The church is gathered around the Lord’s Table to become the temple of the Lord, as Paul describes in Ephesians 2:19-22. The church carries the Presence of Christ from that table, where he is host, to the tables in our homes where we are host of his presence for our neighbors. If you wanted to draw near to the presence of God before Christ, you had to go to the Temple and get as close as you were allowed depending on your gender and heritage. Christ tore down these dividing walls (Eph. 2:14-18) and gave the Spirit equally to all people who have become part of his body (Eph 2:18, 22; Gal 3:26-29).
People no longer have to go to the temple to experience the presence of God. The temple is on the move and meets people where they are. The church moves from the Lord’s Table to our own tables and the tables of the world. This week we will look at being host at our tables and the following week we will look at being guest at their tables.
The church is on mission to be attentive to and to carry God’s presence into the world. To be a church on mission, we must recognize that there is never a moment when we are not carrying the presence of God with us for others to experience. This should fundamentally shift how act in the world and interact with those who need to experience God’s presence of peace. The table in our homes, what we’re calling the “dotted circle,” is intended to be a bridge moving the church toward the world and moving the world toward the church. This is the place where the world can see lives lived on display who are transformed by the presence of Christ. The dotted circle is important for continually launching the church into the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:11-21)while also being a space to introduce seekers to the followship of believers.
Our focus scripture this Sunday will be Luke 15. Jesus tells three parables in this chapter: The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son. Read these parables a few times this week but make sure to keep the context in view. In 15:1-2, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law saw that Jesus was spending time with the degenerates of their society. The tax collectors and sinners saw something in Jesus that was attractive and wanted to know more about the good news he had to offer. Jesus was scoffed at by the religious authorities, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” In other places, like Matt 11:19, Jesus is called a glutton and a drunk because of those in which he offered fellowship. Jesus’s response to their scoffing is to tell these three parables.
Questions to reflect on as you prepare for Sunday:
Make a list of the people you spend the most amount of time with. How many on that list do not have a relationship with Jesus?
What is your biggest fear in investing your time and energy into having real relationships with people who do not share your values and worldview?
Spend some time in prayer asking God to reveal to you who you struggle to have a relationship with and ask that he place you in situations where you have to explore Jesus’s depth of love and compassion for those people.