Take a Seat

Summary

Community is important, both with God and with others, as a pathway to experiencing the kingdom of heaven. God's commands for justice, mercy, and humility are best understood through relational actions. The narrative draws on biblical examples, such as Jesus' inclusive table at the Last Supper and Psalm 23's metaphorical table, to illustrate that true community and faith involve welcoming all, regardless of status or reputation.

Transcript

As we were reading those scriptures together, and as I have read those throughout this past week, there was a word or phrase or thought that captured my attention. We've been in a series where we've called widening circles the last few weeks of January, and we have been speaking in that series about developing, fostering community. Community with God, both knowing God and being known by God, community with one another, knowing one another and being known by one another. And then community with our neighbors, knowing our neighbors and being known by our neighbors.

And it's interesting in these passages how God's commands for people are told in ways in which we relate to one another. In fact, in Micah. There's a conversation about, God, what can we do for you? Should we offer you all of these grand things? Should we make all of these grand gestures? Should we give you the best of what we have? Then the prophet says, what is it that God requires? It is to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

In Psalm 15, it says, who shall enter the holy mountain of the Lord. And then it is played out in terms of relationship, the one who does not speak ill of others, the one who does things on behalf of the poor, the one whose words are wisdom. And we, as we think about that, we are invited to see that our community with God, our community, with one another, our community with our neighbors, is actually what ushers in the kingdom of heaven, in our lives, and in the world around us. And I think that's a beautiful thing for us to remember and reflect on as we journey through 2026.

The Significance of Tables

I am very fortunate in that it has been a very, very, very long time that I have been on a 1st date. My last 1st date, in fact, was in 2001, if you can believe it, I think February or March time frame. That is when Kelly and I went on a first date. I was a junior in high school. She was a senior in high school, and she had a couple of other first dates when she was in college. But I did not. That was my last first date. And then we have pretty much been together ever since.

But our first date, and every first date that I went on before my first date with Kelly, occurred around a table. Right? There was a table, we sat at the table, we had dinner, a coffee or whatever, and that was part of our date. What I'm getting to know someone, generally speaking, one of the first times when we have in depth conversations. Those conversations typically take place around a table. Every job interview that I have ever been on took place, at least in part around a table. And many of the difficult and sad moments of my life have included support and encouragement from my friends and family and neighbors, receiving encouragement around a table.

The significance of tables in our lives and in our faith cannot be understated, right? We've talked about, as we've talked about love and developing community and that community being centered upon love, We have said, over the past few weeks, that love is often understated, but it cannot be overstated. And the idea of community around a table is the same. It is often understated, but it cannot be overstated.

In fact, when Jesus was sharing his last moments with his disciples before he would be arrested and then sentenced to death, he gathered them around what? A table. And he washed their feet and he served them the 1st communion meal of bread and wine. And that occurred around a table. The symbol of our Christian faith is a table gathered around a table to encounter the presence of Jesus, to testify to the kingdom of heaven in our midst. This for me is such a beautiful picture. It's such a beautiful idea that the center of our faith is a table.

So as such as we have been in this series, widening circles, we have focused on the initiative for us to gather around the table and community. Again, community with God, where we know God and are known by God, community with one another, where we know one another, and are known by one another, and community with our neighbors, and which we are known by one another, and know one another. And it is the table that is at the center of what we are seeking to do this year as a church. to sit and to dine with God, to feast upon the fair of the kingdom of heaven, to know one another, and to know our neighbors around the table. Whenever a table is prepared, The question is always, who is there room for at the table, right? Who is getting an invitation to the table?

There Is Always Room for More

The difference between the kingdom of heaven and every other table is that in the kingdom of heaven, there is always room for more. There is never a wait, there is never, you don't have to call ahead to get a reservation that is never overcrowded or too full. You simply come and sit, and there is always room for one more. That is true of Jesus' table.

But even there, though there's room for one more, maybe we consider who is able to come and to occupy those seats. What type of people are able to come and occupy those seats? Well, we don't have to wonder, because this is actually something that Jesus talked about in many instances.

There, in fact, was a parable of the great banquet, which Jesus told. And he stated that many people, most people, in fact, will put on a banquet, and they will invite their friends of stature and reputation, their friends of means. And oftentimes, you can find yourselves putting on a banquet and everybody else is too busy. to come and to sit at your table and to eat a meal with you, right? We've all been there. We've wanted to gather people together and everybody who we've sought together. It was too busy.

Jesus says, don't throw yourself a pity party in that moment. In fact, go out into the streets and find people who don't have invitations to other tables and bring them in to sit and to join you around your table. He said, in fact, go and find people who cannot pay you back. Go and find the overlooked and the poor, and bring them into your table, invite them to come, and to eat.

The example of Jesus gathering his disciples around his table and what was his final meal here on earth. We look at who is invited at that table. We find his closest friends, we find those who would remain faithful to him, but also, we find Peter, who would deny him, we find Judas, who would betray him, and many others who would desert him in his greatest moment of need. Yet Jesus had a seat for them all at his table. I don't know how that gets you going this morning. Maybe we're all a little cold and struggling, but that really gets my mind turning.

A Table in the Presence of My Enemies

I've talked about this before, but Psalm 23, probably one of the more famous passages are known passages in the Bible. It's read at most every Christian funeral that has ever been. It begins with, Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I will fear no evil. There's a line in there in verse 5 that says this. It says, you prepare before me in the presence of my enemies a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Now, I have for a long time struggled with this particular verse, because I have always understood it, that in the presence of my enemies, God prepares a table to sort of mock my enemies, right? To sort of say, like, I bet you wish you were nice to me so that I would invite you to come and sit down at this table that God prepared for me. Or that God is on my side, and you are my enemy, so I'm going to sit here to enjoy and to eat. But you do not have a place at this table. And I've struggled with that understanding, because that, to me, does not at all reflect the love and grace of Jesus.

And so as I have thought through that, and Jesus has worked in my life, and I have begun to widen my circle, widen my understanding of God and of the way of Jesus, I begin to understand that verse in a complete, different way. I begin to understand that actually, what I think the table is about is not mocking my enemy, or saying, you should have been nice to me, and I would allow you to have a seat, but it is a place that God prepares for me to meet and to dine with my enemy, so that they receive the same grace that I have received. And that is the radical love of the kingdom of God.

At the table, Jesus will teach us his ways, and anyone else who wants to sit, the ways of the kingdom of heaven. And if we trust what Jesus says is true, then when Jesus was asked to sum up, what does it mean to live in the kingdom of heaven and to follow the ways of God? Jesus said in many instances, it can be summed up with love, loving God, and loving one another.

So when it comes to issues of morality in our lives and we're trying to figure out, where do we stand, how do we work through these issues? It begins with understanding love for God and love for one another when we're trying to make decisions in our lives, when we're trying to decide where to go or what to do or how to do it. It begins with love and love for God, love for one another. When we're just thinking through our general demeanor, the way that we move through the world, the way that we interact with others, it begins with love, love for God, love for one another. When we think about the way in which we engage civically, when we engage politically, it begins for us as followers of Jesus with love for God and love for one another. Jesus teaches us that if we seek to live our lives rooted in the kingdom of heaven, the things that we do begin with love.

The Sermon on the Mount

One of Jesus' most foundational teachings doesn't fit within the table metaphor, because it was on the side of a mountain, and I don't know if you've been to the side of a mountain lately, but there's not many tables on the side of the mountain, but people were still gathered together, and they were listening to Jesus teach. This teaching is called the Sermon on the Mount.

And actually, if you've been around Journey for a while. We spent the better part of last summer and fall working our way slowly through the sermon on the Mount. But because this year, the holy calendar, that the church follows, is in Matthew, we today are gospel passage, is from the beginning of the sermon on the Mount Matthew chapter 5. And I want to read that for us today.

And since it's cold, and we're reading the gospel. I want to invite you to stand. Maybe that'll help get the blood circulating, help our attention be focused on this scripture. And as you're standing, I'll just pray simply, God, through your Holy Spirit, capture our attention to what you have to reveal to us in this reading.

Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, you may be seated. Do a couple jumping jacks to get your blood flow on there for you.

Breaking the Sound Barrier

In 1952, there was a sort of sci fi thriller that was called, as a British film called Breaking the Sound Barrier, as it debuted here in the United States. And the sound barrier was a movie about pilots, experimental pilots trying to break the sound barrier in an airplane. And as the movie goes, there are several attempts to try and get enough speed to break through the sound barrier somewhere around 700 miles per hour. Please forgive me for my scientific ignorance.

But they were trying and failed many times, until the main character of the movie, whose name is Philip Peele, had a stroke of genius, and determined that the problem of not being able to break the sound barrier was that when you got to a certain speed, the controls of the aircraft inverted, and what was up, was down, and what was down was up. And so he got into the plane and got up to speed, and in that moment where the conversion happened, he went through and put down what was up and up what was down, and was able then to break the sound barrier.

Now, as great as a movie as that might have been, it is scientifically false, right? Chuck Yeager, who a few years before 1952 and 1947, actually broke the sound barrier in an aircraft, despised that movie, and talked about how the film was just complete and utter nonsense.

Sometimes, when we read the teachings of Jesus, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus is talking about, what does it mean to be blessed, and who is blessed, and what does that look like, we can approach it as if what we are reading might sound nice, but in reality seems like a bit of nonsense.

Or at least doesn't seem like it's true in this moment or true here in our experience, because there are many people who mourn but never receive comfort. There are many people who seek to make peace, but never find it. There are many people who are poor, and their vocabulary does not say that they are blessed. And so we wonder, what is it that Jesus is getting at here? Is this just some far off in the distance pie in the sky kind of reality or is it something more?

And I use the illustration of the movie breaking the sound barrier to help us see that Jesus is actually calling us to an inverted reality where up is down and down is up, not in a figurative sense, but in an actual literal sense. Jesus is taking people and society to a place to break the sound barriers of brokenness where life, as we know it, is inverted upside down. And the kingdom of heaven changes our pursuit in life. So all of a sudden, what is the pursuit of more and bigger and better becomes seeking to love our neighbors and to work for the ways of the kingdom of heaven, and to find that to be blessed is not in what we can achieve and accomplish, but what God is able to do in and through our lives.

Now, it is true that the fullness of this reality will not be full until Jesus returns to completely wipe away brokenness sometime in the future. But for those of us who seek Jesus' return in our lives, moment by moment today, right here and right now, this is a calling for us to live as if these realities are true, regardless of what our experiences are.

The Power of Encouragement

Have you ever decided to do something or to pursue something and then went for it only to be discouraged when people challenged whatever it was that you were doing? This is a bit of a silly example in some ways, but in July, this past summer. I decided that I was going to try and grow a mustache. I have for 40 years of my life, diagnosed myself with being facial hair challenged, meaning that I cannot be confident enough in whatever amount of facial hair that I can grow.

But this summer, there were a couple of days, a couple of weeks actually, that I went without shaving, and my oldest daughter said to me, Dad, you know what? I think you could probably grow a mustache. Now, Evelyn and I had never previously talked about me growing a mustache, but it's been a secret desire of mine, dating back to whenever I first saw Tom Selleck... in Hawaii 50 or whatever the show is. Not Magnum PI. There you go. Thank you. One of those Hawaiian shows. And just that beautiful growth on the top of his lip was the envy of my life.

So I decided that I was gonna give it a shot. And, uh, in my mind, I have achieved Tom Selic's status in reality, uh, like the inverted controls on the airplane. That's not true. But in the process, there have been a lot of naysayers. And one time in particular, one of my friends, who was not meaning ill towards me, said something, and in that moment, if I could have had access to a razor, I would have immediately shaved the mustache off of my face.

But literally, a few moments later, I had the opposite experience where another friend of mine, who I hadn't seen in a while, stopped me and said, This might sound weird, but I want you to know, I really like your mustache. And I confess to them, Well, actually, I'm gonna go home and shave it off because of what my other friend said. And they said, No, don't do that. Keep going. You look great. And that in a silly way, but also in a very true way, gave me the courage to continue pursuing something that I really wanted to pursue.

Living as Encouragers

I know it's hard sometimes for us to see the good in the world around us. Particularly if we are involved in social media or the news media, it is very easy for us to be overwhelmed by all of the things that are going on around us. There is an underlying tension that most of us live with that we feel dissatisfied, we feel maybe fearful, we wonder where things are headed on the large scale. And as we look throughout history, and moments where the summit of mercy and justice appears to be just in reach, brokenness seems to be pretty good at rising up and flexing its muscle and taking us back to square one.

I talk to people frequently that are trying to get to a place where the teachings of Jesus are something they aspire to, or they want for, to be able to accept that the teachings of Jesus are true, but they cannot believe because of experience that that they have had with people who are following Jesus and the ways in which they have treated them in unloving ways. I know also that for many of us, we often struggle with Jesus' action in our lives and how that fits into the larger picture of the world around us.

But in that uncertainty, in that discomfort, in that fear, in that waning confidence, perhaps, I think and wonder, what would happen if we here at journey became encouragers who empowered by the Holy Spirit, lived lives of love and pointed one another and pointed our neighbors to the goodness of the kingdom of heaven? And when I think about that, I think that perhaps just maybe if we were able to do that to be encouragers who spoke words of compliments and faith, and love, and peace, and mercy, that if we were able to do that inspired by the Holy Spirit, Earth as it is in heaven, on earth as it is in heaven, might tell the story of God in our circles.

At Jesus' table, what is defined as conventional is turned upside down. The poor are the ones with an inheritance, those who mourn, receive comfort. The peacemakers are the ones who know the truth, anxiety is challenged by love, judgment, by mercy. May we hear Jesus is calling to us today to live as if this reality is true in this moment in our lives by our prayers and through our work in the world around us.

And may we together, understand Jesus' invitation for us and for our neighbors to his table, to sit and to receive the goodness of God, and the love that is found in God, desiring to be friends, with us, to encourage and comfort us, to give himself to us, not to get anything from us, but simply so that we can be loved. And then our calling to give love in the same way.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, as we are gathered here in this place, in this moment. We believe that You are calling to each one of us individually and collectively to reveal to us what it is that you have called us to. And so in this moment, would you do a profound work in our hearts and in our lives to lead us to a place where we are aware of what it is that you are calling us to? But that we also possess a faithfulness empowered by your spirit to go for whatever it is that you are calling us to. And Lord, through our lives and by our prayers, may your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We ask these things today, Jesus, in your name for your sake. Amen.