#37 Bible Based Nutrition and What Jesus Teaches us About Food (Body Wholeness Part 4)

27 Jul

YouTube Video of the Church Service

Food, Faith and Freedom

This week at Crowd Church, Dan Orange (who admits to a serious cheese and crackers habit) looks at how we think about food. Rather than seeing nutrition as another thing to stress about or fail at, what if our meals are opportunities to marvel at God's creation and provision?

Dan's journey started not with a divine revelation but with a prod from his doctor - high cholesterol and triglycerides that were "through the roof." But what began as a health scare turned into a deeper understanding of how God designed food and our bodies to work together in beautiful harmony.

Your Body is Not Your Own

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us:

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body."

The key phrase? You were bought at a price. Past tense. It’s a done deal. Which means that this isn't about earning God's favour through perfect nutritional balance, but instead it’s about stewarding a gift that's already been given.

Marvelling at God's Creative Process

Dan got us thinking about God's design process when it comes to food. It's not just fuel - it's art, variety, pleasure, and provision all rolled into one.

Consider the humble egg - versatile enough to become scrambled eggs, meringue, or custard. Or wheat, which transforms into bread, pasta, beer, and countless other foods. And fruit? A spiky pineapple, a banana with its own packaging, and a watermelon that grows perfectly for hot climates where people need hydration.

"God could have made us just like cows and all we ate every day was grass - just simply fuel. He didn't make us like that. He gave us choice. He gave us brains to cook and create."

Finding Balance Without Obsession

When Dan's doctor gave him the choice between medication or lifestyle changes, he chose to learn about nutrition. Using a simple app to track his food intake, he discovered something profound - God has provided everything we need in the variety of foods available to us.

But here's the crucial bit: this isn't about perfection or restriction. Dan still enjoys chocolate - he just keeps fun-size bars in the fridge now. As he puts it, "Self-control is a gift of the Holy Spirit, but why make things harder for yourself?"

The result? Dan lost weight, his cholesterol normalised, and perhaps most importantly, he stopped snoring (Lisa, his wife, in particular, appreciates that one).

Being Stewards of Creation

Genesis 1 reminds us that we're made in God's image to be responsible for the earth and everything in it. This includes:

The animals we eat and how they're treated
The soil our food grows in
The impact of our food choices on others

Dan was careful not to prescribe an organic-only diet or any specific diet. Instead, he encouraged us to consider our choices prayerfully. Sometimes, small changes can make a big difference - smaller meat portions one day, and better quality the next.

Conversation Street: When Nutrition Gets Real

During Conversation Street, Matt Edmundson brought up something churches rarely discuss - gluttony. Not in terms of body shape or size, but as eating in a way that no longer glorifies God, where food has control over us rather than us honouring God through our food.

The test? If you can't fast from something, it might have become an idol. As Matt pointed out, "I'm really good at fasting broccoli" - but when God calls us to fast, it usually costs us something.

The Community Connection

Perhaps one of the most beautiful insights was about the connection between food and community. Matt challenged us: "When was the last time you had someone around for dinner?"

Food in scripture is consistently a pivot point for community:

Jesus ate with everyone from religious leaders to tax collectors
The early church ate together constantly
The word "companion" literally means "one you share bread with"

Dan shared how summer barbecues have become their way of building community, especially as it works better for their daughter, who struggles with indoor noise. Matt added that some of his best community moments have been over an Asda pizza - "It's not the best pizza in the world, but it's about the people, not the perfection."

The Bread of Life

Dan saved perhaps the most profound point for last. In a world where bread has become the dietary villain - the carb to avoid, the gluten to fear - Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life."

"The thing that Jesus says he is, the world says perhaps it's not good for us."

This isn't to shame anyone with genuine gluten intolerance. But it's worth noting that in the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus took bread, blessed it, and everyone ate their fill. When Jesus provides, he provides abundantly.

Your Next Step This Week

Here are practical ways to honour God with your nutrition:

Say grace with fresh eyes - Before your next meal, take a moment to truly look at your food and marvel at God's creative design.
Make one small change - Whether it's choosing fun-size chocolate bars or adding more vegetables, start somewhere manageable.
Invite someone for a meal - It doesn't have to be fancy. Focus on the community, not the complexity.
Ask God about your relationship with food - Is there anything that needs to change? Any area where food has too much control?
Try fasting - Not to punish yourself, but to put things back in their proper place.

A Different Perspective

Dan reminded us that when Jesus was tempted in the desert, he responded to Satan's challenge to turn stones into bread with, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

Food is good. We need it to live. But to truly live, we need the Word of Go— and John tells us that Word is Jesus Himself.

So whether you're tracking calories, going organic, or just trying to eat a bit better, remember this: "Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

It's not about perfection. It's not about earning God's love through your food choices. It's about recognising your body as a gift already bought at an infinite price, and choosing to honour the Giver through how you steward that gift.

Bible Based Nutrition and What Jesus Teaches us About Food
[00:00:00]
Welcome
Matt Edmundson: Good evening. Welcome to Crowd Church. Great to be with you. My name is Matt, Matt Edmundson. Uh, and if you're with us then a very warm welcome to you. We also have one slight eye on. The England football as well. So we are definitely watching the scores. Uh, but yeah, it's good to be with you. I am joined by the delightful and lovely chap next to me, Dan Orange.
Whoop, dropping my phone. Dan, how you doing? I'm doing good. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Thanks. You sounded very high pitched then. Good
Dan Orange: try and bring it down from a talk.
Matt Edmundson: Hey. Yeah. Do that. Do that. Yeah. Doing good. Yeah. Good. Good. Well, it's great to be with you. It's great to be with everybody. Uh, if this is your first time with us, very well, welcome Crowd is an online church where we just, well, we just do church online.
Dan Orange: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: So hear myself
Dan Orange: talk about lots and lots of topics. Lots and lots of topics. 'cause tonight topics. Yeah. Topics that you probably wouldn't often wouldn't hear in church.
Matt Edmundson: No. Because tonight we're talking about nutrition. Yeah. [00:01:00] And food not your standard, standard topic in church. Uh, well, I say we're talking about it.
You are talking about it and then we've got conversation street off the back of it. Right? Yeah. So really looking forward to this one. I love the fact that we can be part of a church and we just look at the Bible and how it impacts our every day, including the whole nutrition thing. Yeah. Which is great.
So, uh, it's great that you're with us. Great. That you can be a part of what's going on. Um, but yeah, you're looking forward to this talk.
Dan Orange: Yes, I'm
Matt Edmundson: you sure?
Dan Orange: Yeah. Good. I always, I, I enjoy reading about it and then putting it together. Yeah. But we were just talking before about how, um. I'm not, I'm not very good.
I'm not a fast typer, so I'm like, oh, I'm trying to get down what I'm trying to say. And then, yeah, so I enjoy, I'm enjoying the talk and hopefully it'll come across.
Yeah,
Matt Edmundson: hopefully, uh, no doubt. So, uh, we're gonna hand over to Dan in just a second. Lemme just say to you, uh, the way we do this at Crowd, if you don't know, give us a thumbs up.
Give us a like, but in the comments, write [00:02:00] down hi, where you're watching from, um, all of those kind of things. Uh. Any questions you have as we go through, let us know in the comments 'cause we answer those in Conversation Street. Um, I've got some questions, uh, already. Some people have asked me some things already that can't make it tonight, so, uh, but you get to write your questions in, in the comments and we will hopefully try and answer them, uh, in Conversation Street.
It's not guarantee just I'm just saying that, uh, but hopefully we can get to it. Um, but yeah, without further ado, let me hand over to the very. Reverend shall we say, uh, the very Reverend Dan Orange. Uh, and I'll be back, uh, with Dan to talk to you in Conversation Street after this is done.
Talk with Dan Orange -Bible Based Nutrition and What Jesus Teaches us About Food
Dan Orange: So today, as we've already said, I'm gonna talk about nutrition, about food, what we, what we put in our bodies. So I thought I'd start like we're about to have a meal, um, saying Grace, or [00:03:00] as I learned this week from our American friends. Prayers grace or prayers. So God, our provider, he provides for all our needs out of his abundance, out of his creative heart.
Thank you for food. Thank you for these bodies that grow and strengthen, have energy. We appreciate your design, not just of our bodies, but all the food that nourishes them. I often wonder about God's creative process. He, when he thought about food. Take take two, two natural food stuffs. Let's have a think about like the egg.
A chicken produces one almost every day, which is pretty impressive, especially compared to the size of the animal. And, and then what can you do with an egg? I mean, we've got a scrambled egg, we've got fried omelets and a bit of sugar, and we've got, um, a meringue or, you know. Custard and then, then, [00:04:00] then wheat.
We've got bread, of course, we've got some cake. We've got beer, whiskey, pasta, noodles, flour. I just, I just love all these, these different sort of aspects about food and, and fruit. You've got like a wonderful spiky, spiky pineapple. You've got a banana with its own packaging. You've got watermelon. You've got fruit that grows not just for the climate it's in, but for the people that are in that climate to, to, for the needs of the eater.
And I think sometimes we can miss God's creation in our normal day-to-day lives. But the next meal you eat, take a real look and think about the desire of that food. I mean, God could, could have made us just like, just like cows and all we ate every day was grass and just simply fuel. He didn't make us like that.
He, he gave us choice. He gave us brains [00:05:00] to cook and create. So I've already started and perhaps I've got some taste buds going, some emotions going, maybe thinking, oh, what can have for tea? I'm hungry. Some might be thinking, oh, he talked about gluten. Now my stomach's going funny. Some might be thinking eggs.
How can he eat something that's so. I come from an animal, especially a chicken, which is probably one of the most domesticated and quickly bred animals in the west. Food and nutrition, it brings up a lot of questions. I'm not gonna answer them all today by any means. I'm not gonna give advice on what to eat or what not to eat, but I might talk a bit about how wheat and why wheat.
The Bible talks so much about food. As many feast to celebrate events, lots of the Bible stories result revolve around food or a meal. Jesus's stories are often centered around food or and grow in it, or he himself was at a meal when he spoke [00:06:00] and he always thanked God for it. So saying grace is not just a, a religious thing, it can be seen as a a Jesus thing.
He thanked his father and asked him to bless the food they're about to eat. Food is obviously a huge part of our lives. It's a source of, excuse me, it's a source of, um, life energy, source of health, or is it a source of shame, a source of comfort, sometimes a source of pride and status. We have a relationship with food.
And what is your relationship with food and, and does it matter? Well, I think it does. God is about making us whole. That's the spirit, soul, and body. Hence the Sears we're in. His body isn't ours. It's a, it's a loner. It's God's, shouldn't we therefore look after it. So let's read one Corinthians six, 19 to 20.
Matt quoted this in the first talk a few weeks [00:07:00] ago, and so did Mike last week. So it goes like this. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you are from God? You are not your own. You are bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. You probably heard this quoted before, at least probably taken out of context.
My body is a temple. I've been thinking about this verse thinking about its meaning. If we think about a temple or say a big church or a cathedral. The cathedral shouldn't be the main attraction. Cathedrals and churches are built to point to God to show his grandeur. His wonder, Liverpool is two large cathedrals and there are thousands of visitors that come to see them.
And if they walk in and are amazed at the architecture and the size, that's, that's pretty cool. But if they miss the reason they were built to point to God to be a place to worship him, then. [00:08:00] I think they've missed the point of them. And our bodies are a wonder, they're a temple of the Holy Spirit. They should be used to point to God, but they're not the main attraction.
My body is a temple. When taken out of context, it's often used for an excuse as while the focus is on the body, you know, to buffet it up, to make it beautiful and strong, to be better than other others. But that's not a temple. That's perhaps that's an idol. And I believe the key to that verse is that we were bought with a price.
We are not our own. If we want to run the race, God has given us, if we want to be able to respond to this word, we need to look after this body. And one aspect of that is what we put in it. Like in Matt's first talk about the body, he mentioned his kids giving him a bit of gyp about his belly and that spurred him into action to do something about it.
Um, and my move into action was also [00:09:00] not a word direct from God, but a bit of a prod anyway, and it was a prod from the doctor. I didn't really think I was overweight. I loved food and I ate pretty much what I wanted not to excess with. Perhaps the exception of cheese and crackers. My, my family know this, but I didn't really spend too much time thinking about the quality.
Of what I eat. My wife did and does. So family meals were good and wholesome, but my meals at work or snacks in the evening were sandwiches and crisp and chocolate and fizzy drinks. So anyway, back to the doctor. I went for a checkup and he informed me after my test that my cholesterol was very high. Her my triglycerides, which I didn't know what they stood up, what, what they are, but they were, should have been around two and a half and they were 12.
Um, and apparently more is not better. They should be, should be down, not up. So he said you can take some drugs to lower it [00:10:00] or eat better and lose weight. So I said, well, I'll try and eat better or lose weight and see how we got on. So when you have to eat, um, less, you start thinking more about food, both what you want to eat and also what is good for you.
I said before, I love crisps and chocolate, but are they worth the calories in the week? I'd, I'd be, I'd eat great. Matt said, yes, they are in the week. I'd eat great at the weekend I would eat okay, but as a treat I'd get a big bar of chocolate. Um, and. Ac nid oes rhywbeth anodd gyda'r trin, ond roedd fy mhrofiad i wneud ychwanegu rhywfaint'r gwaith rydw wedi ei yn y wythnos.
Felly un peth rydw wedi ei yn ddiweddar yw eu bod yn achub bariau dair bach. Felly dyma'r unrhyw adnodd gwaith llwyr rydw'n i'w rhannu. Nid yw hynny ymwneud Ã¢ gwaith llwyr. Ond rhywbeth sy'n gweithio i mi [00:11:00] yw cael bariau bach yn y ffrid. Oherwydd, hei, bydd cioclaid caled yn well iawn. Ac os byddwn i hoffi rhywfaint o cioclaid byddwn i'n cael un.
But not loads. Um, self-control we've learned is a, is a gift of the Holy Spirit, which is true, but also why make things harder for yourself? It's easier to have self-control if the packet is smaller. That's what I found. Um, it's been a few years now and I'm a good deal. Lighter. My cholesterol isn't high and I feel better.
Um, work is easier. I'm not carrying tools plus a load of weight. Um. Ond mae'n bod un o'r effeithiau allweddol yw nad ydw i'n sÅµn yn y byd, neu at leiaf yn sÅµn ychydig Mae hynny dda iawn i'w ddweud Pam dwi'n ei ddweud hyn? Oherwydd mae wedi newid fy syniadau am bwyd. Mae bwyd yn dda, ond yr hyn yr oeddwn i'n bwydo, a'r cymaint yr oeddwn bwydo, nid yn dda i mi I often ate what was easier, which is often the case with [00:12:00] everything that's worth doing.
It has a cost, doesn't it? Sometimes an actual money costs, sometimes time, and often requires discipline on that. I was listening with a family to a young YouTuber called Ryan Trahan. We've been watching this series of family every night and it's, it's almost come to an end. It's 50 days. Anyway, he was talking, he said, you can't do anything.
You can't do everything, but with discipline you can do a lot. And that's been going in my round in my head recently. And as I, as I mentioned before, self-control is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and we can ask God for it more for help. And a lot of self-control is linked to discip. We can also help ourselves with self-control.
We can put things in place to make things easier. A, an alarm cock, it's a great tool, isn't, it? Helps with the discipline of getting up and so to help me with my self-control and needing to eat better. And as, as I'm a techie sort of geek, I enter all the food [00:13:00] I eat into an app, and this means that I know how many calories I need to eat to be able to function, to lose or gain weight.
'cause we need food to live. I went into that food, into the app. It tells me how much protein and fat and carbs and fiber, et cetera I'm eating, which is is good to know 'cause you need a balanced diet. And I don't, didn't know lots about food and I'm getting to know just a little bit more. But I know that if I want to be healthy, then I need to have this balanced diet.
I need to eat carbs for energy. I need to eat protein for muscles and strength. I need minerals and vitamins in the food I eat. And in God's creation and design is provided so much variety, so that is possible. But some of the food we now eat, especially in the West, is far removed from the simple ingredients that it started as.
Processed food has meant even more variety, more quicker, cheaper, faster, more consistent food. [00:14:00] And consistency is probably one of the, the marketable things. It's very sellable and easier to monetize, better for capitalism, but not necessarily better for us. So I'm gonna stop there. On processed, um, I've put processed verses in my note here.
Processed, processed food, um. Um, but um, that's really thrown me 'cause I think I've copied and pasted and did something wrong, uh, as it, because it's a minefield of details and conscious and science. Uh, but it's, you know, it's want to chat about and discuss with yourselves. But this is what I do want to look at.
So let's look at Genesis chapter one and after creation, God says. This is taken from the message translation. Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflect in our nature so that they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the [00:15:00] cattle, and yes earth itself. And every animal that moves on the face of the earth.
God created human beings. He created them. God-like reflecting God's nature. He created the male or female. God bless them. Prosper, reproduce, fill earth, take charge. Be responsible for fish. Fish in the sea, birds in the air for every living thing that moves on the face of the earth. So we're to be stewards of the earth, we're to look after the animals, the wild ones, and the ones we eat and rear we're to be responsible for their habitat.
And our habitat, the plants we grow and eat should also respect the earth in which they get their shape and from and and their nutrients. God actually gave a few tips on this in the Bible and in Exodus he says this, but during the seventh year, let the land live on plow and unused then the poor among you and the people may get food from it and the wild animals [00:16:00] may eat what is left.
Do the same with your vineyard and your oli grove. God has a plan for the poor. He's got plan for the animals and for the soil itself. And in the UK we actually replicate this. So farmers, farmers leave their fields fallow at times for this reason. For most of us, especially in cities, we don't get to decide on how food is grown on.
Animals are reared. I'm not a farmer. I don't work in the field, in the food industry, but I do eat. I can choose. And I know there's a cost element to all of this, and I'll come back to this. I can choose whether I eat this food, this product, look what this company has done to the earth. Should I buy from them or not?
It's the thing to prayerfully consider, and I mentioned budget and money, and you may look at all the options to say, okay, well you saying this means I can only eat organic and food on and food I'm gonna make from scratch every day, just like they did [00:17:00] in the Bible. Well. No, we do live in a different world of food to when the Bible was written, there wasn't processed or manipulated food.
However, there was excess. There was slavery. There was still bad treatment of people. And the earth, God's word is true, and we need to ask God what it means to us now in our own lives. So it may be possible to change what we buy and how we eat by making small decisions. Do I eat this much meat? Should we have a smaller portion or veg one day and the next day meat that's been reared better or better welfare?
It doesn't take much investigation to find out that if we try to make animals grow faster or the earth to yield faster, that often that's not the best for the earth or for us. It means those veggies aren't as nutritious and as they should be. Those animals aren't living in as good condition. There's not as good for us as they could be.
I do want to make it clear. I'm not [00:18:00] saying you must eat organic. That's not what this message, this talk is about at all. Um, I'm not saying change, change what you eat, but I'm saying what we eat does affect our bodies. Ask God if there are things about your nutrition, your relationship with your food that needs, needs to change.
Jesus said, love your neighbor as yourself. And I would've thought, most people have heard this commandment, but have you noticed in this commandment that to love your neighbor, you need to be loving yourself, love your neighbor as yourself. We have to care for our own bodies. Then we know how to care for others.
It's actually commandment to care for yourself. This means you need to. To be healthy. I've mentioned about what we eat, but if there is anyone listening that is struggling with eating or not eating, um, enough with an eating disorder, God created that food for you to make you healthy. If you do struggle with your [00:19:00] eating, please don't feel you have to struggle alone.
Please ask us for prayer and if we can pass your details onto someone that's been there in, in your situation or is qualified to help, then we'd love to help Just. Please don't think you've got to, to sit there alone. Um, I've talked a lot about food, obviously, and its importance to our bodies, but Paul also says this in the letter to the Corinthian church.
He said, food's for the stomach and the stomach for foods. God will destroy both it and them. So food is important. The body needs it, but it's not the most important thing. It's an earthly need. If your focus is on food is greater than your focus on God, then we're missing out on his wholeness. God put this earth together for us and us for the earth.
It's for our pleasure for us to enjoy and to look after. And as I started this talk with saying Grace, giving God thanks to him for [00:20:00] your food. If you say grace before you meal, take that opportunity to reflect on his provision. If you don't have that habit, then I'd encourage you to to start it. It's a good habit to do.
Well, Jesus did it. Jesus had loads of meals with friends, with crowds, and before the meal he took the food and blessed it. He thanked his father for it, and that seems a really good enough reason to me. To follow in those footsteps. And in the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus took the only five loaves and two fish.
That's all they had with them. And he looked up to heaven and he blessed the food and gave it out. And everyone had their fill. 'cause he's our provider. They had our fill. God is our provider. They, they were, they were full. In the Old Testament, especially God. Appointed days for feasts, for lavish banquets.
He talks about inviting us to his banquet in table in heaven. He created food for us. Thank God for his wonderful design and provision. [00:21:00] God, when he led his people from the desert into the promised land, it was to a land filled with milk and honey. And later in the year, I think we're gonna be looking at some of those feasts.
So I'm looking forward to that. I do want to finish just with one big topic, which is bread. Um, yeah. First is, is here's a great fact that I, um, discovered this week, and it's the word companion, which comes from the Latin Comm. Meaning with, and panis meaning bread, the one you share your bread with. I just thought that was really good.
Yeah. Who do you share your bread with? Who's your, with your, you know, your staple food? Who do you share it with? Jesus said in John 6 35, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. [00:22:00] The Bible talks a lot about bread. We break bread with, um, when we're eating together to remember that Jesus, the bread of life died for us.
When the Israelites were in the desert, God provided bread from heaven for them to live. But isn't it an interesting thing that bread, this staple of life, has become something that so many of us perhaps dread? It's a carb if we're trying to lose weight. It's got quite a lot of calories. Um, I read a fact that one to one in 10 in the US would say they've got some kind of intolerance to gluten.
It's been made to be the badie. The thing that Jesus says he is, the world says perhaps it's not good for us. And I'm not saying if you can't eat gluten, you should. You need to be able to eat bread to be like Jesus. Not at all. All I'm saying is that we live in a fallen world. It's a world that tries to take our eyes off him.
Our bodies aren't perfect. The food eat isn't perfect and this has even affected or can affect how we see God's provision, [00:23:00] who he is, the bread of life. I talked about feeding of the 5,000 and all that bread and um, I can't help thinking. Do you think some of them couldn't eat it because of the gluten?
Personally, I think even if they couldn't on a day-to-day basis, this is miraculous bread. Bread, blessed by God was good for their health. When Jesus provides, he provides all and they just don't want you to miss out on his wonder. Working power and reading these stories. Sometimes they can just, we can read them quick and, oh, that's not for me.
This, this two loaves, a five fish and two five loaves, two fish. 5,000 people. Just God is a God of wonder that Jesus is the bread of life and he needs to be the main ingredient in our life. Jesus, when he just started his ministry fasted for 40 days and nights, and he was tempted by the devil, and the devil's first [00:24:00] temptation was food.
It was if God, if you are God, then turn these stones into bread. When Jesus replied, it's written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God as good as food is. And we need it to live to truly live. We need the word of God. And who is the word of God? Well, John says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God.
And the word was God. So Jesus is this bread of life. He's the word of God. He's what we need to live. I am the bread of life. He comes to me, shall never hunger, and he believes in me, shall never thirst. He's our provider and it's him who makes us whole. I'll just finish with this verse from one Corinthians.
Therefore, whenever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Thank you.[00:25:00]
Conversation Street
Matt Edmundson: Well, welcome back. That was slick. That's just in the camera real quick. Uh, it's great to be back, Dan. What a great talk. How did you find it? Prep him for that because? It, you know, food is not a, is not something that you think about when it comes to No,
Dan Orange: it's not, it's not an easy topic. And I did start thinking about all the, you know, the nutrients and I just wanted to bring across, I didn't go into detail, just the wonder, like, so I've talked about that, the geeky app, you know, so I can put in what I'm eating, but then it, it tells me like, all these amazing, so you've got vitamins that we know about the minerals, iron, salt, isn't it just, isn't it just wonderful that we need all those things?
And he's provided that sort of. That way for us to, to eat it. I just, I loved his creation in
Matt Edmundson: food. It's interesting actually, when you think about, um, 'cause I'm involved in a supplement company as you know. Yeah. And it's interesting when you think about. [00:26:00] Just the sheer minuscule amount of stuff that you need.
It's not like massive, like a lot of the vitamins are. They're measured in micrograms. I dunno if you've ever seen a microgram, it's not a lot. It's, it genuinely isn't. Right? There's tiny amounts and so, um, it just intrigues me. That's a little bit, has a huge yeah. Difference, right? Mm-hmm. Uh, when it comes to some of the stuff we, and so, yeah, I, I'm, I'm intrigued 'cause you said at the start you were talking about.
Made my notes here. Um, you're obviously marveling at the Old Egg. Yeah. Which I, I'm a, I'm a, obviously, I'm a big fan of eggs. Um, I, I eat a lot of eggs 'cause eggs are delicious. Um, but I'm, I'm intrigued. You know, when you think about the structure of food and how God has made it, um, it is quite interesting in a culture.
When I think about the time of Christ, I, I can't believe that. They had meringue. [00:27:00] Yeah, maybe. I dunno. Um, but I don't, I think they, they did not have that. You see, the problem we've got at the moment is, oops, is our, is education. Mm-hmm. Right. We know a lot about this sort of stuff, but that causes us problems.
Yeah. 'cause we know a lot about this sort of stuff and the thing I like about scripture is it just returns to the simplicity of these things. Um, and we can look at the science and. I think that's worth doing, understanding, you know, the science of it. I was saying earlier on, it's a shame, my Zach, my son isn't here.
He is just, he was here earlier, but he is on a plane, um, because he's he's a nutritionist. Yes. He ain't talk about this all day long. He's all very, very fascinating. Interesting. But I'm just intrigued. Like before the fall there was food. Yeah. And in heaven we hear about the heavenly banquet table. Right.
And there's, so there's food and you kind of go, well, what food's gonna be, yeah. What was it like before the fall? [00:28:00] What was, what's gonna be on that heavenly banquet table? You know, I've, I have some, I have some requests. I, I, I just do. Um, and you, you think about that and you go, well, food is obviously an important thing to cook.
Yeah. It is, it is, it is like, God
Dan Orange: designed this. It's not in significant through the whole Bible, is it? There's there's so much and, and like, you know, you could just excuse it and say, well, yeah, that's 'cause we need food to live. But, but it's not, it's like I said, we don't have to, we are not animals. We don't just eat this one thing and God's put enough in that one substance for us to eat.
Yeah. He's allowed us to be creative with it and to enjoy taste. And he says taste and see that the. The Lord is good, doesn't he? Yeah. Yeah. You know, he, he, yeah. He wants that to be a representation or an example of, of how, how good he is. How amazing. And how different it is as well. Yeah. Yeah. He
Matt Edmundson: does use a lot of food analogies.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, taste and see, I'm the bread of life, man [00:29:00] shall not live by bread alone. Yeah. You know, there's these whole things. One of the things that really intrigues me about food and irrespective of what you think about it in terms of, you know, should I do the carb thing, high protein? Well, um, again, that's not our realm of expertise.
No. Um. But you can think about, well, what did Jesus eat? Yeah. You know, he ate bread, he ate fish, um, he ate lamb. We know that these things were going on at the time, um, it would've been what we now term as organic. Very natural, very clean. Not, I can't, I can't imagine they had processed. No, I was
Dan Orange: trying to, I think, what would they.
Have, and you know, we've got some, we've got some things that we do to animals now, like whatever you feel about this. But things like fo gra, you know, you take an animal and you stuff down, stuff down into its stomach, you know, it's not something I, yeah. And I'm happy with, but, but there could have been stuff that they did in those times, which might not have [00:30:00] been processed, but it might have been not.
Comfortable for the animals or how they, they did stuff. So there's, there must have been choices, wasn't there, you know, there
Matt Edmundson: would've been choices and, and you do, like, you do wonder about it, don't you? And I, I think bread has got, like you said, you know, I dunno, you think about bread, it's got, it's become like the bad, it's always become like the devil food.
Yeah. Like chocolate's good and bread is bad. Yeah. And um, and I think processed bread. Bread, I get. And no disrespect to my American cousins, I have tasted the bread you get in America. Oh my goodness. I mean, I thought England was bad, but geez, I, I, I do, I I, I would love to have sat down and tasted that fish that Jesus barbecued on the beach after his resurrection.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm not, I don't normally do fish. I'm not as, but I think that would've tasted good. Yeah. Yeah.
Do
Matt Edmundson: you know what I mean? Absolutely. Um. One. Uh, there's a couple of things. One you touched on, um, [00:31:00] that is self-control. Mm-hmm. So, um, we talk in the church about various sins, and I'm gonna put them as inverted commas.
Some are more obvious and not thou shalt not commit murder. You, it is a fairly obvious one. We, I think most of us would agree. We can all agree Christian, not Christian. That's, that's the sin. Um. Gluttony, not something I hear talked about that much. Uh, drunkenness and gluttony, probably the two that we don't, not today's culture.
Um, because gluttony is eating food without self-control. Yeah. Right. It's, it's not having that endpoint. It's not about body shape or size. It's about eating in a way that no longer glorifies God. That in a way where the food has a control over you rather than you glorifying God through your food. Would that be fair enough?
Yeah.
Dan Orange: Yeah,
Matt Edmundson: I think so.
Dan Orange: It's an interesting one, isn't it? Yeah. And, and it, and I think whenever you, you think about, you know, drunkenness, what's it doing? It's taking, it's taking more of your self-control away. Especially, you know, drunkenness. You [00:32:00] can't, you can't think as straight or as straight, you know, or straight.
Um, gluttony means you are less. Nid ydych'n gallu gwneud yr hyn chi ddylech ei wneud, p'un a yw hynny byw yn eich bywyd, p'un a yw hynny edrych ar eich plentyn, rydych'n, mae hynny yno am rhesym. Nid yw unig pan fyddwch'n ei allan oddi rywun arall. Mae hynny cyfyngu. Ac rwy'n meddwl, rwyf wedi bod meddwl am lawer o'r pethau rydyn ni, sy'n gweithredu, yn gweithredu yn fwy prosesol.
Mae hynny'n amlwg ddim yn rhoi genedlaeth ond mae'n ein hyfforddi. Eisoes y fynd i'w gofio, ond nid yn gwneud hynny Beth y chi'n cael yr apwl neu'r galled, mae'n debyg bod ychydig o fwy iawn efallai y gallwn fwyaf fynd am fyd, ond os fyddwch chi'n seilio i ac cael eich gwbl bag o crisps, mae'n debyg efo Chris, nid wynebu i chi fynd ymlaen.
Rwyf am symud ymlaen.
Matt Edmundson: Iawn, rwy'n cofio dda iawn. Rwy'n credu bod [00:33:00] glutiniaeth yn Something I think Christians have to think about in the modern world. I really do. I think it's one of those things that has to be in our thinking, um, and not allowing that, that thing to dominate us. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think if you struggle with globally, start with fasting would be.
My advice. 'cause again, fasting at a very, it's amazing now, you know, due to intimate, intermittent fasting. I, I, IFI think is a, I I've heard bit. IF uh, and it's like, like it's this new thing that's just dropped from the sky and you're like, well, I'm sure the Bible talks about fasting a lot. Um, and it's amazing how that's healthy Yeah.
For us as well, right? Yeah. So yeah,
Dan Orange: there was so much to. To, to write about. And I did have a section on sort of fasting and especially like the Daniel Fast, which is often talked about. Um, where Daniel was, he was like a trainee, if you like, for under Nebuchadnezzar. And, um, so [00:34:00] he got all the best foods, but the, the guy in charge said, you know, these, these are all the best foods.
This is what you're gonna have. But some of it. The Israel, uh, the Israelites would say, well, this is unclean food. We're not gonna have this. So he said, I'm just gonna have fruit and vegetables. And the uch was like, ah, this is my, this is my head. If you, if you, if you, if you are not well because of this or you are malnourished.
And he said, you know, don't worry. And God, God blessed him, God bless them more than the others. And, and, um. Two things from that one. One is that that was for Daniel and that was a a time, and there might be times when God says, yeah, just give up that, just because I think that's a bit of a, that is a bit of focus for you.
That's something that you, it's your comfort. You, you know, it's taking your eyes off me. Give up that and just have something. Um, but it was for, if it was for Daniel at that time, um, there's, when I was. Researching [00:35:00] this talk. There was a lady said there's this, she went to this, um, bread shop and they had some Ezekiel bread because Quite popular.
Yeah. And she was like, well that was more of a prophetic bread to show that you're not gonna actually get good quality ingredients, just this is what you're gonna live off. And he actually told Ezekiel to cook it over his own feces. I don't think they were doing that. And he said, eel, he was like, well, no, I'll just cook it over.
Animal feces and God said, okay. So I dunno if they went that far, but it was like, you know, read around the subjects in the Bible. Yeah. Don't just take everything one verse one verse and dwell on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See what God wants. Yeah. Yeah. For
Matt Edmundson: you. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely don't wanna cook it that way.
No, that's, I like my barbecue. But that, uh, there's a limit. I think the, it's interesting when you think about fasting. Because fasting, I, I'll be totally straight. It is not a problem and I am [00:36:00] really good at fasting broccoli. Right. I just, I'm really good at that. I think. Whenever God calls you to fast, it usually costs you something.
Yes. And it's uncomfortable. And I think that's right. And I think that's, that's good because you're putting something back into its right place. Mm-hmm. Um, and it's, you know, when something's become an idol, when it's moved into gluttony because you cannot fast it.
Yeah. Right.
Matt Edmundson: Because it's just too hard to give up.
It's the, it's the big litmus test. And the other thing about food that I think is so powerful and such a wonderful. Thing that is revealed in scripture is that food seems to be this pivot that community functions around, right? So you have, um, you have the early church that ate together all the time, right?
Jesus eats [00:37:00] with all kinds of people throughout the gospels, from the righteous to the sinners. I mean, he's. He is basically all about food, it seems, and it's like, let's get people together around food. There's something about the dinner table being a place together. Mm-hmm. Now, I know for most of us, we would have like, you know, we would use phrases like, entertain, we're gonna entertain some people tonight, we're gonna have people around for a meal and wine or whatever.
You, you mean that kind of thing. Um, but there's something quite divine about sharing your table. With other people, friends, family, people you don't know, um, and, and getting them round. Have you, I mean, do you, and I mean, we've been round to your house. Yeah. So obviously this is a thing for you. Yeah, it is.
And probably
Dan Orange: this week has been the, the entertaining week. Um, it's partly for us, um, my daughter struggles with, with noises and, and different things in the house. It, it, it's a bit too much for us. So the summer is a great [00:38:00] time for us 'cause we can have barbecue and we can go outside and so we can chat and it's a great opportunity and that's so we get all our entertaining in and yeah, it's that time, isn't it that you can.
You can just talk. I love that word, companion. And I found that out. I was like, oh, that's great. Who do you, who'd you have your bread with? Yeah. Yeah. Who do you, well,
Matt Edmundson: it's interesting 'cause you've got communion, who do you break bread with? Yeah. And that, that again is, um, and you know, historically breaking bread for a lot of people has been about the communion, wafers, and, and.
And I think we've, we've belittled it to this act with a tiny bit of bread and some, probably some grape juice. 'cause we're just not quite sure about our Colin church. Um, whereas actually in scripture it's like, let's, communion is about a meal in a community. Let's get a community together. People around the house, let's break bread together.
Let's have a meal, let's rejoice and, you know, talk about the goodness of God in the presence of other people. There's something quite powerful about this. [00:39:00] Yeah, there is. To the point where a few years ago, there's a guy called Tim Bonds. You know Tim? Yeah. You met Tim? Yeah. He's been on crowd before. He pastors a church in Jersey.
Great guy. Unbelievable cook. I mean that man, if you ever invites you around, go. That's all I'm saying. Um, he's a great cook, great food. And it's interesting, when I went round his house quite often he would have other people around that table and he had this amazing gift to be able to look at the fridge where it'd have a lettuce leaf, a bit of cheese, and a tomato, and create something quite extraordinary.
And I thought, well, that's a really unique gift. And so what that did was he created food. That was good and that drew people in. Now, at the time, I could just about cook beans on toast, just so I got really challenged by this. Not that I think everyone has to be a good cook, but I think it's part of God's design to bless other people and to create community by having them around the house.[00:40:00]
And the one of the ways that you can bless that community is to give them tasty food. It does not have to be complicated. Right. It just has to be, my food is definitely not complicated. Bit of a rub. It's good though. It's good. We just, we just throw a few things in a bit of food, whack it on the barbecue and we are good to go.
I just learned a few tricks along the way and I think it makes a big difference, right? Yeah. And so I'd really challenge you not just to think about you and food and you, and. Definitely don't focus on weight 'cause that's not what we're trying to talk about. Um, but focus as well on food and community.
How can you expand community out? When was the last time you had someone around for dinner? Um, when's the next time you've got someone coming around? And again, it doesn't have to be complicated. Um, some of the best times I've gone around people's houses when we've just got a pizza from Asda, uh, it's not the best pizza in the world, but do you know what I mean?
It's um, you just get a pizza and you chat. There's food. And so I thought, I don't think we have to overcomplicate it. I think there's an opportunity there [00:41:00] for community and I think, um,
Dan Orange: not just, not just big groups of people, but like we had, um, it was my wedding anniversary last week, and so congratulations.
Thank you. She's not killed you yet. I know. 19 years. Woo. Um, and so we went out for a meal and one thing you can't do at a meal is. You often, you're, especially if just two of you, you're facing each other. Yeah. You've got a talk, haven't you? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. The other distractions are, um, they're a bit trickier.
Mae'r bobl yn mynd allan i fyny ac yn dal ar eu ffonydd, ond mae'n rhywbeth mwy anodd. Mae'n amser lle gallwch chi ddarparu'r amser gyda rhywun ac mae'n rhaid i chi ofyn cwestiynau mae'n rhaid i chi siarad. Felly mae hynny'n gweithio'n dda iawn os oes rhywun rydych eisiau ei wybod yn well neu mewn grÅµp hefyd.
For people that aren't great at talking, and I'm not, I [00:42:00] know I do this, but this is, you know, I've had to learn and this is not my natural, my natural is just not really to say much. Um, but. Having a round meal, you've got a good excuse to not say anything. 'cause you can eat something and then when you have got something to say, you can, you can chirp up.
So, yeah. Yeah,
Matt Edmundson: that's why board games are also good when you have a meal, uh, they prove a nice distraction. So let's have a look here. Ellis said that, uh, he thinks it's interesting how in the Bible, food is often viewed as a key part of celebration. It's a really good observation. Yeah. There is something like.
Like, like I was saying about the community aspect, there's something about food. Yeah. That just is divine, that connects people. We see it in the life of Christ. We see it in the order of God. Let's not fight it. Let's go with it. Yeah. You know, and, and I think celebration is such a good point. Yeah. I like that.
That um, and you think about a birthday party, you come round Yeah, yeah. Food, wouldn't you? Yeah. Yeah. One [00:43:00] of the things that I think you should do actually, um, if you are watching this and you're like, me, you run a business or you're just busy with work most of the time, get home for family dinner. The majority of the time when the kids were growing up, I'd, I wasn't.
100% at it, but most of the time I'd be at home at six o'clock for food and just having that family time around the dinner table. Awesome. Absolutely love it. Um, so I highly recommend that, uh, just put my glasses back on. Aid says research shows avoiding processed food is better for our health as well as eat in Whole Foods.
The Mediterranean diet being a good example. This is how they ate in the Bible. Um, very true. Uh, he also says bread in Biblical times would've been a lot less processed and had less ingredients than the majority of what is available now, which again, I, I would totally say is true. Yeah. Yeah. Um. Totally. I always like it when we make bread.
Yeah.
Dan Orange: And I think what I, what I was trying to say in the talk about, um, trying to make things quicker and faster, you know, I should imagine that bread [00:44:00] has been and, and just wheat. Mm. We've, you know, honed it down to getting a, you know, a strand of Yeah, yeah. Str the wheat. That's, that's perfect. And yeah, just having it faster and better.
Yeah. Easy to harvest, but might not necessarily has the most,
Matt Edmundson: you know, nutrients. No, absolutely. Love it. Anyway, I'm aware of time. So let me just, uh, close the conversation street off just by saying, you know, we read at the start, Dan read it at the start. We've read it a couple of times on this section that we are commanded to glorify God in our bodies, right?
That bodies have been bought with a price. Um, and you said the scripture right at the end here, one Corinthians 10 31, whatever, uh, whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God. And I think. As a Christian, it's not so much for me about calorie tracking. I think that's a good thing. Um, I'm not telling you not to do it 'cause what gets measured gets managed.
Right. We know that. But I think from a Christian point of view is what [00:45:00] I am doing food wise, honoring God through my body. Yeah. And it's the same with drink. Does it honor God through my body and am I glorifying God? By eating this. And in fact, Paul uses this as an example to talk about whether someone should eat meat or vegetables.
And he's like, well, listen, it doesn't matter whether you eat meat or whether you are a, a vegan or vegetarian. What matters is what you are doing and the impact that has on the person you are with. So if I'm out to dinner with a bunch of vegans and whip out a, you know, a massive steak burger, then. God has a real issue with me because I'm, I'm having, I'm causing problems for the people that I'm eating with.
Right. Um, and so I think it's, it's one of those where you have to glorify God with what you eat. Um, and I think you have to honor God with your bodies. And so they're, they're the two litmus tests that you should ask yourself at the end of the day. Yeah, absolutely. And I think if we do that, we're probably on the right track.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, and like I say, [00:46:00] get some people afternoon anyway. Love that love. Love that. Um, that's Conversation Street over. So it is, uh, the 27th of July. Um, next week is August, and the reason I'm telling you this is because next week we will be, uh, streaming content, but we won't be live like we are here.
Um, so there'll be no host, but there will be some content you can join in on the, uh, comments, et cetera. We call it the non-live, live stream. Um, and basically this is during August. Myself, Dan Anna. All the team Zoe at the back, on the tech desk, everybody we take, um, just this time just to be with family, just to relax, just to recuperate.
We call it the Sabbath month because basically, I mean, most of us are away at some point during August and rotors then become a nightmare. So we're just like, let's just, let's just take August as a sabbatical. So that's what we do. Um, so we'll be back live in September, but we do [00:47:00] have this, um, teaching over August, which as you said, is all about festivals.
Which, uh, basically there's food at festivals. I just wanna point that one out. Celebration, like Elli was saying, enjoy and fun and what we can learn from them in terms of relaxation and almost what we can learn from them in terms of how we do holidays or vacations, um, here in, you know, the western world and what the Bible has to say about that, because.
Looking at the research, how we do it as a default is not working. And burnout is scaling debt is rapidly rising. A lot of people get into debt over their holidays. So we're gonna look at that and what does God have to say about it? 'cause I think there's some real freedom in it. Mm-hmm. Some real freedom.
In fact, you're doing one of the talks. I am. Yeah. Have you done it yet? No. Okay. Needs to get, move on 'cause it's last August. I do. Uh, anyway, uh, anything else from you in closing, bro? No, no, that's, yeah. All good. All good. Wow. That's it from Dan. That's it from myself. Thank you for joining us. It's been great to be with you.[00:48:00]
I'm just gonna check real quick. Um. What's going on? Oh, we got added extra time. Still won all. So we get to see the England, uh, lionesses, hopefully. And we love you Spain. We do, but we do wanna win. I'm not, it's just the way it's, uh, so we're hopefully gonna go watch that. Thank you for joining us. Uh, it's been great to be with you.
If you want any more information about Crowd or about Crowd Church, just head over to the website, www dot Crowd Church. Um, just to be. Cleared, there's gonna be no conversation afterwards. So normally we open up the conversation on Google meets where we chat with people. That will not be happening tonight, and it won't be happening happening throughout August.
Uh, but we'll be starting it back up again in September. Um, but yeah, that's it for me. That's it for me. We sound like the two runs, uh Sure. In our age. Uh, God bless you. Have a great week wherever you are. We'll see you real soon. Bye for [00:49:00] now.