It is ineffective to embrace the message of Jesus yet abandon his method of delivering it. Actions speak louder than words
While on a recent trip rain was pouring in sheets. Tracy and Lexi needed a bathroom stop so I found the nearest gas station. I made sure I drove all the way up to the door in the “no parking area” to drop them off. I then waited in the parking lot until I saw them back at the door and pulled up close to the door giving Tracy a thumbs up and waved for her to come. They got soaked. They only had to run about 30 feet but they were completely soaked. We laughed as they were drenched until something happened. There was a guy in the car next to me who was also waiting for his wife who had been standing under the awning next to Tracy. This guy gets out with an umbrella and lovingly escorts his wife to her door before getting in himself. I was feeling pretty good about my standard of husband hospitality until he demonstrated an entirely different standard of husband hospitality.
The Hospitality of Jesus and The Table of the Lord is something we are going to explore and understand in this next season of the church. What is Jesus’s view of the Table?
Let’s pay attention to the heart and hospitality of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and learn. I really believe God is going to disrupt some of our cultural ideology and replace it with true Biblical theology in this season together as a church family. The revelation of the table has the power to transform the world around us!
It is ineffective to embrace the message of Jx yet abandon his method of delivering it. Jesus rarely spoke to masses. He commonly brought ministry to a table in a personal conversation with people he wanted to care for effectively. Bigger is not better; more personal is better especially when it comes to the emerging generation’s spiritual development. Cultivation, not mass production, is what people truly need.
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” NIV
In the final conversation Jesus had with the disciples before his death (which occurred while “the evening meal was in progress, of course), Jesus gives his disciples a “new commandment.” “Love one another. As I loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love another.”
Just moments prior to issuing this new command, Jesus had washed his disciples’ feet. Despite being the guest of honor and their rabbi, Jesus took on a role traditionally reserved for a household servant or slave. This is because Jesus was illustrating a new way to love another. And then Jesus and the disciples shared a final meal together.
When Jesus wanted to explain to his disciples what his death was all about, he didn’t give them an informative lecture. He gave them a relational meal.
The table speaks of community, connection, communication and ultimately communion. Jesus is the Master at converting that which is mundane into something meaningful, but it does require sacrifice.
Biblical hospitality is more than entertaining – it’s ministry. When we invite Jesus to a table it becomes an altar and our lives become the offering. In a society that has grown so relationally disconnected, an invitation to Biblical hospitality might be one of the most compelling and irresistible aspects of Christianity.
I’m not asking you to make your idea of the table match my idea of the table. I’m asking you to let your idea of the table match His idea of the table because Jesus is Lord.
The Father’s eternal plan was for Jesus to be born among the Jewish people, who carry a strong table tradition. His parents taught him proper table manners. At the table, the boy Jesus received eye contact and focused attention from Mom and Dad. Without a doubt he learned an intentional mealtime rhythm from his parents and faith community.
At the table, Jesus heard Joseph pray, read scripture and tell stories. Eating meals with family and friends, conversation, laughter, and a faith-oriented focus was ordinary life for the boy Jesus.
Years before Jesus blessed bread to feed the five thousand on the hillside, he broke bread at home as a boy in his parents’ house.
His experience of “the table” existed before this childhood experience. Jesus is the bread that came from heaven to be born in Bethlehem (which means “house of bread”).
It comes as no surprise that many significant stories of Jesus are centered around a dinner table. A shared meal is the most basic expression of hospitality, and this could be the activity most closely tied to the reality of God’s kingdom.
I want to ask you to consider doing something sacrificial and counter cultural. I want to ask you to begin praying about who to invite into your home to explore and experience the power of the table as you simply provide hospitality for others and trust the Lord to do something special.
GP2RL: Begin praying about who God may be asking you to invite into your home. Watch for a special grace in conversations you have.
It is ineffective to embrace the message of Jesus yet abandon his method of delivering it. Actions speak louder than words