Fairly often I like to rehearse what I believe to be most significant ministry framework known to man. I know it is a grand statement to make but the more I walk with Jesus the more deeply convicted I become about the simple and powerful table.
Not too long ago I was visiting Daniel Pulliam’s new home. This young man has come to Christ and walked out of an incredibly chaotic lifestyle of drugs and the court system. Our church family surrounded him as he found a job and slowly began getting back on his feet. It was no small thing when he moved into his own home. We all threw a huge party.
As we walked through the rooms of the house celebrating his journey I’ll never forget walking into the kitchen. Off to the side there was a small table. I remember noticing this modest little table sensing God was speaking something to me about it. I stepped away from the rest of the group to just sit at the table and try to understand what God was stirring in my heart. Daniel came over to me while I was there and I told him, “This table is a place of great revelation.” He lit up and told me that’s where he sits to have his prayer time and read his Bible. It was also the place where he would invite others to study the Bible with him.
Years ago I read an article that referenced the three most favorite phrases people love to hear worldwide. The phrases are simply, “I love you”, “You’re forgiven” and “Let’s eat.” I was fascinated as I put this all together realizing the most significant phrases we love are the most significant expressions of God to our lives. For God so loved the world (I love you), that he gave his Son to forgive our sins (You’re forgiven). Then we read in Revelation that Jesus stands at the door of our hearts knocking and if we respond to his voice he will come in and sup with us and us with him (Let’s eat!).
1 John 4:7-12 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. NIV
We find the table in the Holy Place in the Temple of the Lord. That which might seem so common is obviously very sacred to God. Just like Jesus, so common that many missed the profoundly sacred revelation He brought to our world.
The Bible describes how Jesus prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Is it possible God uses something as common as a table to defeat enemies in our lives?
The Bible describes how Jesus prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Perhaps the idea behind this is to sit with us and connect with us according to His ways protecting us from wrong ways of thinking represented as our enemies. Studies show that the more often families eat together the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, be depressed & consider suicide.[1]Also they are more likely to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their veggies, learn big words and know which fork to use. It’s this regularly shared meal, not holiday feasts, that anchors the family. Some nights it is a fast paced eat and run experience when everybody at the table is thinking about other places they truly need to be. However the pattern of the table produces something profound in our lives and sometimes provides a lingering experience where everybody gets caught up in the conversation and no one feels stupid, shy or ashamed as conversation erupts. This is where you get a glimpse of the power of a family at the table.
It isn’t just a nice cliché to say the Church should be like a family. We want to consistently submit to God’s desire to love each other in such a way that we are known by this deep sense of relational connection.
In our world we’ve separated our faith from the church in such a way that we see the church as an empowering entity to make us more like Jesus everywhere we go. Though this is true it is incomplete. It is our relationship together as a church family that will astonish the world. Its not just about being nice to lost people its about loving each other so intensely that the world takes not of something that is totally unusual.
John 13:34-35A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. NIV
Think about a group of people you have identified with and there was a sense of chemistry. Co-workers, gym, other parents at your kids’ sporting events, etc. Is this love you experienced there really that different from the love you experience w your church family?
Our church is said to be very loving and friendly and I’m so grateful for that. However, we must never be content to just love people better than most other churches.
Search for biblical love!
It’s natural to be close with your family but very unnatural to experience this with people who are not like you. It’s not supposed to be natural – it’s supernatural.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Reach out to somebody in the Destiny family you don’t know very well and connect more personally.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY GROUP LEADERS
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. What was something that stood out to you from Pastor Lawrence’s message?
God’s family is a family of forgiven, dysfunctional people. Our mistakes are frequent and our love is imperfect. But we are still the bride of Christ and even in the church’s state of imperfection our spiritual well-being is tied to our relationship with the body of Christ.
Being in a crowd doesn’t mean you experience community. The Bible actually goes so far as to say we are members one of another obviously placing a very high priority on the relationships we form together as a church:
Rom 12:5 we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. NAS
1 John 4:7-12 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. NIV
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
2. Think about kids sporting events, working out at the gym, co-workers and other activities as you answer, “What kinds of groups of people have you identified with over the years where you all had a sense of chemistry and friendship? (Explain the nature of the relationship and what made it enjoyable.)
3. In what ways has your church experience been like family to you? (Explain)
Community can be discovered in a variety of ways in our lives and community is very good. However, there is clearly a distinction God speaks of in His Word that is a defining characteristic of a church family. The New Testament makes it very clear that the Church is supposed to be known for its love. Jesus says our love for one another is the very thing that will attract the world.
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you , you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. NIV
Perhaps we have allowed our general understanding of relational community to define our church family relationships instead of the Bible.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
4. Is the love you experience in these other groups really all that different from the love you
experience at church? If so how can you describe that difference?
It isn’t just a nice cliché to say the Church should be like a family? It’s a great thought but our families are our families! Does God really expect us to be this close with people we’re not related to, people in many instances we wouldn’t even choose to be friends with if it weren’t for our church relationship? It’s natural to be close with your family but very unnatural to experience this with people who are not like you. That’s exactly the point! It’s not supposed to be natural – it’s supernatural!
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
5. How can you walk out this week’s action point? How will you reach out to somebody in the Destiny family you don’t know very well and connect more personally?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Reach out to somebody in the Destiny family you don’t know very well and connect more personally.