The Christian life is a life of enjoyment. Religion has made the Christian life a life of work, but according to God’s economy, which is revealed in the Bible, God wants us to live a life of enjoyment.
The Bible is a book of feasting. To partake of one dish is to eat, but when we eat many dishes, our eating becomes a feast. A traditional Chinese feast may have twenty-one courses. In the Old Testament times God invited His people to feast three times a year (Exo. 23:14-16). In the proper church life every meeting is a feast—“dish” after “dish” of Christ is brought forth and enjoyed by the saints.
The Bible is not for doctrinal knowledge. Genesis through Revelation reveals God’s desire for man to eat. Immediately after God created man, God put man into a garden. Genesis 2:9 says, “Out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” God did not charge Adam to learn many things or to do much work. It is a false religious concept that God wants man only to gain knowledge or do work. God wanted Adam to eat. Adam needed only to learn to be careful about his eating. If he ate the right thing, he would receive life, but if he ate the wrong thing, he would die (vv. 9, 17). Regrettably, Adam eventually ate the wrong thing, but God came in to rescue him.
The passover in Exodus 12 was a feast. After the lamb was slain and its blood was applied, the people were to eat the lamb (vv. 7-9). In Luke 14:16 the Lord likened God’s salvation to a great dinner. He said in verse 17, “Come, for all things are now ready.” In Luke 15 when the prodigal son, who was living like a beggar, returned to his father, he planned to say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants” (vv. 18-19). However, before the son finished speaking, the father stopped him and told his slaves, “Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry” (vv. 22-23). The son wanted to work for his father, but the father wanted his son only to eat. God’s salvation is not work but a feast.
God commanded His people in the Old Testament to keep the feasts by coming together not to labor but to eat and rest (Lev. 23:7-8, 21, 28, 30-32, 35-36, 39). The people ate, and they made offerings to God for God’s food. Thus, they ate before God, and they ate with God. They enjoyed God’s eating, and God enjoyed their eating. God did not tell His people to come together three times a year to bow down and worship Him. Instead, God told His people to come to Him to eat, rejoice, and enjoy (v. 40). This is real worship.
The New Testament often records that the Lord Jesus reclined at table with His followers. A table is a place to eat. The Greek word for table can mean “feast” (Acts 16:34). The Lord’s table is a feast. When the Lord established His table, He broke the bread, gave it to the disciples and said to them, “This is My body, which is given for you; this do unto the remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24). To remember the Lord is to eat Him.
The Lord’s table is a symbol of the entire Christian life. The Christian life is a life of daily enjoying the Lord by eating Him. We eat physical food only a few times a day, but our spiritual eating must be continual and unceasing. Beginning from our morning time with the Lord, we should eat the Lord throughout the day. When we are driving or walking, we can eat by calling, “O Lord Jesus.” We can eat the Lord when we are at school, work, or home.
We should come to the church meetings to eat the Lord. However, if we eat the Lord only in the meetings and not privately in our daily life as well, there will not be much to eat in the meetings. If we eat the Lord privately in our daily lives, we will have more to eat in the meetings. If we do not eat the Lord throughout the day, we will come to the meetings empty-handed. We may hope that others will bring something for us to eat, but if everyone thinks this way, no one will bring anything of Christ to the meeting for others to enjoy. However, if all the saints eat the Lord throughout the day, there will be much to share in the meetings.
The eating in the meetings depends on the eating in our private life. If we eat daily in our private lives, we will have a rich store and come to the meeting full of Christ. Then we can share our Christ, and all will eat and be richly fed. Therefore, every day we need to contact the Lord individually. We can eat privately by praying, reading the Word, pray-reading, calling on the Lord’s name, and remaining in His presence. Even while we are working, we can call on the Lord or digest a verse of the Bible. In the evening we can have a time with the Lord to pray-read His Word and praise Him. We can sing to the Lord not only in the meetings but also by ourselves. We need to have both individual eating and corporate eating. We can eat corporately in the church meetings or with only one other person, such as our spouse or roommate. The Christian life is an eating life. The more we eat, the more we are filled and saturated with Christ. When we come to the meetings full of Christ, the meetings will be rich feasts.
At the end of the Bible, there is a promise and a call. The promise is in Revelation 22:14, which says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.” The call is in verse 17, which says, “Let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.” Thus, the Bible invites us to come to eat and drink. If we learn to eat and drink, we will be kept in God’s central line, fulfill His purpose, and reach His goal by being filled with Christ.