"COME ON IN AND JOIN US"

“COME ON IN AND JOIN US”

 

Some people think of ‘church’ as a place of religious rituals. To them it a place where sermons are preached, hymns are sung, weddings are conducted, funerals formalised, and babies are dedicated or ‘christened’. But I want to help people to reimagine what ‘church’ actually is intended to be in our day. To do this I want to introduce the biblical concept of the table. We all use tables. We use a table to display a vase of flowers. We use a table to put cups of coffee or tea on. We use a table to do our homework. We use a table to put beautifully large photo books on. And we use a table for our family members and guests to come together around and enjoy a meal. But then, there is the way that the Bible speaks of the table and if more people could realise the significance what this means, it would dramatically effect how they think about church. To begin to understand this we need to start in the Old Testament and begin to realise that “the table” was the means a person received status. Thus, we begin our survey of the Bible by looking at the incredibly unlikely promotion of Mephibosheth in one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible.

The new king, David, had previously formed a covenant with the son of the previous king, Jonathan, that if anything untoward should happen to him that David would take care of his family (1Sam 20:12-15). After Jonathan had been killed in battle, David sought to honour his vow to Jonathan. An enquiry was made as to whether there was indeed any family members of Jonathan’s family whom David should care for. The answer came that there was indeed someone: Mephibosheth. King David then summoned the former royal servant, Ziba, who bore responsibility to care for the orphaned son of Jonathan (and grandson of the late king Saul).

¶ Then the king called Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him,
“All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson.
And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce,
that your master’s grandson may have bread to eat.
But Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall always eat at my table.”
Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then Ziba said to the king,
“According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.”
So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons.
And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica.
And all who lived in Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants.
So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table.
Now he was lame in both his feet.
Second Samuel 9:9-13

Mephibosheth was a cripple who could offer nothing to king David – yet David granted him the right to “always eat at the king’s table”. This right gave Mephibosheth royal privileges and royal status. This story of Mephibosheth is a picture of what God has done for each of us. We were all ‘spiritually crippled’ when God in His grace reached out to each of us and saved us, adopted us, and made us joint-heirs with our heavenly brother, the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:17). We now, like Mephibosheth, have been granted access to The King’s Table. The apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, described this as the table of the Lord and told the Corinthian believers that this demanded their whole-hearted allegiance (this is why he told them that it was not possible to partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons) –

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.
You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
First Corinthians 10:21

Many believers refer to the table of Lord as if it means holy Communion in the same way that the Lord’s Supper does (1Cor. 11:20). But we must come to see that when God invited us to ‘the table of the Lord’ it was a statement of His acceptance of us and His adoption of us as His royal sons and daughters! Just like Mephibosheth who was taken out of his desperate plight and given access to the King’s Table which totally changed his status, the LORD has taken us out of our desperate plight and granted us unimpeded access to the King of Kings’ Table! This is quite unlike the royal banquets of our modern era in which kings and queens would hold invite honoured guests to occasional dinners. But what king David did for Mephibosheth – and what GOD has done for us – is not merely occasional, it is a permanent invitation to join the king every day for dinner! Turning up at the king’s table for this daily meal was a statement on behalf of the invited guest of their acceptance of the king’s offer of adoption. To not turn up each day required an explanation to be given to the king lest it appeared to be seen as a rejection of the king’s offer (1Sam 20:24-29). Thus, when we assemble each Sunday we are coming to the Lord’s Table as His children to partake of the meal that He has provided for us – including the Lord’s Supper  and the serving of the ‘Bread of Life’ (John 6:35, 48) as the Word of God is sung, preached and taught (Rom. 16:25; 1Cor. 15:1).  

Our gathering as a church is like a gathering together for ‘a meal’. But it is as if we are hosting a meal in which everyone is invited. Perhaps it is not everyone’s usual experience to have a total stranger turn up unannounced at their home at dinner time who then expects to be seated at your dinner table and fed! But, this should be the usual experience of every healthy local church – including ours. We should not just expect that first-time visitors will turn up at our church, but we should also expect that such people will be welcomed to our ‘dining table’ church service and made to feel welcomed. Therefore, those who are welcoming people as they come through the front doors of our church are helping to set an enormously important welcome-culture! Then, our auditorium-greeters are also reinforcing this welcoming culture as people move into our auditorium.

Each Saturday we use social media to invite people from all kinds of backgrounds to join us at our Sunday ‘dining table’ church service. This is because we want everyone to feel welcome at our church as we meet together each Sunday together and in various homes throughout the week. 

It is when a family and their guests gather for a dinner and are seated around the dinner table that they talk, share their stories, reflect on their highlights and lowlights, pray, pray for each other, and discuss important and not so important things. Thus, the dining table is a gathering point where there is laughter, enjoyment, sympathy, music, food and celebration. 

God settles the solitary in a home;
He leads out the prisoners with singing,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
Psalm 68:6

There is a significant difference between a house and a home. A house is just a building. A home is where a person or people belong. As more and more people experience disconnection and loneliness, it is my hope that together we can be a family that some people don’t ordinarily enjoy. And it is my hope that we can be a home for many people who even though they have a place to live – they don’t have a home. The Psalmist declared that God settles the lonely in a home (Psa. 68:6).

In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22

Make yourself at home and… What comes after this invitation is a request to help with the dinner. This might include setting the table, putting condiments on the table, taking the meals to the table, clearing the table, washing the dishes, and offering drinks. Make yourself at home and join in by helping. The more people join in and help, that more people we can welcome to take a seat our ‘dining table’. 

The New Testament Church is often depicted as the place where ‘the table of the Lord’ is located. Thus, the Bible describes the Church as made up of those people who have been legally admitted to the Table of the Lord where they come together to serve one another, enjoy a soul-nourishing meal, and be ready to make room for one more person to join them at the dinner table. This is why we invite everyone to come in and join us. 

Pastor at Large,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

THE PRODIGAL FATHER

Does anyone know what the word prodigal means? Perhaps most people assume that it means: “wanderer”, or “rebel”, or perhaps even “backslider” or that it only applies to sons. This seems to be based on the story that Jesus told in Luke 15 to which most Bible Publishers assign the division title - The Parable of the Prodigal Son. But the word prodigal does not occur in this parable. Interestingly, there are three lead characters in this shocking and famous parable: the father and his two sons. One of these was genuinely ‘prodigal’, and, as Tim Keller points out, it was neither son! To appreciate what Keller means we might need to take another look at what the word prodigal actually means. It comes from the verb prodigious which means remarkably great in extent, size, or degree (New Oxford American Dictionary). It is a word often used to describe an author who regularly writes books - John Grisham is a prodigious author. A prodigal person is therefore, prolific, extravagant, excessive, and, lavish. Keller points out that even though most people ascribe this to the wayward son in the parable, it is more appropriately a designation for the lead character in the story, the father!

Jesus told this parable to grumbling Pharisees and scribes who resented that Jesus was welcoming “tax collectors and sinners [who] were all drawing near to Him” (Luke 15:1-2). Christ tells these religious folk three “lost” parables - the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The twist in the last of these parables comes at the end when it is revealed that it is not the formerly wayward son who was lost, but the upright, dutiful, rule-keeping, son instead! The older son seems to be representing those who were keeping the Heavenly Father’s Old Covenant, while the formerly wayward but repentant son seems to be representing all those who have turned to the Heavenly Father in faith and repentance and accepted the New Covenant of God’s grace and forgiveness.

And the younger of them said to his father,
‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’
And he divided his property between them.
Luke 15:12

But it becomes clear from Christ’s parable that the Father loves both boys dearly (revealing His love for both Jews and Gentiles). The father’s deep love for both of his sons was also tinged with the hope that each of them would return that love toward him, but initially, neither did. This tells us a lot about who the lead character in this story represents. God the Father is immeasurably loving and kind toward each of us and, like the father in this parabolic story, He too longs for each of us to return that love to Him.

The demand by the younger son in Christ’s story would have been shocking and scandalous to Jesus’ original Jewish audience. No Jewish father would have tolerated such perfidiousness from their son! But not only does the father grant his younger son’s demand, he actually also divided his property between the older and younger sons! The father had given away everything he had to his two sons! 

Initially, the listener would have been given the impression that it was the younger son who had rejected his father. But by the end of the story they would have learned that it was both of the father’s sons who had rejected him, yet it was the younger son who had turned to his father in an acknowledgment of his guilt and shame and sought his father’s forgiveness.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had
and took a journey into a far country,
and there he squandered his property in reckless living.
Luke 15:13

While his wayward son was off breaking his father’s heart and trashing their family name, the father was ever hopeful that his son would soon realise the truth – that he was loved, cared for, nurtured, and provided for by his loving father – and always had been. Sometimes it takes the wayward to hit rock-bottom before they look up.

Things got so bad for the younger wayward son that he stooped as low as he could go just to survive. Again, in a shocking twist, he got a job feeding pigs (Lk. 15:15)! This was something no-self-respecting Jew would even countenance! Yet it was at his lowest point that the wayward came to his senses and realised what a fool he had been. He was prepared to return to his father and plead for him not to accept him back as a son, but as a hired-servant (Luke 15:18-19). Ironically, this was already the self-perceived status of his older brother.

The father in this story again did something completely unthinkable to any betrayed Jewish father – he ran to meet his perfidious son! And to make matters worse for the Pharisees and scribes, the father gave his son five symbols of love and acceptance: (i) An embrace; (ii) A kiss; (iii) a robe; (iv) a ring; and, (v) a pair of sandals. The younger son had taken the time spent in the long journey home to rehearse what he would say to his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants” (Lk. 15:18b-19a). Despite his repeated rehearsal of this plea, all he was able to say when eventually reached his father was, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  But this was enough. It expressed his repentance and contrition. And with that abbreviated plea for forgiveness instigated not by words but attitude and action, his father ran to him, welcomed him, and restored him. Since this father is a portrayal of our Heavenly father it reveals a treasure-trove of insights of what He is like as well.

The fact that the father, despite having given away all he had as a premature inheritance to his two sons, was able to recover financially in a relatively short period of time – so that he could put on a lavish (prodigious) celebration feast for the return of his formerly wayward son, should tell us a lot about our heavenly father. Just as the father in this story was generous, gracious, merciful, optimistic, loving, kind, and diligent, so is our Heavenly Father. 

There is, though, a warning in this story, which is embodied by the attitude of the older son. He treated his father as his master, his employer. His relationship with his father was purely functional requiring him to dutifully serve his father. This older son deprived himself of his father’s love and ended up the way of all father-deprived children. He became angry, resentful, judgmental, and bitter. This older son represents all that is bad about the Old Covenant. 

The older son was angry. He was angry at his father. He was angry at his brother. The father was grieved when his younger son betrayed him. But the father was also grieved that his older son would not eat a meal with him. The prodigal father loved to celebrate. He enjoyed music, dancing, feasting, happiness. The return of his repentant younger son gave him the reason to once again celebrate because their relationship had now been restored. The fact that the father and his younger son were now reunited had never meant that there was no room in the father’s heart to celebrate his relationship with his older son. In fact, he had longed for his older son to celebrate this with him. And this should once again teach us something about God our Heavenly Father that is worth us celebrating together this weekend.

This is why Tim Keller says that this parable of Christ reveals something gloriously magnificent about our Father God, that He is, in the best sense of the word prodigal, our Prodigal Heavenly Father! 

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

A HOUSE IS BUILT BY WISDOM, BUT A HOME IS BUILT BY

A HOUSE IS BUILT BY WISDOM, BUT A HOME IS BUILT BY

All but one of our four children have left home. One of my children owns their own home; another is paying theirs off, and the other describes herself as ‘homeless’ (albeit temporarily). However, whenever they come and stay with us, there is a tendency to refer to it as coming home. 

¶ By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24:3-4

BELONGING

A ‘home’, of course, is distinguished from a house. A house is a building. A home is where you belong. And we all need to belong.

God settles the solitary in a home;He leads out the prisoners to prosperity,but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
Psalm 68:6

GATHERING TOGETHER

Belonging involves being together. This is why the common family space becomes sacred. This is the place where the family meets together, such as the dinner table. It is here that the family prays together, eats together, talks with each other, cooperates with each other, and serves each other. 

¶ “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.
Deuteronomy 24:5

RELAXING

Pastor F.W. Boreham on the steps of the Hobart Baptist Manse in 1912, with Stella (his wife), and three of his children.

A home is where you can relax. FW Boreham was a pastor and a father of five children, who used to keep his shoes on at the dinner table if he was required to go straight out after dinner to attend to a pastoral duty. Each of his young children used to love finishing their dinner and then migrate into the lounge room with their father and climb up into his lap to enjoy one of his amazing stories. They knew, though, that if Daddy had his shoes on, there could be no lap-time story. But, whenever Pastor Boreham wore his slippers to the dinner table his children had reason to be excited for what would follow after dinner! Not only would their Daddy tell them a thrilling story (later, when they were older, he would read a classic book to them each night), he also gave them his undivided attention. Home is where you can relax.

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29

RESTING

In one of his “Man Versus Wild” episodes, Bear Grylls stated that a good night’s sleep is more beneficial than a hearty meal. I cannot recall ever having a good night sleep whenever I have been camping, let alone the no-frills camping that Bear Grylls is talking about! If you’ve ever been travelling for an extended time, you’ll know what it feels like to come home and spend that first night in your own bed. Not only is home where you can relax, it is also where you can rest. 

And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
Mark 6:31

MAKING CHRIST OUR HOME

There are some beautiful parallels about what makes a home and becoming a devoted follower of Christ. In John 10, Jesus uses very homely language to describe a relationship with Himself. Being in a relationship with Christ is described as coming through a gate (Jn. 10:3) and entering into the home of the sheep, the ‘sheepfold’ (John 10:1). This can only happen if one enters through the correct ‘door’ — which is Jesus (John 10:7). 

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:9

It is when the ‘sheep’ (the follower of Christ) is placed in the sheepfold, their home, that they are safe from thieves and robbers (Jn. 10:8) and protected from wolves (Jn. 10:12). By implication, the one who comes to Christ experiences Jesus as their wall of protection from enemy forces and their roof of shelter from the elements of spiritual adversity.   

¶ Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
Psalm 84:3

The local church is the body of Christ and therefore, we, too, are to be a home and a family for those lambs and sheep that Christ, the Great Shepherd, places in our sheepfold. As we meet together each Sunday —  like a family coming together for their mealtime — we come to the table to enjoy a feast of God’s Word. This is a home-moment where Christ’s people belong; can relax in God’s presence; find rest in God’s grace; and be strengthened by the love of God through their brothers and sisters. This Sunday, welcome home.

Pastor Andrew Corbett