Eating of Christ

Daniel Yordy – April 14, 2011
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I received the following reply to my last letter, "Christ Versus Legalism," from a dear sister. Both question and answer are vital to every one of us.

"Christ versus legalism. I can see I have been eating from the tree of
knowledge and what a horrible burden. Now what does it mean to eat of
Christ/life? Faith is the key or the knife and fork. I see dimly. I
know there is a real answer here. I must find it. I sense there is a
release for me. This letter is for me the key I need, thank you." Rita

What does it mean to - how, exactly do we - eat of Life?

"Christ lives in our hearts by faith."

I think, Rita, that your analogy - faith is the knife and fork - is a great one to use. Let's follow it and see what the Lord speaks. God speaks through anything at hand, including knives and forks.

There are five parts to eating. Let's list them first before talking about each one.

1.    Giving Thanks

2.    Helping one's self to whatever dishes one wants and however much or little one chooses.

3.    Dividing the food on one's plate into bite-sized portions (here's where the knife and fork come in) and transferring the food to one's mouth.

4.    Chewing the food.

5.    Swallowing the food.

1. Giving Thanks

Eating of Christ begins with giving thanks. When we sit down at a table, someone else has done the work. For this analogy, we leave out the cook and the farmer, since, for us, both cook and farmer are the Lord Jesus Himself.

We do not climb the tree to get its fruit.

We do not climb the tree to get its fruit; that is not a task given to us.

As I touched on in the Our Union with Christ series, this is the one thing that we do not share with the Lord Jesus Christ in His walk and work. Between the beginning of Gethsemane until Jesus returned from placing His blood on the throne of heaven, just before showing Himself to the disciples in the upper room, between those two points, Jesus did a work that is His alone. We do not do anything He did inside those two points. We follow His pattern in all the rest of His example, but between those two points, HE CARRIES us inside Himself. We do not ourselves follow those steps.

We do not climb the tree to get its fruit; that is not a task given to us.

We do not put ourselves to death. When Jesus died upon the tree of life, He said, "It is finished." His death IS our death and that's an end of it.

Jesus Himself obtained the fruit of that tree and He comes to us with its fruit and says, "Here is life; eat of Me."

I do not put myself upon the cross; I do not bring myself to death. I do not practice "self-control" as a means of being worthy to eat of life.

Yet the gospel does require of me a choosing and an action. I must chose and I must do.

I give thanks - the one requirement I must fulfill in order to eat of Him.

When I give thanks, I have removed all obligation from myself to earn the gift. Of course, if I work for the gift, it is no gift at all, but wages. Christ life cannot be and is never a wage. But when I give thanks, I, by an act of will and action, place myself as the RECEIVER of goodness. At the same time, I am not under any obligation to the Giver; there are no strings attached.

There are no strings attached because there is no commandment to eat. God does not command anyone to eat of Christ. There is no obedience involved. "Whosoever will may come and freely eat."

Life is invitation only. Eating of life always begins with giving thanks.

Giving thanks is the bold presumption of faith. Giving thanks honors God by acknowledging that His gift, all of His gift, is true.  

2. Help Yourself.

Now, faith is always bold and presumptuous, but each step of faith is far more bold and presumptuous than the last. "I'll have some of that, thank you very much," is a far bolder presumption of audacity before God than the willful act of giving thanks.

"Of all the trees of the garden you may freely eat."

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born . . . of God." John 1:12-13

Because I gave thanks at the beginning of the feast, it is now my right to become a son of God. No one will give me my right and God never commands me to take it.

Eating of Christ is invitation only. I am free to eat as little or as much of whatever parts of Christ suit my fancy.

Now, God made me a global thinker. I can't look at anything without needing to see and understand the whole picture. Neither can I discuss parts until I first know how they are related to the whole.

When I was nineteen and newly returned to the Lord, I was sitting in an evangelistic service. The preacher was vociferating loudly about the glory of heaven. He said, "I have such a BIG imagination. When I get to heaven, I'm going to ask the Lord for the BIGGEST house on the block."  

I thought to myself, "How odd!" I had been planning to ask the Lord for a solar system so that I could design and form the entire surface of each planet, one at a time, every mountain, every valley, every river and waterfall and fill each newly formed planet with wondrous creatures, plants and animals, all of my own invention, before continuing on to the next planet in the line and starting all over again with a different idea. I was happily imagining some ages of time involved with such a wondrous boon from the Lord.

The biggest house on the block? What infinitesimally small thinking.

(I don't know what this story has to do with anything; it's just one of my favorite memories.)

Let's approach eating of Christ with the same mind.

A friend of mine has on his blog what he considers "The most important word preached in the 20^th century." I understand his point, but for me, I would pick a different word. The word I would pick would be a series of words preached by Sam Fife in the years 1975 and 1976, which I heard on tape in the years 1978-1979. The most important book of the 20^th century is, to me without question, George Warnock's "The Feast of Tabernacles," 1951.

Everything you read from me comes out of the resounding echoes of that word from the throne of God through Sam Fife that entered into me and has never stopped speaking. The word Sam Fife preached came originally from George Warnock's book. 

The gist of that word is this question, "What is Christ?" "Who is Christ?"

If we are invited to eat of Christ, of what are we eating?

Let us also enlarge our picture of the meal at which we are seated. One of the highlights of my childhood was the church potluck dinner. I grew up in the Mennonite church through the 1960's. I can assure you, those Mennonite lady's, who had come out of the Great Depression, were the best cooks on earth. A Mennonite potluck dinner, for a little boy who liked his food, was indeed heaven on earth.

I early on developed a profound skill at piling as many bits of food from as many dishes as I could reach as high upon the given plate as was humanly possible. It is both art and science.

I always prefer a buffet. The bigger the buffet, the better I like it.  I could tell more stories here, but I will restrain myself. But no buffet in today's world can hold a candle to those Mennonite potlucks.

Christ is a vast buffet. In this buffet are four great tables of food, each filled with innumerable dishes of every shape and kind.

"What and who is Christ?" There are many different ways one could approach an answer to this question. Here is my approach for this time.

Christ is four things, four great tables of food, each table itself filled with many different kinds of food, many different mixtures and combinations.

1.    Christ is every Word God speaks.

2.    Christ is a Spirit of Power.

3.    Christ is a Corporate Body.

4.    Christ is the One who lives as Me.

In all that I have taught, I have expounded greatly on Tables 1 and 4. I have referred to 2 and 3, but I have devoted little to those two aspects of Christ, aspects that are equally as important as 1 and 4. I hope to address more of Tables 2 and 3 in my next series, The Gathering Together, as the Lord enables me to write.

But I have not given you the whole picture at this potluck feast of Christ. There are not the 4 Tables only; with all sadness, grief, and sorrow, we see a fifth table, a tiny, little thing off to the side. In a wide ring around this fifth table is a circle of red-faced sweaty little men. They are the leaders of cults and denominations (I have repeated myself - all denominations are cults that make themselves respectable to the world, which is the worst cult of all), of sects and groups. Each one of these little red-faced men has taken his own plate through the four tables of Christ, choosing his own desires, a little portion here, a tiny bit there. He has placed that plate on his part of the fifth table and surrounded his plate with a secure wall, blocking all sight of any other plate.

Each of these little men has a string of people behind him, and he points to the plate he has chosen and says, "Eat here, this is all there is. Don't look at anything else; this that I have chosen is Christ and nothing more."

Around these little men press multitudes of Christians, all with their backs to the great feast of Christ, convinced that they are "safe," protected from all the wildness of that uncontrollable and unlimited Christ who is too dangerous for them. In contrast, around the vast tables of Christ, each plate of which is larger than the tiny fifth table surrounded by the little men and all the millions of Christians, you can see only a few, a couple here and there, determined to help themselves as they are invited.

If we want to know what it means to eat of Christ, this picture, and this distinction, is so very critical.

First, we must have this understanding. All eating is always by invitation only. You can help yourself to whatever of Christ you want, as much of each element or as little as you wish. You are perfectly free to skip this and that, and to eat of only what you choose. And eating what you choose is of God. Picking this part of Christ and passing up that part of Christ is your right. Your every choice is holy. God is infinite. What makes us think we can eat of His fullness?

Well, He tells us that we can eat of His fullness, but He never compels anyone to eat more than they wish; and He blesses all who eat of Christ.

But what Christ NEVER EVER does is instruct anyone, "Don't eat of that." The moment I hear someone say, "Don't eat any of that," they have instantly lost my attention. Neither does Christ ever say, "Eat of this." All He says is, "You may freely eat." Eating is invitation only.

I have had those who teach Christ Table 4, Christ as Us, tell me in no uncertain terms that I ought not to eat from Table's 2 and 3 and only part of Table 1. (That is, I ought not to teach anyone concerning the wonderful dishes on Table's 2 and 3, nor the dishes they didn't care for from Table 1.) I replied, I hope in kindness, "My dear brother, I am not following you."

Christ is all four tables in all fullness, all the time. But Christ is nowhere near table 5, even though portions of Him have been placed there. Yes, He will move through those portions of Himself that have been placed upon table 5 into the hearts of those timid souls who eat there, because He is Savior. But always, the invitation stands, "Whosoever will may freely eat all that is Christ."

I read a defender of the faith who was deriding the teaching of "sonship." He said, "Sonship is not found in the Bible." Now, you know as well as I that the man lies, openly and without shame, not even trying to hide his lie. He is convinced that he has a long line of captive people who will eat only of that which he has picked and will never look to see if, in fact, what he claims is not on the Tables of Christ is actually there.

I am outwardly a timid man. A brother in Christ wanted me to telephone him so I did. Among his first words to me were, "Wow, you sound strong on your audio messages, but weak in real life." I am easily intimidated by strong personalities; I quickly back away. I have always been a favorite target of bullies. My darkest days in my walk with God came out of one hour of destruction from the most psychopathic and astute bully I have ever known. All bullies are psychopathic; they simply do not care how much pain their words cause; they never think of it. The church of Christ is filled with bullies, and many of them are pastors and elders, "guarding the flock" from Christ.

John 12 is one of the most important verses in the Bible.

I have the right to become a son of God. I have the right to eat of all of Christ all that I wish.

And no bully will keep me from my right. I may be timid and weak outwardly in person, inconsequential in the eyes of most; but don't be fooled by that. I am fierce and bold where it counts, with a tenacity that few possess.

I will eat of Christ, all that He is, and I will not be turned back.

There is another tension in God we must not lose sight of. It is true that God is working all things for good, that He is drawing everyone, bit by bit, into all the goodness of Christ. It is equally true that there are many, many dishes upon those tables of Christ that are ONE Chance only. Those who eat of them now, will eat of them forever; those who pass them up now will never, ever, in all the ages ahead, even know of their existence. There's nothing wrong with that. Whatever we eat of Christ now will produce in us unending blessing.

But neither is there anything wrong with insisting on eating all that is Christ now, while opportunity offers. It is our right; and no man can give us our right or take it away.

One of the strongest words in Christianity, I just heard it again the other day, is this. "Don't trouble yourself with all that God is. God is too big and complicated, the Bible is too big and complicated, for you. You don't have to know all that He speaks, you don't have to taste all that He is, just be happy with this little, little bit I am giving you. Eat this portion, be happy, and DO NOT DESIRE any more of God than what our church enjoys. We're wise; we've made the best selections; be happy with what we have chosen for you."

Here's one distinction we must make.

"Bloom where you're planted." A wonderful truth of rest, peace, and joy in Christ.

"Bloom where you're planted." A powerful weapon of little red-faced men keeping their captive flock away from the vast Tables of Christ just beyond.

The very first word that the Holy Spirit made alive in my spirit by revelation, at the age of 19, as I was caught back by Him again and had begun to eat hungrily, were these words from John 16. "The Holy Spirit will guide you into ALL truth."

Those words leaped in my heart; I knew they were real, I knew they were mine. I seized hold of them with all of my might and I have never looked elsewhere since.

Every word God speaks from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 is mine. Every word belongs to me and I have the right from God to eat of it, and no man can prevent me my right. People write to me, not wanting me to eat of a particular word of Christ they don't like. Hey, if I like Saurkraut and someone else doesn't, what business is it of theirs to tell me I should not eat of it? It's on the table of Christ, is it not? I will have some.

If I wish to eat of Revelation 12:5, I will do so. If I wish to eat of Revelation 18:4-6, I will do so, and I will not ask permission of anyone. I will eat of every word God speaks; all of it is Christ, and all of it is mine. 

Every gift and power of the Holy Spirit is MINE. I will possess all that He gives. Every nuance of the river of life, every element of power and authority in heaven and earth belongs to Christ and every part of Christ belongs to me. I will eat of Him.

I will speak in tongues; I will prophesy. I will believe God to see the defeat of death zap through my body, right here on this earth. It is my right, and no man will keep me from my right, no matter how red in the face they get.

Let me inject this (not to Rita). You say that you want all that Christ is. Do you? If you want all that Christ is, then you must be baptized in the Holy Spirit, that is, you must experience more than that measure of the Holy Spirit that hovered over you when you were born again, who planted Christ in you. Now Jesus Himself must immerse you into all the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christ is a Spirit of Power.

More than that, yes, if you want all that Christ is, then receive the gift of praying in tongues, if you have not. Eating of Christ is invitation only. No one is ever obligated to eat of speaking in tongues. There is not one ounce of condemnation upon those who choose to pass up that portion of Christ.

Here is the problem. There are whole vistas and avenues of Christ that they will never know exist, never in eternity, because they chose to skip this one serving of Christ. I have spoken in tongues, praying in the Holy Spirit in a language I do not know, groaning with groanings that cannot be uttered, since age 19. Not every moment, no, but often, under my breath, in my spirit, out loud at times when I am driving by myself.

By eating of that portion of Christ for all these years, I know of Power inside of me.  I see the endless vistas found on the Table, Christ is a Spirit of Power. I know of what He speaks; I have tasted of that power. It is always welling up inside of me.  

When I hear one boast, "I don't need tongues, I have Christ," it is so very clear to me how much they neither see nor know.

It's like this sad, sad story. A man lives in poverty all his life, raising his family without enough food to eat, no shoes to wear, a mud hut in which to live. They could not go to school, they worked long hours in the fields for not enough. They are dumb, with no hope for their own children's future.

The man dies and goes on. He meets his uncle, departed long before him. His uncle asks him, "Did you enjoy the good life?"

He blinks in complete ignorance, the broken burden of empty years and calloused, painful fingers sitting dumbly upon his mind.

"The million dollars I put in the local bank in your name?" The uncle asks, anxiously.

"Duh," is the only reply he ever receives.

What unbelievable sorrow to be offered Christ and to choose ignorance. It is even greater sorrow to boast of the great value of that ignorance and to turn hungry hearts away from that which one does not know.

Every precious brother and sister in the body of Christ is mine. What they have to offer is Christ, and I will partake of Him in them. That vast portion of Christ found only on the Table, Christ is a Corporate Body, is a portion of Christ desired by few and known by even fewer. Yet there is as much of Christ to be found there and only there as there is of Christ to be found in me.  

When I hear someone say, in whatever words they choose, "I don't need to gather together with other believers, to walk closely together in the power and fellowship of th Holy Spirit," it makes me very sad. I know first hand that there are whole vistas of Christ that they will not and cannot know.   

I will know Christ as a Corporate Body. I will know Him in His people; I will receive what He is as found only in that koinonia of fellowship, that walking together in the power of the Holy Spirit. I will eat of that portion of His table. It is my right; and no man will deny me my right.

Understand this. Right now, I am in a season of solitude by the determination of God. This is His hand, not my choice. I am always pressing towards the return to that eating of Christ as a Corporate Body, but only in truth and in love, not in pretense or dictate. I know what I want; I will not let go of the vision that fills my heart. I will see that portion of Christ in fullness upon this earth. It is my right.

And I will also eat from that most precious of Tables, Christ is the One who lives as Me. This also is my right, but I have shared much with you from this table - and what I have to say about it in this letter fits much better in point #5 in the exercise of eating, the most important point - swallow Christ.

Those who chose to eat in part will know Christ in part. What they will know is beyond wonderful, there is no question there.

But those who insist on all the fullness of Christ, will also insist on eating all that He is. They will grab the largest plates in the stack. They will fit and push, work and finesse, until they get every possible portion from every possible dish that is Christ piled high upon their plate.

You can be sure of this. At those Mennonite potlucks, you would have never found me at the long tables with all the adults talk, talk, talking. No, you would have found me off in a corner, eyes wide, devoted to one thing alone, the eating of every wonderful morsel on my very heavy plate. And fully intent on heading back for seconds, just as soon as I could.

3. Cut bite-sized portions to place in one's mouth.

It is not humanly possible to eat all there is of Christ all at the same time. There are those who would limit Christ to their present experience in this world. There are others who would limit Christ to heaven and to the future.

I will never limit Christ. But I know that He must be eaten a bit at a time.

I am both a global thinker and a teacher. I am both a builder, with years of practical experience, and a dreamer, who can have as much fun spending hours designing a planet as designing a barn. My problem is, though, that I always give people too much truth too fast. A friend commented, "Truth is a slow burn," meaning, people can take only a little of what you share, a bit at a time. Otherwise, it's too overwhelming for them.

That is one of the gifts God gives to ministry in the body of Christ. Yes, there are those who take tiny portions and say, "Eat this and no more." But, at the same time, there are those who are gifted of Christ to take one portion at a time to feed God's people, that they might grow, step-by-step, into the fullness of Christ and not die from choking on too big of a bite.

Indeed, I have watched that happen, choking on too much of Christ. It is sad, and does not need to be. But alas, though I am a teacher, I do not have that gift of doling out only a little at a time. Here, it is my desire and hope to give the whole enchilada.

What I mean is that I give all I can give from Table 1. I point to Table 2 and 3 as much as I can, though I can give you nothing from those tables. Table 2 you must get from the Holy Ghost, and Table 3 you must get from walking closely together with other believers in Christ.  Table 4, which is found only in a personal relationship between you and Jesus, I will share, as much as I can, of Christ personally in me.

But we chew of Christ, one mouthful at a time. This is a wonderful picture.

I had thought that "Chewing Christ" would be a short section. However, as I started writing it, I realized that it is the place where I really begin to answer Rita's important question.

I had already determined that swallowing Christ is the only place where possibility becomes reality. Food, no matter how good it tastes, cannot give life until after it is swallowed. But now I also realize that chewing is what we do to make the eating of Christ ours. Chewing Christ is what is in our hand.

So I must break this letter and send the remainder as a separate portion. In the meantime, the Lord has given me another letter that must come at the same time as these: "Strange Fire." I will send it before the second letter on Eating of Christ.