Who Is At Your Table?

Mark 2:15 - Mark 2:16 (NLT) 15That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.) 16But when some of the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with people like that, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”

When we accept Christ into our lives, we are accepted into his family. We are accepted into a royal priesthood and become joint heirs with Christ in the kingdom of God. When we do this oftentimes we look to separate ourselves from the lifestyle that we used to live before Christ. We don’t want to associate ourselves with anything that can identify us to the previous life that we were rescued from. In most instances this is the best thing to do. To be associated in a lifestyle that you want to leave after you have decided to change is asking to be tripped back up into that life. Some people though take this separation too far and see those that are not saved as unworthy of our attention or our time.
We all have salt in our kitchens. We use salt when we need to add some flavor to a bland dish or to enhance the flavor of another. Salt is salty no matter what. If it weren’t salty then it would not serve its purpose. If we add it to water which has no flavor then we notice the saltiness more because it is adding a flavor where there was none before. If we add it to a stew that has tons of different flavors it is not the main flavor but rather a compliment to the ones that are already there. If we turn on a light in the night we can see the difference it makes in the room because it illuminates the things we could not see in the dark. If we turn that same light on at noon, it is still on but we can’t see it because it is in an environment that is already bright. We are called to be the salt and the light of the earth. If we reserve our time for only those who are saved like we are and share the same beliefs in salvation that we do then we are neglecting what we have been called to do. We become the light burning in the daytime and the salt lost in an abundance of other flavors.
While Jesus walked here on the earth he did not reject or ignore those who were forsaken by the religious leaders. He chose to fellowship with the scum of society. When the pious religious leaders tried to call him on it he replied, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough” (v.17). While our friends in church and the people around us who are already in the kingdom need our fellowship, it is the one who don’t know Christ as their savior that our light was made to shine for. With so much division in the Christian society right now over the hot topics in the news, we need to remember that we are called to live in this world but not be of it. We are called to love the sinner not the sin. We should follow in the footsteps of Jesus who wasn’t afraid to be seen with the less favorable people in society. Not because he wanted to be a part of the lifestyle they were leading but because he wanted them to share what he had. Don’t be afraid to let your light shine in the places where it is needed. If you reached out into your sphere of influence tomorrow for a guest list to a dinner party, who would be at your table?