Faith at the Table

When Faith Finds Redemption (The Book of Ruth)

Faith at the Table

“It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘ye were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(The Cost of Discipleship)

• Someone Must Be Willing
• Faith Cost Something?
• Faith Cost Something

• Luke 9:23 (NLT)
  • ²³ Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.
• 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NLT)
  • ¹⁵ He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

Will you trust Him with the “freedom” you are so determined to protect?

• 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (NLT)
  • ¹⁷ But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. ¹⁸ First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹ But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!
    ²⁰ When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. ²¹ For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. ²² What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!

How could the Corinthians gather to remember their need for a Savior while treating others as though they were beneath them?

Faith:

• recognizes that we cannot redeem ourselves
• trusts the One willing to pay the price
• receives what the Redeemer has purchased

• 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (NLT)
  • ²⁷ So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. ²⁹ For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
    ³¹ But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. ³² Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.