City Life Church San Diego
Welcome to the City Life Church Podcast, where faith meets action in the heart of Mt. Hope. We are a diverse family of God, united by Jesus, led by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are committed to caring for both the spiritual and tangible needs of the lost and hurting. Through inspiring messages and practical lessons, we seek to equip and encourage you to live out God’s calling in everyday life. Join us as we grow in faith, serve our community, and share the hope of the Gospel with the world.
City Life Church San Diego
Luke 14:7-14 Make A Bigger Table
Have we forgotten how to welcome one another? In the aftermath of a pandemic that pushed us further into isolation, many of us still maintain invisible barriers between ourselves and others. We've exchanged genuine relationships for digital connections, sharing more memes than meals, and drawing harder lines around our differences.
Jesus challenges this approach directly in Luke 14, where he instructs those with resources not to limit their hospitality to friends, family, and wealthy neighbors who can return the favor. Instead, he calls us to "invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind" – those who cannot repay us. This radical hospitality mirrors God's welcome to us in the gospel: he made room for us at his table when we were outsiders.
True hospitality differs profoundly from entertaining. While entertaining focuses on impressing others and maintaining our image, hospitality (philoxenia in Greek, meaning "love of strangers") creates space for authentic relationship. It means risking our possessions, opening our imperfect homes, and showing our real selves. When we practice this kind of welcome, Jesus promises we experience a deep sense of fulfillment – a life that "clicks" because it aligns with our divine design.
The beautiful diversity of God's kingdom isn't maintained automatically – it requires intentional effort to welcome those different from ourselves. Whether through city groups organized geographically to foster neighborhood connections, or simply sharing meals with people across economic, cultural, or political divides, each act of welcome reflects the heart of a God who builds rooms in his Father's house for us.
Ready to experience the blessing Jesus promises to those who practice true hospitality? Start by removing your metaphorical masks. Take the risk of being known. Open your imperfect home. Your next meaningful friendship might be with someone completely unlike you – but you'll never discover it unless you're willing to make room at your table, just as God made room for you at his.
Welcome to the City Life Church podcast. We hope it encourages you. If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at citylifesandiegoorg. And. While podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.
Speaker 2:Thank you. You may be seated. Kids zero to six can go to their room their child thing. What the heck man. Good to be with you guys today. Bye, kiddos, bye.
Speaker 2:Today we'll be in a rather familiar text, as we're celebrating our 10-year anniversary. We'll be talking through some things that are important to us as a church and we'll be celebrating some things, and we have some videos. We have some surprises as well, and I'm just excited for it. We're going to be in Luke 14 today, luke 14, 12. We spent some time in Luke a while ago. We're going to be in Luke 14, 12.
Speaker 2:We have Bibles in English and Spanish on both sides, in Haitian Creole as well. We have study Bibles. If you just need a little extra boost, a little extra help in your Bible, we got study Bibles. So when you're reading in your Bible and you're like I don't understand this, a lot of times at the bottom it has notes that say hey didn't understand this. Guess what. We can help you.
Speaker 2:Tenemos biblias bilingües disponibles al costado de Salón. Bonjour buen satzim conta nueve avec buen isitla Nueve bien biblio. Creo hay cien pu no gratis na samson, oh creo. So we're in Luke 14, 12, in your Bibles, if you guys can help me out by closing the doors. That would be awesome, because my ADD is on fire today. But when we hear kids, we remember to pray for their parents and we say, like we'd rather have kids here feel welcome than not. So we have a saying a crying church ain't a dying church. That's right. So if you hear kids pray for their parents, pray for those kids, um, and if you get a chance, like, bless those families, say hello to them. Um, okay. So basically, I'm gonna have to give you some backstory on where we are in Luke 14. Um, does anyone have a Bible today that I can see? I know some of you got phones. Yes, bible Bible. I love, I just love these physical um paperback Bibles. I think they're awesome.
Speaker 2:Okay, so Jesus had just uh covered how to attend a party to people like hey, when you go to a party, don't put yourself in the seat of honor, stop thinking that you're. You're the main, the main person. Um, if you remember a little bit, jesus talked a lot about humility, right? Um, don't think of yourself as more important than you are. Don't honor yourself. It's cringy.
Speaker 2:Next, jesus went into how to throw a party and that's where we pick up in verse 12, luke 14, verse 12. You ready? He also said to the one who had invited him when you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back and then you'd be repaid. On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame or blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. This is God's word.
Speaker 2:Would you please pray with me, friends? Father, we thank you for this moment that we're here today. And, god, just before I even go into the prayer, I've written out I have a text to pray for. We'll just say Kay, would you bless Kay right now, who had three seizures and lost consciousness? Stop breathing for a few minutes. We know that you love Kay and that they're at the hospital right now, this child. I pray that you would be blessing them. Help us to know how to encourage them as a church, help us to know what they need and to provide it.
Speaker 2:And, god, most of all, I ask that you would be healing this child, you would watch over her, encourage her and her family and, father, we thank you for the way that you welcome us. That you welcome us not begrudgingly or annoyed, but with loving arms open wide, that you actually make room for us in your family. And even when we self-select out of your family, even when we tell ourselves we do not belong in your family, you welcome us. So, father, we ask that you would help us not to become arrogant, as if we deserved our place of honor at your banqueting table. Let us be fulfilled and enjoy our relationship with you as your children. But also we ask that you would help us, that you would let our cups overflow to the cups of those around us. You would let our tables be welcoming tables for grief and sorrow, for doubt and profound faith. God, you made room for us. We want to do the same for others. Please teach us this morning from your holy scripture. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this, all in Jesus name, and all God's people said amen, okay, church.
Speaker 2:So we have to start today by being honest about something and talking about stuff that I don't want to talk about because I'm sick of it, and that's 2020. I hated 2020 so much and it's so funny. Like, sometimes it would like rain in the park and I'd have to like do my sermon online and I'd get a text from pastor Mike. Like, bro, you need to like chill out on your face. You look so mad that you can't be with people.
Speaker 2:Today, 2020 changed us, didn't it? Maybe some places for the better, but mostly not. Covid changed us. Covid broke many of us and divided us. It moved things online that probably should have never moved online. We stopped working out our problems together in person and we were divided. We started sharing more memes than meals. That's what was happening and it was dividing us. And and you know, I have friends and when I sit down with these friends, they have very different opinions on life than me, and when we sit down, we can sit down and talk about race and abortion and Israel and sexuality, and we can talk that way with understanding and respect, and we can disagree. Can you believe it?
Speaker 2:But when our relationships were devalued by social media, we stopped interacting with people who didn't agree, because we got sick of it. We got sick of the memes, didn't we? We had no deeper relationship to build off of because it was all online. We shared memes that oversimplified our differences and divided us further. We shared articles where nobody read them, but we just read the main title and then we moved on and once again, it divided us, didn't it? We were divided, it was wrong. I shared memes that oversimplified complex issues and I was wrong. We drew harder lines because our relationships were strained and we had no FaceTime. We had literal FaceTime on our phones, but no real FaceTime. To fix it. Our relationships were strained because we thought we could survive on listening to sermons online and interacting via social media. To sermons online and interacting via social media.
Speaker 2:The isolationism that was created this way came long before COVID, but it was sped up, didn't it? It like happened so much faster. Suddenly, the devil used the COVID epidemic to divide us, divide and conquer right Now. If you were with me in 2020, I warned you Interacting mostly online is like drinking unicorn blood. Like you will have a half life, a cursed life, but you might survive. It will barely sustain you, but we needed better than that.
Speaker 2:We became afraid of people in a new way. I don't know if anybody's willing to admit it, but I think a lot of us became afraid of other humans and after a while, when we finally went back to school, I was preaching to kids in the school and it was this new thing happened and let me not say new Culturally there are some cultures that do this. But I noticed something new. It was that a lot of people just wanted to keep their masks, their literal masks, on all the time. You just could see their eyes. They didn't like the way they looked. A lot of people when they would eat now would do this when they ate. Did anyone notice that more from COVID? It kind of stayed around. Now, culturally, some of that happens too in different cultures. Some people when they laughed or when they smiled, they covered their faces now in new ways, in new ways, and we were divided and we were not finding ways to be comfortable around each other anymore. We could hide behind masks literal masks and gas masks are awesome. When there's like gas, you know like you should have a gas mask. When there's masks and N95 is really good.
Speaker 2:During a pandemic, I wasn't one of those pastors up there like just trust God. No, I was like I was like full on in the outfit. Like come on, let's go trust God. No, I was like I was like full on in the outfit, like come on, let's go. No, but the problem is is that we struggle to get back. We struggle to get back to reality. Masks are good short term. They keep out bad things, but then guess what happens? Masks keep out good things too. Masks keep out good things, and if you think I'm still talking about N95s, you're missing it.
Speaker 2:What the pandemic did to us and what it did to us is it gave us a lot of emotional damage and we didn't know how to communicate anymore. We didn't know how to make friends anymore in the way that we normally did. And so today I'm going to be encouraging you to think about ways that you have to reopen yourself back up to others. Think about ways that you have to reopen yourself back up to others. Some of us are still wearing masks because we think being known is too costly or dangerous. And I just want to tell you this it is dangerous. It is dangerous to be known. It can be used against you. People can hurt you with that. If you open yourself up, if you let people know the real you, the good and the bad, someone can hurt you. But you also will experience true friendship. You can be truly known and truly loved.
Speaker 2:Friends, take risks. Welcome people different than you. Allow people to see your messiness. See, we make room for other people at our table because God welcomed us at his table. If all you have is a city park bench or a picnic bench, you can welcome people. Friends, you are stronger than you think you are. You are more resilient than you think you are, and so today I'm going to give you two points for those welcomed at Jesus table. Two points for those welcome at Jesus table.
Speaker 2:And my first point is this God made us family so we could do the same for others. God made us family so we could do the same for others. He said when you give a lunch or a dinner, don't invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back and you'd be repaid. See, jesus said to the wealthy and the powerful that were sitting at the table with him why are your friends all like you? Why do they all shop the same way as you? Why do they all look the same way as you? Is that a godly virtue? Oh my gosh. I was in North Park yesterday and there was all these people walking around. I don't know what this was, but it was like everybody looked like Hot Topic and it was crazy because I felt like everybody looked like an individual that wanted to look like themselves. I'm an individual, but they all look like each other. It was crazy. We don't even know when we're being like everybody around us.
Speaker 2:So the thing is, friends, like Jesus was asking why do you study and why do you celebrate and why do you rest only with people like you, people with the same culture, the same money, the same education? Now, I know sports can become too important. Sometimes, like I'm calling up families, sometimes like hey man, um, I know you say church is the most important thing in your life, but you, on Sundays, go to like every single game instead. Like maybe it's not like we have a lot of those conversations, but I'm going to say this sports have done a much better job A lot of times of connecting people who are different. I don't know if you guys believe this, but let me just tell you our church is diverse. We are the exception to the rule, like there's others like us, but not many. But you go to like look at a football game or a basketball game. Like nobody looks the same, but they're all united over one thing, aren't they Like?
Speaker 2:I don't know if any of you guys remember in 94 when the Chargers went to the Super Bowl Is there anyone who was like around that remembers that? In San Diego, dude, that was amazing, it was amazing. We had Stan Humphreys, we had Natron Means, we had that amazing play by Alfred Papuno to seal the deal against the Pittsburgh Steelers and, of course, we had Junior Seau, rodney Harrison man, it was so fun. But here's what I remember the most when we won that game, like for the next day or two, people would be like honking their horns like all day long. People were like getting out of their cars all day long. People were like getting out of their cars. I was, I was down, um, I was down like, uh, by the Walmart, like in South Bay, and I remember getting out of our cars like a couple hours after the game and we were all like hugging people, like for real, like I'm not even making this up Like, and they, we, none of us had anything in common, just just the San Diego superchargers and for a couple of days, like there was some unity that I've not seen anywhere.
Speaker 2:But how many of us pick our churches based on politics. That's not fulfilling the wishes of God. You who are rich in money and power and influence, we're to use it for others, aren't we? But I get it. If you're poor and you're in the room, would you like to be authentic friends with rich people? Like they're always going on their vacations and you're like cool, good for you they're. They're all constantly eating out of places that you can only dream about and they're like you want to go eat out. And you're like, okay, well, a, I don't have a car, but B, I can't afford to split that three ways.
Speaker 2:Like it's hard also to have rich friends, right? Sometimes they seem like they think they're spiritually more mature than you because they have a 401k. That's a problem too. They might talk down to you. It's hard on both ends, isn't it? Who wants to be a friend with someone like that, who thinks that they're above you? And to our friends with money and a car your poor friends may need rides to the doctor. They want to do fun things with you, but they can't afford it. You feel judged when you do something good for yourself. Can't you just have easier friends who look, talk and spend like you? Yes, you can, but Jesus is not a fan. Yes, you can eat vanilla ice cream the rest of your life, but there's something better too.
Speaker 2:We need to share tables with older people. They bring wisdom and they have history. We need to share our tables with younger people. They can rekindle our passion and our enthusiasm. We need people of different races, ethnicities, political persuasions. Why? Because we all have blind spots. We need each other. We need a church that welcomes in people different than us.
Speaker 2:But here Jesus is talking to the rich especially. He said stop throwing parties for only your people. You are like a bunch of inbred French bulldogs, no diversity, and so, like, your legs don't work right, you breathe. Funny, pastor, I know. Sorry, I just threw some of you bulldog fans under the bus. Hey, hey, like we got to figure something out, because these bulldogs, they're starting to get worse and worse. Like we got to, like, mix them with some other things before they just start, like, just dragging their back legs. It's bad, they're beautiful. They're beautiful, I like, when they breathe, it's great.
Speaker 2:Pastor Thabiti Anyabuli he points out the tension in the room when he says I'll bet you that room full of rich and powerful people felt quiet. There were no poor, no broken or lame people there, because they had no concern for the kingdom of God there. See, when we look at the words in the Bible, we always think in translations that there's just like a one-to-one translation, and this doesn't always work. That ain't a thing. Like many words in the Bible means so much more than we have in the English. There's no English word for this, this hospitality. So we try our best.
Speaker 2:But he says blessed. You are blessed, you will be blessed when a wealthy man or woman welcomes others. Jesus says you will be blessed. And that word that I'm going to ruin right now is Makarios, makarios, sorry, makarios. It's more like when, um, it's not so much like blessed, it's not so much like happy, it's like it clicks. Does that, does that make sense to you? Like that idea that it just clicks, um, like makarios means when you feel like life is clicking, like it feels complete, like, uh, everything's working on all cylinders. Right, you're fulfilled, you're at peace. See, when you share with others, jesus says you are going to be encouraged by it. You are going to be encouraged by it. When you make room for others at the table, you will be fulfilled. It just clicks because you were designed that way. Jesus is not saying you better do this. He is saying sharing your blessing is better for you, probably because it's as things are supposed to be. We make room for others at our table because God welcomed us at his and God designed us to thrive when we are surrounded with people different than us. It's like someone is rowing a two person rowboat with, like an oar by themselves. Okay, this side. Now I got to go to this side and I got to this side, but there's a second person sitting in the boat with another or, and Jesus is saying you'll be blessed If you engage that other person to help, you'll be blessed. It'll click, you'll be happy. But why do we show this hospitality? Because our God is a gracious host to us, right, like we show hospitality because of the hospitality that's been shown to us in the book of John 13 and 14,.
Speaker 2:Jesus gathered his students and he did something crazy. He washed their grubby feet, and you have to remember this is a time when people walked around with sandals and there was there was not a lot of pavement, although Rome had some of that kind of stuff going on, and so what that meant is you had transportation of animals, right? So there's, like dookie, all over the floor, all over their their shoes, all over their sandals, all over their feet. And what did Jesus do for his disciples, his students, his apprentices? He showed how we treat other people. He washed their feet. Jesus, king of the universe, washed their feet. These dudes wore sandals in the most grimy, nasty places and Jesus washed their feet. This is our example.
Speaker 2:And then he said something so profound, as Jesus was preparing his students for the moment, that he would be betrayed to death. He said this to them don't let your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me, and my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you If you go away. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am, you may be also. You know the way where I'm going. Jesus is is saying I will practice ultimate hospitality to those of you who belong to me, those of you who are my family.
Speaker 2:Jesus spoke to his apprentices like a Jewish man who had a fiance he would go ahead to his dad's house and he would build on extra rooms. Like I got to get things ready for my girl, right, that's what he's doing. And so he builds it. And then he goes and he brings his bride to the house. Jesus is saying in the same way, like he's a husband who builds those extra rooms for us. Dudes, if you're weirded out by that, it just is. It's proposing to a future bride and saying at my parents' house, I have built you a granny flat, adu, that's awesome, it's like a three bedroom, it's so good, it has, like, um, it has, you know, air conditioning and it has a dishwasher. Like I've built that for you. Honey, come, come marry me. See, when there was no room for us in God's house because of our sins, jesus sacrificed himself for us and went ahead of us to build rooms to make a way to show hospitality.
Speaker 2:Now I've heard it said and a lone person in a church gathering is an emergency and church, um, I agree, and I always want our church to be the type of church that is more annoying to people than let people have their space, because you know what. You can go to almost any church and people will give you your space. Can we do the opposite, like I don't mind if somebody leaves because they got over welcomed, I'm cool with it, like I'm fine with that. But I never want anyone to leave here and say, man, those people didn't even care, I was there, where's the hospitality? We got to start sitting next to each other. I know that this is like working into the doldrums of summer, but like there's going to be days, we don't have enough seats. You're going to have to sit next to somebody anyway. You might as well choose to sit next to somebody and welcome them. You don't have to reject your friends, though, to welcome someone else, do you? You just open your circle wider and invite somebody in.
Speaker 2:As a church, we can show true hospitality, and I know some people want to be unbothered, but that's not happening here. That's not if I can help it. It's not happening. I know it's not all up to me, but if somebody doesn't want to sit next to someone, I want them to tell you I don't want that here. If you see someone sitting alone, it's time to sit next to them. Plus, we don't have room, so just do that. Um, I know sometimes we feel like church is the same way as a men's journal, like, oh, you got to like be three off of somebody. That's not how it works in church. It's not how it works in church. We don't leave space here.
Speaker 2:Now I've noticed the hospitality of many of you. Many of you have done this the way several of you greet out front. Recently I noticed that Yanni Day. She started setting up and making coffee every week. Nobody asked her to do it, she just felt like it would welcome people better. She couldn't be here today, so she actually like contacted people and now Adrian did coffee today. Man, that's amazing. I wish you were here so I could tell Yanni. Great job, but I'm so proud of her because she just wanted to welcome you a little bit better.
Speaker 2:Church, I've seen your willingness to do so many things for others, but we can take it further. We can. You know what you could do to show hospitality? You could go on Duolingo and learn Spanish or Haitian Creole. You can do that. Did you know that it's free? It doesn't work perfect, but it helps? Did you know that it's free? It doesn't work perfect, but it helps? Stephanie Crowder says people of every race, economic background and social standing and with any physical ailment, and let me just tell you, we're never like we're diverse right now, but eventually we could just start to do our own thing, be about ourselves, and we will find ourselves looking different again, because diversity happens on purpose. We have to make room for people, we have to welcome them and and it means that sometimes to make room to be hospitable to someone, you're going to give rides If the only way someone can be a part of this church is us working together to give rides, then we better be willing and not just one person, because that will burn them out. It has to be all of us working together.
Speaker 2:True hospitality is the way many of you walk here on Sundays or you intentionally park far away so someone else could get a parking spot out there. That's together. That's true hospitality. Some of you have large, awesome families and you always feel like you don't need more people in your life. I get that. But for many people here you are the only family they have. They need family. Their family lives far away or maybe because of their their own, um, their own feelings, they may never marry someone. They belong at your dinner table, they belong in a family. They may have moved from far away, so they need a family here they want to be a part of a big family. They dream of the privilege to take that you take for granted, of your large, loud household. And once again, people can say no to you. Let them say no, that's okay. But God designed us to thrive when we're surrounded with people different from us.
Speaker 2:Now, when I think about true hospitality, true welcome, I think about my friend Eric's house. Um, when I was growing up in Gardena, um, my parents worked, um, so I didn't know that I was like what do you call it? A latchkey kid? I didn't know what that was when I was one. But my parents worked, you know, early in the morning, before the sun came up, and they came home when the sun came down, which is when I had to be home, and so I would go to Eric's house. Originally, I went to Eric's house for one reason, and one reason alone he had Nintendo, he had Mario 3. He had Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, he had all that stuff. So I would spend all my time at Eric's house. But also, I don't know if you know, but I loved eating, and so they would constantly make tortillas, fresh tort, and they would just be feeding us all the time. They didn't have any money. They didn't have any money, but they welcomed me.
Speaker 2:Eric's family was absolutely generous. I was never hungry at their house and I was always welcome and probably not really ever bored. I was in the third grade so I don't even remember if they were Christian. I don't know if I would have known what a Christian was, but I felt true Christian hospitality from them, this English speaking way to like welcome in their home, like he was a part of the family, wearing his LA gear and his like body glove, bicycle shorts. Oh my gosh. But I was welcome in Eric's family. I was loved, I was cared for. If I messed up they wouldn't hesitate to spank me. I was a part of the family Church.
Speaker 2:God designed us to thrive when we're surrounded with people different than us. Of course, this idea of hospitality is a phrase that we have lost the meaning, a stranger. It shouldn't actually have to have to have been new to these Jewish men sitting around the table with Jesus right, who he was scolding. The Jewish people knew all about welcoming the outcast when the people of Israel were made slaves in Egypt and when they were freed by God in a miraculous way. Then he gave laws to people about respecting and welcoming all people. He was like you were enslaved. It's time for you to act better than what you dealt with.
Speaker 2:So in Leviticus 19, god said you will regard the alien who resides with you as the native born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I'm the Lord. Your God kind of feels like I have spoken. See, god says that he loves the stranger Even further. God says this in the New Testament, in Hebrews 13. Let brotherly love continue. Brotherly love, don't neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this, some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing. Remember those in prison as though you were a prison with them, and the mistreated as though you yourselves were suffering bodily Guys.
Speaker 2:We make room for others at our table because God welcomed us at his and, honestly, when you welcome people who need you, you welcome Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 25, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison, you visited me. And he goes on to say truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did to me.
Speaker 2:See, there's a reason why God has so many rules about taking care of the poor, the way he called Jewish farmers not to reap to the edges of their property so that the poor or the immigrant could gather food when they were hungry. God has a great love for the poor. If you're rich, though, I have good news for you. God has blessed you to care for others. What a joy, what an honor that he would trust us with gifts for other people. We make room for others at our table, because God welcomed us at his. If you are poor, I have good news for you too. God watches over you. His heart is for you. He helps to feed and clothe you through your church family. God loves you and he welcomes you into his kingdom. He is using you to bless others. Many of your rich friends don't have the life experience you have, do they? Many of them are not as resilient as you. They may need you Now.
Speaker 2:For those of you who are poor spiritually, like the men at this banquet, don't believe the hype. Don't believe the lie that God cannot change you Don't believe the lie that your sin is too great for him or that you can earn something through religious acts. No, no, no. This is an act of thanksgiving to God. Jesus says you are welcome in his heavenly house If you enter through the front door, no matter what you've done and that may be hard to accept. I've had people who have asked me about every single thing God, can I still be a part of the kingdom? Every single thing, god. Can I still be a part of the kingdom? God can, uh, can God still accept me as I am for what I've done? Yeah, he's not intimidated by your past friends. He's not. He welcomes you. You are welcome.
Speaker 2:Some of you have belonged to Jesus for a long time. You came in through the front door but you still struggle with sin. Oh, my gosh Can't believe it. Um, you believe, but you mess up sometimes. God is still doing something wonderful with you right now. He's not done with you. Have you been getting drunk or using recently?
Speaker 2:When you return to the banquet of God, you find welcome and you find fulfillment that does not run out like your latest high. It doesn't. He makes room for you and really, just like you guys have to remember. He chooses to forget. He chooses to forget what you did because he loves you but he wants you at the table. Have you mistreated others? Have you lied? Have you cheated? Have you trusted in your own righteousness? Repent, join God at his banqueting table, where you are very welcome If you already follow him. Keep turning towards him, keep repenting, let his grace work in and through you and Jesus will welcome you like family. Now, pastor, who still Gonzalez?
Speaker 2:He describes how it might feel awkward to be poor and welcome into a great banqueting hall Like I don't even think of that Right, like, not as a servant, but as a guest. He describes the poor servant being invited to the banquet Like this is rough, right, this is not easy to go to a rich person's house when you're like I don't even know if I'm dressed right. He says invite an immigrant maid serving a wealthy employer to sit at a table with the family. She will probably feel awkward and reluctant to accept the invitation. I know some of us feel that way, but it's about sin. Like we feel, like we're not welcome with others because, man, they, if they just knew, they just knew what I've done, they've just knew where I've been, if they've known how I disrespected people. If they knew how I gossiped about them, they wouldn't want me. Here's the thing. God welcomes you. You are welcome at the table.
Speaker 2:I've talked to many of you in the room, friends, and I know some of you feel like you're poor in faith. Some of you feel like you're poor in conversational skills. Some of us are poor in friends, poor in hope, poor in humility. God welcomes you at his table. Some of you have a learning disability and so every time you try to speak to someone, they misunderstand you and they think you're a jerk. Some of you struggle to understand English. Some of you only know how to fight because it's all you've been taught. You are welcome at Jesus' kingdom, at his table. You are welcome, and now you can extend his table to others, just like he did to you. Now I've seen many of you host others. Some of you have tiny apartments. Some of you have live in cars. You've hosted people in RVs. You sleep under trees and you welcome people. But I've seen your generosity and I'm proud that I can call you friend.
Speaker 2:Some of you guys know there's a gentleman named Leonard T Price who grew up in this neighborhood, who went to Lincoln, went to Choyas and he passed away, maybe in like February. Leonard was one of the first people who made me feel welcome in this neighborhood and I loved him so much. And when I would show up at the park bench he'd move his drink for me. When I would show up at the park bench, he'd move his drink for me, he'd wipe it off. He'd always ask me about the first lady. He would ask me about the last time I surfed. I'd usually be like, oh, it was yesterday and he'd just laugh and the only way I could describe Leonard's voice is kind of like Bill Cosby. So this is no disrespect, I love Leonard, but he'd just be like how's the first lady? Now? That sounds exactly like him. You might think I'm making fun of him, but he would be like give us a prayer, pastor. Every single time I saw Leonard, that's what he would say to me and I would sit down, um, we put our arms around each other. Sometimes he'd cry and I just tell you that park bench was a banquet hall.
Speaker 2:Leonard welcomed me. Like you know, I stick out in Southeast, sometimes right Like a little bit like a sore thumb, but Leonard never treated me that way. He told me stories. He asked me to tell him stories. He asked me to pray with him. He would pray over me. Dude had a park bench and he had so much more hospitality than many people I've met People who who give me fancy meals. Leonard had very little to offer and he offered it at the highest level and he probably died in his addiction still, and I believe he's with the Lord now. He never fully figured out drinking until the end, but he loved the Lord, he loved me, he loved my family drinking until the end, but he loved the Lord, he loved me, he loved my family and he practiced a profound hospitality on the bus stop at Morrison and Market Street. You can be hospitable with bus stops and those of you with larger homes, you can help host city groups, bigger city groups. You're blessed when you share.
Speaker 2:Now, god doesn't want us to exclude our friends, does he? We're not supposed to mistreat rich people, are we? He doesn't want us to reject our family necessarily. He just wants us to include more people. If you come here on Sundays, you'll naturally want to see the people you know and love. I get it. I do too. I tell you every time I see Pastor Mike. I'm like Mike, dude, it's time for us to go and we didn't talk again. We're like, yeah, but we just have an assignment. We got to talk to other people today. Mike is one of my best friends, but we rarely ever talk on a Sunday because we want to make sure we make room for other people.
Speaker 2:I urge you to welcome the people you don't know, maybe people you wouldn't normally interact with. Perhaps it's time you shared a meal with them. It's good for us to see the breadth of God's kingdom and it goes far beyond people who look like us and talk like us and getting to know people with different economics, ethnicities, eccentricities it blesses you. Eccentricities there it is. Don't kick your friends out of your house to welcome someone new. Build a bigger table and if you don't have room or money for a bigger table, move the party outside and have a picnic. Dennis V Allen Park has plenty of tables. Gompers has tables. God's table always has enough seats for everyone.
Speaker 2:Diane Chen says God is no respecter of human standards and status symbols. Neither does he care for his, for lip service paid in the name of religious piety. His benefits are gifts to be shared with those willing to join him. Guys, if we believe him, we will have to make the things of God a priority. We will have to make others a priority. God prioritized welcoming you, friends. He built a space for you in his father's house. He wants you to act the same way towards others. We must make room for others at our table, because God welcomed us at his and just as Jesus opened doors for you, so you can extend an invitation into relationship with somebody else.
Speaker 2:But we're not trying to show off for anyone, are we? We're seeking true intimacy, and that's our second point. We practice hospitality, not shallow entertaining. We practice hospitality, not shallow entertaining. See, entertaining is for people who look like you or are related to you. Entertaining is to impress others. Entertaining is the kind of thing you do without the guidance of God, without the Holy Spirit. Entertaining is solely rooted in culture, upbringing, status. It's not about faith, it's about status. But the word hospitality I'm going to butcher this one Philoxenia, okay, I'm just going to breaking it down for you here.
Speaker 2:The word philo, philo means love. Think about Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Philo, right. Philosophy, love of wait, what is it? I don't know. Love of anyone know? It doesn't matter. Then you have. But the word is philoxenia right. Then you have the word xenia. What do you think that root is from? Not Xena the warrior princess, but think of that word xenophobia, right.
Speaker 2:The other, the stranger. Love of stranger is hospitality. This is at the core of the gospel, friends, sharing the love we receive to those on the outside. This is why we call them hospitals, right, a place to care for the stranger, the sojourner, the alien in need. See, if we didn't already have the name hospital, though taken for medical care, wouldn't that term be better for the church? We just called ourselves hospitals. You know the word in the Bible for church is ecclesia. It means the gathering. That could be anything right, like that's a baseball game, right, that's a gathering. It existed before we use those terms in the Bible. It actually existed when it was talking about a court gathering or something like that. But here we have being the hospital hospitality, taking care of the stranger, loving the stranger. And we have to work at it, friends, it's hard.
Speaker 2:One time we had this dude. We were in Kansas, wichita, kansas, and we had this dude visiting to speak and he was like um, nervous, I guess. And then, after he was done speaking, I saw him go down and hang out somewhere and I was like I wonder if he, if he has any place to go. And I called my wife. I'm like can we like invite guy over? I think he's stuck, he has no place to go, he has no home. He probably has a flight later tonight. And so I invited him to dinner at our house. We were already making dinner. It was so awkward, you guys, but he was alone and he was really, really introverted. And then my son, the whole time, was trying to touch him with food, because he was like one or two at the time and he's just trying to touch him with food and our house is so loud. But I can tell you, when he left, he was welcomed and he felt loved. Even though we didn't clean up our nasty house for him because we didn't have time. He felt loved and welcomed and my son only wanted to touch him with those grubby hands, because we love people.
Speaker 2:Now I want to tell you another thing that happened Recently. I was taking out the trash from my neighbor oh, that's a humble brag, sorry. I was taking out the trash and somebody whistled at me. You know, like when I played baseball they did that Mexican whistle through their teeth. I can't, you know how to do it. I don't know how to do it. There it is, thank you, everybody on my baseball team could do it. But I got one of those whistles and I was like definitely not for me, um. So I kept taking out the trash and then I heard it again. And I heard it again. I heard pastor. I was like what? And?
Speaker 2:And down the road I saw a kid, um, you know, now in high school um a kid that we've walked with his family since he was down down here. You know um been like 10 years and hadn't seen him for like a year and he came up to me, gave me a hug and I told him all these things about how much I love him and stuff. Didn't know I was on speakerphone with his girlfriend, but that's funny, um. But like I was like what do you need? How are you doing? How can we help? You know, um, he's, he's gone through a lot and he, uh, he's like I actually kind of need help with my math homework and I was like let's do it. So I was like I can't help you at all, but my wife can. So I was like, okay, come over in five minutes.
Speaker 2:I went in the house Mama, you used to teach math, can you teach him? Yes, so she sat him down, we fed him dinner and then she started teaching him math. Our city group showed up. He still needed help with his math. So our city group was in the other room and we've studied the Bible Meanwhile. My wife and this child just got down with the math. Like they just got down to it and and and.
Speaker 2:What I loved about it is like he's like man. I really feel like I should be baptized and it's like wait what? Like? We're just helping you with math today, just helping you with math today. Um, but, like, I'll tell you what I loved about this and I'm not trying to like make my wife better than other people, but what I? It was true hospitality. Like she had plans. She had plans, we had a city group, we had our friends coming over and she just put it on hold and she just taught him how to, how to do quadratic equations or some junk. I don't understand, but that was true hospitality. It was true hospitality and it's rooted in the Lord and it's also because we have sought to love these kids for a very long time and there's a certain point when you don't have to try to love people anymore, right Like you, just love them. You know them enough to love them. That's what happened Now.
Speaker 2:These stories are not for you to think that we're awesome. Our family says not today, all the time, and we failed lots of you in the room, I'm sure. But I truly believe these things can give you joy and meaning. They can help your life to click. I love that kid and his siblings. They matter to me, they are family to me. They know how to use the confusing water dispenser on our refrigerator. That tells you how close we are to them, because most people they just get wet from it. They know where to find cups at my house. They belong at my table, but it never happened on accident.
Speaker 2:It was something we prayed about and they needed the invitation first. Jesus says, on the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame or blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you and you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Now here's my quick note to you guys. We have people over to our house a lot. If you come over, it's not just because we feel sorry for you. We don't just sit down and say, hey, honey, do we know anyone maimed? Can we, can we, can we find somebody who is like maimed right now or oppressed to come over? We need to put that on the calendar. But we do ask God who he wants in our home. And it's not always people who look like us or talk like us.
Speaker 2:Guys, when hosting people is about you, it's not hospitality. It's hosting when guests are just so you can be entertained. It's not hospitality when guests are present so you can feel sorry for them, even when you can feel good about yourself still not hospitality, that's still about you. That's not real life. That is Instagram Only showing people your best, your most beautiful. It's lying. It tokenizes friendship. But when you invite others because you actually love them, because the love of Jesus spills out of you, that's real hospitality. When God's heart for your neighbor, when you start to understand God's heart for the people around you and it overflows to you, that's hospitality. And when God gets the glory he deserves, that's hospitality. We make room for others at our table because God first welcomed us to his. Another way we can show hospitality is through these city groups that we're about to finish and then we're going to start back up in the fall.
Speaker 2:Um, city groups. We try to have them in geographic areas so we can care about people closest to you. But during the week, um, like, almost anyone can get here on a Sunday, right, because it's easy. There's no traffic on Sunday, but the other days, man, it's rough. And we do have some people in Chula Vista that are driving at Spring Valley and I'm like I don't know if I could do it, but during the week you just can't, it's hard. So we have city groups people who walk, people who walk to your Bible study that's when you can get close. People who see you in a store, that's when you can get closer. People who help you when you are sick or your house floods, people that won't be stuck in traffic for an hour when you need them. That's why we try to do city groups this way. That's why we hope to add city groups. But we're going to need more people to host, more people to open their homes. Maybe even one day God's going to call some of you to open up your home for a city group. That might scare you, but doesn't have to.
Speaker 2:We don't ask our city groups to have glowing homes. Let me just say that we just want them sanitary and safe, and sometimes mine's not even that sanitary. We ask our leaders to pick up, not to scrub. Don't make me feel bad about myself by making me walk into your sparkling gem of a house. All it does is put pressure on everybody. Leave your dishes in the sink. I'm going to find a friend's house, like I'm going to a friend's house for dinner on Monday night If I don't find any dog hair in that house when their dog shed. So bad man, they're doing too much. See, our church is growing, but we will never grow in depth until we step up to host and lead other people in our home. Maybe it's at a dinner, maybe it's at a city group, and we shouldn't make that more difficult by having unrealistic expectations for our homes and apartments. Imperfect homes are better. As our church grows, we need city groups in the South Bay, east County, north County, coastal areas. We'll probably eventually need a second group in Mount Hope, but that's not going to happen.
Speaker 2:If you think you've got a scrub, this means you will risk stuff too when you open your homes. It means risking your stuff being damaged for the sake of the gospel or stolen. And, yes, people will damage and break your stuff. That nice carpet, sorry, your kids' toys, sorry we had kids write their names in our books. Like what, who did this? Oh, I can see. I've seen kids jump off our new couch when it was like a week old, did like a high dive. People can be sketchy. They can make you feel uncomfortable If you want to hear stories. We got them, but it's always worth it.
Speaker 2:Rosaria Butterfield she says our post-Christian neighbors need to hear and see and taste and feel authentic Christianity Hospitality spreading from every Christian home. That includes neighbors and prayer, food, friendship, childcare, dog walking and all the daily matters upon which friendships are built. See, god has welcomed you at his table. Who are you going to welcome to his? Proverbs 19 says whoever is kind to the poor lends to the lord and will be repaid in full. Hebrews 13 we saw already you're showing hospitality to angels when you care for others. We make room for others at our table because god welcomed us at his Now. If your house always has to be spic and span, you're going to never live out hospitality. If you have to impress people, you're going to never live out hospitality. That's vanity. I'll close with this. Hopefully, when it comes down to it, we show hospitality, because we were once outside the family of God.
Speaker 2:The Bible says that we were enemies of God. We were outside in the rain doing sketchy things, making up plans to hurt him like we could. We were hurting others and ourselves, but God wanted to welcome us into his home. There may be some of you here today that feel outside of God's house, outside of God's kingdom and outside of God's church, but, friends, god made a way for you. He made a way to welcome you into his home, and he can build a room for you, and that's the joy of the gospel. You don't deserve it. That's good news. Everybody tells me I'm a good person. You're not. None of us are. Only Jesus was good, and he made the way for you, and now that he has made a way for us, he can help us to live lives that are so unrealistic. He can help us to do things that are so unrealistic that we never thought we could do. There are others of you, though, who already belong to God. You're already in his house, and you've begun to believe. This house was created for you and you alone. I encourage you to let God's grace flow out of you to the people around you. Yes, the blessings he's given you are for more than you and your family. But what makes an amazing meal better? Friends, somebody to enjoy it with. What makes a great movie better Popcorn but also people to enjoy it with.
Speaker 2:Many of you have been saved by Jesus, saved from a very difficult life, but you are keeping it to yourself. It's time to share more. It's time to share the gospel. It's time to share meals and resources. Some of you have more food than you need. We got a pantry over there. You can put some food in there for your neighbor. That's hospitality.
Speaker 2:Some of you are still wearing a mask and unwilling to be honest. It's time to share your struggles with people. It's time to share your insecurities, your anxieties with people so that they know, so they can truly be in friendship with you. Some of you have a clean house that visitors might destroy. It's time for you to share, because God has shared with you. It was never yours anyway and you can't do it in your own strength, which you can't. He can help you. Maybe you've opened your house before and seen it destroyed. Maybe you've opened your heart before and seen it destroyed. Not only can God heal your heart again. He can give you strength to risk being hurt again.
Speaker 2:Friends, jesus may have friends for you that you'd never expect. Your next best friend may be poor. Your next best friend may be rich. They may be white or Asian, black or Latino. You might be Chinese and they're Japanese. They may be Republican or Democrat. They might be Muslim or atheist. Right now they may be Haitian. But you will never know unless you are willing to trust God and risk your heart again and again and again. And then, if your heart is broken, you will have to find solace in the one who loves you still. You'll have to find out that he is good enough and he is enough. The one who can mend and fix your heart again is only him.
Speaker 2:Friends, I'll close with this City, life Church and guests. We make room for others at our table because God welcomed us at his. In our father's house are many rooms and Jesus has gone before us to make a way for us, to make a place for us. God designed it that way. God designed us to thrive when we are surrounded in true community with people different than us. God made a way for us and perhaps now it's our time to make a way for somebody else.
Speaker 2:Let's pray, father. We uh, there are some of the room today who don't know you, some of the room who are struggling and just cannot find peace, and I pray that you would help them to find that peace. I pray that you would help them to find that peace. I pray that you would help them to finally say you know what. I need you more than anything. I surrender my life to you. God, you know that there's other people in here that that that do know you and are asking themselves if they really knew you, why would they still be screwing up? I pray that they would not just see you there scolding them, but they would see the way that you've made a way to bring them home.
Speaker 2:God, we sin against you, it's true, and we mess up, and we sin against each other and we hurt each other and it's messy. But, god, I ask that you would help us to understand and in this moment of silence, we confess our sins to you, sins to you and Lord. I'm looking at the clock so I'm going to finish this up. Lord, we thank you that you forgive us that, as far as the east is from the west. So our sin is from your sight. That when you look upon us, you see the righteousness of your son, jesus. Help us to move forward. Help us to walk with our heads held high, knowing we are loved and forgiven. Use us by the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. Praise God for that sermon. Just last night I was having dinner with my wife and she asked me how are you doing? And I said I'm kind of sad because there's a lot of brokenness in my family, that I'll never get to experience what it's like to have a biological family in its wholeness, and I shared with her. I was like I'm excited that we get to redo it with our child, and then I'm also excited that we have a church family that has welcomed me in.
Speaker 1:When Jen and I first came here, we were welcomed in by the Crable family and we thought that they were so weird. They just came up to us, asked us questions, gave us hugs, but they invited us into City Life and so that's how we became a part of our church family here. And so my first thought was that, like this is weird and discomfort or uncomfortable, and I would ask my prayer for us is that, as you get invited to dinner tables, yes, we want to invite, but also embrace the discomfort of the awkwardness and accept the invite. And so that was just on my heart, sorry, mini sermon.