Saints,
I pray that your week is going well and that the joy and grace of Jesus is as obvious in your life as it is abundant. May His face shine upon you and give you peace.
Filling up the edges
They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD’s food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. – Leviticus 21:6
The priests of Yahweh were to be holy for they were His table servants. They offered God His bread. And what was that bread? The sacrifices of the people of Israel. The table of the Lord was about fellowship, forgiveness and fruit; food.
The Lord ate with sinners who slew lambs and birds as propitiation for their sins and shared that meal with God. But there aren’t enough birds and lambs in all of creation to cleanse our filth, so Jesus came in the flesh to be our final and forever propitiation. So we sit at His table and feast on Him.
This is what God’s mission to the world is all about. A sacrificial meal of God, signifying peace and fellowship between God and man, eaten in God’s presence with God’s family.
This grace quickly becomes the basis for an inner circle. Inner circles are what we all want so desperately. A seat at the adult table, the cool kid table, the table of exclusivity that reveals how awesome, intelligent and “with it,” we are.
C.S Lewis on how you get “in,” to the inner circle. “Obviously bad men, obviously threatening or bribing, will almost certainly not appear. Over a drink or a cup of coffee, disguised as a triviality and sandwiched between two jokes, from the lips of a man, or woman, whom you have recently been getting to know rather better and whom you hope to know better still-just at the moment when you are most anxious not to appear crude, or naif, or a prig-the hint will come. It will be the hint of something which is not quite in accordance with the technical rules of fair play: something which the public, the ignorant, romantic public, would never understand: something which even the outsiders in your own profession are apt to make a fuss about: but something, says your new friend, which “we”-and at the word “we” you try not to blush for mere pleasure-something “we always do.” And you will be drawn in, if you are drawn in, not by desire for gain or ease, but simply because at that moment, when the cup was so near your lips, you cannot bear to be thrust back again into the cold outer world. It would be so terrible to see the other man’s face-that genial, confidential, delightfully sophisticated face-turn suddenly cold and contemptuous, to know that you had been tried for the Inner Ring and rejected. And then, if you are drawn in, next week it will be something a little further from the rules, and next year something further still, but all in the jolliest, friendliest spirit. It may end in a crash, a scandal, and penal servitude: it may end in millions, a peerage and giving the prizes at your old school. But you will be a scoundrel.”
Couple this with Gerard’s assertion that man desires a scapegoat, as much as he desires an inner circle, and you get an inner circle based on berating the “forces,” of darkness outside the circle who must be destroyed in order to restore peace and prosperity. But the problem isn’t “out there.” The problem is inside each one of us and its called our heart; the source of our will, affections and actions.
Mankind needs a scapegoat (Lev. 16:6-10). John the Baptizer recognized that this sacrifice, which takes the sin of the world away, is Jesus (John 1:29).
God never promised peace and prosperity this side of heaven. He made peace with you and is your ally in an all out war on sin. The Lord’s table is set amidst His enemies (Psalm 23:5). Jesus’ overflowing goodness, mercy and life will overflow our cup as we sit with Him at His feast table, even as the raging plotting nations nash their teeth and revile us.
Jesus offers us a seat at the table of His forgiveness. A table for the sick. The broken. The degenerate. The soulless. Everyone is sick, but not everyone knows it. Those who do, turn their hearts to heaven and find there, a command to sit, take and eat. Take and drink.
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! – Psalm 34:8
Around the worldwide web
A seven minute video on sacrifice and atonement for the whole family. These are good. Very, very good teaching tools.
https://thebibleproject.com/all-videos/biblical-themes/
Devotional
For steadfast faith JOHN 12: 35
O God, what would I be if you were to forsake me? What can I do if you withdraw your hand? What can I know if you do not enlighten me? How quickly the educated become infants; the prudent, simple; the wise, fools! How awesome you are in all your works and judgments! Let me walk in the light while I have light, so that I may not be caught in darkness. Many renounce their faith and become careless and weary in your grace. They are deceived into thinking they know everything and have no need. They feel satisfied and become slothful and ungrateful and are soon ruined. Therefore help me to remain in the fervor of faith, that I may daily increase in it through Jesus Christ, my real and only helper.
Amen.
Church Calendar
Service 11-11-18
Erik, Call
Nate, Prayer
DISCIPLESHIP CLASS: A SURVEY OF THE GOSPELS
Sunday mornings 9AM, through 11/18/18. Childcare provided for children 2-6. Kids aged 7 and up are encouraged to join the adult class.
LADIES’ FELLOWSHIP GATHERING
Wednesday, Nov 28, 7pm at Lannie Brown’s home. Tami will email out details
Locusts and Wild Honey 