GodSpeak: At the Table – Faith with Family at… a Diner

GodSpeak for the Week of August 19…

“At the Table – Faith with Your Family at a…DINER”

We continue our sermon series looking at how the different tables we gather around inform our faith and lives.

This week, we consider what we learn around the DINER (i.e., RESTAURANT) table.

 

Day 1…Read Proverbs 22:1-4

  • Consider this – the psalmist notes that a “good name” (Hebrew = literally “reputation,” “fame”) is more desirable than “great riches.”
  • Answer this – what makes a good reputation better than heaps of cash?
    • Is a “good name” valued as much today as it used to be? Are folks people of “their word” as much as in years past?  Why or why not?

Day 2…Read Proverbs 22:1-4 (again)

  • Consider this – the psalmist says that “humility” (Hebrew = literally “a lowly mind,” “modesty”) is equal to the “fear of the Lord”; and, it brings riches, honor and life.
  • Answer this – how does modesty work in relationship to our Lord and God? How do we view God/Jesus in comparison to ourselves in this relationship?
  • Answer this – what does the psalmist mean by nothing that fear of the Lord, paired with modesty, bring “riches and honor and life”? What do “riches,” “honor,” and “life” look like in the real world?

 Day 3…Read Ephesians 2:6-10

  • Consider this – think about what it’s like to get a table in a restaurant.
  • Answer this – where are the worst places to sit? Where are the best?  What have you got to do to get one of the better places in a restaurant?
  • Answer this – Paul notes that through Christ, God has “…seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…” (v. 6) When we’re seated with Christ, do you think there will be better and worse places to sit?  Will it matter?

Day 4…Read Ephesians 2:6-10 (focusing especially on vv. 8-9)

  • Consider this – as Lutheran-Christians, vv. 8-9 go right to the heart of how we understand our faith.
    • It is SOLELY by God’s unmerited grace – through Jesus Christ alone – that we have been saved through our faith (a faith, which we can’t even take credit for first having); even our faith is a GIFT from God.
  • Answer this – why does Paul say it’s vital to properly understand that EVEN OUR FAITH is a GIFT from God? What do we have a terrible tendency to do, if our faith somehow originates/comes from ourselves?

 Day 5…Read Luke 22:24-30

  • Consider this – in Jesus’ day-and-age, dinner parties were elaborate affairs; and, WHERE ONE SAT was a very, very big deal. It was mapped out meticulously in order to honor famous and/or influential folks
  • Consider this – think about how a DINER is set up. There are tables, booths…there is even the lunch counter.
  • Answer this – how do you think Jesus would have reacted to how seating at a DINER is arranged?

Day 6…Read Luke 22:24-30 (again)

  • Consider this – in v. 27, Jesus notes that the one who is “greater” is the one who sits at the table. Yet, in that same breath, He admits HE is the One who SERVES.
  • Answer this – what is Jesus trying to SAY, here?
    • What does this tell us about the nature of our Lord, that He would take the “lower” place in order to “elevate” each of us?

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