WELCOME THEM - SO THAT MY HOUSE MAY BE FULL

Who is welcomed into your home especially if they are unexpected, unannounced and unknown? As Jesus travelled around Israel He often told a story which His disciples would have repeatedly heard. It was the story of a nobleman who was hosting a great banquet in his large home and had invited other nobles (his countrymen) to be his guests. But one after another each made a weak excuse for not attending. The nobleman then told his servant to go and invite the outcasts to be his guests instead.

But He said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.
And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited,
‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses.
The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it.
Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen,
and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’  And another said,
‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
So the servant came and reported these things to his master.
Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant,
‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:16-23

I wonder if this nobleman hosting this banquet had a family? If so, how might they have felt seeing the homeless, the unwashed, the less-abled, and the uncouth come to this banquet in their large and pristine family home? How would they have felt seeing their father heartily greeting and embracing these strangers as they came into their home? This parable reveals something shocking about who Jesus is. While many of Christ’s parables are clearly about Him – is this parable? If Christ is in this parable, which of the characters portrays Him? The noble? The servant? The formally invited? The outcasts who actually and gladly came to the banquet? Perhaps this parable is about Christ’s church – His followers? Let’s consider these options and who Jesus was addressing this parable to.

 

WHO IS WHO?

The Nobleman?

Could the nobleman represent Christ? In this parable the nobleman is wealthy and enjoying the trappings of wealth. We see that he was generous, and hospitable. Certainly these are qualities of Christ. We also see that the nobleman was rejected. Christ was also rejected. “He came to His own” John tells us, “and His own did not receive Him!” (Jn. 1:11). We discover that the nobleman is deeply compassionate man who cared for the despised. This too was trait of Christ (Mark 6:34).

The Servant?

If the nobleman was Christ, then it might follow that the servant was His Church (comprised of His followers). After all, the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) certainly resembles the charge that the nobleman gave to his servant. But could it be that the nobleman in Christ’s parable is actually the Father? In which case, this would make the Servant Christ Himself. The Old Testament prophets certain foresaw the coming messiah as the Servant of the Lord (Isa. 52:13; 53:11). 

The Invited Countrymen?

The guests originally invited to the banquet were very familiar with the nobleman. Perhaps they were too familiar. Their familiarity failed to recognise what they were being invited to and who it was who was inviting them. Their pathetic excuses bear this out. It may have been that Jesus was sounding a warning to Israel – especially its nobles (Priests, Pharisees, Sadducees) not to too quickly dismiss His invitation to come to the Father’s banquet. Despite being very religious, these member of the Jewish ruling council (the Sanhedrin) did not know God!

The Outcasts?

The outcasts of society – the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame – gladly accepted the offer of the nobleman. Coincidentally, these are ones whom Jesus frequently ministered to (Matt. 11:5). 

 

WHO ARE WE?

We are not the nobleman in this story. We could be the servant though. We could be the nobleman’s countrymen who each refused his banquet invitation (but I hope none of us will be). We certainly could also be the outcasts, if not physically, we should all come to realise that at least without Christ, we are all spiritually blind, deaf, crippled and lame. And if we do realise our parlour spiritual condition without Christ, we would surely be eternally grateful for GOD’s banquet hall invitation. But there are two other characters in this parable. Both are silent but both are integral to the parable. We are already told that the nobleman had a servant who served as his messenger. It is improbable that he didn’t have other attendants who would have waited on the surprised dinner guests. I hope that this group represents us. But there is one more “character” in this parable which features prominently in this story, albeit silently, the one identified by the nobleman as: “my house.”

We are the living house of the Lord (1Peter 2:5). More than any other character or character’s action in this story, it is the house of the house of the nobleman which reveals the heart of God. The house in this parable reveals who God is. It is spacious. It is not merely about having a people over for dinner, it is about hosting and even accommodating the homeless so that it becomes their home as well. C.S. Lewis captures this house in his third book in the Ransom Trilogy and calls it, St. Anne’s. It is a mansion where an odd collection of guests take up residence and working together they save the world. This is a beautiful picture of the church. It’s host, Dr. Edwin Ransom, is himself crippled, and welcomes old and young, the religious and the irreligious, the refined and even the most bearly refined – “Mr. Bultitude”. This representation of the church as a holy building comprised of redeemed people, is re-used in the story of the Good Samaritan where the Inn and its keeper is a place of acceptance, rest, and healing for the wounded and rejected. In First Corinthians, the apostle Paul calls the ragtag, motley crew, of slaves and free, males and females, Jews and gentiles, whom Christ has called into His Church, a “temple” (1Cor. 3:16-17). The apostle Peter further uses the picture of a house to describe Christ’s Church when he uses the motif of the rejected Christ who has an ever enlarging house to welcome, entertain, and accommodate the formally spiritually destitute, distraught, and delinquent — yet redeemed followers of Christ. This is the local church!

 

“So that My House may be full!”

This Sunday, which of the characters in Christ’s parable of the nobleman’s banquet will you emulate? Because whichever one you choose it will determine how you will welcome and serve the hurting, broken, lost, and lonely whom the LORD is sending into His house so that “My House may be full!”.

Your Pastor,

Andrew

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FINDING JOY IN YOUR CHURCH THROUGH HUMILITY

 ¶ For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body,though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

First Corinthians 12:12

What is a church? Whatever it is, based on what we read in the Bible, it is an institution that can bring tremendous joy to Christ’s followers and provide a source of great grace. I have previously written about the ten distinctives of a local church which distinguishes it from what it is not – namely, a: (i) Bible study group, (ii) a para-church organisation, or even (iii) a ‘ministry’ (such as an evangelistic association or regular conference). At its core, a ‘church’ is a spiritual organism of the Body of Christ which is comprised of believers who are “in Christ” (Rom. 8:1). This is a point that Sam Allberry has made in his latest book, One with My Lord: The Life-Changing Reality of Being in Christ. Being “in Christ” means that every believer is intimately connected with Christ. This is profound. This realisation should cause a believer to regard such things as partaking of Communion together in an overwhelmingly different light. Thus, when we, the body of Christ, partake of the Bread, the Body of Christ, and the fruit of the vine, the Blood of Christ, we who are “in Christ” then have “Christ in us” through ingesting this sacred meal. It is, as the Church has long declared, “a visible act of receiving the invisible grace of God.” But there is something else more wonderful about the local church experiencing Christ together in this way: we do this as a new family. Just like in any family the church family is a means of God for each believer to minister to each other believer God’s grace in its ‘manifold’ forms which enables a believer to be strengthened and helped, resulting in and from — joy. This tremendous blessing though can only be administered and received when it is done so with humility.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
First Peter 4:10-11

It is the work of the Holy Spirit in each believer to “place them” into a local Body of Christ and to knit them together as a “dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22

This means that in the wisdom of God He will bring together people from different nations, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds and experiences and make them a united family.

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Ephesians 3:6

But this comes with great risks. Bringing people together from such diverse backgrounds who may not have yet been instructed in the ways of Christ and His Church can quickly degenerate into enmity, factions, and schisms. This is why Christ has ordained that His Church be both ordered and led so that “the unity of the Spirit” can be intentionally upheld without compromise (Eph. 4:1-4).

 

The Role of Local Church Leaders

We noted in the opening biblical reference from First Corinthians twelve that the church is like a human body. Just as the parts of the body including its internal organs have a particular function and work together to enable the body to function as a unity, so it is with the church. Thus, Christ gifts members of His body with abilities which they are to use for the benefit of the whole body. This is the point that Paul made to the Romans (who were , based on Romans 16, meeting in many separate ‘house churches’ around Rome).

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:4-8

In writing to the Corinthians he uses even stronger language to the describe the place of leaders within a local church (note that First and Second Corinthians was specifically not addressed to any leader or group of leaders – partly because there were so many people claiming to be the leader!). Paul counters the claim of his proud opponents at Corinth that he had no right to tell them what to do, by pointing out that Christ ordained that His church be led, “first” by apostles:

That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together. ¶ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
First Corinthians 12:25-28

The unknown writer to the Hebrews writing about AD 63, told them that:

¶ Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith….Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Hebrews 13:7, 13

This anonymous writer tells the Jewish believers in Jerusalem that their support and cooperation with their leaders should result in joy for their leaders. It it reasonable to see how this would also result in joy for the congregation as well since their shepherds would be leading with joy, care, courage, as they taught, prayed for, discipled, trained, and equipped those in their pastoral charge. This then leads to us considering the posture of a congregation in a joy-filled church.

The Role of Local Church Congregation

In Paul’s climax in his Epistle to the Romans, after he has spent eleven chapters explaining the gospel and what means to be saved, he then describes the posture of a believer. They are to “present their bodies as a living sacrifice” to God (Rom. 12:1). They are “not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed” in their thinking (Rom. 12:2). In additional to this, he introduces their essential virtue necessary for a local church to be functional rather than dysfunctional: humility.

¶ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3

From this foundation the apostle spells out what humility within a local church for each believer looks like as he continue in Romans 12:9-21 (see the small-group Bible study teaching series I have written on this important passage- Building a Covenant Community of Believers).

I encourage you to consider this list of twenty-seven fruits of the humility virtue and see for yourself that none of them are possible without being committed to the local church where Christ has placed you. Here is the conclusion to this observation: it takes humility to surrender to Christ as you Saviour. It takes humility to be a member of a local church family. It takes humility to cooperate with a godly caring leader-shepherd within that local church. It takes humility to serve others within your local church with the gifts and ministry the Holy Spirit has given you. But the pay-off, your great joy and your church’s, is unattainable if you don’t.

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.

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

 HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

This year we have been laying a foundation for knowing God and then each Sunday building upon it. Throughout June we are focusing on how knowing God enables us to find our joy in Him and consequently to discover that He enables us to find joy in our relationships with others. But sadly, for many people who have vowed to love, serve, and follow Jesus, this has not always been easy to do. This is why the current sub-theme of humility is critically important if someone desires to truly experience joy in each of their various relationships with others. 

 

HOW WE DEFINE JOY AND HOW WE DEFINE HUMILITY:

WHY SOME PEOPLE HAVE A HARD TIME AT DOING RELATIONSHIPS:

HOW THESE LACKING RELATIONSHIP SKILLS CAN BE CORRECTED:

Over the next few weeks we continue build on the foundation of knowing God which leads to building more joyous relationships with others. If this is something that you want to improve, remember, it begins with humbling yourself.

Amen.

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.

"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.