Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6; John 10:10-11; 1 Peter 5:8
Theme: Table for Two!
This sermon is about the reality of being able to sit with Jesus enjoy a meal with Our Shepherd in the midst of all our enemies – the world, the Devil and the flesh.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
I would like to talk to you today about the area of fear in the Christian walk and the reality that we do not need to live, walk or reside in a spirit of fear. We do not have to bend the knee to fear or to any of its cousins; anxiety, doubt, dread, worry, dress, doubt, rejection, guilt, depression or discouragement.
Now, of course that is much easier said than done.
After all, we are humans that have fallen and one the horrible results of the fall is that we must deal with some rather unpleasant stuff. We must deal with things and beings that desire to cause us to be overwhelmed by worry, by anxiety and by fear. We must deal with forces that have as their primary goal to help us forsake our peace and be overwhelmed with a life of distress and dread.
In other words, we have enemies; we have adversaries, foes and opponents. The Bible is very clear that as followers of Christ we have enemies. In fact, the Bible tells us that overall we have three major enemies while we are here on this earth
– The World -The Flesh -The Devil (demonic)
This reality is clearly spelled out in such passages as Matthew 13:24 – 30 where Jesus shares the Parable of the Weeds in the Wheat. A man had sown a field with wheat seeds planning on having this wonderful harvest. He needed to feed his family and make a little money on the side and so he planted a wheat field.
However, after a few weeks he discovered that an enemy had snuck in one night and had sowed some weeds into his wheat field. At first, the wheat and weeds looked alike but over the growing season it became quite clear that in amongst the wheat was all these weeds that were doing their best to destroy his crop.
Now, why did that happen?
It happened because this man had an enemy – an enemy of flesh in this case who was listening to the voices of the world (greed, hatred, revenge) and was listening and obeying the temptations of the Devil to hurt this man.
Jesus tells us that the man saw the weeds and realized that “An enemy has done this.” A person who was not seeking to bless him but to curse him. A person whose mission was not that of encouragement or blessing but one of hurting and destroying.
We are to understand the reality that we do have enemies – like I said the Bible says that they come in three main areas – the world, the flesh and the Devil.
The WORLD is not only the physical environment around us, but it is also certain systems of manmade culture. An ungodly system of human life whose ultimate desire is to distract us from the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY and provide for us an alternative way to live outside of God’s will. It is sometimes called the spirit of the age. The world tempts us to make it “GOD” and to live by its rules promising us blessings, but the truth is the world can only ultimately give us a life of heartache and a everlasting place in Hell.
The FLESH of course is that part of us that desires to put itself above the spirit. Genesis chapter three tells us that the devil used the temptation of the flesh over the spirit when Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden of Eden. The flesh desired the forbidden fruit (it always does). The flesh not only desired it for food, but it looked pleasing to the eye and it felt good to the flesh part of mankind. The flesh wanted power and control over the spiritual part of us. The flesh seeks to rule our lives. The flesh seeks to dictate our lives. The flesh seeks to be pleased, entertained, comforted and served.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:17 (ESV)
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Jesus our Savior and LORD warns us about this inner enemy the flesh:
Matthew 26:41 English Standard Version (ESV)
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
This enemy – our flesh is nothing to be taken for granted. The flesh does not magically vanish when we get rescued and redeemed by the blood of Jesus. The flesh does not volunteer to obey the spirit part of us. Paul reminds us of this fact in Romans 8:6-7
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God …”
Did you catch that last phrase – “the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God …”. Wow! That is quite a statement and a revelation. That is why it is so important for our minds to be under renewal by God’s Holy Spirit. We can not trust our flesh – we can not allow the flesh to be in control. If we do we will quickly become lukewarm and then dead spiritually.
For when the flesh is in control our egos, our basic dispositions, our addictions, our cravings and comforts dictate our lives. The devil plays on our flesh to trap us and to destroy us. We see that happening in the lives of men like Cain, Samson and even King David.
Our third enemy of course is old slew foot – Satan, the Devil, that Old Liar and his demons. The one that seeks to steal, kill and destroy. The one that goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The one that the Bible tells us used to have one of the highest positions in heaven – praising God and singing words of praise over God’s throne but now seeks only to destroy God’s beautiful creation.
We were made in the image of God. We were created to reflect God’s glory and honor and the Devil wants nothing more than to mare that image – to cause that image no longer to reflect God’s glory and honor but to reflect an image of shame, of guilt and of sin.
Those three – the world, the flesh and the Devil make a pretty powerful trio. If we focused on those three, we will find ourselves living a life of fear, of worry, of anxiety, of depression and doubt. We will find ourselves caving in to the flesh and listening to the voices in the world that are constantly telling us what we need to be afraid about something – our health, our safety, our finances, the future, outsiders and the like.
But the Bible tells us that we can turn the table so to speak. The Bible tells us in Psalm 23 that Our Shepherd will make it possible for us to eat a meal of blessing right in the midst of our enemies.
That means that we can enjoy a meal of blessing – of peace, joy, love, faithfulness, kindness and all the other fruit of the Holy Spirit right in the midst of all our enemies – the world, the flesh, the Devil and all his demons. We can enjoy a festival in the midst of all that being around us.
Let’s think about that for a few minutes this morning.
Up here on the stage we have set out a little meal – there is some fruit, some pastries and some other foods. There are also two chairs.
I want us to think this morning of us being invited to a meal. A meal prepared and served by our LORD JESUS. A meal that Psalms 23 reminds us is served by Our Shepherd.
I. We all have a shepherd – We all have someone we follow
Human beings are created to reflect, worship and glorify God. We were created to follow God and His Will. We were created to walk with God. That is what is at the deepest core of our being.
However, we all know that because of free will we can choose to not follow God as Shepherd. We can choose to follow someone or some other thing beside the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. The Bible tells us that repeatedly the People of the Earth have done just that. They have chosen false gods, the spirit of the age and/or the Devil himself. Some have even decided to call themselves their own shepherd; making themselves their own god.
But if our Shepherd is not Jesus then we must realize that our Shepherd is a false Shepherd. They will not lead us into beautiful pastures, enjoy peace and tranquility. False shepherds will use us and abuse us. They will steal our joy, our peace and our future. They will seek to serve themselves and after using us will throw us away like trash. They will not lead us to the New Heavens and New Earth they will lead us to the lake of fire.
But not Jesus. Not God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. John chapter 10 tells us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Jesus lays down His life for His Sheep. Jesus protects His Sheep. Jesus provides for His Sheep. Jesus desires to give His sheep everything possible to help them become healthy, strong and fruitful.
And Jesus as Our Shepherd loves nothing more than to serve us these wonderful meals in the very midst of our enemies.
The Apostle Paul tells us that on the Cross, Jesus “disarmed the spiritual powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:15).
In that same vein of thought, we are to understand this morning that Jesus prepares for us a festive meal in the very presence of the things that seek to harm us. His reason for doing so is to let them and us know that they have been disarmed. That all they can do is to watch Jesus serve us happiness, joy, peace, kindness, tranquility, health, wholeness, favor and blessings.
Jesus makes our enemies sit on the outer edges of the scene and watch everything unfold. They must watch as we fill up our souls with heaven’s delights – with heaven’s blessings, anointing and favor. With the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
And they are appalled. They are in shock. For no demon, especially the Devil can comprehend this meal. They do not understand how the Lord God Almighty can sit down with us at a meal He prepared and share it with us – even though we have sinned. But that is what God’s forgiveness accomplishes. That is what grace enables and provides. In our own righteousness we are not worthy of such a meal, but the LORD provides it for us just as the Prodigal Son’s Father welcomed his son back home and prepared a feast for him.
Listen again to the words of Luke 12:37 –
“Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you; he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve him.”
Jesus was harking back to what the Holy Spirit had inspired King David to write – “the LORD prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies”.
The devil is sitting there raging because he thought he had you. His demons are sitting around there fuming because you are eating God’s feast while they are starving. The world is sitting there upset, fuming and starving as well. But you don’t have to starve – The Good Shepherd has prepared and is ready to share a wonderful meal with you – a meal He both prepared and paid for – just for you and for me.
But we do have to be watchful
2. The Devil, the World and the Flesh will try to sit with you
The Devil knows that he can’t take your food from you but if he can he will try to trick you to let him have a seat at the Table.
+He will do his best to bring up a chair and whisper things into your ear(s) like:
-You don’t really belong here –
-You are not worthy enough to stay at this table
-You and I both know that you are a phony, a hypocrite – you are evil
-When God finds out what you have done recently He will remove your chair and take away your food
-You are old, you are ugly, and you are stupid
-You are afraid of me aren’t you? You don’t think just because Jesus is sitting across the table that you can defeat me do you? After all you are mine!
+At first, he may merely try to get you to talk about some negative things in your life
+Your boss is really a piece of work isn’t he/she? I hate her/he. I wouldn’t blame you if you hate them. You know they really don’t like you. You’re just a number. As soon as they can they are going to get rid of you and hire someone else younger and cheaper.
+Your co-workers are a bunch of losers as well aren’t they? I overheard them the other day talking about you. Want to know what they are really saying behind your back?
+You’ve not been feeling well lately have you – maybe you have cancer? Maybe your starting to have heart problems? Death may be right around the corner.
+Did you notice you don’t have as much money as you use to? I wonder if God is going to let you end up penniless.
+Those Christians friends you think you have – they are not your friends – when it comes to hard times they will scatter like the wind. They will turn against you. They will betray you.
The Devil will whisper hundreds of things like those to get a seat at our table. If we are not careful, he will even do his best to get us to share our food with him. He will do his best to get us to focus on him and not enjoy the Peace of Jesus. He will do his best to get us to talk to him and forget that our Shepherd, the One who loves us the most is sitting right across the table.
You see, he can’t take our food, our blessings unless we allow Him. He can’t stay at the table unless we allow Him.
We have this wonderful thing called – FREE WILL. Again, that is what happened in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve decided to misuse their free will. They did not have to obey the Devil. They did not have to put the flesh over the spirit. They had all the food in the world to eat. They did not have to eat the forbidden fruit.
We never have to listen to the Devil. We never have to allow him to come at our table. We never have to allow the World to have a seat either. We never have to allow fear and all its cousins to bring up their chairs as well – Worry, anxiety, depression, doubt, greed - the names could go on and on.
They were never invited. We never have to make the mistake of welcoming them at our table. We never have to talk to them or listen to their insults, accusations or threats. They are nothing – we are sharing a meal with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus will never invite them. Jesus tells us that perfect love casts out things like fear and when we are in the presence of Jesus we are in the presence of Perfect Love.
Now, we have to understand that they must be there of course to watch us eat with the LORD. They must be there to testify to the fact that Jesus is Lord and we are His Chosen Ones. They must be there to watch us have an intimate meal with the LORD. To visibly show that we are His – He is Our Shepherd and we are His Sheep. Jesus prepared a meal for us to enjoy with Him.
3. Focus on the Table for Two – You and Jesus
Jesus is inviting to share a meal with Him. To sit down with us and share Himself, His Presence and Abundant Life. To share family. To talk over our day. To talk over what we are going to do next and where we are going to go. To rest and enjoy His meal. To sit back and have a cup of holy coffee or tea or to munch on some grapes, some strawberries or pastry or two.
It’s our time for us to sit and reflect on God’s grace. It’s time for us to rest in God’s protection –
“No weapon formed against you will prosper.” (Isaiah 54:17).
It’s a time for us to sit and learn. It is what we could call “Mary time”.
Remember the story of Mary when she decided that the best thing she could do was to come out of the kitchen and sit at the feet of Jesus? We find the story spelled out in Luke chapter 10.
Sister Martha is in the kitchen fixing biscuits while Sister Mary is in the living room sitting at Jesus’ feet. While Martha is fixing food for the flesh, Mary is eating food for the spirit. She is enjoying a meal with Jesus that more than satisfies the flesh. It is a meal that feeds, nourishes and supplies the spirit. She is soaking up spiritual biscuits, eggs and bacon so to speak.
To often we are tempted to get up from the table and go and do something for God. We think we must be active. We think we have to impress God, serve God or worship God by doing something in the flesh. We think that our physical actions are more important than our spiritual actions. That doing is greater than being.
We find ourselves thinking that when we get to Heaven then we can sit down with a meal with Jesus. Right now, there is just too much work to do. There is a crown to win. There is a mansion to work for and spiritual taskmaster to serve.
But if that is all we do then we lose out in this life. We will live far below the life that Jesus died on the cross for us to experience. We will trade the abundant life for some type of works righteousness or life filled with sorrows and pains. That is not the life Jesus wants us to experience.
God will give us the crown we need.
God will give us the room we need.
But let’s not miss out on a meal with Jesus in the presence of our enemies. Let’s not get so busy physically, emotionally and even spiritually in the hopes of getting away from worry, anxiety, the future, losing something, being overcome with fear that we miss this precious time with Jesus. After all, He is Peace. So, let’s pull up a chair at Jesus’ table and spend some time with Him.
Let’s allow Jesus to feed us exactly what we need at that time. Jesus tells us that He will watch over us. Jesus tells us He will provide for us. Jesus tells us that He will take care of us.
*The problem is sometimes we try to be hoarders of His meal rather than enjoying His meal.
We are tempted to not enjoy the meal but to think that we must save a little back for a rainy day. We can’t cash in all our joy here on earth because there won’t be any in heaven. We must conserve. We must portion things out. We must be careful because Jesus may change His mind and not bring anything more out on the table and we need to spread our anointings, our blessings out.
When we have those thoughts, we must remember they don’t come from Jesus who is sitting right across from us. Those thoughts are noise from our enemies.
God’s blessings today are blessings to be enjoyed today to the fullest. God will bless us again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
Sometimes we are tempted to get stingy with our praises, our blessings and even our giving because we are afraid we are going to run out.
That is what the Devil tells us. We need to always worry about tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. We need to always be a hoarder and never a giver. We must always remember that no one will take care of us except ourselves.
But when we do that we miss out on God’s meal for the day – God’s blessings for the day – we miss out on being able to share God’s blessings with others.
4. For one of the greatest joys of our meal is that we can share it with others
The Devil wants to ruin our meal. The world wants to cause us to forget our meal and the flesh wants us to abandon this holy meal.
But the LORD gives us the privilege to share this meal with others around us. While our enemies must watch us enjoy the anointings, the blessings and the favor of God we can share those blessings and favor with others.
That is the joy of the LORD!
That is the joy of being one of God’s sheep. It is the joy of being able to take our meal and not only relish it but to take some of it and share with those in our family, our friends and even those we don’t know.
All of this reminds us of the meal that Abraham shared with the men that visited him back in Genesis chapter 18. Abraham was not quite sure who these three individuals were, but his heart was open to share the blessings that the LORD had given him.
Little did he know that he was in fact entertaining the LORD and a couple of his angels. Little did he know that from this little meal that the LORD would be blessing him in a few months with the birth of the Promise Child. That meal, the blessing that followed and the birth that followed changed Abraham’s history and it changed human history as well.
The same thing happened when a little boy shared his lunch with Jesus and more than 5,000 other people. We find the story in John 6:1-14. It is the story of a little boy who instead of just enjoying his meal by himself, he decided that he would allow Jesus to help him share it with others.
The little boy did not go hungry. No, instead his story has touched millions of people down through the ages. His ability to share the meal that was solely his has opened people’s hearts and lives. His ability to share enabled the LORD to do an amazing miracle for over 5,000 people. Now, that’s a story to share!
You see the Devil will try to tell us that it is the LORD’s will that we will somehow end up with a pantry that is bare, and we will end up with our enemies sneering and scoffing at us. They will be laughing at us as we end up with nothing. The Devil lies to us and tries to tell us that we will end up emotionally, physically and spiritually bankrupt.
We must always remember this truth:
Demons lie – the Devil lies – evil lies – they don’t know how to do anything else because the life that they live is a lie – Hell is their true home and destruction is their future. They are not in control and they will never be in control.
We can’t listen to the world, to our flesh or most importantly to the Devil and his horde of demons. We can’t listen to the lies that tell us that God doesn’t want to bless us, that this life must be filled with pain and sorrow and that we must go through life suffering from one thing to another.
Sure, life at times can be a pain. And it is true that there will be times of loss, of sorrow and hardships. We see plainly spelled out in the book of Job. But we also see that in the end Job possessed twice as much as he lost.
So, let’s not invite sorrow, pain and heartache.
Let’s not allow the Devil, the world or our carnal flesh to sit down at our Table with Jesus and whisper lies into our ears.
Instead, let us sit down and have an intimate meal with Christ. Let’s sit down and relish in His Glory and Honor. Let’s sit down and enjoy His presence and His blessings. Let’s life a life of repentance and holiness.
I remember as a child I loved supper time. After a long day of doing chores and playing outside there was something special about hearing mom say that it was supper time. The food always smelled good and tasted even better. The family would get around the table and enjoy a time of sharing stories and listening to dad tell about his day. He always had some great story to share.
It’s the same way with Jesus.
Too many times we bypass our Jesus meal times. We bypass those meals because we think we are too busy; we don’t deserve them or we listen to one of the lies of our enemies. We bypass those times maybe because we never been told that we can just enjoy the LORD.
But we need to realize that Jesus wants to spend quality time with us. Not to shame us. Not to embarrass us. Not to tell us all that we are doing wrong.
But to merely enjoy us.
After all the Bible tells us that God didn’t want to enjoy heaven without us.
Let me say that again – the Bible is very clear on the fact that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY – THE CREATOR OF EVERYTHING – THE LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS did not want to enjoy Heaven without humanity.
So, He came to earth to die for us. He came to earth to make it possible for us to not only enjoy heaven one day but to enjoy heaven here and now. Over and over again the LORD invites us to acknowledge our sins, to repent and to receive God’s grace for the Kingdom of Heaven has come.
That is all that it takes to be offered a seat at the table – to repent of our sins and to accept God’s gracious invitation. Once we have done that then all our enemies – the Devil, the world and our flesh will have to watch us dine with Jesus. They will have to watch as we celebrate a meal with Jesus.
And they will have to watch as we share with one another – as we share joy, love, peace, understanding, kindness, patience, faithfulness and a million other holy things. They will have to watch as we grow closer to one another, gain strength and become the light that our world needs today. They will have to watch as the Holy Spirit works through us and helps us to help others more and more.
This morning – the LORD has prepared a table before you. He has done so in the presence of your enemies. In Christ we can enjoy supernatural protection, supernatural provision and supernatural promise and favor. In Christ we can live an abundant life. In Christ we can experience the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit.
In Christ we are invited this morning to the Table of Our LORD
HOLY COMMUNION – PRAYER – BLESSING
*Helpful material from Louie Giglio – amazing minister of the Word
