Beyond the Weekend

July 5 | My Invitation List

July 5, 2019

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

On this Mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all the peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. Isaiah 25:6

Read: Isaiah 25:6

Listen: Isaiah 25

TODAY’S MESSAGE

Yesterday, we celebrated that God’s table included the spiritually poor, blind, crippled and lame like us. Today we will look at what Christ’s words and God’s invitation list mean for our own table.

While at the dinner with the Pharisee, Jesus tells the listeners to invite the poor, blind, crippled and lame. This may sound a bit strange to us, but it was absolutely crazy to those who first heard it! At the time, people usually invited others to a big banquet or meal based on the influence or ability to pay back their host similarly in the future. It was a sort of exchange of hospitality. But Jesus wanted to flip this idea on its head. Instead, he encouraged his listeners to have an invitation list that reflected his own invitation list.

Much like then, we still gravitate to people who are like us. But Jesus cares about our table reflecting God’s table—and we should care too. God invited us to his table when we were the outsider, blind, crippled and lame. God includes us at his table, and it is our joy to include outsiders at ours. We get to reflect the heart of Jesus by including those around us who need to feel his love. We should ask ourselves regularly, “Does my invitation list reflect the heart and invitation list of our heavenly Father?”

IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY

Spend a few minutes in a quiet place. Ask yourself the question, “Does my table reflect the heart of God?” Spend some time journaling about how you can reflect God’s heart through your table. Write down a few ways you can grow in this area. The ideas don’t have to be big. Small, simple steps are much easier to do. Then take a step this week in that direction, maybe by inviting someone new to share a meal with you.


Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.

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