Ep 32: A Seat at the Table

Speaker1: Well. Good morning, I'm Daniel Delp, and this is for your Sunday morning drive. The short podcast designed to put you in a Colossians three two mindset and help prepare your mind for worship on those hectic Sunday mornings. We are brought to you by the Ministry League network of podcasts. If you'd like access to over 50 great podcasts to help you spiritually, you can always check out the link in our show notes to their YouTube channel. You can check them out on Ministry league.com, and you can also download their app. And I hope that you, like me, are looking forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday. And I want to be sure to tell all of you. Thank you so much for listening and making us a part of your weekly routine. I have become quite fond of doing this little show, and I hope that it is making a difference for you. And I just want to say thank you for being along for the ride. Have a wonderful holiday. Let's go ahead and get this show on the road. This is episode 32, a seat at the table. Let's go to church.

Speaker2: Are we there yet?

Speaker1: This Thursday is Thanksgiving, and as many of us do, I get nostalgic this time of year, both for current traditions and those of years gone by. Well, one of my favorite traditions that used to be a November ritual was a pre-thanksgiving video game night, and it took place on the night before Thanksgiving. And here's how it would usually play out. We would look forward to all the guys coming back from college that were out of state, and after Wednesday night Bible class, we would make our way to my buddy Mike's house. We'd order some pizza, we'd have a cooler of Mountain Dew ski or whatever. We thought we might be able to get enough caffeine out of for the night at hand, and we'd set up our TVs, our monitors. I think Brian brought a projector one year and our consoles in Mike's living room loaded up with that year's popular game, usually Call of Duty, and we would set in to play until the early hours of Thanksgiving morning. But first we had to scramble for a good seat. Now the recliners. Obviously the best choice. Next was the couch. The third pick was a good camp chair, and somehow, in some way, and I don't exactly remember how it played out, but I always ended up with a junky old metal folding chair and you could set your watch by it. So much so that it became a running joke every year, without fail.

Speaker1: I mean, every year I'd end up with this chair. So much so that I could expect that folding chair waiting for me when I arrived with a sign taped to it that simply read Daniel's chair. And I'll admit, I was a little salty from year to year about not getting a better seat. But as I look back on it, I miss those gatherings. And honestly, I'm just glad to have had a seat at all and I would have gladly sat on the floor if it was that or not make those memories together. And it kind of reminds me of the lesson that Jesus teaches in Luke 14 seven through 11, and he began speaking a parable to the invited guests when he noticed how they had been picking out the places of honour at the table. Saying to them, when you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come to say to you, give your place to this man. And then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last seat. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher, and then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.

Speaker1: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. It also reminds me of Matthew 22 and the song that often we draw out of that where Jesus is telling this story and he says, all things are ready. Come to the feast this Thursday. You'll probably be in a similar situation a guest at a feast, a guest at the table looking for a seat. And as we should in all areas of life. Don't strive for that place of honor, but humble yourselves. Be thankful. Be ever prayerful because when it comes to the kingdom of God, and when it comes to the heaven that is prepared for us, I don't care what it looks like, I don't care how comfy it is or how honorable it is. I'll gladly take the heavenly equivalent of a metal folding chair, because quite frankly, I'll just be happy to have a seat at the Lord's table. Well, those are my thoughts for your Sunday morning drive. Now it's time to hear yours. Our discussion questions for this week are. Do we seek out those places of honor when instead we should humble ourselves? In what ways do we show our thanks to God for the mansion prepared for us? And are we thankful just to be in his presence?