Jesus Invites You to the Table | Jake Vayda

Sunday, August 16th, 2026

This week we kicked off a brand new series called At The Table, and asked the question: What does Jesus actually do with people like us?

Looking at Luke 5:27-32, we followed the story of Levi, a tax collector Jesus invited to follow Him in the middle of his broken, unfinished life. We saw that Jesus sees us before we ever search for Him, invites us before we change, and changes us as we follow Him. The invitation always comes before the transformation.

Wherever you are today—mess and all—Jesus is saying the same thing He said to Levi: "Follow me."

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

What does Jesus do with people like us? The best and most famous mass marketing campaign in the history of America that was Christian was recently, and it was called He Gets Us. Three words, He Gets Us. You might have seen the Super Bowl commercials or the billboards, and the idea within 30 seconds or less, they were trying to communicate in a world of dissension and problems that you and I are going through, Jesus gets us. And the idea behind this campaign is that it would begin, it would spark a conversation about Jesus. And as it begins a conversation, my next question is yeah, but like what does he do with people like you and like me? Because I get it. Jesus gets me. But doesn't he like me? You know, it's like that parent who says, I love you, but I don't like you right now. Like that's how it can feel with the person of Jesus. Or like that customer service representative. You're having a problem with your computer, and you call and you describe the entire problem, and then they're like, I get it. Now I'm gonna transfer you to the fifth apartment today, right? Like you get it, but do you care enough to do anything about it? Jesus, yeah, he gets me, but what does he do with people like me? The people like that, you know, have a past. The people like you or I, who might have things we're ashamed of, things that we've done, questions that we don't have answers to. What does Jesus do with people like us? That's the question that I would love to answer today. In fact, if you're taking notes, that is the first fill-ins that you can put in there. And as we begin, I'm so looking forward to this brand new series called At the Table, where we're looking at one specific passage and processing what does it actually look like that Jesus invites us before we're transformed to the table. If it's your first time, so glad you're here. I met a couple of you earlier. We would love to give you a gift at Create Corner. And something you need to know about us is that we are a Bible-believing, Bible preaching church, and today we'll be looking in the Gospel of Luke. There's four books in the Bible that uh narrate the life of Jesus from four different perspectives that were with him. One of those is Luke. In fact, that's where our passage comes from today. I'll read the entire passage, and it goes like this: Luke 5, chapters 27 through 32 verses. After this, he went out, and he saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus says, Come along with me, and he did. Walked away from everything and went with him. Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus, and everybody was there, taxmen, other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner, the Pharisees and the religious scholars came to his disciples, greatly offended. What is he doing? Eating and drinking with misfits and sinners. Jesus heard about it and spoke up. Who needs a doctor? The healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting outsiders, not insiders, an invitation to a changed life inside and out. Today I'd like to simply look at just the first verse. And in fact, the first verse says, after this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. That's the first part of the passage. If you're taking notes, I want to give you three actions that Jesus does with people like you and like me. If you want to write this down, here's the first one. Jesus sees you before you search for him. Do you remember the last time you felt truly seen? Was it a coach who saw something in you you didn't see in yourself? A teacher that recognized a gift that you have? Was it a parent? Was it a coworker? A spouse? A best friend? Or here, maybe you're here today, and in a city of millions of people, you feel the opposite. Unseen. Unnoticed. Co-workers. Unnoticed. Even here sitting in the pew, feeling unrecognized for the person that you are. Jesus sees you before you even see yourself. We see this with Zacchaeus in the tree. He saw him before he saw himself. He saw a man by a tree. He saw a woman at a well. He sees you before you even see him. But he goes even further than that. Actually says this in the Bible. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. He doesn't just see you, but he sees all of you. Your brokenness, your hurt, the dark areas. And this is the powerful part of the He Gets Us campaign. If you're suffering, Jesus suffered. If you've been betrayed by friends, Jesus has been betrayed by friends. If you're exhausted from the work you're doing, Jesus has been exhausted from the work that he was doing. If you're anxious about the future, Jesus was anxious before he died on the cross. Whatever you're going through, he not only sees you, but he gets you. What amazing God this is. How would this change your experience with Jesus? Right now, if you thought about the part of your life that feels unseen, unheard, what if you imagine right now Jesus looking at you and seeing that and still loving you? How would that change your day right now? That's good. Let's continue. So, yes, what does Jesus do with people like us? Well, he sees us before we even see him. And then the next part of this verse, Jesus says, Come along with me. Come along with me. What does Jesus do with people like us? Jesus, secondly, invites you before you change. Jesus invites you before you change. Kind of seems like a simple invitation, right? Oh, like, come with me, not a big deal. Here's what you have to know about this biblical vocation of a tax collector. These were people that were in the same community, they grew up the same way, and yet some of them decided to be more uh close to the Roman Empire than their own Jerusalem friends. In fact, they decided that's priority number one is being friends, not with these people, but uh my allegiance is with the Roman Empire, and my job is to knock on every single one of my friends' doors and ask them for money for the Roman Empire. Actually, force them, uh, called taxes. It still happens today. Taxes, they're not fun. But this is even worse than that because not only did they betray their own people, they're swore allegiance to the Roman Empire, but they also decided to, you know, take a little bit off the top. You know, if maybe Roman Empire's asking for 10 bucks, I'm gonna knock on your door and ask for 12. Pocket the extra two bucks, call it good. So these tax collectors are often pretty rich, they're pretty well off and hated. Nobody like they were scam artists, right? Like, I'm not hanging out with a scam artist. And I can imagine the disciples hanging out with Jesus, and you know, they really want this Jesus guy to really work out, to ascend, and and you can imagine they're maybe like public relations, right? And they're just like throwing up, like, oh my gosh, he's hanging out with a scam artist. Like, we gotta get him away. This is not good for his reputation, right? He shouldn't be hanging out with oh my god, didn't he just invite this scam artist? This is this is bad. Like, we need to go to him and say, actually, you heard wrong. Like, there's a little asterisk to this. In fact, you need to sign this. There's no sign of paper. He just said, yes, scam artist, the person hated by everybody. You come and follow. I mean, this is a little bit crazy that it's almost like Jesus invites you before you're transformed. The invitation comes before the transformation. But we get that mixed up, don't we? I mean, I've been a Christian for a little bit, and I sometimes get that mixed up. Uh man, we're all we all have a lot of transformation to happen to it. Like, we need a lot of transformation. And in fact, uh, I often think of uh how often we mess up. Uh, a good picture of this would be this meme of uh the peanut butter baby. And uh this is a famous meme years ago that came out where I don't know how this happened. I can imagine it was the older siblings encouraging this behavior. In fact, I know this is the case. This parent finds the baby. It's like, what's happening? And the baby, like, the baby literally just responds, like, yeah, like this is who I am, right? Like I just, this is a normal day in my life. Any parent is like, I feel seen in this room right now. This is my life, just mess everywhere. And we got a lot of mess in our lives, right? Things that we wish we didn't do, things that we're going after that we probably shouldn't be going after. We got a lot of peanut butter in our lives. And and what we often do is we try to like clean up the peanut butter, like like shower before coming to Jesus, right? I gotta transform before I go and Jesus invites me in. You know, I gotta clean myself up. I gotta look, I gotta look presentable for the Lord. And we do some weird stuff. I mean, like you might come to church and you might have given the good parking spot to somebody else because you know you're gonna talk to God today and you want to kind of look a little bit better. Um maybe you're like, man, I gotta compliment someone so when I pray next, Jesus is proud of me, right? Like I gotta do something little to make up for all the bad stuff. It's like if you were the baby, it's like putting on clothes and hoping Jesus doesn't notice, you know? Because here's the thing you might be able to clean up the peanut butter. And then it shows up somewhere else, right? You're like, finally, I figured out the addiction. And now I said stuff that I regret to my wife, right? I mean, I I figured it out, like I'm not gonna go after uh uh uh my vocation at the expense of my family, but now I'm addicted. Like it's Paul talks about this, Paul in the Bible. He wrote a lot of the Bible. This guy's a big deal, and he's like, the things that I do, like uh I don't want to do, and the things that I do, I probably shouldn't be doing. Like he's literally saying, Man, I clean myself in one area and then peanut butter shows up somewhere else, right? Like this is we had a lot of peanut butter over ourselves, and and then it gets worse because we're ashamed of it. You know, you you're you're you I mean, God, I yelled at my kids again for the second time today. Lord, I'm sorry, I'm trying. God, I focused on my vocation so much that I missed another milestone in my family's life. God, God, I'm I'm I'm sorry. God, I got high again. I just I I I'm gonna change. I God, I'm sorry. I downloaded the app again. God, I'm sorry, I'm I'm trying. And that have you ever noticed sometimes that trying turns into I'm hiding?

unknown 11:54

Right?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

You're just so sick of it, right? Like, I should be past this. I shouldn't be going through this anymore. And here I am, I'm trying, and I don't feel presentable before God. I got so much peanut butter, I might as well just hide. I don't even want, I'm not even gonna go to church. I'm not gonna show up. I'll show up when I finally am presentable. How many times are we waiting for the transformation? Yet God has already extended the invitation. And this next verse might wreck your life, if this is resonating with you. This is what it says in the Bible. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While I was still a scam artist, Jesus died for me. While nothing in my life has changed, not one thing in my life, if I'm Levi, has changed, yet he died for me and he invited me. While I'm still yelling at my kids, while I'm still downloading the app, while I'm still missing birthdays because I'm so focused on my vocation, while Christ died for you, the invitation always comes before the transformation. And for some of you, I hope this is a weight off of your shoulders. Jesus says, Come to me, all who are tired and burdened and peanut buttered out. Maybe that's a different translation, and I will give you rest for your souls. Jesus says, Come to me. Jesus invites you before you change. He sees you before you see him. Uh, and the verse goes on. So he says, uh, an invitation to Levi. What is Levi's response? He says this, and he did. He walked away from everything and went with him. The last fill-in is this Jesus changes you as you follow him. He changes you as you follow him. What's the first step in change? Like, how do I actually change? We all want to change, right? We want to be more joyful, more peaceful, less anxious, more patient, more. We we want these things. You want it, I want it, we all want the same things. And what's the first step for change? Ben Franklin, pretty smart guy in American history. He decided to write down 13 virtues. Things like patience, kindness, all those things. And he created a scorecard. And the scorecard had these 13 virtues, and at the end of the day, Ben Franklin would measure himself against these virtues. Patience, and he'd write down all the ways that he messed up. Yell at my wife again. Yep, was anxious about this. Yep, had a lot of. And he did it every day until like the list got super long, and then he's like, maybe I'll stop doing this. He actually just stopped doing it. The scoreboard didn't really work. How many of us though create a scoreboard? Maybe in our minds. This is what it looks like to follow Jesus. And I have this measurement in my mind of what a Jesus follower looks like. And at the end of the day, I measure myself and I fall short. And I now again haven't changed one bit. Change for change sake doesn't work. Have you noticed that? Like just changing for change sake, it just doesn't like literally the philosophy of change, it just doesn't work. Oftentimes, you don't need a scoreboard, you need a person. You follow a person, you start changing. Ever notice this? Someone falling in love, you know, I fall in love with my wife, and like, man, she's this is working out, and then all of a sudden, I'm driving, and and I I actually I I slowed down at the yellow light instead of speeding up. Oh my gosh, I'm really changing from my wife. This is all of a sudden uh thermostat, it's not a personal decision anymore. Like I'm actually asking my wife, is it time to turn on the AC on this hot day? All of a sudden, I'm putting decorative pillows on the bed, even though I'm taking them off six hours later, right? I'm changing, y'all. Like, there's a lot of change. You give me, you give me Kaylea, I'm changing, man. Talk about change. I changed real fast. I turned from a boy to a man when I met my wife. This is what happens when you follow a person. Don't follow a scoreboard, follow a person, and how much more the person of Jesus? How much more? I mean, the perfect person in every way. If you're following something, I don't want to follow a scoreboard, I'm following a person. You can have a scoreboard, it could be helpful. But how many of us right now are measuring our spiritual life off of a scoreboard that we have in our minds versus simply following the person of Jesus? I think God knew how change actually worked, and that's why he sent his son. He knew if I give them a person, I just need to give them one. And he will wreck their lives if they allow him to, and wreck their lives for the better. In fact, you might be. Jake, this is great. But like, who does who does Jesus want to change me into? You know what I mean? Like, okay, this idea of change, but like Jesus wants to. If I have to become like weird to be a Christian, like that's how Jesus wants to change. Like, this is little uh Jesus wants you to be the best version of yourself. I've I've said that Jesus wants to make you you're it's not a word, but it's a reality and truth. The things that you want, you know, the love, the joy, the pe you know in the Bible it actually says those are the fruit of the spirit, like the fruit of a following Jesus is love, joy, peace. You're telling me you don't want those things? I guarantee you, your good intentions align with God's intentions. Your good intentions align with God's intentions. So the person that Jesus wants you to be changed into is the person that you want to become. You fart fall you start following the person of Jesus, and that's the true change agent of where transformation comes. Levi wasn't changed at all. But if you remember, he starts following Jesus, and all of a sudden he uses his table as a mechanism to invite all of his broken friends to see Jesus. So he started transforming, but the transformation happened after following Jesus, not before. What has Jesus already been changing within you? Even right now. You might say, Jake, I'm an atheist. I don't even believe in this Jesus guy. Like he might have like been on earth and and I don't. But I bet there's probably one thing that you can look back at your life and be like, well, I kind of like that about Jesus. I bet Jesus has changed every single person in this room. Maybe you've been a Christian for 10 years. And maybe you're like, man, Jesus changed me in the first six months, and I was transformed, and now I'm just steady eddy, baby. That's not how it works. Jesus wants to change you, transform you at 85, like he did at 25. I mean, Jesus is always wanting to transform you. When was the last time that Jesus changed something about you? I'm gonna invite the band to come back up. Man, what does Jesus do with people like us, right? You and me, the broken, the battered, the bruised, the people who have shame, insecurity, stuff we're hiding. What does Jesus do? I get he gets us, but there are three things that Jesus does after he gets us. He sees us, he invites us, and then he starts changing us. This is the evolution of a Jesus follower. You know, I've been thinking of uh the idea of home. What's your first thought when I say the word home? Maybe you came from a dysfunctional home, maybe you came from a functional home, but your probably idealized view of a home is a place of safety, empathy, security, love. This is probably what you think of as home. My question for you is who's your guide to get there? Who's your guide to get there? It's funny, Tom Brady, uh, sadly, I'm a Steelers fan, so I'm sadly gonna say this, and it's just true, he's the best football player of all time. He just is six Super Bowl rings, it's very clear. And in the middle of his run, he just won three Super Bowls, he's 27 years old, he goes on 60 minutes. And then he says this literally, this is quote by quote, word for word. You can look it up. He says, Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? And the reporter literally says, What's the answer? You know what Tom Brady says? I wish I knew. I wish I knew. Y'all, this is like a this is an easy home run hit for a pastor. Alright? I I just wish I knew. Who's your guide? His guide was Super Bowl rings, man. If I just if I win enough, will I finally be enough? Just one more promotion and I'll get there! One more child. If I just figure out this marriage, if I just figure out my budget, if I just figure out my mental health, one more that's just the next. Who's your guide? Who's your guide? I mean, look at your TikTok, your Instagram. Who are you following? Your Facebook. Who are the people that's guiding you and saying this is the direction I'm heading in my life? And here's my next question. Is it working? Maybe you have been a Christian for a while, but now you kind of got that whole mixed-up thing like I've talked about earlier, and now you're like, man, I've been following some crazy stuff. Stuff that actually won't get me home. These are untrustworthy guides. In fact, these guides want to take me in a certain direction. I don't want to go. I won three Super Bowl rings. I'm on 60 minutes. And I'm still wondering. I feel lost and I don't know how to get on. Who's your guide? You know, in order to have a guide, you have to surrender to it. We all have guides. We're surrendering to something, to someone, to an idea, a philosophy, a political idea. We're all surrendering to something right now. My question is, what are you surrendering to? We're about to sing a song. It's a hymn. It's like a hundred years old. It says, I surrender all. That's the hymn. Maybe you're like, I'm not there. Like, I'm not about to surrender all to Jesus. But I my question is, who are you surrendering all to right now? And just be honest with it. Like, I'm surrendering all to my vocation. I'm gonna surrender all to my addiction. Just be honest. We all surrender to something, at least in this moment. You're maybe not surrendering to Jesus. Who are you surrendering to? Or if you are a Christian, where have you been confused? What God are you surrendering to that you just need to repent of? Even right now. So in the next three, four minutes, just give a space of reflection. Who are you surrendering all to right now? Your reputation? Money, power, fame, addiction. And be honest before God. In fact, He doesn't need you to be transformed to hear you, just like the tax collector. So today, would you be honest? You can stay seated and consider who is your God and who are you surrendering to?

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Surrender to him I freak. His presence I surrender savior, I surrender all to Jesus, surrender me, Savior, only savor. Surrender. I surrender.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

You know, when I think of Jesus, one of the things that I'm most grateful for is the fact that I don't have to be transformed before I come to his feet. And today, have you realized that there's a couple guys in your life that are leading you in the wrong direction? Have you realized today that there's maybe a part of your life that just feels lost? Friendships, money, Jesus. This is why God sent his one and his only son, his son, perfect in every way. And because of his perfection, he can make a path back home. You want to be home? That's where I want to be. Whatever path you've tried, just like Tom Brady, maybe it hasn't worked, and today could be an amazing marker in your story on August 16th to look back and say, man, that was the moment that I kind of realized there's only one that I want to be following. There's only one guide that I actually trust to get me to the destination that I want to go. And that person is Jesus. And today, you've been a Christian for 10 years, for four years, and you've got this mixed up. You've been trying to perform, trying to clean up all the putting peanut butter to get there. Or maybe you've been following all the wrong guides. You're like, all right, today I got it all mixed up. I reset. This is what August 16th is. It's a reset for my life about who the number one guide is. The trailblazer that makes a way. And here's what Jesus is. He's not just a trailblazer, he's the only one that could. Jesus is perfect. God is perfect. This means he cannot be with anything that's not perfection. If he did, it would be unjust. That's why he sent his son, who is perfect, to be able to be that perfect sacrifice to make the path. That's why Jesus says, I am the way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life. He's saying this because he just wants to give you the answer right away. So today, in a moment, we're gonna actually take communion. And this is a table that Jesus sat at the night before he died. And he said, I picked up the bread and he said, This is gonna be my body that's broken for you. Just imagine for a moment you sitting at the table with Jesus. And him saying this to you. This signifies my body broken for you. He takes the wine and says, This is this signifies my blood poured out for you. You know why Jesus did this? Because he couldn't bear the thought of you staying lost. He couldn't bear the thought, he needed to make a way for you. So today, in a moment, I'm gonna ask all of us to take communion, but before that, I want to give you just a moment, a marker in time to relook at the guides in your life for the first time, or maybe for the another reset moment of saying yes to Jesus as the main God in your life that will take you home. And if that's you, I'm gonna ask you to do something bold, just to raise your hand. It's just a moment, a marker in your life, saying, Yes, as the school year starts. My kids are going back to school, you're going back to work, summer's over, you're trying to look at the new school year, you're wondering what it looks like. Before everything else, my God is the person of Jesus. This is my stake in the ground saying you are the only way. And I've been trying all the other ways. The super warnings don't work. I got a lot of peanut butter over me. There's only one way to wash it off, and it's the person of Jesus. So if you're on account of three saying yes to recommending, or maybe for the first time ever on the count of two, I'm just gonna ask you to boldly raise your hand on account of one. Would you just do it all over the room saying yes? New school year of following Jesus. This is my God. Yes, hands all over. I see all the hands. Yes. Let me pray for you in this moment. Lord, we thank you. God, we thank you for the people right here that are for the first time making a decision, just like Levi, the tax collector, to say yes to following you. And Lord, I pray for all of those 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years as a Christian who just need to be reminded of what it's all about. And it's not about our perfection, it's not about our performance, but it's about following you, Jesus. So in this moment, God, we open up our lives to you. If we're saying yes to you, God, would you show us all the ways, all the things we need to leave behind as we start following you in this moment? And Lord, we pray all this in your name. And everyone said, as we come up, we practice open communion because Jesus invited everyone, it's an open invitation to all of those who got a lot of peanut butter over their lives. And as you come up, as you take communion, uh, would you be reminded of the sacrifice and the and the and the person that made a path for you and for I to be perfectly at home with Jesus, our Savior. So as you come up, we have gluten-free options. Uh, you can come up and take it back to your seat in a moment of silence as you consider what it looks like to follow Jesus here in this new school year on August 16th. And I believe God wants to give you a special download today of what your path specifically looks like. And that is my prayer for you as we jump in. Come and receive the Eucharist.