Main Point: “At the table we love and we are loved”
The love we share with God is Incorruptible
Ephesians 6:23,24
“Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”
Incorruptible Love is “to know God” and “to be known by God”
1 Corinthians 8:1-3
“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”
There are two great ambitions in life when it comes to love:
- Be deeply ambitious in your KNOWLEDGE of the WORD OF GOD: The Bible says,
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15)
- Be deeply ambitious in KNOWING and being KNOWN by the GOD: The Bible says,
“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” (Gal. 4:8,9)
Transformation happens at the Table
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Cor. 13:7).”
Transformational love comes from being known by God
Communion: “set up a table for two”
Here is a Psalm to take into your contemplative prayer time with God:
Part 1
Psalm 139: 1, 13, 14, 16, 23, 24
1 “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!”
- In silence, ask Him to search you and know you
- In silence, allow His searching into every recess of your mind
Part 2
13 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”
14 “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”
- Meditate on the hands of God ‘knitting you together stitch by stitch’
- Thank Him for your personality, your unique fingerprint, and your giftings
Part 3
16 “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
- Think about the fact that TODAY was written in a book
- All its joy, peace, and hope…all its pain, strain, and struggle
- While you were a fetus, He wrote your entire life
Part 4
23 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!”
24 “And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
- Finish off your time in prayer will allowing Him to show you thoughts that need renewing
- Allow Him to search your heart and point out places that need refining
Conclusion:
- “At the table we love, and we are loved”- each part is tremendously difficult- to love and to be loved are the two most difficult things to fully commit to.
- This year, as we enter September and the year ahead, we will look at the meaning of the Church: why do we gather? Why do we exist? Who are we? Where are we going?
- This table expands to include other people…in a church community, my table for two must become a table for a few
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