“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Revelation 3:20
- There is a connection between the grateful and generous.
- Until we learn to receive right, we can’t give right.
- Jesus is at the door of our lives. He’s knocking at the door because He’s seeking to be in our presence.
- Genesis 3 – when they had heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden, “Adam where art thou?”
- Fellowship is both giving and receiving.
- In the first book of the Bible, God is seeking to be in fellowship.
- In the last book of the Bible, God is seeking to be in fellowship.
- Jesus came to give us relationship (must have an exchange).
- Relationship over religion. Religion is us trying to work out the relationship rather than giving it all over to God.
- Every relationship needs to have these two components: Gratitude and Generosity.
The table should both remind us to be grateful and generous.
- Deuteronomy 8:3.
“Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.”
Proverbs 9:1-2
- I can’t say I am operating in wisdom without being at the table.
- The table is my reminder to be grateful and generous.
“And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.”
Exodus 25:22-23
- This verse is referring to the Tabernacle.
- God wants to have fellowship with us. There is a difference between Him communing with you and being in your life.
- We must make time for the table.
“And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.”
Exodus 25:24-31
- God wants to commune with us.
- We can name the “what” when we gather around the table.
- Share at the table (bread is more than just food).
- The table is more than food; it’s fellowship and communion.
- The table is a place where we receive and give.
The Prodigal Son:
“And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!”
Luke 15:17
- He came to himself because he had no table.
“And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:”
Luke 15:23
- The son was restored at the table.
- God places the solitude in families.
“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”
Matthew 15:22-26
- The table is reserved for the covenant.
- Getting back to the table helps remind us of what we have to be grateful for.