Last week we started our brand new series – Meals with Jesus: Eating our way with Jesus through Luke’s Gospel. For the next 8 weeks we’re going to be looking at 8 meals that Jesus ate, that Luke records for us in His gospel. We’re going to be seeing what we discover about Jesus, ourselves, and what it is to be a disciple.

Last Sunday we thought about the three verses in the New Testament that begin, “The Son of Man came…”

Whereas the first two are pretty well-known….

-          The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).

-          The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

The third one, maybe isn’t…

-          The Son of Man came eating and drinking! (Luke 7:34).

In fact, so much so did Jesus come eating and drinking, that his opponents accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard (Luke 7:34).

If the first two Son of Man statements describe his mission, then the third perhaps describes his strategy…

Jesus spent time with people.

He hung out.

He ate.

And drank.

And talked.

Jesus’ mission was lived out in and through His everyday life.

It seemed he chose to spend time with people who needed to know that God loved them.

Now….that shouldn’t actually surprise us…..because He had come for the lost….he had come for people who were far off from God. It makes sense that He would spend time with those He had come for.

You can’t be light, if you’re not in amongst the darkness.

You can’t bring life, if you stay away from death.

You can’t be salt if you’re not willing to be sprinkled.

You can’t bring hope to people if you’re not actually involved in the lives of people.

As it was for Jesus, so should it be for us.

If we are Jesus’ disciples, then as we follow Him, God’s Spirit grows us more and more like Him, so that increasingly we think the things Jesus thinks, we value the things Jesus values, and we do the things Jesus did. Disciples are people who are becoming like their Teacher.

I remember a quote I heard a while ago (I think from a guy called Steve Timmis)….

“As Jesus’ disciples, we need to learn to do everyday things with gospel intentionality”.

That means we take our everyday lives and offer them to Jesus to use for His purposes.

That means we see our everyday lives as the context for living out our faith.

That means Jesus wants us to follow Him right where He has placed us.

That means that every day, every conversation, every meeting, every person you cross paths with, is an opportunity to represent Jesus.

That means we don’t have to go out of our way to live on mission with Jesus, but that we learn to see our everyday lives as the mission that He calls us too.

And prayerfully, purposefully, intentionally….we learn to do the things that Jesus did.

When you go for a walk, is there someone you could invite with you?

If you’re taking your kids to the park, are there some children of a neighbour that you can invite along too?

If you’re going to the shops, is there someone who might need a lift?

If you’re eating a meal, who could you invite to share it with you?

If you’re wanting to go out for a drink, is there anyone you can invite?

If you like running, who could you run with?

If you like reading, is there a book-club you could be a part of?

If you’re planning on going to the cinema, who could you go with?

A lot of times, we’re doing things anyway, so it’s just a question of learning to see them as opportunities for spending time with people.

People mattered to Jesus. So people need to matter to His followers.

One more quote I heard this week: God can take our ordinary routines and do something extraordinary with them…if we let Him.

What are some ways you could bring gospel intentionality to your life? Is there one change you could make? One thing you could implement?