The Table
Pt. 2 - Table Manners
I. Introduction
I don't know what your home was like growing up, but in my house we were taught table manners. In fact, you need to pray for me as I try to find something to do while I am grounded this week for even playing that video. We had some very specific manners we were taught: no whistling at table, chew with your mouth closed, don't talk with your mouth open, no smacking, take your plate to the sink when you are finished, and the big one . . . you can't leave the table until everyone is finished eating. Now that probably doesn't seem that bad but the first time I was told about that rule/manner I was probably about 5 years old. So as instructed I sat there and waited until my mother finished eating and when I finally got up I was 18. Good grief how slow can a person eat?
Jesus' ministry was marked by fellowship, communion and eating with a variety of people. At some point in His ministry He felt that it was necessary to share a set of table manners for those gathered at the table and these manners are instruction to us! So let's look at 3 specific manners we must follow if we want to stay at the table!
II. Text
Luke 14:1-14
1-3 One time when Jesus went for a Sabbath meal with one of the top leaders of the Pharisees, all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move. Right before him there was a man hugely swollen in his joints. So Jesus asked the religion scholars and Pharisees present, "Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes or no?"
4-6They were silent. So he took the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. Then he said, "Is there anyone here who, if a child or animal fell down a well, wouldn't rush to pull him out immediately, not asking whether or not it was the Sabbath?" They were stumped. There was nothing they could say to that.
7-9He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, "When someone invites you to dinner, don't take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he'll come and call out in front of everybody, 'You're in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.' Red-faced, you'll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.
10-11"When you're invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, 'Friend, come up to the front.' That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I'm saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face. But if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."
12-14Then he turned to the host. "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be—and experience—a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God's people."
III. The Manners
A. The Meal Should Heal
Notice that Jesus stops right in the middle of a meal and heals. In fact, He puts the folks on notice that the Sabbath is a great time to be healed. Too often we have made fellowshipping about seeing and being seen. Jesus shows us that our meals should heal. This time together each week or at other times during the week should be about identifying needs and dealing with them!
Have you looked around you today? Or has it been about getting your grub on? Have you taken time to notice the pain, sickness, and needs of those 2 rows back. Why gather if all we are going to do is eat? That leads to spiritually fat Christians. We consume but never give out. We take in but never utilize what we are consuming to touch others!
Ever been to church, hung out in fellowship with other believers and it do everything but heal? We cannot become that church or those people! We must arrive at service with the attitude of Jesus which is "I expect to be interrupted by need. I expect to be used by Father to meet need. I won't nourish myself before I first nourish someone else!"
Go back and check out how many times Jesus healed around the table. He often healed physical needs, emotional, and spiritual needs around the table. Who have you touched and who's life have you impacted as you got your praise on last week? Who have you elevated as you encountered God this morning! Our meal should heal! That doesn't just occur during a special time of prayer for healing. This speaks to the tenor or atmosphere in the lobby, parking lot, the hang out times before and after. As you rub shoulders the anointing to heal should rub off as well. That only happens if we arrive with this expectation and manner in place.
By the way . . . the best way to come to the meal is to keep your eyes on Jesus!
B. Don't blow the nose or throw any bows!
The Word is clear that pride comes before a fall! If we are going to have good table manners we cannot blow the nose. We can't be nosey! In other words, we must keep our nose out of the air! We cannot allow pride to get in our heart. The dinner guests Jesus talked about were nosey! They literally fought to be the center of attention!
Jesus says mind your manners. No power plays. No position pushes. Instead we must be about preference. We must prefer one another. In other words, my greatest thought when I get to church is not my need but whether or not your need is met!
Go back again and contemplate the 4 men who helped their friend get to Jesus by cutting a hole in the roof. We don't know, but is it possible that those 4 men had something they personally needed from Jesus? They might have had a financial need or a relationship that needed a God touch. They had a better opportunity to touch God in the flesh than their friend did and instead they preferred their friend. Who's need have you made more important than yours. It isn't that you don't have a need it is just that you prefer someone else's miracle over your own! Stop just a second and think . . . who in here, if they received a miracle, would cause you to be as blessed as if you received a miracle yourself? If the answer is no one then you may have a nose problem because you have made this about you! Your homework is to find someone that you will prefer for a miracle! You will come each Sunday to see them healed, set free, blessed and delivered!
May I suggest that some of us would be more blessed and more benefited if we would get some of the folks around us to Jesus rather than using every Sunday, every service, every prayer time to get our own needs met!
Paul admonishes us in Romans to compete with one another . . . that seems to stand in direct contrast to what we are talking about but listen carefully. In Romans 12:10 he says to "Outdo one another in showing honor!" If we are going to compete, then let's compete in how much honor we show one another!
Then Jesus makes it clear that throwing elbows is not kingdom behavior. You can't even get away with that in basketball so why do we think we can get away with it at church?
As one man said, "It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity."
No entourages. No pride parades. Remember the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Maybe we should sing the song we used to sing at camp. We would catch someone with their elbows on the table and begin to sing "Get your elbows off the table ____, we have seen you do it twice and it isn't very nice get your elbows off the table. Round the table you must go." When we see someone demanding their own way, fighting for attention, stepping on others to get their needs met we are just going to walk up and whisper in their ear, "Get your elbows off the table!"
It is an interesting phenomenon to me that as soon as we begin to prefer others over ourselves that our need gets met!
C. Flip the Favor
Jesus identifies a key tendency in us. We like to hang out with folks that can give back to us. Our unspoken thought and question is "What can you do for me?" We like to hob nob with those that can reciprocate and end up failing to share favor with those who can't repay and also miss out on being blessed by the ONE who can repay!
We clump up with others like us. Jesus is a clique buster. Jesus is a comfort zone destroyer! He demands that we reach out to the marginalized and the misfits! The wrong side of track folks must be more than just welcome. We let ourselves off the hook by saying they are welcome here. We must move beyond that and make sure they receive an invitation!
It used to be that the folks from the wrong side of the track were just the poor. However, these days the wrong side of the folks isn't just about income. There are folks all around us that make more money than we do that are misfits. There are folks around us that feel unwelcome when it comes to eating with Jesus or with us! We must flip the favor. When we learn to invite every color, every breed, the unexpected, the unwanted, and the unloved we open the door for favor to be repaid by God! Who are you favoring?
Practical - greet someone you never greet . . . sit next to someone who is sitting by themselves . . . pray for someone who has never prayed for you . . . invite someone who won't fit and make them fit!
Are you practicing good table manners? Are you healing around the table? Are you preferring others? Are you favoring the unfavorable?
