SITTING AT TABLE WITH THE LORD

I.   THE BLESSEDNESS OF SITTING AT TABLE WITH THE LORD

Psalms 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

·         This Prepared Table is provided in the midst of conflict

·         Life not only involves work, but involves conflict

·         The fight is fierce, prolonged and exhausting

·         There is always the conflict, always the foe, always the guardian, always the prepared table.

·         This Prepared table is Promotive of Abundant Joy

·         “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”

·         Joy may grow on the very face of Danger, as a slender rosebush flings its bright sprays and fragrant blossoms over the lips of a cataract.

·         The Prepared Table Will Satisfy All The Wants Of A Lifetime

·         Goodness and mercy give a flavor and virtue to the rest of the items on the table.

·         Through Sorrow and Joy, Goodness and mercy will follow you to the end.

II.                REASONS FOR NOT HAVING THE TABLE OF THE LORD

             BEFORE YOU

Malachi 1:7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible 11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. 12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.

·         CAUSES

·         Inadequate Views Of The Holiness Of God And Then Sinfulness Of Man

·         Familiarity With Sacred Things

·         The Complacency Which Shrinks From The Effort Needed To Stir Up Ourselves To Take Hold Of God.

·         SIGNS

·         Formal And Halfhearted Services

·         Superstitious Services

·        Offering Less Than Our Best To God

·        Corinthians I 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.

III.       MISUSING THE TABLES OF THE LORD

Matthew 21:11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. 12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

#12-17 Christ found some of the courts of the temple turned into a market for cattle and things used in the sacrifices, and partly occupied by the money-changers. Our Lord drove them from the place, as he had done at his entering upon his ministry (John 2:13-17). If Christ came now into many parts of his visible church, how many secret evils he would discover and cleanse! And how many things daily practised under the cloak of religion, would he show to be more suitable to a den of thieves than to a house of prayer!

IV.       MISSING THE BLESSING BY PASSING THE BUCK

Acts 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

V.         THE FLESHLY TABLE OF THE HEART

Corinthians II 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.

Conclusion: Learn the many subtle forms of a deep-seated sin of the heart. (Jeremiah 17:9) Learn the need of radical remedies such as Divine Power alone can employ. (Luke 6:43-45;Psalms 19:12-14)