Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Review: "From Tablet to Table"



Don’t buy this book.

I have just finished reading Leonard Sweet’s From Tablet to Table:  where community is found and identity is formed.

Sweet begins by making the excellent point that churches that are losing members are not going to regain their members through methodologies and programs.  The church must be what only the church can be – that is what makes the church different.  We must focus on “finding our identity in Jesus” (2).

Sweet rightly warns that we ought not to have a faith that is hung merely on selected verses, but on the whole story of the Bible, and we ought to find ourselves telling and discussing the stories of the story over food, as we see so often exemplified in the Scripture (40).

Sweet goes on to show the value of family meals and meals with friends for unity, strength, and love – and these are all true – things which have largely been lost in modern American culture.  But he strays away from the point of the story of the Bible.

In fact, he goes on to deny the story of the Bible:

Sweet states:  “Thus the first untruth, the first lie, is that our sin has made God our enemy” (91).

Paul states:  “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10, ESV).

Sweet states:  “We are to be not imitators but incarnators of Christ” (57).

Paul states:  “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1, ESV).

Sweet states that the best definition of the Gospel he has ever heard is, “Jesus ate good food with bad people” (4).

Paul states:  “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (I Corinthians 15:3-5, ESV).

Sweet has taken an important issue for the Church, brought it forth, yet turned away from the very Gospel everyone needs to hear.

The issues surrounding hospitality and food in the Scripture, in our lives, and as a means of knowing the Gospel are profound ones.  

There are very good books written on the subject, such as: 



This book is not one of them.

[I received this book free for an honest review from Tyndale Publishing.  This review appears on my blog and Amazon.com.] #FromTablettoTable http://smile.amazon.com/Tablet-Table-Community-Identity-Formed/dp/1612915817/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437495870&sr=8-1&keywords=from+tablet+to+table+sweet

1 comment:

Steve Finnell said...

THE ELECTED! BY STEVE FINNELL

Can those elected by God resist that calling?

ELECT-ELECTED-ELECTION: Defined (Adjective, signifies picked out, chosen.) (Noun, denotes a picking out, selection, then, that which is chosen).

Elected means chosen. There is a view held by many that when God elects or chooses people that they cannot resist God's calling. Israel was God's elect or chosen people. God did not just select certain Jews to be saved and other Jews to be lost. Salvation was offered to the whole nation of Israel.

Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the people who are on the face of the earth.

The Jews were God's elect. Did any of them ever reject that election? Yes they did; because they had free-will.

1 Samuel 8:7 The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

They rejected God as king.

Numbers 14:11 The Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?

These people were the elect of God, but they would not believe in Him. Even though they were God's elect He did not force them to believe and obey Him. THEY HAD FREE-WILL.

Acts 7:51 "You men who are stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

Israel was God's chosen people; they were His elect, however, they always resisted the Holy Spirit. Most of them rejected Jesus as the Christ. THEY HAD FREE-WILL.

Does God arbitrarily condemn some men to hell and elect a chosen few for salvation? NO, HE DOES NOT!

WHO ARE THE ELECT OF GOD TODAY?

Acts 10:34-43 Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. 36......Jesus Christ....43 Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness from sins.

WHO ARE THE ELECT OF GOD TODAY? All who believe in Jesus Christ. Yes, everyone has the chance to become the elect, the chosen of God.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

WHO ARE GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE? WHO ARE GOD'S ELECT? EVERY JEW AND EVERY GENTILE WHO MEETS GOD'S TERMS FOR PARDON UNDER THE NEW COVENANT ARE THE ELECT OF GOD. THEY ARE ALL GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE.

GOD HAS OFFERED SALVATION TO ALL WHO BELIEVE IN JESUS THE CHRIST.


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