Sermon Central
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Nothing But Christ
Contributed by Gregory Mc Donald on Dec 15, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: If your goal is truly to serve the Lord and come to an ever increasing knowledge of Him...the Holy Spirit is here to take you on that most exciting journey...right to the throne of God...to His table where He will draw you closer to Him than you ever drea
NOTHING BUT CHRIST
New Years resolutions ? Some say they are nonsense...just for breaking...but I believe there may be some validity in the basic concept.
There is an old song that has a particularly special meaning. It says, "Jesus has a table spread, where the saints of God are fed. He invites His chosen people come and dine."
The table that is spoken of is in heaven...and one day many of us will be seated there. Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 22: "And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom"
Moses, Nadab and Abihu, and the elders of Israel ate at the Lord’s Table on Mt. Sinai. READ Exodus 24:9 11
What an awesome picture...74 men of God...seated with Him, eating and drinking! It was so overwhelming that no one but Moses could take it in...it was over the heads of the rest of them.
In fact, Aaron came down from that divine table and made a golden calf. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire and were consumed by God. Somehow they didn’t realize the significance of what had taken place.
All through Scripture we can see that it was a great honor to be assigned a seat with the king. It would be kind of like you getting an invitation to go to the white house for dinner with the president...
David assigned a seat for Mephibosheth...The Queen of Sheba was left breathless when she saw the glorious feast at the table of Solomon... There she saw and heard what took place and remarked, "How happy your men must be. How happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom."
It was at the table of the king that he opened his heart to all who were seated there...sharing the wisdom that he had.
David said, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. (Ps. 23:5)
David was also assigned a seat at Saul’s table, but it became very risky for him to sit there when Saul became so jealous of him. David left his seat to determine whether or not Saul really wanted to kill him.
But Jonathan said, "You’ll be missed because your seat will be empty." And sure enough he was missed. Saul asked Jonathan why David wasn’t at the table either that day or the day before.
Can you see the spiritual significance of this? Saul was certainly not a type of Christ, or his table a type of the Lord’s Table. But the O.T. table of kings gives us a true picture of our Lord’s heavenly table.
In I Corinthians 5:8 Paul says to us, "Let us keep the feast." In other words, let us clearly understand that we have been assigned a seat in heaven with Christ at His table.
Paul is saying, "Show Up! Never let it be said of you, "Your seat is empty." I wonder if the Lord couldn’t say the same of us? This is something that He’s been saying to me...and I believe He may be saying the same to some of you.
This is the place where His servants see Him...and hear His wisdom... and get to know Him. This is where we are fed the Bread of Life. It is a great honor...and yet we take it so lightly.
If we could hear the Lord speaking I believe He’d say, "You run all around working for me, and talking about me...but why don’t you sit with me and learn from me? Where are you?" The truth is, we are not keeping the feast. We are too busy for His table.
I can imagine the Lord looking down at the multitudes of people who call themselves by His name...Christians, pastors, missionaries. And I ask myself...What is it that our Lord wants most of all from those who claim to be so devoted to Him?
What can we do and accomplish for His glory when He already has all the glory? The one thing our Lord seeks above all else from His people is communion at His table...
A time and place of intimacy...a continual seeking and coming to Him for spiritual food...strength...wisdom...and fellowship.
We live in a generation with a very limited revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ because so many are missing from the feast. We have such a stunted vision of Christ in the church today.
So few people have a true appreciation of intimate fellowship with the Lord. So few know the majesty and the awesome realization of such a high calling in Christ.
We wrongly get our spiritual joy out of service...not out of communion and fellowship with the Lord. We are doing more and more for a Lord we know less and less about!
