[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's Word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were huge arch rivals on the basketball court. And, and that might be a little bit of an understatement if you knew a little bit about the beef that they had with each other. They weren't just arch rivals and huge competitors. They had, like, disdain and for a while, as they put it, hate for one another.
And this wasn't just something that happened in the NBA. It really started back to one of the most watched national championships of all time when Michigan State, who Magic Johnson played for, played Indiana State, who Larry Bird played for. Their intense rivalry started then. Then of course, happened in the NBA. And with each passing year in the NBA, it seemed that that rivalry and their intense dislike for one another kept growing and growing and growing. And the reason why I tell you all of that, if there were two guys that we would assume and think that would never like each other, never want to have a relationship with each other or even sit together, it would be these guys.
But then everything changed when Converse called Larry and Magic and they had this proposition. They said, we noticed that both of you guys wear Converse sneakers when you play basketball. So what we thought we would do is shoot a commercial with both of you. And so Magic agreed. And then they called Larry and they said, hey, Larry, would you be interested in doing this? He said, yes, I will do it as long as we do this at my home in French Lick, Indiana. Well, part of the reason he did this is he wanted to be at his home. But the other reason he did this, he knew Magic would not like it. And so they agreed to shoot the commercial at his home court, which is basically in his yard right outside of his house. So Magic shows up that day in French Lick, Indiana, at his home of the home of Larry, in order for them to shoot this commercial. And as Converse put it, like, when he showed up, Magic did. It was kind of one of those Situations where they were, like, cutting eyes at each other, circling each other a little bit. You could, like, feel the tension that was out in that field. As they're about to do this commercial, and as the commercial is even going on, the dislike the that they had for one another continues.
And so they're finishing the commercial. They're about to go their separate ways. And if you've watched the commercial that I posted yesterday, you could even see in Larry's tone how he's not happy to have to be in the same area as this guy. Well, then what happens is they're about to go their separate ways. Magic's about to hop in the car. Then they heard from the front porch of Larry's house, it was Larry's mama. And she said, boys, it's time to come to the table. Now, Magic was not planning to come to that table. But as he put it, if mama invites you to the table, you go to the table. And so that's exactly what happened. Magic and Larry, both of these guys who did not like each other, sat across the table from one another. And there's a famous quote that Larry Bird said that some of you have maybe heard before, and this is what it is. It was at the table that I discovered Irvin Johnson. That was his real name. I never really liked Magic very much, but I liked Irvin a lot. Irvin was someone I never really saw until I met him at mom's table.
I want to repeat that last sentence again.
Irvin was somebody that I never really saw until I met him at mom's table. What's interesting about these guys that were arch competitors, didn't like each other all of a sudden because they're invited around that table. Thanks to mama, now they're the best of friends. It's really interesting. Even if you talk to Magic, he will say that one of the most important phrases that has shaped his life was this.
It's time to come to the table.
You know, the table has played a huge role in so many people's lives. And maybe for some of you in the auditorium this morning, it maybe is not like a pillar moment necessarily, but you can remember when somebody invited you to something, maybe when you really needed it, you might have felt kind of overlooked, kind of on the edge, the outskirts of something that you didn't really feel connected, but yet someone reached out to you. Maybe it was for a meal, Maybe it was after a Sunday morning worship. They said, hey, let's go get something to eat. And they had no clue what you were Going through and dealing with. And that table meant a lot to you. But it's not just something that's important to us in our history as even a nation we talked about a few weeks ago. But one thing that we know about the table is the table was a huge thing throughout Scripture. In fact, this is not just a New Testament idea. Keep in mind, you go back to the old Testament. Psalm 23 is what is known as a retrospective psalm, which means David is looking back over his life. David has now matured, he's grown up, he's seen a thing or two. And so because of that, he says, you know, when I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, Lord, you were with me in that spot.
And then he says, and what you were also at. You even prepared this table for me. But then sometimes we don't read what's next when he says this, you prepared a table before me in the prayer presence of who? My enemies.
He's like, when I was walking to that valley of shadow of death, like, I was scared to death, but you were with me. And here I am at a table. Talk about an awkward situation with people that I don't like that I don't see eye to eye at. But you invited me, this table. And even with my enemies there, I felt at peace. How could somebody feel at such peace at a table, the most intimate of places, but yet feel at peace? And here's why. Because of the Lord being there.
What we're going to see this morning as we dig into Luke chapter 14, is that when Jesus sits at the table, it transforms that person and it transforms every single person. Invited, non invited guest. Jesus was the Messiah of the open table. But I will tell you, part of what got him killed was the fact that his table was so open.
I mean, anybody could have sat at that table.
The lame, the blind, as we're gonna hear in just a second, the religious elite, the well to do. There's days where he's eating on very fast days where he doesn't really have time to stop, but he does. There's days where his feet are dirty, his hands are dirty, but he still eats. He's gonna take a thing of water from a woman that has a very questionable character. And then he's gonna find this guy that's hanging out in a tree and invite himself to his house.
And what you're gonna see in all these different moments throughout Scripture where Jesus comes to the table, it's really interesting. Time and time again, he was the invited guest. But Then he, like, turns host.
And the reason why he turns a situation where he would ordinarily be the guest into being the host. He sees the table as an opportunity.
It's an opportunity of formation. It's an opportunity of growth. It's the opportunity where you're scooted up to something that you really get to know people and get to see them where maybe someone that was disconnected, didn't like each other, are now companions and they can become friends.
You know, there's so many descriptions of Jesus that I love, but this is one of my favorites. That Jesus came to the earth eating and drinking. And for those of you that know me, you know, I love to talk about food. In fact, if you ever go to Montgomery and you need like a chart and a graph of the different genres of food, of where to eat, I can tell you I'm also, when I got here, I was one of those, like, hey, tell me the top five soul food places. I wanna know. Like, that's how I think. I love the fact that Jesus came to this earth wanting to fellowship, wanting to be around the table, but it wasn't so much about the food as it was the time together, but also what that time together produced. And so I want to ask you a question at the very beginning of this message that we're going to come to at the very beginning, at the end, excuse me. And it's a question that Jesus asks in this parable, is if your life was depicted as a banquet, if your life was depicted as a party, who would really be the invited guest?
And as you think about that, I want to give you some context to what we're about to read.
I guess this is context to the Context in Luke 14 is one of the most popular verses when it comes to invitations.
I love how Peyton highlighted it in the communion this morning.
He said, when you invite people over to your house, invite your friends, the rich people, the people that can just pay you back, but instead invite the poor, the lame, the crippled, the blind, and the list can go on. Now, when I hear that, I'm like, well, but I'm comfortable with who I'm comfortable with. Oh, that's fine. You can be. And you need those times. What I'm also telling you is you're about to really experience the kingdom when you expand your horizons, you're really going to experience the kingdom when you expand your view.
And so knowing that, that is kind of like the central verse in the middle of this context, let's go into the text, because even the first two Verses will mean more when we know what's heading our way. So let's kind of set the table with who's at the table. It says this in verse one. It was the Sabbath. So that's a big deal, right? Because there's certain things you do and you don't do on the Sabbath. There's certain rules, laws, regulations. But what Jesus is going to show us love is going to triumph over those rules and those regulations. It says this that Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. They were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. Again, several things going on. It's a Sabbath. Certain things are not supposed to be done. But number two, think about the diversity of this table.
All right, so you got the ruler of the Pharisees. There's a big difference, by the way, in a Pharisee. And a ruler of the Pharisee, when it said it's the ruler of the Pharisees. This is like the highest of the high. I mean, the go to person. Like, if you wanted to be somebody, you had that guy in your house.
And the other thing is, we're gonna see that there's some lawyers that are with him. So all the people that he's invited are people that can give him something, that can help him, that can add something to his life, that can help his status. But notice next it says that there was also a man at the table that had dropsy.
Now, it's important to understand what dropsy is, especially with this table.
I think we know a lot about lame when Scripture mentions that. I think we understand a little bit when people say blind, and we understand when people say leprosy. But dropsy is not one we necessarily talk about. But it truly sets this table. Here's why. See, dropsy was a medical condition where your body collected fluid and it would collect it in certain areas and it could not release the fluid. And so I found this picture that was one of the oldest, dated back to a long, long time ago, of someone that had given this depiction of what dropsy looked like.
Fluid would collect maybe in your stomach or in your legs, in your arms or maybe in your neck. And so because you had this and the fluid would collect and you would have to literally be drained in order for you to get some kind of relief. They were always carrying around something with them. But here's the kicker.
If you had dropsy, you were always thirsty.
You couldn't get enough water.
Think about the dilemma of that the very thing that's causing the irritation, the very thing that's causing the inconvenience is what you're thirsty for.
And so think about what Jesus is setting at this table. Think about the two polar opposites. You got a guy at the table that can give so much. They've got other guys at the table that can contribute a lot and add a lot. They can give a lot of status. But then you got this guy, he's an inconvenience in their world. And on top of that, he's just going to take because he's going to be drinking their good drink from the table. And so you think about, you got two polar opposites, one that can give a lot, then one that can't give a thing. That's who's at this table. And so before Jesus even performs a miracle, look what he says.
It's like he can sense in the room there's a little bit of tension between the dynamic, the Sabbath, this guy and that guy. And so it says, Jesus responded to the lawyers and the Pharisees, and they said this and said this, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?
But they remained silent.
And then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
And then I love what he says next.
He said, which of you having a son?
Now, I understand it also says ox up there, but it says son first.
I love how Jesus makes it very personal for them.
I know what the law says. I know what the regulation says.
But love says that there's a son or there's a daughter that is in need of something. If it were your son or if it was your daughter, what would you do?
You know, I've known people before that have made some very staunch lines maybe in their life, and I could see myself doing this too, or I would never do that. But then if I see my kid, my son, my daughter, I'm just wondering what rules and regulations I might step over in order to help save them.
And the reason I say that is here. Jesus is trying to give love as the bigger picture of this table.
So he says, well, which of you has a son? And keep in mind, what is he talking about Next? In Luke 15, the parable of the what? The lost son.
He's going to cover the sheep like the ox. He's going to cover a coin. But it gets real personal when it's a what?
When it's a son.
I guess what I'm saying is, whoever it is that you have at your table, I want you to See that person as a son and a daughter. That's somebody's son.
That's somebody's daughter.
And so it says this, they could not reply to these things. Well, I bet they couldn't.
And so then he tells two parables. The first parable is the parable of the wedding feast. And this first one, we're going to read a little bit of it together. It's in Luke 14, beginning in verse 7, it says this. He told them a parable to all those who were invited.
So he's not talking about the uninvited. He's talking about the ones that can give them something.
The people had a place of what Honor.
If you notice in your Bible, kind of like mine does, it has a cross reference to 1 Corinthians 11.
And the reason why there's a cross reference to 1 Corinthians 11 about the places of honor in the table, you think, well, that's the Lord's Supper passage. What in the world does that have to do with this?
Well, if you're like me when I was growing up and it was kind of one of those times I was asked to lead communion thoughts. And my go to was First Corinthians 11. And I would use that one part. And y'all know what I'm talking about. It says, we're not to take the Lord's Supper in a what, unworthy manner. And I always kind of thought of that as to mean, well, what he's talking about is my mind doesn't need to be distracted. I don't need me to be doing other things. No, that's actually not what he means. The context of not taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner was the fact that there was places of honor at the table.
The unity and the love that Jesus died for was not there at that table.
They had created this table as a place of the haves and the have nots. And so when he says to not take of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner, that's the unworthy manner that he's talking about.
And so when he says places of honor here, that's why the cross reference connects it back to here. And so he says, when you're invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him. And he who invited you will come and say to you, give your place to this person. And then you will begin with shame to take the lowest seat. So he's saying, hey, don't you know, let's start from, instead of a high place, let's start with a low place. When he says this. But when you are invited, go and sit at the lowest place so that when your host comes, he may say, hey, friend, move up here, higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of the one who sits at the table with you.
Notice the Messiah of the open table, how things begin to change by the person we bring to the table.
He says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and the humble will be exalted. Then he gets to verse 12, and he said to the man who invited him.
So you don't really call out the person that invited you to a meal. But here Jesus is, in a very loving way, but yet a direct way, says this.
When you give a banquet or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors. He's basically saying, don't just invite the one that's got the pool. Don't just invite the one that's got the boat. You want one, but you're just gonna let him own it so you can enjoy it. He said, don't just do that, he says, lest they also invite you in return and be repaid.
But when you give a feast, here's what he says. Invite the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you.
But what's interesting is what you read of next. It says this in verse 15, after Jesus said, this is who I want around the table. It says, one of those who was reclining with him at the table. Now, I highlighted that word reclined because it's an important word in Scripture, because reclining at a table was like the ultimate symbol of connection.
It was the ultimate symbol that you're here to stay.
When we sit around a table today, of course, what we do is we sit our feet under the table and no one sees our feet. And I told you why I'm glad about that a few weeks ago.
But during this day, whenever they sat at a table, they would actually lean on one elbow and there would be, like, a pillow that they would lean on, and then their feet would go this way. And your feet wouldn't be near someone's face. Like, that's why they wash feet before they had a meal together, right? And so, and I'm not advocating, by the way, for any of that in our fellowship.
And if you're expecting that at our house, you're not going to get it, especially from my Toes, there will be socks. But anyway, so where were we at? Oh, reclining. So the idea of reclining wasn't just pull up a chair. It's like, make yourself comfortable, stay awhile.
But also the most vulnerable part of you was also near someone's face. Like, that's the whole setting of this kind of table.
Six times in scripture it says that Jesus reclines. And if you want to look at an interesting study, look who he reclines with.
I mean, it's a very diverse table. And the reason I say that is when we come together in our fellowship, which, whether it's here or in our homes, it is so good and so important, we have to have that right. We have to have the hospitality and the fellowship. But I do want us to remember, as we also segue to hospitality, that the goal of our walk with God is not just to make righteous people more righteousness, but to bring sinners, those on the outskirts, to him.
So he's reclining, and then this man at the table. One of the commentaries said that he thinks that this man was trying to break, like, the awkward tension in the room because you could feel the heat. That he said, well, blessed is everyone who eats bread in the kingdom of God.
And so what he's thinking is, hey, one day we're going to be blessed when we do that, like when we share that kind of meal. And Jesus, oh, you think one day is what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is, now, if you remember, this is exactly what happened in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember when that man, that. That very well to do man came up to Jesus, he said, hey, I want to have eternal life. Then what does Jesus say to him? I can say I'd have life.
He's saying, you're thinking, this has to be one day. I'm saying today.
And I'll give you an example. The very person that other people pass by, you engage, you reach out to the neighbor, you get close, you love him, you care for. That's what life in the kingdom looks like. See, this guy's thinking one day, Jesus is thinking today. And then look what it says in verse 20. It's like a miracle happens. The servant said, sir, we did what you've commanded. We've invited all these people, and still there's room. Like this seems unorthodox, right? You invite more people so you would think you have less space.
But with Jesus at the table, what he's saying is it's like this table keeps getting more chairs and more chairs. Like, how in the world did we get this? Maybe some of you have like a grandma or a mom or a wife that you're like, honey, we don't have anything to eat. Oh, hold on a second. And they put something together. Like, what? Where did that come from? Like, that's kind of what's happening around this table. Where did this come from? When Jesus is at the table, there's always more room, even if there's no room.
And so I want you to think about two of the things here. Number one, the original people that were invited did not say yes.
This is partly because this parable is a picture of Israel, how Jesus had invited them and they had this perfect invitation to come join, be a part of what he was a part of. But when they saw it looks like that I'm not gonna be a part of something like that.
So the very people that were invited missed it because they didn't want to be a part of that kind of banquet. But then the second thing that's pretty shocking is this rich guy is filling his house with the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, and the house keeps growing.
So I want to ask you this question that I asked you at the very beginning, that if your life was depicted as a party, who would be your invited guest?
I want to give you two quick table manners. One of these is what Brandon talked about a little bit last week, and we're going to talk about a little bit more with hospitality, is that it's important that we don't see the table like the well to do's in this text.
It's not about performance.
There's nothing wrong with making things nice.
There's nothing wrong with trying to give a really good display.
But it's more about the connection people feel and the calling that we're able to be a part of than it is about making sure that everything looks right.
And yeah, I might be trying to cover our tracks when you come to our house and one of our kids says, yeah, we just threw everything in the tub. You know, we all have things, I guess what I'm saying, that are part of our mess.
But the other thing is this, that I want us to also notice that at all these table moments that we've been looking at and we'll continue to look at is it was also a time of formation, because I asked you, do you remember a time when someone invited you? Maybe you were visiting out of town, you went to the beach or something, you worshiped at this place. And then so. And so this random person said, hey, you want to join us for lunch? And you've never forgotten that. But you've also never forgotten when you've gone somewhere and it felt cold as ice. No one moved, no one budged. You felt those feelings, too.
The transformational moments at the table are real. So I'm trying to throw a bone to all of our engineers out here. I made, and this might be my last one, an Excel spreadsheet. Okay. And a little bit of background on this. I am a little bit proud of myself. But also it makes me think back to when we were meeting with the Elders before we came here, and they were saying. They said something like, hey, yeah, we put on the Excel spreadsheet for you. Look at. And I was like, oh, man, I don't really like Excel. And it got, like, super quiet. I was like, oh, oh, you don't? Okay. I said, y'all know, like, I don't know how to do that, right? So, anyway, so this is partly for you guys, all right? And then someone in the early crowd reminded me, hey, you're. The subjects at the top are not on the right side, so just go with it. All right? So I put this together to show a little bit of just the main moments in Luke, because here's what's really interesting. I wanted to put so much more, because Luke and Acts, which we know are just like volume one and volume two, One fifth of the sentences in Luke and Acts have to do with the table.
Now, if you go through this, I know it's kind of hard to see. You look at some of these main meals, look at who was invited. Tax collector, a Pharisee.
You see the hospitality at the home of Martha, another Pharisee. Pharisee, Zacchaeus. Tax collector.
He's breaking bread at the Passover meal with people that are going to betray him, and he knows it, still invites them.
He's breaking bread at Emmaus to guys that just don't even know who he is yet. And he could have been like, it's me, but he doesn't.
And then he, of course, the supper with his disciples.
And you see all these different people, the tax collectors, the sinners, but then notice the things that he was teaching. There was evangelism that happened around the table. There was reconciliation, there was mission, there was service, discipleship, inner life, invitations to all, salvation for all. Thanksgiving, the living one, the missionary community. You see all these different things happening at the table.
And why is that? We think about. The table is the place where you Even if you don't start out that comfortable, think about Magic and Larry. I don't think, like they sat down, like, what's up, dude? Like, I think what happened was they were still cutting glances. And I bet here's my thought. I think mom broke the ice. In fact, history says that when they were at the table together, that Larry Bird's own mama said to Magic, did you know you're my favorite NBA basketball player?
That'll break the ice.
And so once the ice was broken, then connections started to happen. People started to let their guard down.
And I think that's part of it. It's one of the places where we're the most comfortable. But it's also a place, as we talked about a few weeks ago, that we're able to look eye to eye. We talked about the value of what it does for our kids.
How 72% more likely to do better in school, to not do drugs, to not be involved in all these other act. I mean, it's insane some of the things that we read. But it's no shocker.
There's value when we don't just look at the backs of each other's heads, but look at each other's faces.
And so as you go through scripture, you'll notice something. Cause I want to encourage you with the times of fellowship that you're gonna have with each other.
Three times in scripture, you see this pattern where Jesus takes, then he blesses, then he breaks, and then he gives away.
Because I wanna encourage you to know that you have something that God can take, something he can use. Maybe you take your home, maybe you take a meal, a gift card, whatever it is that you take. Here's what happens. God blesses whatever you take and give.
But here's a neat thing that happens is when he takes and he blesses what you've given, whatever it is, is broken. And maybe you've kind of experienced that to where you gave of yourself. You let God have it, he blessed it, and you felt your own heart break for that person. Or maybe what it was is their heart broke.
But then notice what happened every single time Jesus would give away. Whether it's the basket's full, whether it was at the table, it was a picture of endless blessing.
I want to come back to the quote that I shared with you at the very beginning between Larry and Magic when he said this. It was at the table that I discovered Irvin Johnson.
I never liked Magic Johnson very much, but I liked Irvin a lot. Irvin was someone I never really saw until I met him at mom's table.
Who are you struggling to see?
Maybe for some of you, it's Jesus and somebody else.
Table it.
Maybe for some of you, you're struggling to find that connection.
Table it.
The table played a central role. It can't play a secondary role for us.
So I encourage you, when you have this time together this week, or maybe you decide you might forgot, and that's okay, you invite someone next week to your home that you've never had before. I want you to ask them, hey, just tell me how you came to Madison. Tell me how you became a Christian. Ask them those two questions. And I know for me, some of the greatest lessons I've ever learned is hearing your stories.
How you came to know God, how you're. For generation after generation, nobody had faith in your family, yet the right person at the right time came along. We love to hear those kind of lessons and those kind of stories.
Tell us how you came to Madison, but more importantly, how you came to Jesus Christ.
We're about to sing a song in just a second that says this. All things are ready. Come to the feast.
And maybe you're here this morning and you want to take advantage, full advantage of that feast that God offers. It's unlimited. And as Peyton talked about this morning, that all are invited.
Maybe you feel unworthy, and if you do, you're in really, really good company.
That's all there is.
There's only unworthy people. Jesus died for unworthy sinners. You know why? Because literally, that's all there is.
And so if you're sitting there thinking, well, I don't earn it, I didn't deserve it. And you are exactly right. That's why you need to accept it.
And so maybe you're here and you've never given your life to Christ. I encourage you to do so. This morning, you can go into this watery grave of baptism, come out brand new, given the gift of the Holy Spirit. And maybe for some of you, you've made that decision, but your table only looks like you. And you want to challenge yourself and to grow, to bring new people to the table so you can see him more. And so maybe you want prayers for that. Maybe for some of you, what it is, you hurt somebody, you disappointed somebody in a very real way. And you've tried to kind of like sweep it under the rug instead of table it, table it today. So whatever it is that we can do to pray for, for you to maybe give your life to Christ or to get closer to him, we want to do so while we stand and we sing the song together.
