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Bible Studies for Life Lesson for August 30: Hospitality: How ordinary people can live on mission
Manny Prieto, lay pastor, Imago Dei Church, Raleigh
August 13, 2015
2 MIN READ TIME

Bible Studies for Life Lesson for August 30: Hospitality: How ordinary people can live on mission

Bible Studies for Life Lesson for August 30: Hospitality: How ordinary people can live on mission
Manny Prieto, lay pastor, Imago Dei Church, Raleigh
August 13, 2015

Focal passage: Luke 14:12-24

What is the best meal you’ve ever had? Think past the menu and think of a specific occasion. Our best meal may or may not line up with the best food we’ve ever tasted. In fact, when I think about my favorite meals, the food is secondary. I think first of the people and the occasions. Meals mean more than the food that is served. Meals are shared experiences with others, opportunities to build and deepen relationships, and for the believer, meals are a mission field.

As we meditate on the parable of the Great Banquet, we are confronted with the reality that our greatest meal is yet to come. For those of us who are in Christ, our greatest meal will be at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, when we, the Church, the sanctified Bride of Christ, will finally behold our King and Savior. I can hardly begin to wrap my mind around that coming feast, yet it is the sure reality of all who are in Christ.

At the same time, looking forward to that great feast should remind us that the work here is not yet complete. There are many who have not yet heard of this coming feast. As the church, we have received our command from the our gracious host: we are to bring many to the feast, those who are far off and in darkness.

Brothers and sisters, are we thinking Christianly about our dinner tables and our meals? Are we practicing hospitality with a missional mindset? All of us must recognize that at one time we were far off, unworthy guests of such a great feast. Yet we were brought in, as unlovely as we were, and we have been given seats at the King’s table. This should result in a distinctively Christian hospitality. May we use our dinner tables and feasts as vessels of good news to invite others to the King’s coming feast! I pray we would open our homes to many as a picture of the King who has opened his table to the lost.