Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10
“Works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Have you ever wondered, if God has it all planned out like that, why doesn’t he just walk into your room, sit on your bed and simply tell you, “Okay, so this is what you should do. Here’s your list of things to do.” Well, that would be nice. And sometimes God does give very specific instructions, to particular people, for special purposes.
For example, Noah. God definitely told Noah to build that big boat, the ark. And he told him why also. So, the reason Noah existed was to save his own family from the judgement of the flood. Then there’s Abraham. God told him specifically to leave his home town, to be led by the hand through the land of Canaan, “to the place where I will show you,” said God. Oh, and have a kid, because there’s going to be a lot more descendants in later generations. So, the reason Abraham existed was to start the nation of Israel, from whom Messiah would be born.
Then there’s Moses. There he was just minding his own business as a shepherd. He had already tried to be the savior of the Israelites from Egypt, failed miserably, and demoted himself to shepherd. Then God shows up in the burning bush and says. “Go, Moses. This time we’re going to do it my way.” So, the reason Moses existed was to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and move them into the territory this new nation would occupy.
So, what’s the reason you exist? That’s where it may feel like it gets tricky. God doesn’t talk to everybody the same way he spoke to Noah, Abraham and Moses. I mean think about this. In Noah’s day, the world was populated with hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people who were all going to drown because they didn’t care about God anymore, and God had decided to wipe them all off the face of the earth except for Noah and his family. And apparently, Noah was the only one that God talked to about it. However, there is a possibility that God had tried to get other individuals to respond to him. Maybe there were dozens or more that God spoke to, but Noah was the only one who actually dared to believe that God had really asked him to build a boat, and then set out to do it.
When Abraham was just Abram, was he really the only person God spoke to about following him to a new place, or was he the only one who responded in faith? But even if Noah and Abe were the only ones, there were a whole bunch of other ordinary people that God didn’t specifically talk to, but who would still be held responsible for not living the way God wanted them to. For every person that God specifically gave a list of things to do, there were millions of other people, also created for a purpose, whose purpose was no more specific than, love God and be a good person.
You and I are probably among the millions in today’s population to whom God only speaks through his Bible. Now he could call anyone of us to a very special task for which he needs to talk to us directly. But the for the vast majority of us, God speaks to us directly through his Bible. The Bible is God’s complete record of everything he ever wanted to tell his people about why he made us, what our purpose is, and how our lives could be meaningful and significant. 99% of what God wants you to do is already given in black and white. It’s all written down for us in the Bible, especially the New Testament. And the greatest piece of information on what you should do is also called the Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
And yet somehow, we still flounder around not sure. These days, we don’t ask God, “Who is my neighbor?” We’re more stuck on, “Yeah but exactly what’s the best way for me to do that?” Should I be a pastor, or a Dr., or what?
This new sermon series is designed to walk us through what the Bible teaches us about answering some of the most important questions we have to ask ourselves, even more basic than a career choice. We want to know: Why am I alive? Does my life matter? What is my purpose? Those are questions that everyone is concerned about, no exceptions, everyone! So even if you know an unbeliever who doesn’t really care about church, invite them by telling them we’re working on the meaning of life, not morals and rules for living but the actual meaning of life itself.
The people of the world have developed three basic approaches to finding the answer to these questions. 1) Look within yourself. 2) Look to self-help books that others have written because they think they found the answers, or 3) read philosophers because they work on these really big important questions all the time.
To look within is the mystical approach. People believe that all the answers they need are built in to their own conscious or sub-conscious if they could just access it. The problem with this approach is that if God made us for his purposes, then we can’t ask ourselves, we have to ask him. The answer is not inside, it’s outside in the mind of your creator. Besides, Jeremiah has already told us that the human heart is wicked and deceitful. You can’t trust your own heart!
To look to self-help books is at least to look outside. But they all say the same thing. Things like, “Try harder.” “You’ve got to invent your own purpose and never give up on it.” “Follow your dreams.” “Follow your heart.” The real problem with self-help books is that most of them actually promote the mystical approach. They will tell you, I looked within, and this is how I found my purpose, now you do that too. I’ll just give you a brief example. I did a google search on finding your purpose, and the blogger at the top of the list offered ten steps. I’ll just tread the first 4 steps out of the ten and you’ll see where this goes. 1. Explore the Things You Love To Do & What Comes Easy to You. 2. Ask Yourself What Qualities You Enjoy Expressing the Most in the World. 3. Create a Life Purpose Statement. 4. Follow Your Inner Guidance (What Is Your Heart Telling You?) You see? Self-help books just give you elaborate ways to do the mystical approach, while pretending to be psychological, practical or even scientific!
Then there’s the philosophical approach. You would think these guys that make money at thinking about these big important questions might have some answers. But guess what, they don’t!
Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world, asking them, "What is the meaning of life?" He then published their responses in a book. Some offered their best guesses, some admitted that they just made up a purpose for life, and others were honest enough to say they were clueless.
In fact, a number of famous intellectuals asked Professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life!
But where humans fail. God has come through. The Bible is the book written by the creator, the designer of all human life, so that we could know what our purpose and meaning is by listening to His explanation of it. If you were to pick up a strange device you had never seen before, would you automatically know what its purpose is?
Here’s one: (see above) do you know what that was designed for? The designer does! Do you know what you were designed for? The designer does! So, people who believe there is no designer, or God, must conclude that life has no purpose! They will still try to find a purpose though, because everybody needs one. But they’re going to look within, or to books, or to philosophers.
By the way, that’s a kitchen tool for serving asparagus. But I didn’t know that without being told by someone who knew. And for more complicated machines like human beings, there is no way you’re going to know your purpose in life without being told by someone who knows, and that’s God!
The very first thing you have to agree to if you really want to know what on earth you are here for is that there is a God and he knows your purpose and is happy to share that information with you, through his Word the Bible. But all Christians know that already, right? So, is this going to be a boring series of sermons where I repeat over and over again all the stuff you already know? I’d better not do that!!
But let me ask you this, dear Christians, if you’ve heard all your life that your life has purpose, are you living into yours? Are you satisfied that you are fulfilling God’s purpose for you? Are you fulfilling God’s purpose, and confident that you are doing what God has called you to do? If that’s true for you, great! God’s purpose for you in this sermon series then is to pray for all the other people who don’t get it yet, so they can rejoice in discovering their purpose and begin to do the works God has prepared in advance for them!
Or, if you feel discouraged, or inadequate about fulfilling your purpose, I pray that these next several weeks you will be blessed and encouraged! If you haven’t been called into the ministry, do you think that means God hasn’t called you to do anything for him? Then I pray that in these next several weeks you will discover your true calling and purpose. You will know why you’re here and get excited about living into that!
But I think a lot of Christians are even discouraged about life in Christ because they feel guilty about big sins they hide, or little sins even though everybody else does them too. Or else they feel like they don’t have time to get close enough to God to hear his call on their lives. Or, they’re frustrated because they really want to hear from God, but he doesn’t answer their prayers the way they expect him to. I pray that this series will encourage you to know and feel the grace of God that forgives sins and continually calls us into fellowship with him so that we can respond to his call.
I want to assure all of us that it is never too late either. Think of Simeon and Anna in the temple on the day that Jesus was brought in for his dedication ceremony. They were old. They had remained faithful all their lives, but they were virtually nobody’s. The only reason we know their names is because even so late in life, they served God’s purpose of announcing the arrival of the Jewish Messiah, the Savior of the world. No matter how old you are, you can still serve a purpose by sharing the gospel of God.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—” Why were you saved? God loves you and chose you for a special purpose. You have a special and unique place in this world that only you can fulfill, just like in a thousand-piece jig saw puzzle there is only one piece that will fit exactly right in each of those thousand available places. Each piece counts. The puzzle is not complete without your contribution! By the way, in honor of this series, in which each of us can celebrate our unique shape, role and purpose in God’s world, I have set up a jigsaw puzzle down stairs as a visual reminder for each of us to find our place and purpose in God’s world today.
“And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—” You do not get to choose yourself. You get to respond to God’s call or invitation. God made the puzzle, and each person was cut out of the warp and woof of time and space to be part of God’s ultimate design. God gives life as a gift! Every person ever born alive was given the gift of life by God. But we are dead in sin and unable to fulfill our true purpose until we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ. And that’s another gift of God’s grace!
It is “not by works, so that no one can boast.” You did not earn this invitation to do things for God. You were created to do the things that God has planned for you. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God prepared works for us to do. He plans. We perform. He energizes and empowers. We are his physical hands and feet on the world. He is the Spirit. We are the flesh. There is a partnership God wants with you. Our joining him in his work of redemption is the big deal for us. And he wants you actively involved, listening and obeying. Enjoy serving and show God’s love in the doing!
Purpose is given by the creator designer. You are created, not an accident. Even in the OT, David knew. He said to God, “You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Not just David, but every single human being ever conceived was first conceived in the mind of God, designed by God and formed in the womb under God’s direction, for His purposes. Your purpose in life is given by God who made you. He did not create you and then say, “OK, decide what you want to do for me.” Nope, we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Now for things like flowers, this is pretty simple. Germinate, produce a stem and leaves, bud out to a flower, make pollen, receive pollen, produce seeds. Just be a flower. It’s not task-oriented, it is more about being than about doing. Flowers just naturally grow in to fulfilling their purpose.
It’s the same for people. It’s more about just being in the presence of God, just being a child of God. It’s not really task-oriented. It’s more about being than doing. But it is a bit more complicated because as partners with God, he gave us brains and free will to think about obeying or not, and choosing to obey or not. And as sinners we just naturally grow away from fulfilling God’s purpose. So, God sent his Son Jesus to put new life into us, a life that changes our orientation from wanting what we want, to wanting what God wants for us. But when that transformation takes place, really beautiful things can start to happen.
I recently heard a true story that I really liked. Jonas is three years old. His grandpa is the pastor who told me this story. Jonas was raised in a Christian home. Over the summer he regularly commented, out of the blue, that he wasn't sure he was ready to pray and ask Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. He really struggled with this. He wasn't taking it lightly, but he was assured by his loving parents that it was okay, and God would help him to know the right time.
Then one day as they were all together as a family, he shouted with three-year old exuberance, "I'm ready!" At first, they wondered what he was ready for. So, they asked. He said, "I'm ready to pray and ask Jesus into my heart!” Then he bowed his head and began to pray. He didn't ask for help. He just prayed on his own.
His first communion as a new believer was three weeks way, but he didn't mention this when he asked one of his pre-school teachers to come to church with him on that particular Sunday. This young woman was not a church goer, but she said yes and showed up on Sunday. She sat next to Jonas during the service and when it was time to take communion, Jonas took her by the hand and said, "Let's go!" In that church families went forward together to receive communion, So, they all went up together as a family, including Jonas's teacher, her fingers held firmly in his little hand. There they took communion together.
Afterward, Jonas turned to his teacher, eyes wide with joy and said, "This was my first communion!"
His teacher, her hand now firmly back in his, said quietly, "This was my first communion too."
Think about that. Was it really too soon for Jonas to take communion by the faith he had? Was it wrong for Jonas to invite his teacher? Was it wrong for the teacher to experience gospel grace by receiving communion, or do we automatically assume that she must be less worthy than the believers? Would Christ deny anyone a place at the table? Didn’t he himself regularly eat with sinners, to the dismay and disapproval of the religious people.
Little Jonas invited his teacher to take her first step toward a relationship with Jesus. Isn't this what all of Jesus’ disciples are called to do? Invite others toward a relationship with Jesus?
Are there rules about such things? Or is there freedom in Christ to share the joy and meaning of Jesus’ gift of himself to the needy world? Wasn’t Jonas just being a joyful Christian, doing what comes naturally for one who has a new nature? Do you think God had planned in advance that Jonas would invite his teacher to the communion table? I do.
Now I am inviting all of you, will you receive this gracious gift of God as the gift it is? Will you receive it in faith that God wants to use this bread and wine to make you just a little bit more like him today? And in this act of faith, take yet another step closer to Jesus. God has a reason and purpose for you to do so. Amen.
“Works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Have you ever wondered, if God has it all planned out like that, why doesn’t he just walk into your room, sit on your bed and simply tell you, “Okay, so this is what you should do. Here’s your list of things to do.” Well, that would be nice. And sometimes God does give very specific instructions, to particular people, for special purposes.
For example, Noah. God definitely told Noah to build that big boat, the ark. And he told him why also. So, the reason Noah existed was to save his own family from the judgement of the flood. Then there’s Abraham. God told him specifically to leave his home town, to be led by the hand through the land of Canaan, “to the place where I will show you,” said God. Oh, and have a kid, because there’s going to be a lot more descendants in later generations. So, the reason Abraham existed was to start the nation of Israel, from whom Messiah would be born.
Then there’s Moses. There he was just minding his own business as a shepherd. He had already tried to be the savior of the Israelites from Egypt, failed miserably, and demoted himself to shepherd. Then God shows up in the burning bush and says. “Go, Moses. This time we’re going to do it my way.” So, the reason Moses existed was to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and move them into the territory this new nation would occupy.
So, what’s the reason you exist? That’s where it may feel like it gets tricky. God doesn’t talk to everybody the same way he spoke to Noah, Abraham and Moses. I mean think about this. In Noah’s day, the world was populated with hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people who were all going to drown because they didn’t care about God anymore, and God had decided to wipe them all off the face of the earth except for Noah and his family. And apparently, Noah was the only one that God talked to about it. However, there is a possibility that God had tried to get other individuals to respond to him. Maybe there were dozens or more that God spoke to, but Noah was the only one who actually dared to believe that God had really asked him to build a boat, and then set out to do it.
When Abraham was just Abram, was he really the only person God spoke to about following him to a new place, or was he the only one who responded in faith? But even if Noah and Abe were the only ones, there were a whole bunch of other ordinary people that God didn’t specifically talk to, but who would still be held responsible for not living the way God wanted them to. For every person that God specifically gave a list of things to do, there were millions of other people, also created for a purpose, whose purpose was no more specific than, love God and be a good person.
You and I are probably among the millions in today’s population to whom God only speaks through his Bible. Now he could call anyone of us to a very special task for which he needs to talk to us directly. But the for the vast majority of us, God speaks to us directly through his Bible. The Bible is God’s complete record of everything he ever wanted to tell his people about why he made us, what our purpose is, and how our lives could be meaningful and significant. 99% of what God wants you to do is already given in black and white. It’s all written down for us in the Bible, especially the New Testament. And the greatest piece of information on what you should do is also called the Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
And yet somehow, we still flounder around not sure. These days, we don’t ask God, “Who is my neighbor?” We’re more stuck on, “Yeah but exactly what’s the best way for me to do that?” Should I be a pastor, or a Dr., or what?
This new sermon series is designed to walk us through what the Bible teaches us about answering some of the most important questions we have to ask ourselves, even more basic than a career choice. We want to know: Why am I alive? Does my life matter? What is my purpose? Those are questions that everyone is concerned about, no exceptions, everyone! So even if you know an unbeliever who doesn’t really care about church, invite them by telling them we’re working on the meaning of life, not morals and rules for living but the actual meaning of life itself.
The people of the world have developed three basic approaches to finding the answer to these questions. 1) Look within yourself. 2) Look to self-help books that others have written because they think they found the answers, or 3) read philosophers because they work on these really big important questions all the time.
To look within is the mystical approach. People believe that all the answers they need are built in to their own conscious or sub-conscious if they could just access it. The problem with this approach is that if God made us for his purposes, then we can’t ask ourselves, we have to ask him. The answer is not inside, it’s outside in the mind of your creator. Besides, Jeremiah has already told us that the human heart is wicked and deceitful. You can’t trust your own heart!
To look to self-help books is at least to look outside. But they all say the same thing. Things like, “Try harder.” “You’ve got to invent your own purpose and never give up on it.” “Follow your dreams.” “Follow your heart.” The real problem with self-help books is that most of them actually promote the mystical approach. They will tell you, I looked within, and this is how I found my purpose, now you do that too. I’ll just give you a brief example. I did a google search on finding your purpose, and the blogger at the top of the list offered ten steps. I’ll just tread the first 4 steps out of the ten and you’ll see where this goes. 1. Explore the Things You Love To Do & What Comes Easy to You. 2. Ask Yourself What Qualities You Enjoy Expressing the Most in the World. 3. Create a Life Purpose Statement. 4. Follow Your Inner Guidance (What Is Your Heart Telling You?) You see? Self-help books just give you elaborate ways to do the mystical approach, while pretending to be psychological, practical or even scientific!
Then there’s the philosophical approach. You would think these guys that make money at thinking about these big important questions might have some answers. But guess what, they don’t!
Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world, asking them, "What is the meaning of life?" He then published their responses in a book. Some offered their best guesses, some admitted that they just made up a purpose for life, and others were honest enough to say they were clueless.
In fact, a number of famous intellectuals asked Professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life!
But where humans fail. God has come through. The Bible is the book written by the creator, the designer of all human life, so that we could know what our purpose and meaning is by listening to His explanation of it. If you were to pick up a strange device you had never seen before, would you automatically know what its purpose is?
Here’s one: (see above) do you know what that was designed for? The designer does! Do you know what you were designed for? The designer does! So, people who believe there is no designer, or God, must conclude that life has no purpose! They will still try to find a purpose though, because everybody needs one. But they’re going to look within, or to books, or to philosophers.
By the way, that’s a kitchen tool for serving asparagus. But I didn’t know that without being told by someone who knew. And for more complicated machines like human beings, there is no way you’re going to know your purpose in life without being told by someone who knows, and that’s God!
The very first thing you have to agree to if you really want to know what on earth you are here for is that there is a God and he knows your purpose and is happy to share that information with you, through his Word the Bible. But all Christians know that already, right? So, is this going to be a boring series of sermons where I repeat over and over again all the stuff you already know? I’d better not do that!!
But let me ask you this, dear Christians, if you’ve heard all your life that your life has purpose, are you living into yours? Are you satisfied that you are fulfilling God’s purpose for you? Are you fulfilling God’s purpose, and confident that you are doing what God has called you to do? If that’s true for you, great! God’s purpose for you in this sermon series then is to pray for all the other people who don’t get it yet, so they can rejoice in discovering their purpose and begin to do the works God has prepared in advance for them!
Or, if you feel discouraged, or inadequate about fulfilling your purpose, I pray that these next several weeks you will be blessed and encouraged! If you haven’t been called into the ministry, do you think that means God hasn’t called you to do anything for him? Then I pray that in these next several weeks you will discover your true calling and purpose. You will know why you’re here and get excited about living into that!
But I think a lot of Christians are even discouraged about life in Christ because they feel guilty about big sins they hide, or little sins even though everybody else does them too. Or else they feel like they don’t have time to get close enough to God to hear his call on their lives. Or, they’re frustrated because they really want to hear from God, but he doesn’t answer their prayers the way they expect him to. I pray that this series will encourage you to know and feel the grace of God that forgives sins and continually calls us into fellowship with him so that we can respond to his call.
I want to assure all of us that it is never too late either. Think of Simeon and Anna in the temple on the day that Jesus was brought in for his dedication ceremony. They were old. They had remained faithful all their lives, but they were virtually nobody’s. The only reason we know their names is because even so late in life, they served God’s purpose of announcing the arrival of the Jewish Messiah, the Savior of the world. No matter how old you are, you can still serve a purpose by sharing the gospel of God.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—” Why were you saved? God loves you and chose you for a special purpose. You have a special and unique place in this world that only you can fulfill, just like in a thousand-piece jig saw puzzle there is only one piece that will fit exactly right in each of those thousand available places. Each piece counts. The puzzle is not complete without your contribution! By the way, in honor of this series, in which each of us can celebrate our unique shape, role and purpose in God’s world, I have set up a jigsaw puzzle down stairs as a visual reminder for each of us to find our place and purpose in God’s world today.
“And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—” You do not get to choose yourself. You get to respond to God’s call or invitation. God made the puzzle, and each person was cut out of the warp and woof of time and space to be part of God’s ultimate design. God gives life as a gift! Every person ever born alive was given the gift of life by God. But we are dead in sin and unable to fulfill our true purpose until we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ. And that’s another gift of God’s grace!
It is “not by works, so that no one can boast.” You did not earn this invitation to do things for God. You were created to do the things that God has planned for you. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God prepared works for us to do. He plans. We perform. He energizes and empowers. We are his physical hands and feet on the world. He is the Spirit. We are the flesh. There is a partnership God wants with you. Our joining him in his work of redemption is the big deal for us. And he wants you actively involved, listening and obeying. Enjoy serving and show God’s love in the doing!
Purpose is given by the creator designer. You are created, not an accident. Even in the OT, David knew. He said to God, “You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Not just David, but every single human being ever conceived was first conceived in the mind of God, designed by God and formed in the womb under God’s direction, for His purposes. Your purpose in life is given by God who made you. He did not create you and then say, “OK, decide what you want to do for me.” Nope, we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Now for things like flowers, this is pretty simple. Germinate, produce a stem and leaves, bud out to a flower, make pollen, receive pollen, produce seeds. Just be a flower. It’s not task-oriented, it is more about being than about doing. Flowers just naturally grow in to fulfilling their purpose.
It’s the same for people. It’s more about just being in the presence of God, just being a child of God. It’s not really task-oriented. It’s more about being than doing. But it is a bit more complicated because as partners with God, he gave us brains and free will to think about obeying or not, and choosing to obey or not. And as sinners we just naturally grow away from fulfilling God’s purpose. So, God sent his Son Jesus to put new life into us, a life that changes our orientation from wanting what we want, to wanting what God wants for us. But when that transformation takes place, really beautiful things can start to happen.
I recently heard a true story that I really liked. Jonas is three years old. His grandpa is the pastor who told me this story. Jonas was raised in a Christian home. Over the summer he regularly commented, out of the blue, that he wasn't sure he was ready to pray and ask Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. He really struggled with this. He wasn't taking it lightly, but he was assured by his loving parents that it was okay, and God would help him to know the right time.
Then one day as they were all together as a family, he shouted with three-year old exuberance, "I'm ready!" At first, they wondered what he was ready for. So, they asked. He said, "I'm ready to pray and ask Jesus into my heart!” Then he bowed his head and began to pray. He didn't ask for help. He just prayed on his own.
His first communion as a new believer was three weeks way, but he didn't mention this when he asked one of his pre-school teachers to come to church with him on that particular Sunday. This young woman was not a church goer, but she said yes and showed up on Sunday. She sat next to Jonas during the service and when it was time to take communion, Jonas took her by the hand and said, "Let's go!" In that church families went forward together to receive communion, So, they all went up together as a family, including Jonas's teacher, her fingers held firmly in his little hand. There they took communion together.
Afterward, Jonas turned to his teacher, eyes wide with joy and said, "This was my first communion!"
His teacher, her hand now firmly back in his, said quietly, "This was my first communion too."
Think about that. Was it really too soon for Jonas to take communion by the faith he had? Was it wrong for Jonas to invite his teacher? Was it wrong for the teacher to experience gospel grace by receiving communion, or do we automatically assume that she must be less worthy than the believers? Would Christ deny anyone a place at the table? Didn’t he himself regularly eat with sinners, to the dismay and disapproval of the religious people.
Little Jonas invited his teacher to take her first step toward a relationship with Jesus. Isn't this what all of Jesus’ disciples are called to do? Invite others toward a relationship with Jesus?
Are there rules about such things? Or is there freedom in Christ to share the joy and meaning of Jesus’ gift of himself to the needy world? Wasn’t Jonas just being a joyful Christian, doing what comes naturally for one who has a new nature? Do you think God had planned in advance that Jonas would invite his teacher to the communion table? I do.
Now I am inviting all of you, will you receive this gracious gift of God as the gift it is? Will you receive it in faith that God wants to use this bread and wine to make you just a little bit more like him today? And in this act of faith, take yet another step closer to Jesus. God has a reason and purpose for you to do so. Amen.
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