April 24 -Come to the Table

Happy Tuesday and I hope your week is off to a great start. We had a gorgeous, sunshiny day here yesterday. I spoke last Saturday at a women’s tea party in Clarksville. It was beautifully decorated and so many wonderful foods that were presented better than a 5-star luxury hotel. It made me think of the song “Come to the Table” by the Sidewalk Prophets. 

    

    He said come to the table

    Come join the sinners who have been redeemed

    Take your place beside the Savior 

    Sit down and be set free

    Come to the table


Which is exactly what we have been talking about with the Gentiles that Paul begins to address here in Galatians 4:8. Here when Paul begins to speak to the Gentile believers, he wants to make sure they have a place at the table. 

Paul's Greek is a little confusing, here, but having first addressed the Jewish believers and their situation, and having talked about how faith in Jesus has brought Jew and Gentile together, he now talks straight to the Gentiles - the people who did not know God before. Since I'm a Gentile, this speaks to my experience a little more directly.

Gentiles were slaves as well, not to the Law, but to other powers. Paul may have been speaking the gods of Roman religion or Caesar, whom the Romans believed to be divine or maybe it was other spiritual beings. But in any case, Paul seems mystified that these people would want to go back to being slaves—this time to the Law by observing the special feasts and days that the Law requires.


“So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭4:9-10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It's not that observing a special day for your own reasons is sinful; it's that these believers hoped they would be justified through keeping the Law, so they are zealous to observe all its regulations.

This may seem weird to us.  Isn't obedience good?

Well, Paul reminds us that, for those who have faith in Jesus, obedience is not keeping a set of regulations so as to seem "right" over and against a world who does not keep those rules.  Obedience is, instead, more fully and consistently living out Jesus' life through your own.

Thank you Lord that trust in you is our perfect obedience. We love you and praise you for our place at the table, that we have been redeemed and we are set free. You are good and you are our God and we sing to you this day. Amen and amen. 

Love you dear one,

Pam and Philip

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