Part 1-Eating a Biblical Diet?

Leviticus 11:3
3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.

Until recently, I never thought that Leviticus 11 could be speaking about our modern day church and our need as Christians to be mindful of what we are consuming. This book isn’t just a lesson for eating (though there are benefits to eating according to God’s law) but a spiritual lesson for believers. Let’s take this step by step and recognize God’s wisdom and genius, even in the seemingly mundane, seldom taught passages of Leviticus.

Rule number one: eat any animal that has a divided hoof and chews the cud. In the scientific community these animals are called Ruminant. This comes from the Latin word ruminare which means “to chew over and over again”. This is the same root word from which we get ruminate, meaning “to meditate”. So, for literal consumption we can eat cows, deer, antelope, goats, and sheep. Any animal that has a divided hoof and multiple stomachs for digesting food.

These creatures also represent where we are to be getting our spiritual nourishment, that is, the church. There are two distinct things that these animals do. First, when they walk, they divide the ground beneath their feet. Their hooves are used to maintain balance, to stay upright. Goats and smaller animals can actually use their divided hooves to climb small trees in order to get at higher vegetation. Secondly, they digest the food over and over again in order to get every last bit of nourishment from it.

As Christians we should be seeking and feeding from a “cow church”. This is a church whose leaders continually ruminate through the Bible in order to find every possible bit of nourishment in the pages. That nourishment is the revelation of Jesus Christ through scripture, both Old and New Testament. A church that rightly divides the word of God, not seeking a principle or law or “take-away” lesson for the day, but rather seeking the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ.

Paul specifically tells Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV) Jesus Himself sets the example on the road to Emmaus. Jesus disguised Himself so that He could use the Old Testament scripture to reveal Himself to the Disciples. (Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.) A church isn’t called to lay out laws and rules and regulations for people to follow. God did that thousands of years ago, knowing full well that we COULDN’T follow them. A church needs to be laying out the foundation for spiritual growth, and that foundation is Jesus Christ.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Until we start to apply these words of Christ to our church teaching, all of the other things are pointless to teach. How will I parent? How will I fix my finances? How will I save this marriage? Those questions can’t be answered until Jesus is revealed. Churches are so focused on drawing laws, now called principles, from the Bible, that the simple message of Jesus and what He has done for humanity has been pushed aside.

What should you be consuming according to God’s instructions? Christ. It’s just that simple. If you aren’t consuming Christ when you go to get fed, but instead you are trying to get spiritual nourishment from laws, regulations, and requirements, then you’re not eating according to what God has commanded!