I Am With You At the Table | I AM... The God Who Gets Close | Menlo Church Live Stream

Mar 22, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Jesus’s Earnest Desire to Be With You

The table in the upper room was not set by accident or obligation. It was prepared with great longing and intentionality. Before any words were spoken or any elements were shared, the very presence of the host communicated a profound truth. He had eagerly anticipated this moment, making space for each person who would come. This deep desire to be in relationship is the foundation of the invitation extended to you. [24:48]

And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15 ESV)

Reflection: Where in your life do you struggle to believe that God earnestly desires to be with you, and what might it look like to receive His invitation today?

Day 2: Grace is Received, Not Earned

A place at the table is never a trophy for personal achievement or spiritual seniority. It is always a gift, prepared in advance by the host. The invitation is extended not because of one's worthiness, but because of the host's generous character. This truth dismantles any notion of hierarchy or ranking among those who are welcomed. The seat is a gift of grace, never something to be claimed through effort. [35:32]

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)

Reflection: In what areas of your faith do you subtly shift from receiving God’s grace to trying to earn it, and how does that affect your relationship with Him?

Day 3: The Invitation Extends to Our Worst Moments

The guest list for the table includes those who feel far away, who have failed, or who are actively holding onto betrayal. The host’s preparation is not nullified by the condition of the invited. Your private struggles and public failures do not revoke your invitation. The table is set precisely for the wounded, the wanted, and the waiting, offering hope that is not dependent on your performance. [31:57]

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)

Reflection: What is one thing you feel might disqualify you from God’s love, and how does the image of the table set for Judas challenge that feeling?

Day 4: The Danger of Spiritual Entitlement

A slow and subtle drift can occur when those long at the table forget the gift of their seat. Faithfulness can morph into a sense of entitlement, and grace can be mistaken for a reward. This leads to measuring oneself against others and policing who else belongs. The table, however, was designed to produce a family, not a hierarchy, where all are welcomed by the same unconditional invitation. [40:48]

“But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” (Luke 22:26 ESV)

Reflection: When have you noticed yourself comparing your spiritual journey to someone else’s, and what is one practical way to shift from comparison to celebration this week?

Day 5: Preparing a Table of Hospitality for Others

The hospitality we have received is meant to be extended. Setting a table for someone else is a tangible act of reflecting the gospel. It involves thinking of them beforehand and preparing a space that communicates they are wanted. This is not about elaborate performance but intentional preparation, creating room for others to experience the grace we have been given. [48:33]

“Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” (Romans 12:13 ESV)

Reflection: Who is one person in your life that God might be inviting you to extend intentional hospitality to, and what is one simple way you can prepare a space for them?

Sermon Summary

A woman named Carol models intentional hospitality by preparing a room so that guests feel anticipated and cared for before anyone speaks. That image anchors a retelling of the upper room on the night before the cross, where Jesus arranged a Passover meal with deliberate longing; he “earnestly desired” this gathering and set the table on purpose. The guest list included a betrayer who sat at the table while plotting treachery, an impulsive disciple who would soon deny, and others who argued over greatness even as the covenant was unveiled. Each seat exposes a spiritual hazard: proximity without surrender, boldness without self-awareness, and faithfulness turned into entitlement.

Jesus keeps inviting and breaks bread for everyone in that room regardless of inner failure or outward pretense. Judas receives the same bread and cup even while planning betrayal, which dramatizes how access to grace does not guarantee transformation. Peter receives a prior prayer for endurance even while the prophecy of his denial looms, which shows that grace often arrives before human strength. The disciples’ argument about rank reveals how repeated faithfulness can harden into a claim on status instead of produce humble service.

The table becomes a theological mirror: it reveals woundedness, desire, and waiting more than worthiness. Communion functions not as a reward for moral maturity but as a tangible reminder that the host has already prepared the meal, desired the company, and offered himself. The invitation remains unconditional; the room itself testifies, “You were wanted here before you were ready.” That truth reframes hospitality as an extension of the gospel—setting a table for another person acts as an embodied declaration of belonging and a practice of proximity that helps people receive grace.

The closing charge moves from observation to practice: prepare a real meal or a seat for someone who hasn’t earned it, think of that person before they arrive, and let proximity become a spiritual discipline. Proximity trains receivers into givers and turns a theological claim into everyday mercy, showing that the gospel’s primary work often begins at an ordinary table.

Key Takeaways

1. God sets the table first Jesus initiates relationship with deliberate longing and prepares the means of fellowship before anyone earns it. This shows a God who delights in drawing near, not one who waits on human performance. The meal in the upper room models an invitation rooted in desire, not obligation, and reframes belonging as gift rather than achievement. Responding to that preparation requires walking through the door, not polishing credentials. [24:48]
2. Presence doesn't guarantee transformation Physical proximity to grace can coexist with spiritual distance; access to Jesus did not prevent Judas from betraying him. Being at the table can become a passive possession rather than an active surrender if the heart clings to other things. This warns against spiritual consumption—sampling sacred things without allowing them to reorient desires. The remedy lies in examining what is held in the hands while receiving bread and cup. [29:06]
3. Grace comes before our failure Jesus prayed for endurance for the one who would soon deny him, demonstrating that divine intercession and provision precede human collapse. Forgiveness and support arrive ahead of performance, meaning failure does not cancel the invitation. This reality frees honest confession and dependence rather than fueling shame-driven hiding. The pattern invites trust that God prepares rescue before the crisis arrives. [36:09]
4. Hospitality models the gospel invitation Preparing a room with someone in mind enacts spiritual welcome and communicates worth before words begin. Thoughtful hospitality practices proximity as a spiritual discipline, training hosts to offer grace tangibly and guests to receive belonging. Setting a table for another counters entitlement and turns theology into mercy. Small, intentional acts of welcome become living sermons of the unconditional invitation. [49:07]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[20:32] - Introducing Carol’s Hospitality
[21:12] - Felt Care Before Words
[22:41] - Opening Prayer
[24:48] - Jesus Earnestly Desired the Meal
[27:10] - The Seat of Judas
[29:06] - Proximity Without Surrender
[36:09] - Jesus Prays for Peter
[41:50] - Greatness Reframed as Service
[44:42] - Table for the Wounded and Waiting
[49:07] - Proximity as a Spiritual Discipline
[51:09] - Closing Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
Luke 22:14–23 (ESV)
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” 23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.

Observation questions

What specific words does Jesus use to describe his desire to share this meal with his disciples?
What does Jesus do and say with the bread and the cup during the meal?
How does Jesus speak about the one who will betray him, and how does he address the other disciples’ reactions?

Interpretation questions

Why might Jesus have “earnestly desired” to share this meal knowing full well that betrayal and denial were imminent?
What does it signify that Jesus offered the bread and cup to Judas even while Judas was planning to betray him? [31:34]
How does Jesus’ response to the disciples’ argument about greatness redefine what true importance looks like in his kingdom? [41:50]
In what ways does the table in the upper room serve as a “theological mirror” for those who gather around it?

Application questions

Physical proximity to grace doesn’t always lead to heart transformation. What might it look like for someone to receive the bread and cup while “clutching something else” in their life that feels more important? [30:15] How can you examine your own heart before taking communion?
Grace often arrives before human failure. Jesus had already prayed for Peter’s faith before Peter denied him. [36:09] Where in your life do you need to trust that God’s grace and intercession have already gone ahead of your weakness or failure?
Repeated faithfulness can slowly turn into spiritual entitlement. When have you noticed yourself feeling that you’ve “earned your seat” at God’s table more than others? What practical step can help you recover a posture of receiving grace as a gift?
Hospitality can be a tangible expression of the gospel. Who is one person in your life that God is placing on your heart to invite—not because they’ve earned it, but because they’re wanted? What would it look like to prepare a space or a meal with that person specifically in mind? [48:33]
The table is for the wounded, wanted, and waiting—not the worthy. What internal narrative or sense of unworthiness might be keeping you from fully receiving Jesus’ invitation? How can you embrace the truth that you were wanted before you were ready?
Proximity can be a spiritual discipline. How can intentionally creating space for others—especially those who don’t expect it—help you better understand and receive God’s grace for yourself? [49:07]

Sermon Clips

43s

#TableOfTheWounded

“See, the enemy of this table isn't the person that doesn't feel like they're worthy to sit at it. It's the person who's been sitting at it long enough that they've started deciding who else gets to be here because they have been tricked into thinking it's theirs to decide it in the first place. You know what I keep coming back to in this story? Nobody around this table actually deserved to be at it. Not in the way that we would think about it. Judas has already gone on the inside. Peter is about to blow up on the outside. The rest of them are mid argument about their own ratings while Jesus is hours away from the cross. This table, it wasn't a table of the worthy. It was a table of the wounded, the wanted, and the waiting.”

36s

#PrayedBeforeTheFall

“Jesus doesn't wait for Peter to fail before he offers him forgiveness. He prays for him before he fails. Jesus says this, I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Past tense, already completed. Before the moment that he knew that Peter would fall short over and over and over again in his hour of greatest need, Jesus has already prayed for him to the father. With full knowledge of what's coming, he makes space for Peter at the table. He invites him, has a place for him. That's not just a nice thought about Peter.”

34s

#PresentButMissing

“That's the thing about being close to grace that we don't often talk about. Being near the table doesn't mean that you let it change you. Being at the table doesn't mean that God knows you or that you know him. You can be in the room and still miss the point. You can be in the room but oriented away from the person who invited you to the table. You can receive the bread and the cup of communion and still be clutching something else in your life that feels more important that you're unwilling to give up if the trade is this for him.”

42s

#YourPastDoesntDisqualify

“That your worst moment does not disqualify you from the invitation from God to his table. That your private betrayal, the sin that you're holding, the secret no nobody knows about, they do not revoke your invitation. Nothing can. Judah's problem wasn't that he, came to the table. His problem was that he came to the table more interested in taking than receiving, and there's a big difference. Jesus, he he keeps setting the table anyway. He keeps inviting people anyway. I don't think that Jesus, as this meal started, was like checking credentials as people walked in the door. I think he was hugging his friends and welcoming them to the table that he had prepared for them.”

39s

#TableOfDelight

“This wasn't out of obligation. This wasn't out of duty. This was delight. This was his greatest longing. He set the table. He sent the invitations. He showed up for the big meal, for the people, and he's still showing up for you. With something that looks a lot like desire, that he really longs to be in relationship with us. I hope that you've experienced a room with someone that really does long to be connected with you, someone who loves the people who are walking in and you feel it instantly. Jesus, he set this table for that very reason.”

36s

#LastSupperForYou

“The night before everything falls apart at the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, well, it's coming together at the very same time. If you're unfamiliar, this day that took place around a table, this isn't quite historically accurate, but you get the idea. A table like this, it happened in an event called Passover. It was a holiday that they celebrated every year, and Jesus had gathered his closest friends to have his final meal before he would be arrested, falsely accused, wrongly convicted, brutally executed, all for you and me.”

42s

#DontPoliceTheTable

“Imagine if once a month Carol walked into that conference room to set it up for us, and instead of preparing it for everyone, she decided, to make it nicer for the elders that she liked more or felt were more qualified. And then the places that she put people were based on the spiritual seniority that she felt they deserved. Imagine if she left certain places empty because she decided that there were just people who hadn't earned the full Carol treatment yet. That might sound wild, but that's exactly what we do when we start policing who belongs at Jesus' table. When we use our years of faithfulness as a measuring stick instead of a gift. When we confuse having a seat with owning the room.”

48s

#GreatnessIsService

“Jesus doesn't shame them. He reframes the whole thing. Says, but not so with you, rather let the greatness among you become as the youngest and the leader as one who serves. And then he does this thing that only Jesus could do. He honors them in the middle of correcting them. He says, you are those who have stayed with me in my trials. He sees their faithfulness. And instead of minimizing it, he elevates it. But he refuses to let them use it as a weapon. Because this table, it was never designed to produce a hierarchy. It was designed to produce a family. Families, they don't rank each other. They they pull up chairs. They they welcome one another in closer relationship.”

39s

#GraceNotTrophy

“Because this is what entitlement does to a person in the place of grace. When you forget that your seat was a gift, you start treating it like a trophy. And when you treat grace like a trophy, you start looking around the room. You start noticing who else is there. You start wondering why certain people seem to be comfortable at the table when they certainly and clearly haven't earned it. You start using your proximity to Jesus as a measuring stick, proof of your status, your spiritual seniority, your right to have a say in who belongs and where they should be in the order to earn the status in the kingdom.”

33s

#PreparedForYou

“Think about what Carol does before a single elder walks into that conference room once a month. She's already been there. She's already prepared it. She didn't wait to see who would show up. She didn't decide how much effort they deserve. She prepared the room for people who hadn't arrived yet. That's what Jesus does with Peter. That's what Jesus does with you. Your seat at this table has never been in jeopardy, and it's never been connected to how strong you are. It's about who set the table. It's about who makes the invitations.”

39s

#InvitationNotCondition

“We spend so much time and energy trying to become the kind of person who deserves a seat at a table like this that we miss the whole point of why this table exists. The table wasn't set because Jesus surveyed the room and decided that his disciples finally were worthy of this kind of treatment. The table was set because Jesus loved the room, all of it, everybody around that table, the betrayer, the guy who was bragging, and the ones who were bickering and everything in between. There's a reason that he broke bread with all of them. There's a reason the cup went to every hand because the invitation was never conditional on the response of the invited.”

30s

#StoriesKeepYouAway

“He offered himself fully, even to someone who was about to betray him. That should make us feel something, something that we can't quite find a neat and tidy place for in our own life, something that in this moment, if we really let it feel, it goes from not just theology but to something personal. You realize that the only thing standing between you and maybe a closer seat at this table to Jesus is the story you're telling yourself in your own mind of whether or not you belong here or whether you don't.”

37s

#PrepareMoreTables

“It's a practice. We can all do it. It's a decision to make before anyone shows up when it's just you, an empty room, and a table, and a question about what kind of space you wanna create for another human being created in the image of God. Proximity is a spiritual discipline. You learn to receive grace as you extend it. You learn what it means to be wanted at a table by pulling a chair out for someone who didn't expect it. The world does not need more people performing greatness or wondering where they measure up. It needs more people preparing tables.”

38s

#SetATableForSomeone

“This week, I want you to set a table for somebody else in your life, a real meal, a coffee, a a seat next to you somewhere, somewhere with someone that maybe you've been keeping a careful distance with because you've been waiting for them to clean their life up before you let them into yours. Someone maybe who has no idea that you've been thinking about them or having imaginary conversations about them without them for months. Do what Carol does. Think about them before they arrive. Prepare with their specific presence in mind. Make the room say, I wanted you here before you even say a single word.”

31s

#PrayedForYou

“That's an encouragement for every single one of us. Every single one of us in any room that's thinking about this or processing our own failure at some point or at some area in our life where we've promised ourselves or we've promised other people that we wouldn't fall short, but we did. Every person who was absolutely certain that they were stronger than what they were up against, and it turned out to be that they weren't so strong. And maybe maybe they thought they could do it on their own and they realized they couldn't. See, Jesus, he has already prayed for you.”

29s

#HePlannedTheMeal

“He's there with 12 of his closest friends who have spent three years with him every single day. They've seen things that nobody else has seen. They've heard things that nobody else has heard. And honestly, they still don't fully understand what they're a part of. How could they have? He had arranged this meal. Luke tells us in his biography of Jesus' life and ministry that Jesus had sent people ahead and orchestrated and prepared this room for this day. This was not spontaneous. He wanted this.”

38s

#GraceCameFirst

“Whatever thing you've fallen short of, whatever area you, right now, today, this week, in this season, haven't measured up for, Jesus has already prayed for you. He's already extended grace to you. It doesn't disqualify you. Before you even knew you were going to fail, Jesus knew the grace came first. Another passage in the New Testament says that before the foundations of the world, before any of this even started, God knew what you needed, and he knew the sacrifice that would be required to make relationship right again, and he was willing to carry out that plan. That's what we see around this table. Jesus has already made it possible.”

34s

#JudasWasInvited

“Now I know what we wanna do with Judas because I wanna do the same thing. We wanna turn Judas into the villain because if Judas is the villain, then maybe we get to be the hero. We wanna look at Judas from a safe distance because if we look at him from a safe distance, we get to look at the parts of us that look like his from a safe distance. We think I would never. But I think I think Jesus puts Judas at the table on purpose. I think he wants to to see something that is more complicated than contempt, something that is more easily disguised than disgust.”

40s

#BewareSpiritualEntitlement

“See, think a lot of us, we live in this seat. You've been following Jesus long enough that you've started to miss the idea that your internal frailty is growing because it's easy to hide with your external faithfulness. We've been at this table long enough that we've started to feel like we belong here because of us, because of our track record, because of what we've done, because of our spiritual resume, our consistency, our years of showing up. And somewhere in that drift, the table of grace becomes a trophy of grit. It's a slow leak. It doesn't happen overnight. You don't even notice it at first.”

29s

#PerformanceNotGrace

“Peter's problem wasn't that he wasn't in love with Jesus. Peter's problem is that he's in love with his version of love. He's in love with his version of Jesus. He's more interested in performing loyalty than receiving grace. He's decided that it's his work, his effort, his vision. He's built an image and an identity around just a handful of words. He's the rock. He's the one who shows up. He never fails. He never falters. And what he doesn't realize is that to project that on the outside, his faith on the inside has gotten very frail.”

39s

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