The Table of Action

Jesus Invites You To The Table

Let’s get back to our theme for the year, entitled, “Come to the Table.”

Jesus’ invitation to his disciples, his church and you and I today to become a part of something bigger than us - that being the Family of God doing the business of heaven.

Our scriptures for the year are

Luke 22:14–15 NKJV

14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

We are looking at the places in the scriptures where Jesus invites us to sit down with him and to eat with him.

So far,

We looked at the passover table - the communion table

The table of friendship - a sign of this new covenant that He has entered into with us

the table of partakers - people sharing life and involved in each others lives.

and the table of commitment. Jesus commits his life to us, with the expectation that we will give our all to him.

These things then lead us to a greater table.

A new Kingdom that he has given to us and called us to live in.

My brothers and sisters, we are Kingdom of Heaven children. Live like it

How do we do that?

We come to the table of self searching. - We evaluate our lives to see what is out of place and why.

This brings us to the place of change. We allow Jesus to make changes in those areas and to bring us back into alignment with his word and this new covenant.

And that opens us up to the table of power. This higher place of living life and operating in the fullness and the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit.

And then last week, we started to look at this greater table.

This table where we are called to sit with Christ in Heavenly places.

A place where the struggling of life stops.

The struggle to be someone. Because at this table we find our true identity in him.

If you weren’t here, get that message online, but First and foremost, before anything else you do, you need to see yourself as a son or daughter of God.

The table that says we belong.

That we are home. That we have found our niche in life

The table that says we are known

God recognizes us. He sees what we are doing, because what we are called to do has been set up by him long before we ever were born.

The table that says we are secure

That we can sit back in him and with him and do what we were created to do. Live a life that brings worship and glory to God.

This morning I want to go back to those same verses from last week and look deeper at some of these thoughts

Ephesians 2:1–10 NKJV

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So as we saw last week from these verses, we find ourselves at this table in a place where we belong, are recognized and have security.

But there is so much more.

The Table of Clear Vision

The Table of Clear Vision

It becomes the table of clear vision.

When we aren’t sidetracked by having to try and be or achieve something, we can see Jesus clearly for who He really is.

And when we see Jesus for who he is.

The son of God

Our savior and messiah

our bride groom

and everything else that he is to us

3 spiritual verbs come into play.

First We begin to ADORE Him

3 Spiritual Verbs of the Table ADORE

If you look up the word adore, you will see that it has two meanings:

to love and respect someone dearly

and to worship.

We are not used to that table experience in our day and age.

First, not many sit down and eat together

And when we do, many times, it’s an awkward affair.

But let’s face it, you don’t get to really know anyone until you sit down and spend time with them.

Eating at the table is one of those times.

Date Night - Eat and spend time with each other

So let me ask you with this thought in mind. When is the last time that you really sat down and looked across the table at Jesus?

Did you take any time this week, not including this morning, to adore him.

to love him for how he has loved you

to respect him with the time and attributes of your life

Did you take time this week to shut everything else out and just worship him?

Lift your hands, and your voice and your thoughts towards him in praise.

We rarely do. And if we do, it’s never enough.

The table offers time for us, as we said last week, to not worry about life a little bit.

To focus on our Lord and Savior and all that he means to us.

The Second verb is access.

3 Spiritual Verbs of the Table ACCESS

The table gives us access to Jesus.

Remember we are invited by Jesus to come to the table and be with him.

The veil of the temple being torn into two

Jesus tells us that He is the way to God and the only way - there is no other.

And apparently, it’s not enough that he made the way, but now he has to invite us to partake of our ability to come before him.

You don’t need a priest

You don’t need a pastor or other spiritual leader

You don’t need to be holy or clean

You have an audience with the King of Kings and the Son of the Living God.

If you have access to the Son of God, then you have access to God the Father, because the two are one.

You have access to the kingdom of heaven and all of it’s power and authority.

This is why Jesus taught us to prayer (Lords Prayer) that your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

That we would trust him to be able to access the power and authority of heaven and believe that things on earth would change because of it.

That means that everything that you have need of today, is just a prayer away. That’s why Jesus said that if we have the faith just the size of a mustard seed that we can speak to the mountain and it shall be moved. Because he understood what we had available to us.

The question today is do we? We will if we will spend time around the table.

As a child of God, you have access to time with God the almighty

You have access to his presence, his power, and his promises.

You have access to a greater understanding of his word. Where did the disciples ask Jesus about his parables and what they meant? Usually when they were alone with him. And I’ll bet that many of those times were around the table as they were eating.

There is no other World religion that I can think of where the worshipers have access to their God like we do in Christianity.

We need to start taking advantage of it.

Why wait til the doctor calls

Why wait til the boss gives you the news

Why wait til the police call about the children or grandchildren

Spend time around the table of access now and be ready for any of those things or speak over those things and expect different news.

The third verb that we want to look at today is abide

3 Spiritual Verbs of the Table ABIDE

This invitation is to sit with Jesus. To be seated with him.

What happens if you are in a hurry and someone invites you to sit down with them? We say, Oh I can’t right now, I’m in a hurry. I need to be here, there or somewhere else. Because we know that to sit means that it will take time.

Jesus doesn’t want to eat take out with us.

Jesus doesn’t want to go through the drive through with us

Jesus invites us to sit down and stay a while. To get to know him. To see what He is about. To experience his presence in a way that you’ve not experienced it in a long time. or ever.

John 15:5–8 NKJV

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

That’s it right there isn’t it?

The struggle that we spoke about last week. The struggle that we all face. To be productive, to make life count for something.

And here is the key. If you abide in Christ.

Stay connected to

Be plugged into

Draw your life and strength from

Because if we don’t, we can do nothing.

When I think about these spiritual verbs that take place around the table of Christ, I think of three things in our lives.

Worship - giving the praise and adoration to christ that he deserves.

I want to encourage you today to make your life a life of worship.

Seek to worship God in whatever you do, work, play and just living

Seek to glorify God and lift him up in every facet of your life.

Prayer - our conversation with God. (2 Way)

Make time to prayer daily.

Wake up in a way and do something first in the morning that will set your heart and mind to be in an attitude of worship and prayer all day.

Expect that prayer time to be fruitful and vibrant. Invite the Holy Spirit to be a part of it.

You wouldn’t stay married to your spouse if you didn’t talk once in a while

Don’t expect that you can stay connected to Christ if you don’t do the same.

Position or Connection

We have all of these ways of staying connected online.

But very few spend enough time with the Lord.

I get it, we are busy, and tired and have long days and long weeks

But you would have never made it through them if He wasn’t active in your life.

Sit down and stay a while

Practice silence before him. Practice and increase your prayer time

Practice listening for his voice. Journal what he says and put it into practice.

These three verbs and actions will begin to shape a whole new way of living.

It will bring community, something that our hearts want so badly and yet we aren’t getting.

I see Worship, Prayer and position

As I thought more about how seated people live, I considered how we adore Jesus, access all the riches of the Kingdom, and abide deeply to bear the fruit He ordains for our lives. Those new spiritual verbs – adore, access, and abide – began to shape a whole new way of living. I also recognized that at this table, I could experience the belonging and community I wanted so desperately.

We have a seat at this table together. Here, we belong, and from this position of security, self-forgetfulness, and equality with one another, we can enjoy Jesus and our God-ordained lives. We have the fullness of Christ at this table. We have His power, His provision, and His purposes changing us from insecure, lonely, and rejected people to those belonging at the Greatest Table with the Greatest King.

Come to the Table today!

When the children race into the planetarium to find the best seat, the guide must remind them that all seats are equal; there are no best seats. No matter where they sit, they won’t miss any part of the show. When I read that quote, I laughed with joy because I began to truly enjoy my seat in the heavenly realms and my particular life circumstances.

PRAY