The Table 2017
“Family”
December 19, 2017
Ed Young
Whether it’s a nuclear family or a blended family, a functional family or not, we are all born into a specific family. But our earthly family isn’t the only family we can be part of. When we become Christ followers, we are born into the family of God. And it is that family that has the ability to change everything. In this message, Pastor Ed Young has us join him around the table and look at what it means to join the family of God. Because when it comes to making a lasting difference in the world, there’s nothing like joining the family!
Transcript
How many of you remember eating family meals together? You remember eating family meals together? How many eat family meals together regularly today? Family meals, wow, family meals. Family meals are important. And I know in today's society, they're so, so busy, it's really good to have family meals at restaurants, a lot of us eat out, and you can have a family meal, whether it happens to be at your home, or in a restaurant.
When I was a kid, we didn't go out to eat very much, there weren't the restaurants we have available to us today. We did, though, do a really good job, my family did, of having family meals. Back when I grew up, you could just let kids roam around the neighborhood. We would sometimes ride our bikes miles and miles away. We had a good time doing that. I wish, really wish we could do that again, but in today's crazy culture, we can't really do it.
I do however, remember dad calling us to dinner. He would kind of do it in a rhythm, and he has a powerful voice, he'd be like, "Ed, Ben, time for supper!"
And when we heard his voice, we would stop in our tracks, cruise to our house, and we sat around this table.
This table is almost 50 years old, this is the table where I grew up, eating around, it's the legitimate table. My mother gave it to Lisa and I years before she passed away. Sometimes, my friends would be playing, and other parents would whistle, maybe your parent was a whistler, to bring you to the table. We also had a bell, if we couldn't hear our parent's voice, “Bong! Bong! "Hey Ben, is that a bell?" And we knew, we better get to the table. We had a good time around the table, my mother was a great cook.
My only beef about my mother's cooking was she didn't cook enough food. I don't know why! She never cooked enough, I remember being hungry all the time, I think if I had grown up in a household that served a lot of food, I'd probably be, I don't know, I'd probably be in Jason Witten's spot right now. I'd be that big, about 6'8", 245, about 3% body fat, but, I turned out the way I am.
Anyway, my mother didn't cook that much, but the food was really, really good. I remember sitting at the table, and we would have these great conversations at the table. And something that was different about our family than other families, I didn't know this, because when you grow up in a family, you think, "Oh, every family's like this," but no, every family's not like your family.
