Let me ask you a question, okay? Can you be holy and still enjoy your life?
Okay? Can you be holy, like kind of really holy,
like kind of really serious about God, and enjoy your life?
You see, I met a guy who, John, as a non-Christian, he said to me,
I believe Christianity is true, but I can't become a Christian
because I'd have to give up sleeping with my girlfriend.
That's what he said.
I met another lady, we'll call her Pam.
She's a Christian.
She said, I'm worried about getting too serious about my faith
because Christians who are serious about their faith
have like this whole list of things they shouldn't do.
And I want to have fun, so I don't want to get too serious.
I know it's true, but I don't want to get too involved.
And with both of those kind of people,
and that may be even some of you here today,
I know it's definitely been me at times,
the implication is if I follow God too seriously,
if I get too holy, in inverted commas,
then that's going to restrict my life in some way.
It's like saying kind of, come and be a Christian
and amputate your leg, and it will be fun.
You know, that's not very appealing.
But we're looking at this series in Deuteronomy,
and this series in Deuteronomy is how God has brought
the people of Israel to the promised land,
this land of incredible blessing.
And Moses is giving a final pep talk before they're going in.
And what he's going to say is,
this is, I've saved you.
This is how I want you to live now as my people in this land.
And around you, there's going to be a whole load of people.
And when they look at you, if you keep following me,
they're going to see something so attractive, so intriguing.
You're going to be this holy people to me
that people are going to want to say,
who's the God that you follow?
Because there's something about you which is different.
That's what Deuteronomy is really about.
And today, I want to look in three things
at how God wants to make us these kind of holy people
who can enjoy life with Him.
So we're going to talk about tithe, party, and invite.
Okay?
Tithe, party, invite.
Simple.
So have your bulletin with me, open with me.
And look at verse 22.
It says,
Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce
every year.
Okay?
Basically, this says,
Tithe.
Okay?
Now, we have a lot of misconceptions about what tithing is.
So I want to give you a little bit of background
to help you to understand what's going on in this context.
Okay?
I want you to picture this.
It's a farming community.
Okay?
Not much of that goes on in Hong Kong.
But this is a farming community,
and your income is to produce what you get.
So what you get from the land,
there's no welcome or park and shop.
Okay?
Everything you get for your life,
your wealth comes from your land.
And so giving away the tithe,
and the tithe simply meant tenth,
was a part of giving away the very thing
that was sustaining your life.
And there were three types of tithe.
I don't know if you knew that.
There were three types of tithe.
One tithe was called the priest's tithe.
Basically, it went to the Levites,
who were kind of like the church staff of the time.
They made sure the religious system was working well.
Okay?
That's one tithe.
There was a second tithe,
which was a party tithe.
And this goes to kind of having this amazing family meal together.
We're going to talk a bit more about this later.
And the third tithe was the tithe,
what I call the poor tithe.
It's basically every three years,
you were to give so that those who had no access to the land,
who weren't landowners,
could benefit and be blessed.
Okay?
And scholars kind of debate whether
these tithes were three completely separate tithes,
because if they are,
they add up to about 23% of income.
Okay?
And even if they're not necessarily all completely different,
what we know from another parallel passage,
Deuteronomy 12,
is this,
that the Israelites would not just bring the tithe.
They'd also got to bring burnt offerings,
sacrifices,
special gifts,
free will gifts,
and even your firstborn cow and sheep.
Okay?
So,
what's happening,
Old Testament believers didn't give just 10%.
Okay?
They didn't give 10%.
They gave far more than that.
So,
what's going on?
Imagine the scene.
Okay?
There's your average Israelite.
Let's call him Ian.
Okay?
Ian the Israelite.
So,
he would be going,
one time a year,
he'd go up with his donkey,
and on his donkey would be olive oil,
wheat,
bottles of Chardonnay,
lamb chops,
beef steaks.
He'd take them all up with him to the place of worship,
which later on would become the temple in Jerusalem.
Okay?
And he'd do all of this,
and he'd bring it all,
and he'd give it there as worship to the priest.
And he'd do it with his whole family was there,
and the whole community was there,
and it was this great festival.
I mean,
it looked like a mix between,
just picture the scene.
You've got all these animals,
everything.
It was more like a mix between a farm,
a slaughterhouse,
a butcher's,
and a festival.
It wasn't a nice church service.
Okay?
This was a fun,
exciting activity.
And God commands this.
Okay?
Which is a little weird.
Why does God command this kind of bringing of everything up to the temple?
Well,
in the culture around,
tithing wasn't unusual.
Okay?
Other people,
other than the nations around them,
also did tithes,
but they were actually more like a government tax.
Okay?
So,
just to kind of keep the administration running.
And you know how we love taxes.
Right?
Um,
you know,
because with taxes,
you're always thinking,
can I find a loophole to pay less?
Right?
What's the minimum amount I can get away with?
I mean,
just ask Donald Trump,
Lionel Messi,
anyone storing their money in the Cayman Islands,
or Mossack Fonseca.
Okay?
We're all,
taxes are not our fun favorite thing to do.
Right?
You know,
this year,
I actually got,
I got two tax bills.
I got the first tax bill,
came through,
and it said,
$365.
And I was like,
yes!
I then got a second tax bill.
Which wasn't $365.
And said,
oh,
the last tax bill was just making up what you didn't pay last year.
Here's the real one.
And I went,
no.
Because,
it's my hard-earned money,
and they're taking it before I can even enjoy it.
Right?
That's tithing as tax.
But Israel was to be different.
Their tithing wasn't a tax.
The difference was,
their God wasn't the government.
Their God was the one who was the source of all their material blessings.
And so when God tells the people,
I want you to come and give this,
it's a call to,
a couple of things,
it's a call to perspective,
and it's a call to joy.
To actually enjoy.
Perspective,
he's calling people to recognize,
everything you've got,
is a gracious gift from God.
You know,
the act of giving,
it says in verse 24,
you have been blessed by the Lord your God.
You know,
if you have nothing to give,
right?
You have nothing to give.
You haven't been given anything.
If you've been given something,
you have something to give.
And so,
when you looked in your bank account,
or your barn,
as it would have been,
and you're then sorting out,
okay,
I'm going to give a tenth of this,
it's this reminder,
I've been blessed,
with enough that I can give.
And you know,
the temptation,
when you kind of hold on to your money,
is always to think,
for them it would have been,
my great agricultural techniques,
have got all of this stuff in this barn.
Aren't I great?
I deserve to keep this for myself.
And it's really interesting,
the richer you are,
often the less tax you pay.
Do you notice that?
Like,
think of Google,
Apple,
Amazon,
in fact,
most large countries,
they're all trying to get out of paying tax.
Because when we feel like we've got something,
and we're not free to give,
we always feel like we want to hold on.
And what happens is this,
when you give,
it unlocks gratitude.
And gratitude releases joy.
You know,
Jesus says,
it's more blessed,
that means happy,
fulfilled,
content to give,
than to receive.
And we know that.
You know when you give a present,
and you see the joy in somebody's face,
when they give it.
That is actually more satisfying,
than just getting it yourself,
than after a day or so,
kind of wanting another one.
Right?
You see,
I've seen,
when your hearts just want to hold on to things for ourselves,
we become entitled.
I've seen a mom,
slaving in the kitchen,
cooking dinner,
and a child's waiting for her to bring her food,
telling her,
hurry up.
I've seen this.
And then she brings it,
and the only comment the child makes was,
okay,
you can go now.
And you know,
sometimes,
I've also seen it where,
you know,
they've produced all this food for you,
and then there's complaints,
that there wasn't enough dessert.
And there weren't enough potatoes,
or rice,
or pasta,
or they wanted something else.
Right?
Have you seen that?
Have you been that person?
Yeah?
You see,
what happens when you feel entitled to something,
you don't express gratitude for it,
and you don't notice how much you've been given,
and how much you're blessed with.
But what,
and you know,
entitled people are always complaining.
You notice that?
They're never happy.
And when God says,
I want you to give,
what he's saying is,
I want your heart to recognize how much I've given to you.
And out of gratitude,
give back a portion,
out of appreciation,
because that's going to release your heart from entitlement.
Because you see,
everything you have is gift.
You know,
kids who always want to keep the toys for themselves,
always feel hard done by,
when they've kind of got to let go of it.
But the ones who are generous,
there's a contentment about them,
when they let others share with it.
So God's saying,
if you want to enjoy,
as part of God's holy people,
you've got to give.
But let me,
let me just kind of give a little,
um,
proviso on this.
This is the Old Testament,
right?
This is the Old Testament.
So should New Testament Christians tithe?
What do you think?
Should you give 10% to the church or to anything?
Well,
the New Testament
has no command for you to tithe.
There isn't a command for you to tithe.
Did you know that?
Here's what Tim Keller,
Pastor Tim Keller says.
People have often asked me,
you don't think now in the New Testament,
believers are required to give away 10%,
do you?
And he says,
I shake my head and say no.
And they give a sigh of relief.
But then I quickly add,
I'll tell you why you don't see the tithing requirement
laid out in the New Testament.
Think.
Have we received more of God's revelation,
truth,
and grace
than Old Testament believers or less?
Usually there's an uncomfortable silence.
Are we more debtors to grace
than they were or less?
Did Jesus tithe his life and blood to save us
or did he give it all?
He says,
tithing is a minimum standard for Christian believers.
We certainly wouldn't want to be in a position
of giving away less of our income
than those who had so much less of an understanding
of what God did to save them.
What he's saying is this.
You don't need to tithe.
But if that's a relief to you,
then you've never understood
what giving is all about,
what the tithing was meant to be about.
The New Testament says again and again,
when the gospel works in your life,
when you realize how much God has given you,
then that always bears the fruit of generosity,
whether that's to the church,
whether that's to your family,
whether that's to the poor around you,
whether that's to gospel ministry like with Amelia,
it always responds with that
because God loves a cheerful giver.
You know, some of us give,
and I can put my hand in this category,
but we're miserable givers,
because we see giving as like a tax
that we kind of want to get out of,
but we've got to do
because that's what we've got to do.
But you don't understand that when you give,
God's saying,
I want to release joy to you,
to release you from entitlement,
to see how much I have given you,
and it to be a blessing.
Gospel generosity and gratitude
are like an inseparable married couple.
You can't have one without the other.
Okay.
So let me ask you the challenge.
Are you in a regular rhythm of giving?
Whether it's to the church,
whether it's to anything outside,
whether it's the poor,
whether it's those things.
If you're not,
you may be missing out on joy in Christ.
But if you are,
can I ask you,
how often do you give thanks that you can give?
I find this convicting.
How often do I give thanks
every time I go to give,
whoever I'm giving to?
Because what God wants to do,
if you want to find that pleasure
in the grace of God,
get in the habit of every time you give,
give thanks that He's been so generous to you.
And when you start doing that,
you'll begin to see His grace
and His love in your life
in new and exciting ways.
Gratitude is a beautiful thing.
But this isn't a sermon just about money.
Because the holy people give,
but the holy people do something else.
They also party.
I love this.
I haven't heard many sermons on partying.
But this is great.
Because giving is not just here about our joy.
This giving, this tithe,
was about building a God-centered community together.
Okay?
Look in verse 23.
Eat the tithe of your corn,
new wine, and olive oil,
and the firstborn of your herds and flocks
in the presence of the Lord your God
at the place He will choose
as a dwelling for His name,
so that you may learn
to fear the Lord your God always.
Did you see what he said?
Eat.
Did you get that?
That's a command.
Okay?
Eat, he says.
And he says,
eat all this great stuff,
like lamb chops, steaks.
You know,
think of all this large amount of stuff
that Ian, the Israelite,
is bringing up.
They're taking up.
They give it to the priest.
And then as a portion,
he says,
now,
the priest gives some back to them
and says,
now go and have fun.
Go and have fun.
He says,
basically,
enjoy this in the presence of God.
Enjoy it.
Okay?
I didn't know if you've had that command before.
But,
and he says,
if you've got too much stuff to take,
like,
you're thinking,
I need a degree in logistics
to be able to bring all this stuff up to Jerusalem.
He says,
basically,
change it into money.
Verse 26,
spend the money to buy plain congee.
Is that what he says?
He says,
spend the money to buy whatever you like.
Okay?
Wagyu beef in truffle sauce,
rosemary crusted lamb chops,
marinated in red wine,
chocolate pudding,
whatever,
anything your heart desires.
Anything you wish.
It says,
literally,
that means whatever your soul asks for.
Okay?
Whatever your soul asks for.
And he says,
then you and your household,
eat there in the presence of the Lord your God,
and rejoice.
What's he saying?
He's saying,
meals
are about
belonging
and strengthening yourself
as part of a community.
And this community is a community
that God is wanting you to find joy in.
I,
I visited India once.
And,
it was an amazing experience.
It was just a great time.
But,
we,
when I was in India,
we had curry
three times a day.
Breakfast,
lunch,
and dinner.
I know,
Vijay,
you're,
you can tell me afterwards.
But,
after a few days,
I have to admit,
I just never wanted to see another curry in my life.
I mean,
it was good curry,
but,
like,
three times a day.
You know,
I like my muesli.
And,
I was salivating over the thought of having anything that wasn't curry.
When I,
when I got back home,
to the UK,
I enter the house of my door,
and I could smell,
a roast lamb dinner cooking.
And,
you know what?
I knew I was home.
Because,
food,
is one of those things that make you know that you're home.
Right?
That you belong.
That you're welcome.
It binds you together as a family.
Like,
so many of my Hong Kong friends.
Do you know,
I've asked them,
how do you know your mom loves you?
And,
they say,
because she makes chicken soup for me.
there is something,
very powerful,
about food,
which brings you together,
brings a sense of welcome,
belonging,
and closeness.
And,
God has designed it like that.
And,
when God says,
I want you to eat,
and rejoice together in my presence.
You see,
it's in his presence.
It's not just together.
It's a worship experience.
I want you to taste,
experience a taste of what it's like to be at home with me.
To be at home with me.
Together as my family with me.
I want you not just to hear about my love from a sermon.
I actually want you to literally taste my love for you.
In a meal.
Every day.
And,
that's one of the reasons why,
as a church,
we want to have a regular rhythm of eating together.
Did you know?
That's,
it's,
it's one of the reasons why we have community lunches.
It's one of the reasons why we have food in our community groups.
Food,
food,
binds,
unites,
is a worshipful,
can be a worshipful experience when you're doing it for the glory of God.
With gratitude in your heart.
Thanking him for what he's given you.
Some of you are gifted in cooking.
Some of you are gifted in organizing parties.
Some of you have homes,
but you've never realized that actually God has given you those things as part of the body
to enable us to be the community that God wants us to be.
And so if you have those gifts,
you need to use them and invite people and go and eat meals with people.
In this community.
There's also a flip side.
If you don't ever eat or drink coffee or whatever with people in this community,
you're never going to truly feel at home here.
You're never going to truly feel at home here.
That's why when people come in and out of church and don't connect,
it's never going to be your home.
You're going to have your home somewhere else.
And God says,
I want you to know my home with me,
with my people together.
So there's a challenge.
Eat with people.
This week,
eat with people as worship to him.
But the second thing is,
and this is really extraordinary,
he says,
do this,
eat,
so that you may learn to fear the Lord.
Did you see that?
Have you ever thought of the connection between eating and fearing God?
Because this is what it says.
Now think about it.
Fear is the heart response when you hold something so precious.
Like if I give you a Ming vase,
I have a Ming vase,
I say,
here's a Ming vase,
now hold it.
You know a Ming vase is so priceless
that if you drop it,
you know there's that fear
of something,
you fear hurting it in some way.
And fear of God is in a similar way,
that sense of knowing he is so precious
and so awesome
that you don't want to do anything
to in one sense hurt him.
You're not going to break God like a Ming vase,
but there is something of his preciousness.
You do not want to hurt him by sinning.
And so,
when he says,
I want you to eat together
so that you may see how precious
and valuable I am,
he's saying,
I want you to see
that everything that is good in your life
comes from me.
And the more precious I am to you,
the more you will fear me
and the more that you will love and obey me.
So when you eat
and you eat together,
here's one thing.
If you want to find that pleasure in God
through this meal,
give thanks.
Okay?
Give thanks.
Now,
I had a revelation
about six months ago
because I'm used to saying grace
before a meal.
Whoever says grace before a meal?
Anyone?
I was brought up like that.
I had a,
here's how I used to say grace.
I used to say,
thank you Jesus for this food,
I'm in.
Eat.
It was a religious ritual to me.
A few months ago,
I had this revelation.
When I sit down and eat
and there's this food before me,
this is a personal gift
of a God of grace
to me,
telling me that he loves me.
This is grace on a plate.
Right?
Grace on a plate.
And,
I have become so taking it for granted
that I've stopped treasuring
and savoring him
in these little moments of life.
Because when you do that
and you see how thankful you can be
that he's given you so many things,
then it stops your heart
from just being discontented all the time
when you don't get what you want
because you see he loves you.
So build in that habit of grace,
that habit of saying thank you.
Simple.
But that's how you can find
some pleasure
in knowing the love of God.
Now,
some of you are kind of thinking,
ooh,
food.
Great.
That now helps me to indulge
in everything that I wanted to.
But there is a twist to this.
And I want you just to think about this
for a second.
We are called to eat together,
to enjoy God's goodness,
to thank him for all these things.
But there's a twist
because you can go through
the whole Bible story
and tell it through the theme of food.
Do you know that?
I challenge you,
go and read the gospel stories
and you'll see food is everywhere.
What causes Adam and Eve to sin?
Food.
Right?
You see,
God has created this banquet
in the Garden of Eden.
He says,
every tree you can eat from.
And what do they say?
Yeah,
but I want that one.
I don't want what you've given me.
I want that one.
You see,
all sin
is seeking to satisfy
natural God-given
appetites and cravings.
In a way that God has said,
no,
that's not the way to do it.
At a time when he says,
no,
not now.
God says,
wait,
you want it now.
God says,
no,
you say,
I'm going to get it anyway.
Right?
In Hong Kong,
there's a lot of partying.
There's a lot of drinking.
There's a lot of eating of meals.
There's a lot of laughter
on the outside,
but on the inside,
there's a lot of emptiness.
There's a lot of loneliness.
There's a lot of hurt.
We overeat.
We overdrink.
We comfort eat
to fill that emptiness.
Anyone done that?
You know,
you're feeling a bit down
until you get a bar of chocolate.
We do these things
because we use food
to replace God
as the source of our joy.
And we look to his gifts
rather than looking to the giver
to provide what he says,
I will provide you with.
And so we are like Adam and Eve
saying to the God,
the host who has provided
all these things,
whether it's financial,
whether it's the food,
and we say,
you can go now.
Just give me this stuff.
You can go now.
And I'll call you
when I want dessert.
I'll call you
when I need you
to help me with my kids
getting into the school.
I'll call you
when I need you
to help me get a boyfriend.
I'll call you
when you need to help me
get a better job.
But I'll do the rest
for myself.
If someone invited you around
and said,
you know,
you invite somebody around
to your house for a meal,
you put on this amazing banquet,
and then they come to you
and they say,
okay,
you can go now.
I'm going to eat this.
And then they go
and raid your fridge
when you told them not to.
Would you invite them back again?
Like,
they would be the kind of people
I'd be avoiding.
Right?
But I realize
when I take everything
that God gives me
for granted,
I am just like that.
Daily.
And I want to get things my way,
but I don't want to recognize
Him as the source of things.
So I go elsewhere
and I expect Him
to provide for me now.
And when He doesn't,
I'm like,
God, how do you love me?
I can't believe
you don't love me
because you didn't give me this.
But all the time,
He's providing
and providing
and I don't realize it
because I've taken it
for granted.
and that's very much
at the heart
of what the Bible
says sin is.
Do you know Romans 1 says
sin was
we didn't give thanks
to God.
We didn't give thanks
to Him.
We wanted it our way.
And do you know
what the amazing thing
about this story,
if you traced it through
with meals,
when Jesus comes,
what's the greatest accusation
that is made against Jesus?
He eats and drinks
with sinners.
That's what they say to Him.
He eats and drinks
with ungrateful,
disobedient sinners
like you and like me.
And you see,
there's something
as you look in this picture
of the community
in the Old Testament
which was pointing forward
to the church
that He was going to create
later on.
And there's something
that we forget
when you look at this family meal,
when you look at the way
God has set things up
in this celebration,
unless you're Jewish,
anyone Jewish?
Not too many hands.
You're not invited.
You weren't invited to the fact
because you're not part
of the family.
I'm not part of the family.
You know,
you don't have the WhatsApp invite.
You're left out of the group.
And frankly,
if I was somebody else,
I wouldn't want to invite
somebody who's ungrateful
and feels entitled like me
who takes everything for granted.
But that experience,
I don't know,
have you experienced
that being left out
before from a group,
from a meal?
You know,
you come to church
or you come to work
and nobody wants to speak to you.
Everyone has their own little circle
and you're on your own.
Well,
that's what the Bible says spiritually.
That's what we're like.
We're outsiders
because we deserve
to be outsiders.
but Jesus is the one
who comes and says,
I eat and drink with you,
with sinners like you.
You know,
the words of Revelation,
he says,
I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone opens the door,
what will happen?
Do you know the verse?
I will come in
and I'll eat with you.
I'll pay that place of belonging
and welcome.
When you were left outside
and I wanted you
to be left outside,
I have brought you in
and I brought you
into relationship with myself
so you can enjoy my goodness.
If you keep chasing
after everything else
to satisfy you,
you're going to be left empty.
We will do communion later.
What is communion?
It's a meal.
It's a meal which is meant to say,
this is how much it costs me
to invite you.
It costs me my whole life
to invite you
so you can join in
with a family meal.
Heaven and the new creation,
what's it described as?
A wedding feast,
a banquet
because God wants you
to be there in the meal.
If you're not a Christian,
the challenge to you is
God says,
I want to invite you
to the meal.
Are you just going to say,
I want your gifts,
I want the food
but I don't want you?
Or are you going to say,
you are the host
and I want you
and when I get you,
I get everything else.
The gospel says,
calls us to be
a holy,
generous,
giving people
who are enjoying God
in His way
as worship to Him,
partying in a regular rhythm
of partying.
But the last thing is,
invite.
Okay?
Because this is not
a self-centered
kind of
parting from myself.
Verse 27
says,
don't neglect
the Levite
living in your towns.
At the end
of every three years,
bring all the tithes
of that year's produce
and store it
in your towns
so that the Levites
and the foreigners
and the fatherless
and the widows
who live in your towns
may come and eat
and be satisfied
so that the Lord
your God
may bless you
in all the work
of your hands.
Okay?
So here's this community
which are enjoying
the celebration
and the blessings of God
and then he says,
it's not meant
to be just kept for you.
This is not a holy huddle
just for you.
Because in the land
there were immigrants,
people who didn't have
families to celebrate with.
There were the fatherless
and the widows
who weren't able
to join in them
because they had nobody there
who could bring them to.
They were those
on the outside.
And Israel was called
to be distinctive
because their enjoyment
with God's blessings
was meant to overflow
to others
so that they could find
a home and belonging too.
You know,
this is the story
of the whole church.
This is the story
of how God
brings people
into his family
and then in Acts
it says,
the church came together
and they were rejoicing
with glad hearts
praising God,
eating meals together
in each other's homes
and then it says,
and people were added
to their number daily.
There is something
of eating
that is a context
for mission.
One pastor
tells a story
of how he went
to Honolulu
traveling
3.30 in the morning
and he's hungry.
So he goes down
out of his hotel room,
goes down on the streets
trying to find
somewhere to eat
and there's nothing's open
and then finally
he ends up
and he finds
this little
kind of seedy bar
on the corner
and he goes in there
and he goes to sit down
on the kind of greasy stool
by the counter
and he's looking at it,
looking at the menu
and just then
as he's looking
at the menu,
in walk
about eight
sex workers
and they come down
and they sit
all on either side
of him
and he's thinking,
I hope my congregation
don't see me now.
And as he's sitting there
kind of trying
not to look
too interested
in anything,
he overhears
a conversation
and one of the ladies
says to her friend,
he says,
hey,
it's my birthday tomorrow
and her friend
says to her,
Agnes,
which is the other
person's name,
why are you telling me that?
Why should I care?
What do you want?
A birthday cake
or something?
The Agnes replies,
hey,
don't be so mean to me.
Like,
I'm only just saying,
I wasn't asking for anything
and the conversation
carries on
for a little while.
Eventually,
the ladies leave
and all that's left
is this pastor
with the barman
and he says to,
the pastor says
to the guy,
hey,
what do you think
about holding
a birthday party
for Agnes tomorrow?
The barman goes,
wow,
that's a great idea.
I'll get the cake.
So what they do together,
they organize
this birthday party.
Next night comes,
word's gone out,
the bar is packed full
of sex workers
and all kinds of people
like wall-to-wall
prostitutes everywhere
and this pastor
in the middle of them.
It's Lark,
they shut all the lights off
and then Agnes walks in.
They turn on the lights
and then suddenly
everyone starts singing
happy birthday to her.
You should have seen her face.
She's stunned.
Somebody carries Agnes
over to the stall,
sits her down
and then they bring out
the birthday cake.
At that moment,
Agnes loses it.
She's crying,
just tears falling down her face
and everyone's saying,
cut the cake,
go and get on with it,
cut the cake
and she says to him,
hey,
do you mind if I just
take this cake
to my mom?
Because
I've never had
a birthday cake before
and the pastor's like,
well,
okay,
sure,
it's your birthday cake
and he's like,
oh,
she just lives
a couple of doors
down the road
so Agnes goes off
with the birthday cake
and they're left in there,
this guy with all these,
all these people in there
and he says,
he says he just felt
the thing to do
was at that moment
to pray.
So he prays and says,
God,
please,
we pray for Agnes,
we pray that you'd heal her,
we pray that you'd do
a restoration in the work,
in her life
and then after,
at the end of it,
he opens his eyes
and the barman's
looking at him
and saying,
what are you?
Are you a preacher
or something?
And the guy says,
well,
yeah,
not really,
you know,
and he said,
listen,
which church
do you go to?
And the guy says,
in that moment,
I go to the kind
of church
that throws parties
for prostitutes.
The barman answers,
that kind of church
doesn't exist.
If it was,
I would go to it.
What's the point
of that story?
You see,
that's the kind of church
Jesus died to create
and it may not be
sex workers.
It may be people
in your office.
It may be people
who are just around you
but people
who are on the outside
who are lonely,
who are hurting,
who are desperate
and the church
that God has died
to create
is one that is not
just living,
eating with its own tribe
but is welcoming others
to experience it.
I sat in Friday
in Starbucks.
I was doing a Bible study
with somebody
and all the time,
I could see someone
just eavesdropping
on me.
At the end
of our conversation,
I go to stand up
and this woman
turns around
and says to me,
hey, hold on a second.
Can I ask you a question?
And I said,
yeah, sure, fine.
She said,
I'm lost and confused.
I don't know
where to turn.
I've been looking
for someone
to answer my questions
and I don't know
where to go
and then,
as I've felt
no one to ask them,
then you guys sit in
and you come
and sit next to me
because you see,
this city is filled
with lost people
and the thing is,
when we just eat
with the people
we want to eat with,
when we just hang out
with the people
we want to hang out with
and we don't see outside,
we've lost the gospel
because Jesus,
we were the outsiders
and Jesus went over
and reached out
and invited us in.
And you know what?
Some of us,
we're so wrapped up
with our lives
that we don't see
the people around us.
So here's my challenge.
Who are you eating
with this week?
As a community group,
my challenge is for you
this week,
this month,
organize a party,
organize a food,
a barbecue,
whatever it is
and think of who
the people
you can invite
who you don't
normally invite.
Pray for who
those people
that God has placed
around you could be.
because you see,
a holy people
is a generous people
but a people
who come together
and feast together.
They also fast together
but they feast together
and then they invite
others to join in.
At your workplace,
the greatest missional context
you may have
is to invite someone
for a meal,
for lunch,
your colleague.
who are you eating with?
Because
and who are you
gratefully thinking
God has blessed you
with so much stuff?
Can we lead
a community
of thanksgiving
and grace
which extends that
for others
to enjoy?
Let's pray.
Father,
thank you
that you have
invited us
to the greatest meal
of all.
A meal with you.
A meal
where we are welcome.
We belong.
I pray
that we be a church
which is not
so wrapped up
in ourselves.
Lord,
I realize
as a church
so many of us
including myself
we just go
and eat with the people
we want to eat with.
We hang out
with the people
we want to hang out with.
We eat the community lunch
just with the same people
and we don't see
the people sitting next to us
that we could invite
to join us.
I pray
challenge us,
convict us,
help us to see
that the world
needs to see
a community
which is not
simply about ourselves
but is enjoying you
and enjoys your grace.
Please make us
that kind of people.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.