[0:00] Luke chapter number, I think it's Psalm 114. Luke chapter number 14. Oh, yeah, I got some help coming today. I forgot about that. I ordered some furniture. And you'll see here in a little bit why we need these tables as we walk through this passage.
[0:15] Luke chapter number 14. Jesus, once again, is going to confront some people. And he's just constantly doing that. Thank you, man. Great job. He's constantly confronting people.
[0:26] And when I played high school basketball, it's been a few days since I reminded you that I was a great high school basketball legend. So I need to make sure I remind you of that periodically every six months. In the words of Doug Krause and Jeff Brown, he was a legend in his own mind, right?
[0:43] But we were playing this team, and they had a guy named Joey Randolph, and he was 6'8". He went on to be a walk-on for the football team for Kentucky, and he shouldn't have been playing basketball.
[0:53] I should not have had to have been on a court with him. And my coach had some unorthodox coaching style, and so what he told me to do was every time Joey's running, get in front of him and stop, all right?
[1:03] Because when you're 6'8", stopping and going again isn't easy to do, all right? So all game long, every time Joey would take off running, somebody would get in front of him, try to make him run over us or try to make him stop, just try to frustrate him and to wear him out.
[1:19] And so in the same manner, that's how the Pharisees have to feel about what Jesus is doing, because he is not avoiding an invitation to go somewhere. He's sitting down. He's going to say what needs to be said, because when it says Jesus is a friend of sinners, he truly was a friend.
[1:34] He would constantly bring the truth, set it on the table and say, what are you going to do about this, right? And that's what Jesus does once again here in this story, is he presents the truth to them.
[1:44] He is confronting them. The Word of God for us confronts us. 2 Timothy 3.16, it reproofs us, it brings correction. Well, here the Word of God coming from the mouth of God is bringing correction, is bringing reproof to people and telling them the way that you're viewing life is absolutely wrong.
[2:02] It's common, it's tradition. We know you think you're right, but it's wrong. And he's explaining to them why that is the case. So it's another Saturday night of ministry for Jesus.
[2:14] As I said in Luke 7.34, it said, The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. Why was that said about Jesus?
[2:26] He was known the trait of being around people that other people wouldn't be around. We'll see in the passage, it's all about prestige and placement, social status, who you're with and where you're sitting at and what you're doing.
[2:37] Jesus didn't play by any of those rules. He would be around people that other people would not be around. But also they said that he was a glutton and a winebibber is because they just always saw him at meals with people.
[2:50] He was always, there's meals happening just all the time. I can think, especially when we were, the kids were small, it seemed that Stephanie would always call me about lunchtime, right? And she would say, What are you doing?
[3:01] I'm like, I'm just having lunch with a friend here. I'm with Dan. Nothing's going on. And he said, Well, that sounds fun. And as I hear the kids crying in the background, right? That sounds fun. And it really was.
[3:12] And you go, I can convince and say I was working, but I wasn't. I was eating tacos, all right? And the middle of the day while she's taking care of the kids, that's not the case for Jesus. When he is at a meal, he's doing ministry.
[3:24] He is working, if you will. He is presenting truth. He is pleading with people, is what he's doing. He is the one that's really serving. He is not receiving, but he is giving to these people.
[3:36] All throughout the Bible, Jesus' 40 days temptation, at the end of it, it said that the angels came and ministered to him. John chapter number 2, at the feast of Cana, he took the disciples and went to a wedding feast, and he spent time with there.
[3:49] He eats with tax collectors and sinners. We looked at the story of Levi, that we have our big Levi's luau based on. He sat down with the unexpected. He is anointed by a woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee.
[4:01] That's that first meal that we saw in the book of Luke, where he is there. And they said, Do you even know who this woman is that is anointing your feet? And he most certainly knew who she was. He was going to die for this woman.
[4:12] Luke 9, the feeding of 5,000 that we see in the Bible. Luke 10, he eats with Martha and Mary. That's where one's running around, Martha's running around, and Mary is there.
[4:24] But that's taking place as we're getting ready for a meal. There's a parable of a large banquet here in Luke chapter number 14 that is given. So he's talking about a meal while he's eating.
[4:35] That's what some of us do, right? While you're having one meal, you're planning your next meal. Well, here's Jesus at a meal giving a parable about a meal, which would really make sense. He would really connect with people.
[4:45] They would understand that. He does that all the time, right? When he's walking, here's a fig tree. He is constantly teaching people, using the things that are around him. Luke 19, we'll see that he will eat with, it appears that he eats with Zacharias as he goes into his home.
[5:00] Luke 22, the last meaningful time there with the disciples where he's going to get to teach them. Where does he choose to do that? But at a supper together. Jesus, after the resurrection with the two disciples, he had supper with on the counter, on the road of Emmaus.
[5:18] Then Luke 24, he's with the disciples again. And then we see that Jesus, after the resurrection, he takes and he makes breakfast there for the disciples there on the shore.
[5:29] So a lot of our gospel records that Jesus had, a meal with people, and it demonstrates that a conversation over a meal can change a life. Meals create a special bond.
[5:41] I know this is counterproductive because you're thinking about lunch now and not me. And so maybe I should have kept this towards the end of the message. But the Bible says in Psalm 41, 9, Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
[5:56] When David was talking about somebody that had turned against them, one of his ways to talk about that bond together was like, we shared a lot of meals together. It's a sign of a friendship. So who you ate with and who invited you to eat defines your place in society.
[6:11] That's the who's who. That's your resume. What places can you go and what people invite you to eat with them? And so I realized as I was reading this is that I spent a good bit of my time delivering sermons in a very comfortable position among Christians while talking about Jesus who was often in uncomfortable positions surrounded by sinners having a meal.
[6:34] So we should only gather here to talk about what Jesus did, but we should leave here to follow in his example. That the teaching of God's word should not only be kept inside of these walls in a safe, comfortable environment.
[6:47] It ought to happen in semi-hostile environments. It ought to happen where people don't agree with you. It ought to happen inviting people into a meal. Ladies, next time that you ask your husband what he wants to do for dinner and he says, I don't know, you need to say, well, Jesus would know.
[7:03] Jesus always knew what he was going to do at dinnertime. He always had a plan. Jesus knew what he was going to do at dinnertime and what he was going to do was he was going to confront your wrong view and your wrong understanding of him and life.
[7:19] So I want to tell you accept the invitations that are given. Jesus gave the truest and most effective protest to the evil in this world. He lived among people a holy and a godly and a beautiful life in the midst of an evil world.
[7:35] He didn't become a monk. He didn't separate himself. He didn't build a Christian alternative to everything that was going in the world and run from it. But he was there. He was at the table. He knew what was going on.
[7:45] But he always left with the truth right there in front of him. In a society where shame and honor were central motivating factors, this mattered. His willingness to eat and accept invitations from the respectable and from those that would not be respected, those that had influence and those that didn't.
[8:03] This is one of his most striking traits about Jesus that people are constantly saying is that this guy will go anywhere and he will talk to anybody. And he was called a friend of sinners.
[8:14] He didn't just go there but he went there with the truth. He was a friend in the truth sense. He never came unprepared. He came ready to share the truth. So here we have the Pharisees think that they're setting the stage.
[8:26] Just like these men came in and they set the stage. The Pharisees think that they were setting the stage. Verse 1, And it came to pass and they went to the house and one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day that they watched him.
[8:38] So they set up this scenario and now they're going to watch them. They're going to see what it is Jesus is doing. So they think they have the stage set.
[8:49] And behold, there was a certain man before him which had drop seed. And so that is this man's arms, legs would have been swollen up that he will die. Probably not in that day but this is something that he would die of is that his body holding and containing this fluid.
[9:07] Remember, we have Luke that is writing here. And so that's what Luke said about a man had drop seed. I would say more about it but seeing that a doctor was used to write this and he didn't say more about it then I probably shouldn't either.
[9:19] Consult with your physician if you want to know more about what drop seed is. But Jesus meets the man with drop seed as he drops him for this meal and it appears to be set up by the Pharisees.
[9:31] They want to see what he is going to do. They planted this man. And isn't that so wonderful about our Savior? Just like Job. I mean, just like Jonah said.
[9:42] Jonah said, God, I knew that if I went and preached the truth to them that they would repent and that you would be gracious. I know what kind of God you are. These Pharisees says, we know what kind of person Jesus is.
[9:55] If we bring somebody outside of the door with drop seed and Jesus is walking in the door, Jesus is going to be moved with compassion. They knew what kind of Savior he was. They didn't want to recognize it.
[10:06] They did not want to make him Lord. They did not want to worship him. But his character and his traits were given and known for sure. So Pharisees want to see if Jesus will break their Sabbath laws once again.
[10:18] Remember in Luke 6, the disciples have been picking and eating these kernels of corn as they walk through a field. And also in Luke 6, Jesus was in a synagogue and he saw a man with a withered hand but it was Sabbath but he heals him.
[10:35] And then the last story we looked at in Luke chapter number 13, there was a woman who was bent over him and Jesus comes and he sets her straight and he does that on the Sabbath day and a lot of people rejoice but then a lot of people just get mad because they had broken his rules.
[10:50] And so I want to remind you, we touched on that but I want to continue because this is a real point of contention. The Sabbath is a real point of contention for these people because it's something that they use to kind of bind their tradition. Exodus chapter number 20 verse 8 through 11 is where we have the teaching here of what they were to live out for the Sabbath.
[11:07] Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all the work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work. Thou nor the son nor thy daughter or thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
[11:25] Nobody was supposed to be involved. Everybody was supposed to have rest. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
[11:38] You would hear that and if you read that and you think of that as a restriction, you really got to place yourself where these people had been at at over 400 years of constant bondage.
[11:52] They didn't have any workers comp, they never have any paid leave, they worked just around the clock. Teenagers and I when we were in Burkina Faso a few years ago, we saw people living in such a manner where if they lost the day of work, it was going to be catastrophic to them.
[12:08] They had to work so that the meal would be ready by the end of the day. That is the conditions that these people had been in their whole lifetime and God in His goodness tells them that I'm going to supply your need in such a way that you're going to have a whole day and nobody's going to need the work.
[12:25] You're going to need the rest and it was a gift that was given to them. One time Stephanie and I got pulled over. Everybody's listening now, aren't you? All right. And it was something that they had expired a tag and the police officer said, okay, I got two options for you.
[12:42] I can either give you a ticket for this or tomorrow you can go in and pay for your tag. Well, I was so nervous and I wasn't listening. I'm like, I don't know what I should do and Stephanie said, yeah, we'll come in tomorrow and we'll pay the tag.
[12:55] All right. I didn't realize he wasn't giving me a curse. He was giving me a gift, right? The guy was giving me a warning. He was giving me a gift but when I heard it, I just, all I could hear was, oh no, I'm going to jail for the rest of my life and so this is, they took it and made it a curse but it was a gift that God gave and so they created, meant to get one of the bigger books from my library.
[13:16] I've been taking this large book and a large volume of book, the Mishnah, some of the, all these things that were written about how to keep it and I've told you before about it like for example, they were on the Sabbath that said they weren't supposed to tie a knot.
[13:30] However, you could tie a knot in your wife's girdle so if you needed to get water from the well, you could just use your wife's girdle to tie it to the bucket so you could get water from the well and so they acted a lot like the IRS maybe, right?
[13:44] They had all these details and if you knew it well enough, it would work better for you and so that's what was happening here and that's what Jesus is breaking and I know I've said it before but it's really important to me that you understand that Jesus did not go against God's word.
[13:59] Jesus did not go against what was prescribed and given for the Sabbath. What he is breaking is man's tradition about the Sabbath and he does it blatantly and he does it often and he doesn't do it just for his own enjoyment.
[14:12] He does it because he loves these people and what he's trying to break through is help them to see that they need to recognize that he is the Lord. He is the Lord of the Sabbath that they need to pay attention to him and so as I said it appeared that Jesus was that they thought they were setting the stage but really Jesus is setting the stage.
[14:31] Verse 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and the Pharisees saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? And they held their peace and he took him and he healed him and let him go.
[14:43] And so here we have Jesus asking questions and they held their peace. So important when we talk to people about the truth of God's word that we'd ask questions but we'd let people answer.
[14:55] It's recorded in the Bible that Jesus asked questions and they had a chance to either respond. Other times they respond this time they have nothing to say. It's because of social media and because of things on the internet I often believe that the greatest form of debate or apologetic might be on a college campus where I take two or three minutes and I just put the truth so high that everybody in the room knows that I just told the truth.
[15:22] Well the believing people that already believed what I said would think that I did great. The unbelieving people would just about be mad about the end. What is really helpful is if you want to help people come to knowing the truth is to be able to ask questions and then wait for them to give an answer.
[15:38] Should Jesus be asking questions of anybody? Really. Would it not be better for him just to teach? For him to lecture? He is all truth and he must have said all wisdom but he knows that in teaching it requires asking questions and then letting people respond to them because if you don't do that then they are not going to get it and he does that.
[15:56] He says he speaks to lawyers the experts in the word and the Pharisees and he says is it not lawful is it unlawful for me to heal on the Sabbath? Is there anything in Exodus? Is there anything in the Torah?
[16:07] Is there anything that says that I shouldn't be doing this? And he allows them a chance to answer this. And so we already know what they think about it. They said hey come on you had six days to be healed and you waited until the Sabbath day to be healed is what they said in the last story of the woman that was healed.
[16:25] They weren't willing to speak up and admit they had a faulty world view. They knew that it would demonstrate their lack of compassion for the man. Here's this man healed with dropsy. Jesus says are you telling me that it's unlawful for me to heal on this day?
[16:38] And they knew that they're kind of stuck. If they stand with it and say yeah we think it's unlawful then they're going to have to recognize that they have a dead heartless religion and he has now brought them to a place where they need to recognize that maybe what I believe isn't at the heart of scripture.
[16:54] Maybe the Sabbath teaching was supposed to let people have liberty and was supposed to be a gift to people. Maybe we've turned it into something else. Then he has a follow up question for them and he answered them saying which of you shall have an ass or an axe fallen in a pit and will not straight away pull him out on the Sabbath day?
[17:11] And their response crickets. Nothing. Right? He says what would you do if one of your animals had fallen into a well which was common then?
[17:22] And verse 6 and they could not answer him again to these things. If there was a narrator needed in the story the narrator could insert in the story you see the preservation of their own comfort was clearly a higher commitment than their rigorous Sabbath keeping.
[17:39] But when it comes to another person's need whose illness is no skin off of their nose then the law became conveniently rigid to protect them from involvement. that religion was one they just fit it to whatever was needed.
[17:53] When it was convenient that's what the rule says when it's not convenient it was something else. Outside of the truth of God's word there is nothing but logical fallacies and an inconsistent application of life.
[18:06] And that's what they did. This is what it says when I want it to but this isn't what it says. Man at his very worst is a religious man using religion to protect himself from the inconvenience and disturbance of needy strangers.
[18:21] We are at our very worst when we hide behind God's word to be uncharitable uncompassionate people. Jesus has now set the stage to teach them a very important lesson on how they view life needs to be turned upside down.
[18:36] Jesus sets the table and he's going to reset their life. And so as we have these tables here in front of us verse number 7 and he put forth a parable to those which were bitten and he marked how they chose out the chief rooms saying unto them.
[18:52] Alright so when we were at the pool the other day I think Jack says don't throw Brother Trent in the pool because if we do you know he's going to use us in a sermon illustration. Well thank you guys for not throwing me in the pool but you still need it in a sermon illustration.
[19:04] Alright Thatcher would you bring five of your friends up here with you okay? Any five. I'll let you do the work of choosing which ones have to come up here today. And so Thatcher turned 14 last week and so we didn't have a party for him so I'm going to make one just real quick here.
[19:20] And so yeah there you go all five of you come on guys help them out please. Alright so Thatcher you have the seat of honor right here because you're the birthday boy and so Thatcher is going to sit here and he invited five friends over to his meal and these guys need two more of you come on help me out here.
[19:36] Come on. Alright there we go good job Dalton. Alright Eli pick your seat to you here okay? And so I was wondering if these guys were paying attention as I read the Bible alright?
[19:47] They're going to see. So here guys this is what happens in the passage. And when there are a bidding of any man to a wedding oh it's supposed to be a wedding not a birthday alright congratulations Thatcher alright. Sit not thou in the highest room lest an honorable man thou be bidden of him that he bade thee he come and say that he give this man place and thou shall be began shame to take the lowest room.
[20:10] And so we learn a lot about these guys why do you think you should sit up here man? Why didn't you take a seat down there Jack? I mean what makes you think that you should have the nice table with the birthday boy?
[20:21] Why didn't you come down here? Honestly what are you doing man? Get down you need to switch Dalton you should be up here this is so embarrassing alright? Alright Alex alright so here we go let's see that was so embarrassing and alright I can't believe why did you sit there?
[20:36] That's so audacious who even thought you should be sitting there alright? And so there thank you Dalton and so that's the idea is that you won't presume that you're supposed to sit at the room near the it's all about honor right?
[20:49] It's all about prestige and respect and so the closer you are to the action the closer you are to the person hosting the event the more that you are of worth in that society so it says when you come into a room don't be elbowing to get to the first table sit at a lower table and then wait for them to come to you and bring you to it and so Jesus here he's not looking at what people are wearing he isn't looking at what they drove up in but what he's looking at is what is at the motive of their heart he's looking at whom or what they love and you might say well that's a whole lot of information a person is getting just from where a person sat at a table or two things one he is a creator of the universe so let's give he understands that and then two it's not a simple decision but it was a symbolic decision you ever been at a table with friends before and you're like trying to figure out where to sit that's just left handed so we always try to sit him at a certain part of the table and then if your mom and dad want to sit together and so you're always trying to figure it out in our way we do things there's not any symbolism to sitting at the table you're just trying to do what is most convenient but in this world that Jesus walked into they knew exactly what they were doing and it was motivated by something which I can't believe how audacious Jack was just assume that he was supposed to sit there luckily he got it right
[22:13] I guess and so Jesus watches and sees what their treasure is and they love the praise of men so they love this they love to get to sit in these high places Jesus speaks about this scenario this danger of the praise of men woe unto you Pharisees Luke 11 43 for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the markets they love the best place in church and they also loved it when they went through Walmart everybody's like look at that guy he must be really something special because he's wearing those things that special people wear and then Luke chapter 20 it says beware the scribes which desire to walk in long robes and love greetings in the markets and the highest seats synagogues chief rooms at feast which devour widows houses for show make long prayers the same shall receive greater temptation there's a real danger in the love of praise of men you're going to exploit the weak and you're going to condemn yourself you're going to exploit the weak and you're going to condemn yourself so if your treasure is the praise of men and a widow's house stands in your way you're going to destroy it that's what it says when your idea in life is
[23:21] I'm going to take what is best I'm going to get what's for me you will run over people in the process if you live to pursue the seats of honor on earth you will have no seat in heaven Luke 6 20 and he lifted up his eyes on the disciples saying blessed be you poor for yours is the kingdom of God I'm not saying that if a person went into this room this day and they chose the wrong seat that they will never have a seat in heaven because they physically sat in the wrong seat but what Jesus is saying is if you live only for the praise of men but you never come in a broken and contrite way a person comes into the kingdom is by coming in a broken spirit to him and so the danger of only seeing others for what they can do for you so Jesus wasn't done offending the guest and I may never get you guys back up here again I really tricked you the day didn't I playing musical chairs and moving people around he isn't done there he is now going to speak to the host he's going to speak the thatcher here then said verse 12 he also bade him when thou make us the dinner or supper call not thy friends nor thy brethren neither the kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors lest thou also bid thee again and recompense be made thee and when thou make a feast call the poor the maimed the lame the blind and thou shall be blessed for thou can't recompense thee for they shall be recompense at the resurrection of the just thatcher we're going to have a meal why did you have to bring your friends with you you knew that if you invited jack to this meal he would invite you to mose after church and so the only reason you set these guys at your table is you knew that it's if you invite them a little quid pro quo you come to my meal
[25:00] I come to your meal you were at my daughter's wedding so I come to your wedding that's how this all happens that's how everything was taking place at that day but Thatcher you weren't supposed to bring your friends you weren't just to bring people that could do something for you you should have invited the middle school girls you should have invited people that weren't expected to eat with you those that weren't going to pay you back at this time Jesus isn't forbidding meal with friends or family Jesus is very much pro meal with friends and family but he's against this understanding that you only do good for people that can do good for you you invite people that can't recompense you that can't do anything for you that is not the way of Christ this is not the way of Christ fighting jockeying position in this world only doing good for people that can do for you this is not the way of Christ what is the way of Christ it's having a meal inviting people that nobody else would invite it's having a meal inviting people that will never give anything back to you it's going to a meal and taking the farthest seat away unless somebody wants to bring you closer to the front because it is not about yourself all right thank you guys very much
[26:13] I appreciate it and I really will take you to Chick-fil-A to make up for this okay but not on Sunday all right and so this type of worldview will be empty and it will lead to a long and Christless eternity verse 26 but woe unto you that are rich for you have received your consolation those that are living this lifestyle that's all you're going to get that's the only meals you're ever going to have that's the only kind of relationships you're going to have but they're empty Luke chapter number 16 Lazarus is outside the door of a rich man he only gives him crumbs does he have more to give he does but the poor man has nothing to give him back he can't give him any business deals he can't make him look any better there's no reason for a rich man to give to Lazarus because he won't recompense him he won't give him anything and it showed that the rich man was living for the here and now and he wasn't living in view of eternity and that's what is the mind and heart and worldview of unbelieving people is that you only live for the here and now the Christian knows the blessing of living for the world to come verse 14
[27:13] Jesus doesn't say when you invite these people in you're not going to be recompensed he's just saying they can't recompense you but I can and that's who we look for that's who you're doing when when Jesus said when Stephen taught today I said Stephen Jesus said Stephen that's really good Stephen alright and getting those two confused my brother law and Jesus when Stephen said today about Jesus he said that when they said you did all these things for me and how did I when you did it for the least of them when you were serving these people you're doing it as unto the Lord the gospel even changes the way we sit down at a table it even changes the way we sit down at a table and the way it does is it changes the way that we see one another who talks like this who goes to a meal and gives a parable about a meal and tells everybody at the meal that they've done everything completely wrong and the way shouldn't be done it's a person whose kingdom is not of this world
[28:18] John 18 36 Jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight then I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my kingdom not from hence it's someone who knows that life is a vapor like James chapter number four teaches us it's someone who knows if we seek our own lives we will lose it in Mark 8 35 it is someone who has done this when thou has been invited he came to the lowest of places Jesus came to this world and he didn't take the high tables he didn't take the high rooms but he came to a manger Philippians 2 8 and being found in a fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name Jesus Christ took on the form of servant Jesus Christ did that who talks like this who would call you to this it's the one that has done it Jesus Christ he did that he of another kingdom it's another world not of the worlds in which we've been taught to live by not the world that you've been taught growing up and just knowing how things work in this world that's not the way we're told to live we're following the example of
[29:32] Jesus so here are my conclusion how do you view those that cannot recompense thee how do you view those who can't help you in down together when Jesus walks into this room does he say you got it wrong or he says these are my people living according to the rules of the kingdom which I have come to establish your answer says so much about how much you really believe about the kingdom and what you're living for why would you bring in the blind and the maimed and all these people because you're not looking to be recompensed by man you're not living to please man but you're living to please the Lord perhaps this one in attendance there that seemed to maybe break the tension you can imagine this is kind of a tense moment as it was designed to be a tense moment verse 14 and one of them that said at meet with him heard these things he said unto him blessed is he he wasn't just talking about something much bigger he was talking about matters of the heart and this man speaks truth he
[30:50] Jesus was speaking of matters of eternity Bible tells us in Revelation chapter number 19 verse 9 and he saith unto me write blessed are they which are called into the marriage supper of the lamb and he saith unto me these are the true sayings of the Lord you see in here you are the poor and you are the maimed and you are the lame and you are the blind but Jesus Christ invited you to his table Jesus came to this world and he didn't take what was rightfully his but he took what was rightfully ours which was the lower table and the place of disrespect and he gave us a seat now at the table so we are blessed that there is a table prepared where I get to sit with him and so I want to live my life out and you should want to live your life out setting a chair for those that cannot recompense you so let us follow Jesus example what the time has given us upon earth and around all the tables that we will set as we pray together and you ask the
[31:54] Holy Spirit to make application into your life based upon God's word would you consider if maybe an application would be as literal and as simple as going home today and saying we are going to plan a meal and who are we going to invite we're going to invite those that can't do anything back to pay for it we're going to invite the ones that nobody would expect us to we're going to invite those that are spiritually blind we're going to invite those into our home that we can give to and that we can serve and they may never recompense us but we're going to do it and so you're not setting a table for other people you're going to set a table as unto the Lord and say God this table that it set these chairs that are set up this is for you I want to serve you and remember the fact that we now one day we have the promise of a meal with him because he came and took the lower position and died in our place