S2. E16. Romans 14 (part 3)
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[00:00:00] there are foods that are more calorie dense that are beneficial to eat some foods. Provide fuel, other foods provide pleasure, and all of these foods have a place on our plate and can be part of a Holy Spirit-led approach to food.
Hello. Hello. Welcome back to Your Daily Bread podcast. I am so excited to be continuing our Romans 14 [00:01:00] study for the month of June. Today we're gonna be diving into the first part, the first sentence of Romans. 1414, and it has a similar theme to one Corinthians 10 23 that says that everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.
So today we're gonna be focusing on the first part of Romans 1414. That. basically addresses the permission piece because that part comes first. We have to give ourselves permission to eat all foods, then partner with the Holy Spirit to properly discern what food is best for you to eat at what time, in one amount if you eat it at all.
So next week we're gonna be talking about how to eat in a spirit-led way and how to discern what foods are best. For you to eat, but to this week, we are gonna be talking about having peace and finding peace. Around all foods. So let me pray us in. Father God, thank you [00:02:00] for your word. Lord, we are just so grateful that your word is sufficient.
It is the same yesterday, today and forever, Lord. And we know that the Bible is not about us, but in your kindness, you have chosen to include us Lord, and we are just so grateful. That you sent your son Jesus to die for us so that we no longer have to live under the law, striving to be perfect and following all of these different things.
But now there is grace because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, and we can receive his forgiveness, his mercy, and we are restored back in friendship with you. Lord. We are just so grateful. Lord, I pray that as we go into. This episode today that is typically a hot button topic, uh, that you help us reach a posture of surrender.
Lord, help us to get to a place in, in one Samuel three where we are able to say, [00:03:00] speak Lord, for your servant is listening, Lord. So I pray that you soften our hearts, humble our hearts, and you help us to renew our mind. Because allowing you to come in, offering our bodies to you as a living sacrifice is our greatest form of worship.
And Lord, allowing you to come in and renew our minds that we're no longer conforming to the patterns of this world is how we discern your good, pleasing, and perfect will and what you want for us in our lives. So Lord, renew our minds. Lord, help us to change our beliefs. Help us to surrender our will and desire your will for us.
Above all else because it is not just good, but it is best. Lord, I pray that as we go through this episode that your word is illuminated and it leads to deeper healing and all of the fruit of the spirit, and that it just brings about peace and so much healing. And Lord, I just pray that. This episode is less of me [00:04:00] and more of you.
And your spirit does what only it can do. Lord, thank you for using me as a vessel. Lord, have your way. I pray that everything that is said in this episode is exactly how you would want to say it, Lord. Not what I want to say, but what you want to say. Through me. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. So Romans 1414 says, I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus, that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat.
Then it goes on to say, but if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. So the purpose of this episode today, as we're starting to study Romans 14 across multiple weeks. We're gonna just hone in on Romans 1414. The first part I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus, that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat.
Just that right there. When I've read this verse to [00:05:00] clients on coaching calls, I mean, I've had clients that just start weeping.
Because they didn't know that that was in the Bible. They didn't know. They didn't know that all foods were okay to eat. They have so condemned, so judged, so sinful for eating what culture says is a bad food. So I pray that this clears things up today, sets the record straight, that no food under the authority of the Lord Jesus, that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat.
There are no good or bad foods because of Jesus. And. That makes us all the more grateful for Jesus and what he did for us On the cross before Jesus, there were a lot of Jewish traditions and food rules under the Levitical rules for, for eating certain foods that [00:06:00] that is true. But because of Jesus, he says that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law.
So we do not live by the law, but we walk in freedom and we have grace, and we are not bound by these previous food rules that they had in the Jewish tradition. So I pray that this is freeing for you and that you are able to really hear this and the spirit saying to you that it is okay to eat all foods.
And next week we will get into how do you discern what the Lord wants you to eat and what's specific for your body. But we want to really internalize first this permission piece that you can eat freely in Christ. And this doesn't lead to reckless eating, but it's about freedom with wisdom and and releasing shame.
And I find that when we label foods as good or bad or healthy or unhealthy, we take that one step further to mean we're a good or bad person or a he or [00:07:00] unhealthy person. We're a holy or unholy person. We're a clean, dirty person when we eat certain foods. So this verse squashes all of that. And there's other verses in Romans 14 that help back that up.
Verse three says, and those who don't eat certain foods must not condemn. Those who do for God has accepted them. Verse six says, those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord since they give thanks to God before eating. And that is similar to. One Timothy four verses four through five that says, everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with Thanksgiving.
So when you give thanks to God before eating, and we talked last week about how to pray over your meals and pray bolder prayers and different prayers to help heal your relationship with food. So when you're giving thanks to God before eating, it doesn't matter if you're eating a cookie or a salad. You are [00:08:00] looping him into that experience.
You're giving him glory and honor and recognition in that moment. So it's less about what you're eating and more about the fruit that what you're eating is producing, and so that food is acceptable. That meal's acceptable because you're looping God into it and you're giving him, thanks. And then also we have verse 20 that says, remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. And we'll be talking about that as well and diving more into depth than that. But it reiterates again that all foods are acceptable and we have to think about this book, and this letter is being written to the Romans and all the books in the New Testament, apart from the gospels are being written to Christians in the faith, people that were previously either Jews or Gentiles. And so this is being written to. Christians to show them, Hey, this is how we used to do things before.
This is how you used to do [00:09:00] things before, but now that you are following Jesus, this is what it means to be a Christ follower. This is what it means to walk out your faith, believing in Jesus. And so it's confusing for people if you're still living by these old food rules that the. Jewish tradition used to have because Jesus fulfilled the law, so we need to operate differently than how we did
And so it's important to note that since there are no good or bad foods. How do we discern between all these different foods? how do we start to label 'em if they're not good or bad? How do we start to label them differently? Because I understand y'all, like there is a different nutritional profile between a cookie and an apple.
So it's not that these foods are good or bad, they just serve different purposes. Some foods are nutrient dense and they're packed with fiber or protein or vitamins and minerals, micronutrients. Some foods are calorie dense and they're more calorie forward. They maybe have less micronutrients in them, [00:10:00] less vitamins and minerals, but they're higher in calorie.
And I can tell you, working with a lot of clients that are underweight and really actually need to gain weight to be healthy because Your skint self is not your healthiest self. And there are people that are severely underweight that need to rely on higher calorie foods. and there's people with certain medical conditions that really need to ensure that they are getting adequate calories in or athletes that need to get adequate calories in.
And so there are foods that are more calorie dense that are beneficial to eat some foods. Provide fuel, other foods provide pleasure, and all of these foods have a place on our plate and can be part of a Holy Spirit-led approach to food. Eating for joy and satisfaction is biblical too. God made taste buds on purpose.
So we need to reframe when we say junk food or cheat meals It is not cheating. If you're under the [00:11:00] law and you have God's grace, now you're not cheating and so we need to remember the times in the Bible where Jesus was eating or even in the Old Testament.
People were having these feasts and it was a time of joy and celebration and all of that is biblical. it's important to know that and really internalize for yourself that every food has a purpose and a place on our plate, and it might just look different. And it's okay if you enjoy a food.
Just for the purpose of pleasure or for fellowship I'm talking with a lot of patients right now 'cause it's summertime, I'm going out to get ice cream with your family and your kids. Like that is such a time of bonding and if you choose not to have ice cream in that moment, and the Lord may prompt you not to, but your child is gonna remember like, oh, like mommy, don't, why don't you want to eat that?
Or like, oh, why can't you eat that? And. are you gonna actually say to your child like, oh, I can't eat that because that's bad, [00:12:00] but your daughter's eating it or your child's eating it. Why is it okay for them? But it's not okay for you? that can really set your children up, the people that are looking to you up with a poor relationship with food, if you are still bound by these food rules that are really not from God.
Now, something that. I hear all the time is, oh, you shouldn't eat that food because it's not listed in the Bible. just because a food isn't listed in the Bible and wasn't around in biblical times, it wasn't in Jesus' pantry. Doesn't mean that it's unholy to eat. This verse says that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat, and we know that God's word is the truth and it's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And even though it was written thousands of years ago, it still has. Authority and can be applicable to situations that we go through today. And so if somebody tells you that, oh, you shouldn't eat that because it's not biblical, ask them. Can you show me that verse? You don't have to say it in a rude way, Can you show me exactly where? it says that, and a lot of people will point you back to different things in [00:13:00] Leviticus, and that's when we can kindly say and point them to actually Romans, Hey, because you're a Christ follower, we are not bound by those old food rules. But Jesus came to set us free and by continuing to follow those food rules a lot of legalism and guilt and shame and rigidity that is.
Not allowing what Jesus did for us on the cross we're not taking full confidence in that. We're not walking in the full freedom that Jesus died for. And it's frankly, still keeping us in bondage. It's another form of bondage. Another way that I see this kind of sneakily come up, this, morality tied to food.
Because people really think that they're holy earth now when they eat quote unquote clean. I have a very big issue with the trend of clean eating, and they've actually done studies on this and I can link it up in the show notes.
But in this specific study, they had a very diverse population pool and they interviewed a lot of [00:14:00] college students and they asked them if they described foods as as clean or unclean. what's their definition of, clean eating and do they try and follow that?
And those who said yes, I do try and stick to eating clean and a clean eating diet. They were more at risk for eating disorders and disordered eating, and all of those behaviors that are associated with eating disorders and disordered eating, and also they had more anxiety. They had greater instances of depression, they had a lack of peace.
In their lives and also in their bodies as well. So it showed that they had a decrease in body image as well. we tie so much of our morality because it's like, oh, this food is clean. Then what makes the other food? S unclean, you're categorizing foods and you're doing that based on a worldly understanding of what's clean and unclean.
Because if we look at actually other translations of Romans 1414, I'm in the NLT, it says, I know I'm gonna, I'm convinced on the other world, Lord of Juice, that no food in of itself is unclean [00:15:00] to eat. Like it says unclean. versus right or wrong to eat.
So when you look at those different translations, you can see how we're debunking the trend of clean eating. And we can see in the scientific literature that people that are following clean eating, it's not leading to good fruit. It's not leading to kind and gentle self-talk. It's not leading to peace around food or in their bodies.
It's not leading to self-control because when you're not able to eat clean, that's when you binge and you go all out. And it leads to more guilt and shame and you're stuck in that restrictive cycle. So it ends up being a huge, huge problem. So I'm very against like the clean eating movement. so we also wanna be calling out food legalism and we wanna do it in love.
So if somebody asks you, or says to you, Hey, you shouldn't be eating that food 'cause it's not listed in the Bible. walk them through this verse, and if someone says, oh, you shouldn't eat that because that's not listed in the Bible, ask them, can you show me that verse?
and ask them, where does it actually say that you only have to eat foods that are listed in the Bible? Where does [00:16:00] it say that? Where does it say that you can only eat foods in the Bible? So anytime that you have a food rule that comes up. We wanna ask ourselves Who said that?
Who told us that? And just because it was another Christian doesn't mean that it was from God, right? We wanna filter everything through the Holy Spirit and filter everything through God's word. Jesus made all foods clean, and this is also brought up in Mark seven verses 18 through 19 as well. Giving yourself permission to eat all foods leads to peace.
Because here's the thing, y'all, God is not glorified by your fear around food or your obsession with eating perfectly. He's glorified when you eat in peace with gratitude and freedom with the Holy Spirit guiding you. So this episode is about giving yourself permission to eat the foods that you've demonized and eat them with Jesus at your side.
revelation three 20, inviting Jesus in to eat with you. And when you give thanks to God before eating, he has accepted you and you're doing, you're [00:17:00] eating that meal in a way that honors him. I find that a really good place to start with getting outta that habit of labeling foods is good or bad, or he, or unhealthy or clean or unclean, is to start labeling foods neutrally by their properties.
So you can say that this food is soft and sweet. And that could be ice cream, that could be a banana, something that's salty and crunchy. That could be chips, could be goldfish, could be Cheez-Its, which we talked about so much on, on the show. And it also could be rose chickpeas, right? It, it could be croutons, it could be so many different things.
And so when you're hungry, start to ask yourself, okay, I'm hungry. What am I hungry for? Don't say something, Ooh, I want something, healthy or unhealthy. But ask yourself, what is the vibe? Do you want something cold and crunchy? 'cause that could be a cucumber, but it also could be something else as well.
labeling foods neutrally can be very, very helpful. and that can be helpful for your kids as well to, and start to instill in them a healthy relationship [00:18:00] with food. Because if, this summer You have your child saying like, I just want ice cream. You can say, okay, it sounds like you want something that's soft and sweet.
Now we don't have ice cream right now, or we can't go get ice cream right now, but I do have this banana. Would you wanna have it? And maybe we put the banana with the ice cream and we ended up having a sundae or something like that. That sounds awesome. So it can actually help your kids too, and instill in them a good relationship with food when you start to label food neutrally and.
You're not condemning them for craving something high in sugar or quote unquote bad. So I hope that this is helpful for y'all and. Just because we are free to eat anything doesn't mean that everything is beneficial for you personally. So tune in next week because that's where we'll be tackling.
Discernment and spirit led eating. The second part of Romans 1414, if somebody believes it's wrong, then for that, person is wrong. cause we know in one Corinthians 10. 23, everything is [00:19:00] permissible, but not everything is beneficial. So how do we know what is beneficial for us personally? And if you know that you need to break free from this legalism and this perfectionism, this all or nothing mentality, and you have been listening to the podcast for a while, but you feel like you need some more personalized.
Support. You need me in your grits, like really learning about how you eat and what you're personally struggling with to give you some personalized advice, head to the show notes and book a free 20 minute call with me and that will kickstart your journey to finding food freedom in Christ. See y'all next week.
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