Confession Before A Christian Meal
When our church gathers, we always share a meal together. Sharing a meal follows the pattern of the early church and helps us cultivate hospitality and relationships; both of which are sorely lacking in our American culture. Before we eat, we share a confession to remind ourselves of the special significance of eating together.[1] Here are some of our past confessions:
“Let us say what we believe…
#1: Being the apprentices of someone who is sinless and who died for the sins of a sinful world, never promised to be easy or to fit nicely into the life we carved out for ourselves. Jesus says, “If you lose your life you will find it.” He doesn’t say, “Find a place to fit Me in.” But the reason Jesus so wants to explode our lives and the way of living is not because He is some monster that wants to ruin the good thing we have going. No! Jesus wants us to walk in the way of abundant, full flourishing, and eternal life. Jesus, as the way, the truth, and the life, knows how we ought to live, and wants us to walk that straight and narrow, beautifully righteous, road.
One of the things Jesus shows He values is eating with others, eating with friends and soon-to-be friends. We take time to eat and talk because Jesus did. We take time to love because Jesus did. So, as we eat and talk and love today, let’s seek to take time this week to do the same. As followers of Jesus, let’s follow Jesus.
#2: Messiah Jesus has called us together to be a people of purity in a land littered with porn, He has called us to be light in a world of darkness, salt in a world of decay, a harbor of hope in a world of hopelessness. He has called us to be His people of radical love in a world of hate. So, as we gather, may God gift us and grow us to that end. May God build us up as we are gathered and use us to bless this broken world as we scatter.
#3: Jesus’ Kingdom is made up of people from Sierra and Senegal, Armenia and America, China and Chad, Portugal and Pakistan, Mexico and Malaysia, and many many more. The reality is, in Christ, we are all one. Division is dead. We are united. So, we are to live together in purposeful unity. It will not be easy, but Jesus’ blood was spilled to welcome us into union with Him and each other. We should not disregard Jesus’ great sacrifice for us, instead, we must “make every effort to keep the unity” (Eph. 1:3).
#4: As we eat even a meager meal together it is significant. We testify to the truth of our unity in Jesus. We remember the relationship with God and each other that Jesus has welcomed us into at great cost to Himself. We remember the various people that Jesus ate with while He walked the earth—prostitutes, Pharisees, and frauds. He welcomed them, He welcomes us, and we are to welcome others. We also remember that soon we will eat with Jesus and with people from every tribe, language, nation, and tongue.
#5: We eat remembering the fellowship and love of the Trinity and we share together in that fellowship. We eat as an act of rebellion against the ways of the world. We eat as a tangible reminder of all we share. So, while we eat, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding (Rom. 14:19).
#6: God gives the gift of rain and crop, He gives the gift of life, and breathe, and everything. Often we as humans fight over everything. But in a meal we share and partake together. We give grace and we receive grace. A meal is a teacher and a uniter. God cares about meals. As we eat, we remember and we are thankful that we are not in the final analysis independent, we are dependent, dependent on God and upon one another.
#7: Jesus’ posture on the cross is His posture towards us; His arms are open wide. Jesus says to everyone who is thirsty, “Come. Quench your thirst.” To everyone who is sick, Jesus says, “Come. Be healed.” To everyone who is lonely, Jesus says, “Come. Be loved.” Jesus welcomes us, so we welcome one another, and we welcome others. And as we eat now, we remember and celebrate the fellowship Jesus welcomes us into.
#8: When the church comes together, it’s a political rally. We testify and celebrate the reality that Jesus is King. Jesus reigns in goodness, justice, and power. And though we may not see it with physical eyes, we are a powerful group of people, because we are the LORD’s people, we are the church of God (Gal. 1:13; 1 Cor. 10:32, 15:9). We all together are in Christ. Our identity is new in Him; we are not the old people we used to be (2 Cor. 5:17), we are people who radically love, who radically give. We are in Jesus’ Kingdom and under His powerful and eternal reign. We can’t be hurt by the second death because we are more than conquerors and will celebrate at the marriage supper of the Lamb. So, even as we eat now, we testify to these realities. We remember and we rejoice.
#9: It is no light or flippant thing to gather with God’s saints. We celebrate and rejoice that we get to share this meal and time together. As Hebrew 10:24 says, we want to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, we do not want to neglect meeting together, but instead intentionally encourage one another. So now, Father, may you build us up, and bless us so we can bless the broken world that needs to know the love of your Son, Jesus.
#10: We together give thanks to the LORD for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever (Ps. 136:1). We give thanks because the LORD is the giver of every good gift (James 1:17), the giver of life, breath, and everything (Acts 17:25). Our Lord gives food and friends to eat with. Therefore, as we come to eat together, we come with thankful hearts. Together we acknowledge God’s abundant goodness. As we eat, may we remember and teach ourselves and one another, that God is a God of extravagance and abundance; God has more grace, more love, and more pleasure in store, so may we likewise be lavish in our love for others.
[1] During the singing portion of our gathering, we sometimes confess one of the historic confessions (the Nicene Creed or Apostle’s Creed). I’ve thought about us systematically working through a confession but we haven’t done that yet.
Photo by Jaco Pretorius
Are We Brokenhearted Over Our Societies’ Idolatry?
Are we brokenhearted over our societies’ idolatry? The Apostle Paul was.
Paul was in Athens and he saw that it was full of idols (Acts 17:16). When he saw that there were idols everywhere, he was cut to the heart. Paul was visibly grieved. He was greatly troubled.
In Paul’s day, Athens was home to a stadium and a large concert hall. Athens’s most prominent feature, however, was its numerous pagan temples.
One author around the time of Paul said that it was easier to find a god than a man in Athens. There was a great temple to Athena (the Parthenon), a temple dedicated to multiple deities, and the temple to the goddess Roma. There were other pagan sacred sites that have been found as well.
Then, as now, there is a lot of idolatry. There is a lot of suppressing the truth about God for a lie. There is a lot of worshiping what is created rather than the Creator who alone is worthy of worship (Rom. 1:25).
So, how did Paul respond and how do we respond when we see rampant idolatry?
Paul was not consumed with anger or with amazement as to how stupid people are for their idolatry. No. His heart was broken for them. He had compassion for them.
And his compassion pushed him to winsome conversation…
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:17).
Paul apparently shared in a winsome way. People were interested in hearing from him. We see this because they took him to the Areopagus and said, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?” (Acts 17:19).
Paul had a heart for the lost and won a hearing with the lost.
It says that Paul walked around and looked carefully at their objects of worship. And something he saw gave him an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus. He saw “an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’” So, Paul was able to say: “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23).
In sharing Paul even quotes from two of the “rappers” of the day. They actually were long since dead but his audience would have been familiar with them.[1] Paul took the time to meet people where they were.
Paul had a heart for the lost. He wept over their idolatry. And he also studied how to effectively speak into their lives. He “looked carefully at their objects of worship” and could even quote their authors.
Yet, he did so not just to be on the in with them, but to point something out. He wanted to see what they see so he could show them how to see.
We too deal with idolatry today. It’s perhaps all the more insidious because it’s less apparent. We have no temple to Aphrodite;[2] but we carry the equivalent in our pocket on our phone. Idolatry is alive and well. We just don’t see it well.
Do we have broken hearts over societies’ idolatry? And are we willing to wisely, winsomely, and lovingly wade into the fray? Are we willing to reason in the religious meeting places as well as the marketplace? Are we willing to be “in the know,” so we can help people to know?
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[1] Epimenides of Crete (c. 600 B.C.) and the Stoic poet Aratus (c. 315–240 B.C.).
[2] Aphrodite was known as the Ancient Greek goddess of beauty, desire, and all aspects of sexuality. Aphrodite was known to be able to entice both gods and men into illicit affairs because she was so attractive. Aphrodite was honored as a protector of prostitutes.
*Photo by Douglas O
The Gospel Ripple
“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28).
How does the good news of Jesus impact individuals, families, neighborhoods, and cities? Does the gospel make people prideful begets? Does it make people unloving and judgmental?
Ephesians 4:28 gives us a case study of what the impact of the good news of Jesus is supposed to have. It should change individuals. If they steal, it should change them so that they no longer do so. In the same way, the employer who is a jerk and does not treat people well is to change and instead be kind and care for their employees. The employee is also addressed, they are to do honest work and work as unto the Lord Jesus Himself.
So, we see the thief, the employer, the employee, the soldier (Lk. 3:14), and all types of people in all sorts of positions, are exhorted to not take part in wrong and destructive practices. That is the negative command. That is the, “Don’t do…” But there is also a positive command. Something we are told we must do. And that is labor. Whoever we are and whatever we do, there is something we must do. We must engage in labor, we must do the work before us in honesty. So the Christian is to work their best whether someone is watching or no one is watching.
in X 