Luke 22:24-30 (NIV) - “A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, ”The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
The Lord’s Supper, the ‘meal of meals’ we participate in together, reminds us and transforms us once again into servants of Christ - ones willing to serve and love like he has loved us. This meal ’sets the table’ for all our other eating times. It reminds us that it is better to serve than be served. Love is the real food when God’s people come together in His name. It is this love expressed, that like food for the soul, strengthens us, heals us, satisfies us, encourages us and blesses us in every way.
Our fellowship with one another begins in our fellowship with Jesus - in the grace-filled invitation to be with him and to follow Him. It is in this fellowship that we experience and know His forgiveness, and are able to freely forgive one another. It is in fellowship with Jesus that we are served ‘life,’ both now in the Spirit and eternally with our Lord. Grace is always an invitation into life that is marked by the love and power of God. Our fellowship, our meals together become another means to this grace - both for one another, but also for those who God is calling and reaching out to so that they can know Him.
Jesus said, “But I am among you as one who serves” (vs.27). Fellowship that is routed in Christ is one where people gladly ‘out do’ one another in serving and loving. Let us pray for this servant heart that quickly and continuously responds to Jesus’ fellowship with us in serving one another. Let’s ask the Lord to strengthen our communities with His love so that others may come into the fellowship of Jesus and experience how high and wide and long and deep His love is for them. Let’s also pray specifically for those we know that don’t’ know God’s love and salvation. May He save them and may we be part of the fellowship that will extend His amazing grace to them.
-TR
]]>Luke 7:36-50 (NIV) - “When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-that she is a sinner.’
Jesus answered him, ’Simon, I have something to tell you.’ ‘Tell me, teacher,’ he said. ‘Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon replied, ‘I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.’ ‘You have judged correctly,’ Jesus said.”
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ’Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’
Then Jesus said to her, ’Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Jesus said to the woman, ’Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’
Jesus came eating and drinking with sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes and every other problem-child that society had generated. That sounds a lot like us…the church with Jesus. When we are together eating/fellowshipping, it is clear sign that God’s forgiveness is greater than any personal/people preference, allergy to others, and messed up choices. We come together because our sins have been forgiven; we love each other because our sins are forgiven; and, in eating together, we feast on the new freedom in the Spirit that this forgiveness promises. Our fellowship is not rooted in what we want, but ultimately what we needed most, and therefore the continual reminder and experience of that need - love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
As we ponder the magnitude of God’s forgiveness in our lives, let’s spend time seeking God’s forgiveness for how we have cheapened His grace in the way we use and misuse those around us. And in the grace that God gives us, let us seek forgiveness with those we need reconciliation with, and let us be quick to forgive those who have sinned against us. Lastly, let us pray for our ministries and fellowship to be those who deeply know God’s forgiveness, and let us ask for the overwhelming love that we see exemplified in the woman at Jesus’ feet.
-TR
]]>Luke 5:27-32 (NIV) - “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ’Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered them, ’It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”
Christians eating together can be a very odd dinner party, for it is filled with people who would have never eaten together in their lives. That is one of the beautiful things about being together and eating. Because of God’s grace in our lives, we are able to welcome each other in this amazing grace. And it’s in those grace-filled moments we enter into what it means to live differently, to be truly human, and to become more and more like Jesus together - in our sharing, laughing, crying, thinking, playing, listening, and enjoying the wonders of God’s grace being expressed in our lives and welcoming each other once again as family.
Today, let’s thrive in the grace of God, making the most of every opportunity to welcome others into the grace and kindness of our Lord. Let’s pray that we will be gracious people and that our ministries and churches will be places that graciously welcome others into fellowship with Jesus.
-TR
]]>Mark 10:45 (NIV) - “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Luke 19:10 (NIV) - “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 7:34 (NIV) - “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’”
These are three ways that the New Testament completes the sentence, “The Son of Man came…” The first two (Mark 10:45 and Luke 19:10) are statements of purpose. They answer the question, ‘Why did Jesus come?’ He did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom, and to seek and save the lost. This third statement (Luke 7:34) describes his method. How did Jesus come? He came eating and drinking.
Jesus came right into the heart of our existence, into the very thing that gives us life and fellowship - our eating and drinking together. It is in this precious moment where food reminds us of our basic needs and our Provider that Jesus reveals to God’s grace to us. We all need grace. And God has made His grace known through Jesus Christ. In greatness and generosity, God enters into our lives and ‘feeds’ us with His Presence.
How has the Son of Man come in your life? Today, let us thank the Lord for seeking and saving us, for coming into the very core of our lives (the eating and drinking of life) and bringing to us His grace and mercy. Let’s us ask for a deeper desire to be with Jesus, to seek His Presence in the midst of our everyday tasks and interactions. And let’s pray that we also be those who participate in this precious means of God’s grace - welcoming others with generous hearts.
-TR
]]>Isaiah 55:1-3a (NIV) - “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.”
“Of all the means by which Jesus could have chosen to be remembered, he chose to be remembered by a meal. What he considered memorable and characteristic of his ministry was the table-fellowship. The meal, one of humankind’s most basic and common practices, was transformed by Jesus into an occasion of divine encounter. It was in sharing of food and drink that he invited his companions to share in the grace of God. The quintessence of Jesus’ redemptive mission was revealed in his eating with sinners, repentant and unrepentant alike.” [C.T. McMahan]
Meals together can be a means to God’s grace, and the opportunity to share in the transforming power of God’s love. Like the meals with Jesus, each moment together are a call to follow Him and love each other like he loved us. They have direction and intention in every way - to love and welcome others into this ‘love feast’ of Jesus.
Let us hear afresh the invitation to come into fellowship with Jesus - thirsty, hungry, and in desperate for His presence. Let’s ask for a deeper and stronger fellowship with Him, and for hearts that listen and quickly come to him so that we may live (Isaiah 55:3), and live life to the full (John 10:10).
-TR
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