable and healing leaves from the trees. Everything is God’s design and it’s for our nourishment.
But I found in the Word, 25, what I call “FOOD TWINS.” A twin is when something is together. When God couples something with something else, it’s a twin. Like we have love and faith, peace and joy, and so on. They’re twins.
So, here we go, for 25 food twins. There are lots of Scriptures. I won’t give them to you all. I will put the Scriptures in the transcript for you, for those of you who are Bereans. Do you know what a Berean is? They were those in the Bible who searched the Word of God to see if those things were so. When Paul spoke to the Berean people, that’s what he said. “You were those who didn’t just take it at what I said. You searched the Word to see if it was so.” Read Acts 17:11.
I love to be a Berean. Even when I hear a preacher or I hear someone say something, I’m always taking notes. I never, ever, ever go to a meeting without my notebook. Many times, I’ll hear something. “Oh, wow! I’ve got to check that out! I haven’t heard that before. My, I must see if it really is true!” Or I want to study that more. So, I’m making notes to do that.
On this podcast, I know many times you are maybe washing dishes, going for a walk, ironing, doing something else. You don’t have time to look up the words, but if you’re a Berean, and you have extra time, you can go to the transcripts and find all the Scriptures.
All right . . .
No. 1: FOOD AND THE TABLE
Food is associated with the table because God wants us sitting down at the table. Now, the 5,000 that Jesus’ fed, they didn’t have a table, but they sat around in groups, because that would be a fellowship group. You see, when we sit at the table, we’re sitting around, and we look at one another. We can see one another. We’re eye-to-eye, face-to-face. It’s fellowship and food at the table.
One of the words for “table” in the Old Testament is a “mat upon the ground.” Sometimes they would sit around a mat. But the food was there in the middle, and they were sitting around, because the food was the focus. They sat around to have fellowship.
I wonder if you can remember where tables originated. OK, I have my two lovely Above Rubies helpers here. They are recording this podcast. Girls, have you got any idea where tables originated?
No? You have no idea. Well, don’t worry, because I often ask this question. Usually nobody knows. But let me tell you. It’s a wonderful answer. Tables originated in heaven. God had a table in His kingdom before we ever had them on earth.
TABLES ARE HEAVENLY
In fact, the first mention of table in the Bible is called” the table of showbread,” which was in the tabernacle. Everything in the tabernacle was made according to the plan in the heavenly realm. It was all a heavenly plan. In Revelation, we read of John looking into the heavenly realm, and we see so many of the pieces of furniture that were in the tabernacle back there in the Old Testament. And there they are, in heaven! Because they were in heaven first! Isn’t that amazing? So, the table of showbread was just a copy of God’s table in heaven.
Let me give you a few Scriptures in the New Testament.
Matthew 8:11: And Jesus said: “And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” Here it’s speaking about how Jesus was saying that one day many will come from all over the world, from the four corners of the world, and they’re going to sit down with the patriarchs, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They’re going to sit down at the table and feast with them. Isn’t that amazing? Jesus is talking about His table in His kingdom.
Let’s go to Luke 13:29: Jesus is speaking again, and He says: “And they shall come from the east” (that’s very similar to the Matthew one, isn’t it?) “They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.”
The New American Standard Bible says: “They shall recline at the table in the kingdom of God.”
Let’s go over the page. Luke 14:15: “When one of them that sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said unto Him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God,”
Let’s go over to Luke 22:29: Jesus speaking again: “And I appoint unto you a kingdom as My Father hath appointed unto Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom.” Isn’t that amazing?
Jesus is talking to His disciples, and He says, “You’re going to eat with Me at My table in My kingdom.” And He was talking about His table (many, many, many tables that were there), even before we had them on earth. So, tables, dear ladies, are heavenly. They come from heaven. If you want to have a bit of heavenly atmosphere in your home, make a big thing of the table.
I think the table is really one of the most paramount pieces of furniture in our home. I think it’s the most important! Oh well, we like our beds to sleep in, don’t we? But the table, the table is a replica of the heavenly table, where we will fellowship with Christ and with God in the heavenly realm. When Jesus spoke, I think He was homesick for His table. He says, “One day you're going to be with Me at that table.”
But we can bring Jesus to our table now. Even when you give grace, ask the Lord to come and sit with you at your table. He wants to be with you. He wants to be there. He wants His presence to be with you as you as a family fellowship together, and have beautiful dialog together as you then, at the end of your meal, open the Word of God to listen to Him speak His Words to you. What a wonderful thing!
The table is a twin with food. Food and tables go together. We were talking about how God wants us to sit at the table, not sit in front of the TV, not sit somewhere off on a sofa with your iPhone. No, sit at the table.
Of course, you will make sure that everyone in the family leaves their iPhones somewhere else but not bring them to the table. And hopefully your husband won’t bring his to the table either. Maybe if he does, of course, you're not going to tell your husband what to do. Because you know if you do, well, he’ll do the opposite.
But if you can just talk to him privately, in a very sweet and loving way, and say, “Darling, about these iPhones, we really don’t want the children to have them at the table, because then we can’t have fellowship. What do you think? Don’t you think it would be good if we don’t have ours at the table either, so we can all get rid of them? Then we can be focused together at the table.” I’m sure if you speak to your husband like that, he will be happy to see that that’s such a good idea.
And we should even spread a tablecloth at the table. The Bible talks about that too. And have order. Set the table. Many people just kind of throw the food on the table. “Come and get it!” No, if we are realizing that our table is a type of heavenly, we’ll want to make it heavenly. We’ll want to make it special. We’ll want to put the tablecloth on.
I always say to people . . . sometimes people say, “Oh, can I set the table for you?”
“Thank you.”
And they’ll go to put out the silverware on the table. I say, “Hey! Just a minute! We don’t eat at the naked table.” I’ll say, “We love to put a tablecloth on the table.” Because it adds something special.
And let me tell you, dear mothers. Your children will rise to the value you put on your table. If you just throw some food on the table, with no tablecloth, not set very nicely, and everybody just comes, they’re all going to be casual about it. Nobody’s going to think very much about it.
THE MORE HONOR YOU PUT ON THE TABLE, THE BETTER BEHAVED YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE
But if you put a tablecloth, maybe you put a candle, and you set everything in order, wow! This is special. You’ll find the children will be more well-behaved. The more honor you put on the table, the more your children will behave. They will rise to how you value the table.
Now, let’s have a look at some Scriptures here. Back in Exodus 40:4, this is talking about the table of showbread, the first table mentioned, that was in the likeness of the heavenly table: “And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it. And he set the bread in order before the Lord.” That word, arak in the Hebrew, means “to set in a row, to put in order, to set in array.”
Do you notice the things God wanted on that table of showbread? He didn’t say, “Oh, just plonk them on there. OK!” No, “set them in order according to the order I have shown you.”
Dear mothers, we are meant to set our tables, to set them in order. You will notice a great big difference to the meal. Of course, you're not going to be having to do all this yourself. You’re teaching your children how to put a tablecloth on, how to set the table nicely, how to maybe put an arrangement on the table to make it special. So, you're teaching your children.
Let’s read some other Scriptures.
Psalm 23:5: “Thou preparest a table before me.” That word is arak, “to set in order.”
Psalm 78:19: “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” Same word, arak, “to set the table.”
Proverbs 9:2: “Wisdom hath built her house. She hath also furnished her table.” It’s the word arak. “She hath set the table.” A wise woman will set her table. God wants a table to be prepared and set in order.
Also, we should eat our food at set times. I believe that it doesn’t have to be on the very dot. “OK, we must have our supper at six o’clock every night!” Well, I like to think we have our supper at about six o’clock. But for some families, it would only be five o’clock. Some, it may be seven, because the husband comes home later. You find a time for your family. And, of course, it will vary with things that are happening, within a half hour or so. But you have it about that same time.
Do you remember the Scripture of the healing home? That was a little parable about the healing household and how the wise steward gives a portion of food to the family “in due season.” That’s King James. But other translations say that he served the food “at the proper time.” So, here we find another little principle about the table. It’s amazing! God’s Word is so amazing. There’s every little principle there for us to know how to do it, even in the most practical things of life.
And so, breakfast time, we have at a certain time, roundabout that certain time. But any old time? I know families who have children getting up at all different times. Getting up whenever they like! How do they have breakfast together? They don’t! Everybody gets up when they feel like it, and they get a little bit of cereal out of the cupboard, and that’s that.
No, you're meant to have it at a set time, the proper time. So, everybody has to get up at the set time. That’s how we order a household. You cannot have an ordered household when everybody gets up whenever they like, at any old time. That is not an ordered household.
I think your mother was telling me, Auden, that she was getting you all up at six o’clock to have your time with the Lord, together as a family, because everybody was going their various ways. You all get up.
Yes, but you see, not every household is going to get up at six. Some may get up later, or whatever time suits your household. But you find that time for your household, and you keep it. So, you have your set times for breakfast, and for lunch, and for supper. Amen?
No. 2: FOOD AD ABUNDANCE
Oh, it’s amazing. I found 19 different Scriptures here about God giving food with abundance. You’ll get them all in the transcript. Let’s just go to Isaiah 25:6: This is talking about a feast. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. It might be in the millennium, I’m not sure. It might be the marriage supper of the Lamb. I don’t think it is. It doesn’t specifically say that.
But it says: “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”
I like the World Messianic Bible Translation. It says: “A feast of choice meats, a feast of choice wines, a feast of choice meats full of marrow, a well-refined choice wine.” Wow! That’s some kind of feast, isn’t it? I love that phrase, “Choice meats full of marrow.”
Have you ever tasted marrow? Have you girls ever tasted marrow? Oh, marrow is my favorite part of the meat. It’s that stuff that’s inside the bones. When you cut the bone, say you're cutting bone, you're roasting the meat. Oh, at the end, when it’s all roasted, you can kind of suck that marrow out of the bone. When we were growing up, we used to all fight over that marrow. Who could get that marrow?
I’m a great lover of making broth. When someone kills a beef or a lamb, or whatever, if I can get the bones, I’m grabbing those bones! I cook them up. I usually cook them up and simmer them very slowly for about 72 hours. But, oh, I just love it. As it’s cooking, I’ll check to see if the marrow there is cooked. I’ll get it out and I will take that marrow. It’s so rich and so amazing. You can’t take too much of it. It is so rich.
It makes me think of back in New Zealand days. I grew up in a family where my father wasn’t a butcher by trade, but he knew the whole butcher trade. He knew so many trades. He was a sawmiller, but he was also the world champion shearer of the world in his day. He designed the way shearing is done. He was a horse trainer, and a dog trainer, and a taxidermist, and I don’t know how many other things. There’s a little saying, “Jack of all trades, but master of none.” But that was not true of him. He was master of all his trades, and the best.
But we grew up with home-grown meat all our lives. It wasn’t until I was married that I had to go to a butcher shop. Help! I had never had to do that. My father would kill all the meat. He’d kill a beef; he’d kill a lamb. Mostly sheep, because we’re a sheep country.
When he killed his sheep, we ate it all. He would come in with the brains and the sweetbreads and we would fry them up for breakfast. Then we would have the organ meats. We’d have the liver and the heart. We’d fry it up with onions. Then we’d even eat the tongue. We’d boil up the tongue and then we’d press it for quite some time so that it became so pressed. We would cut it like a loaf. Oh, we ate everything! So, I’m used to eating all these things like marrow and so on.
Of course, now, goodness me! You go to the supermarket and buy a packet of meat. It’s nothing like how we used to eat it back when I grew up. My father usually had at least two 22-cubic-feet deep freezers, full of meat, which he had killed himself, or gone out hunting and shot himself.
Let’s carry on.
No. 3: FOOD AND COOKING
Yes, you can’t disassociate food from cooking because although we can eat many foods raw, there are many foods we must also cook.
I love that story that we read in John 21, the last chapter of John. This was after Jesus had risen from the dead. He wanted to talk to His disciples, so he knows they’ll be out on Lake Galilee fishing. They were very sad at this time, although now they did know that Jesus had risen from the dead. But He wasn’t with them all the time like He was previously.
Jesus went down and wanted to talk to them. He saw them out in the water. Obviously, they’d been out all night, fishing. What did He do? The Bible tells us that Jesus began to make a fire on the beach. And then He began to cook. He began to cook some fish and some bread. When He had it ready, He called out to His disciples. He said, “Come! Come and dine! I’ve got breakfast ready!”
Now, just a minute, ladies. Who was this cooking?
It was Jesus, the One who had just risen from the dead. King of Kings, Lord of Lords! And what is He doing? Cooking. Cooking. And some mothers think, “Cooking’s too lowly for me. I’ve got better things to do!” And they put together something and they don’t really realize the power there.
Jesus. One of the first things He did after rising from the dead was cook a meal! And serve His disciples. The Bible says: “And Jesus served them.” He didn’t wait on them to serve Him. No, Jesus served them and gave to His disciples. Can you just imagine? The fellowship and the talking they had.
And then Jesus took Peter aside and began to talk to him. He told him to “feed My sheep, Peter. Feed My lambs.” He had something special to say to Peter, but He didn’t just go down to the lake and call out Peter and say, “Hey, Pete! I’ve got something to tell you!” No, He first cooked a meal. And then He spoke into his life. You see, that is the power of a meal and the power of the table.
And dear ladies, that’s the power of having family devotions at the table, because God aligns Himself with the table, and with cooking, and with a meal. When we eat, we release oxytocin, which is the relaxing hormone. And you relax, and you're more ready to hear and to take in. So, when we’re eating, we’re relaxed, and we’re more ready to hear from God, and to hear what He has to say to us. Just like Jesus gave food to Peter before He spoke into his life. I hope that you can begin to see the power of the table.
Well, time is gone again.
“Lord Jesus, we thank You. Thank You that we can read about Your life. The cooking was not an insignificant task for You. It was something You did with purpose. You love to do it, because You love food, and You love to serve. You didn’t come to be served, but You came to serve and give Your life a ransom for many.
“Help me, help every mother listening. Help us all to see that power of the table, the power of cooking a meal, the power of serving our families and all the folks that we invite into our homes. This is such a beautiful, God-given ministry, to serve our families and to serve other people with food. Lord, bring us into such a large place of doing this. We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen”.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”
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SCRIPTURES FOR THE ABOVE POINTS:
- 1. FOOD AND THE TABLE
- Tables originate in Heaven: Matthew 8:11; Luke 13:29; 14:15; 22:30, 30; and Revelation 19:9. God told Moses to make The Table of Shewbread after the pattern of God’s table in Heaven (Exodus 25:23, 40; 26:30; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:1-5; and 9:8).
- God wants us to eat at the table, not on the run, or anywhere around the house: 2 Samuel 9:7-13 (19:28 and 1 Kings 2:7); 2 Kings 25:29 (Jeremiah 52:32, 33) and Psalm 128:3.
- God wants us to SIT at the table to eat: Genesis 37:25; Exodus 16:3; 32:6; Judges 19: 6; Ruth 2:14; 1 Samuel 20, especially verses 5, 18, 24-29; 1 Kings 10:4, 5 (2 Chronicles 9:3, 4); Esther 3:15; Psalm 139:2; Proverbs 23:1, 2; Matthew 8:11; Luke 12:37; 14:15; 22:27; and 24:30.
- Examples of Jesus siting at the table: When Jesus came to the table, they not only ate, but he taught, shared stories, and did miracles. The table is a great place for mighty things to happen, but it all starts with food: Matthew 26:6, 7 (Mark 14:3); Matthew 6:20, 21 (Mark 14:18); Luke 7:36, 37; 11:37; 14:1-4; and John 12:2.
- 2. FOOD AND ABUNDANCE
God delights to give food in abundance: Genesis 1:29; 9:3; Deuteronomy 6:11; 8:9, 10; 10:18; 28:5, 11; 30:9; Psalm 103:5; 104:14, 15; 111:5; 136:25; 145:15, 16; 146:7; Isaiah 25: 6; and Acts 14:17.
- 3. FOOD AND COOKING
Genesis 19:3; 1 Chronicles 9:31; and Proverbs 31:14, 15.