Two Tables

Max Lacado @ The Journey Fellowship

• Introduction
• Bethany: Jesus was served.
• Upper Room (Jerusalem): Jesus served.
• BETHANY
• Matthew 26:6-13 MSG
• When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, a woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. “That’s criminal! This could have been sold for a lot and the money handed out to the poor.” When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives, but not me. When she poured this perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint me for burial. You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she has just done is going to be remembered and admired.”
• It takes nerve to have a wanted man in your house but it takes nerve to touch a man with Leprosy.
• Mary's gesture was not spontaneous.
• Simon and Mary saw a chance to serve Jesus
• There is a time for extravagant gestures of love when logic should take the back seat.
• Being kind to someone who deserves out, forgiving someone, etc...

• THE UPPER ROOM
• Matthew 26:26-30 MSG
• During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples: Take, eat. This is my body. Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them: Drink this, all of you. This is my blood, God’s new covenant poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins. “I’ll not be drinking wine from this cup again until that new day when I’ll drink with you in the kingdom of my Father.” They sang a hymn and went directly to Mount Olives.
• Communion is a meal that God has with me.
• Within 24 hours of Jesus' death, he invited commoners to be served by Him where Jesus was the host not the honoree. Then he left the invitation out there for all who would follow him.
• Being a Christian is more about receiving than giving...and more about trusting than accomplishing.
• Pause to allow Jesus to serve.
• Mark 10:45 NIV
• For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Exhortation

• Matthew 27:45-46 MSG
• From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around midafternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “ Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? ” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
• Jesus became sin, the very thing that His father could not tolerate.
• Matthew 27:51-53 MSG
• At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)
• The separation between us a God disappeared.

The Principle of First

Robert Morris @ Lakewood Church

• Don't let the enemy convince you that you don't matter.
• Exodus 13:1-2, 12-13 NIV
• The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”   you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord . Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
• 1. The first born must be sacrificed or redeemed.
• It's a shadow of what's to come.
• Cleaned animals must be sacrificed uncleaned animals must be redeemed with the life of an unclean animal.
• We are all born unclean.
• Jesus was born clean.
• 2. The first fruits must be offered.
• Exodus 23:19 NIV
• “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
• Genesis 4:3-5 NIV
• In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord . And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
• Genesis 4:3-5 MSG
• Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn’t get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.
• Cain gave what he wanted when he wanted.
• 3. The tithe must be first.
• Leviticus 27:30-33 MSG
• “A tenth of the land’s produce, whether grain from the ground or fruit from the trees, is God ’s. It is holy to God . If a man buys back any of the tenth he has given, he must add twenty percent to it. A tenth of the entire herd and flock, every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod, is holy to God . He is not permitted to pick out the good from the bad or make a substitution. If he dishonestly makes a substitution, both animals, the original and the substitute, become the possession of the Sanctuary and cannot be redeemed.”
• Law is to give us guidelines and to frustrate us.