Homecoming: Come to the Table

20 minutes
August 11, 2026

At Gateway in Austin, we began a new series called Homecoming.

Everyone is searching for a place to belong.

In a world marked by loneliness, hurried schedules, endless distractions, and divided loyalties, we all long for a table where we’re fully known, deeply loved, and truly welcomed. Throughout Scripture, some of God’s most life-changing moments happen around a table. Around the table, strangers become family, stories are shared, grace is experienced, and lives are transformed.

In this series, Homecoming invites us to rediscover the rhythms that shape a life with God. Rooted in the ancient prayer called the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–9), we’ll discover that faith isn’t just something we believe – it’s something that forms us day by day. Jesus echoed the Shema when He called us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, reminding us that following Him is not confined to church services but woven into our homes, our conversations, our work, our neighborhoods, and every ordinary moment of life.

As we gather around God’s table, He reshapes our hearts, reorders our loves, and reminds us who we are. But His table was never meant to end with us. Just as Jesus continually welcomed outsiders, invited skeptics, and made room for sinners, He sends His followers to extend that same invitation to others.

We are formed at God’s table so we can make room for others at His table.

Join us this week for Pray First!

Digging Deeper:

Come to the Table

Message Video from Gateway South Austin:

Message Audio from Gateway South Austin:

Message Notes:

Everyone is searching for a place to belong.

In this series, Homecoming invites us to rediscover the rhythms that shape a life with God.
Rooted in the ancient prayer called the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–9), we’ll discover that faith isn’t just something we believe – it’s something that forms us day by day.

Jesus echoed the Shema when He called us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, reminding us that following Him is not confined to church services but woven into our homes, our conversations, our work, our neighborhoods, and every ordinary moment of life.

As we gather around God’s table, He reshapes our hearts, reorders our loves, and reminds us who we are. But His table was never meant to end with us.
Just as Jesus continually welcomed outsiders, invited skeptics, and made room for sinners, He sends His followers to extend that same invitation to others.

We are formed at God’s table so we can make room for others at His table.

Let’s take a look at this beautiful and ancient prayer. Listen to God’s invitation for His people to build lives centered on Him.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. – Deuteronomy 6:4-9

For thousands of years, faithful Jews have prayed these words every morning and evening.

The Shema is more than a prayer to recite; it is a way of life. It calls God’s people to give Him their wholehearted allegiance, to let His truth shape their daily rhythms, and to pass that faith from one generation to the next.

You might have recognized the beginning of the Shema.
When asked by the religious leaders to declare the most important commandment of the 611 found in the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament, Jesus declared it to be the greatest commandment because a life centered on God naturally overflows into love for others.

In a culture pulling our hearts in countless directions, the Shema calls us back to what matters most: loving God completely, allowing Him to shape every part of our lives, and creating space at His table for those who are still searching for a place to belong.

Now Jesus adds another command from the Old Testament to the Shema when sharing the Great Commandment. He also quotes from Leviticus 19:18 which says:

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” – Leviticus 19:18

Notice how Jesus takes these two passages to help us know how to navigate life. He says in Matthew 22:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40

We are invited to know God personally – to love Him and be loved by Him so that we can love others on His behalf. Jesus goes on to say that loving God and loving others is the message of the Scriptures! He’s not just declaring the most important one but the Great Commandment is what the message of God is all about.

God ‘s Love and Pursuit of Humanity

Everyone longs for a place where they are fully known and fully loved.
God is love!

As the Bible says:

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” – 1 John 4:16

“We love because he first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19

Jesus shows us who God is and He shows us the way to experience His love and bring His love to others!

Scripture begins with God walking with humanity in the Garden and ends with a great wedding feast (Revelation 19). The story of the Bible is the story of a God who continually prepares a table for His people.

The Shema is not merely a command to memorize; it is God’s invitation back into the life humanity was created to enjoy.

In Genesis 1–2, humanity lived in God’s presence, walking with him in the Garden of Eden. God alone was King, and Adam and Eve loved him wholeheartedly. Their hearts, minds, and actions were perfectly aligned with his purposes.

But in Genesis 3, sin fractured that relationship. Humanity stopped trusting God’s voice and began listening to competing voices. Instead of loving God above all else, Adam and Eve loved themselves, power, comfort, and created things. The Bible’s story becomes the story of God restoring what was lost.

The Shema stands at the center of that restoration. God calls his people back to exclusive covenant love:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.”

This is not merely emotional affection. It is the restoration of humanity’s original vocation – to know God, delight in him, and reflect his character into the world.

The Bible ends exactly where it began—but even better.

In Revelation 21–22, heaven and earth become one. God once again dwells with his people. There is no rival king, no idols, no divided hearts. The Shema’s vision is finally fulfilled as God’s people love him perfectly in the New Creation.

The Shema therefore points both backward to Eden and forward to New Creation.

Let’s read it again and notice not only the call towards a loving relationship with God but how to live this out:

The Shema wasn’t merely a prayer Israel memorized – it was the rhythm that reminded them who they belonged to before they stepped into the world.

It’s important to remember the context of when this verse fits into the story of God’s restoration plan.

After the fall of humanity, God chose to bless one man through whom his family would bless all families. He would make this one man – Abraham – into a great nation or people group through whom all nations or people groups would be blessed.

By the way, this is extraordinary! No other world religion indicates care or concern for people beyond their region or beyond their way of viewing the world.
The message of the Bible is that God loves all the world.

In fact, He came to us to rescue us, and His name is Jesus! Jesus ultimately pulled off what ancient Israel was unable to pull off.
Jesus became the One who fulfilled the law and brought healing to the world.
And the message of Jesus continues to spread to every nation, to every people group across the planet!

Back to the story of the Israelites, Abraham truly was blessed and eventually His people lived in the land of Canaan as promised; however, after a famine ravaged the region they moved to Egypt where they were eventually enslaved.

Miraculously, God delivered them from their enslavement demonstrating God’s love for the oppressed and how He works towards freedom of those who are enslaved.
God renews His covenant with His people at Mount Sinai with the 10 Commandments.
Sadly, the people rebel and wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
Now the children of those who rebelled are now about to enter into the Promised Land, and God wants to remind them of their covenant relationship.

An important and quick aside as so much gets politicized in our broken world.

The Promised Land God offers to Abraham remains a very contentious issue. People are still fighting over this land and religion is often their motivation. Abraham’s hope was always larger than a strip of real estate. The land was the beginning of God’s plan to restore creation. The promise ultimately points beyond Canaan to the renewed creation inaugurated by Jesus and consummated in the new heavens and new earth (Romans 4:13; Revelation 21–22).

That perspective also illuminates the Shema. The family of Abraham’s calling in the land was never merely to occupy territory but to become a people whose wholehearted love for the one true God would display his character to the nations. The land was the stage; covenant faithfulness was the mission. Jesus fulfills that mission and extends God’s invitation beyond one land to people from every nation, who await the day when God’s presence fills the whole earth.

So back to the Shema, notice the order of events.

God rescues Israel from Egypt and renews His covenant.
Then He says, “Hear, O Israel…”
Obedience always follows grace.
The commands come after redemption.

God doesn’t say, “If you obey me, I’ll become your God.”
He says, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery.”

Everything begins with grace.

One of the most important things to remember from this passage is this…

God invites us.

A relationship with God always begins with God’s invitation, not our performance.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ” – Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Throughout Scripture, God is always the One initiating relationship.

He calls Abraham. He rescues Israel from slavery. He pursues David. Jesus calls fishermen. Jesus invites tax collectors. Jesus eats with sinners. The gospel always begins with invitation.

Not “Come when you’ve cleaned yourself up.” Simply: “Come.”

The table becomes the place where we remember who God is, learn His story, and discover that we belong to something much bigger than ourselves.

We are all invited into a relationship with God!

Now if you have grown up in any sort of religious environment – Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, you may not have understood this quite right. Religions give us rules to follow to get God to love us. In addition our human nature wants to be able to say that we earn whatever we get. In our pride, we want to do good things so that God owes us.

This is not the message of Jesus. God loves us and invites us to follow Him and then out of gratitude and with His help then we live a new life.

Have you said: “yes!” to a relationship with God through Jesus? Do you have God at the center of your life seeking to love Him and love others in the words you say and the actions you take? If so, stay on it! God will guide! If you slip up or get distracted or tempted, just restart!

Just before reminding us of how loving God is, one of the eyewitnesses of Jesus who was one of the 12 disciples named John says:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

Have you said, “yes” only to wander away?
Maybe you have slipped into a more cultural version of Christianity where you believe all the “right things” in your mind but you haven’t let Him change your heart.
Or maybe you have a transactional relationship with God where you trust Him as long as good things happen in your life, but you turn away from Him when He doesn’t answer your prayers the way you want Him to answer them and when you want Him to answer them.

Today you can start afresh! You can come home to the One who created you!

Maybe you are here and still exploring, today can be the day when you find what you are looking for!

To those of you exploring or to those of you who have a more religious view of God, today He invites you into a more loving relationship with Him than you could ever imagine!

He gave His life for you, by dying on the cross taking upon Himself all of the evil choices you have made and evil thoughts you have had. And by the way, we are all broken. All of us have made terrible choices and have had dark thoughts. Even still, God loves you!

So how then do you begin this relationship with our loving God?

It’s simply saying “yes” to His invitation.

Ask for forgiveness. Ask that what Jesus did on the cross would count for you. Ask Him to lead you and guide you! Ask Him to help you surrender everything else that He would be the center of your life!

God loves and then we respond.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:8-10

When we say “yes” to a relationship with God through Jesus, we are forgiven! We are made new! We are adopted into His family! We receive the Holy Spirit within us to convict, guide,, and empower us!

And now out of gratitude and with His help, we live a new life! We begin to listen to His voice each day and do the good works He invites us to do!

The Hebrew word Shema means more than hearing. It means hearing with the intention of responding. Listening that changes your life.

For those of us who are parents, we use this idea all the time. When we say to our kids: “You’re not listening. We don’t mean they didn’t hear us (although that could be the case at times). Usually we mean: “you may have heard my words, but you did not put them into action.”

When God says we need to listen, that also means we need to do what we hear Him say.

To become the person the One who created us designed us to be means allowing Him to be at the center of our life and following His lead.

Here’s what is amazing, are you thinking: “I want to believe, but I just have so many questions.” That’s good! That’s honest! Just wanting to believe puts you in a good spot!

If that’s you try this prayer: “God, help me believe.”

There is a story of a man who came to Jesus for help as his son was having convulsions. He asked Jesus to heal his son saying:
“If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
Jesus responded: “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” – Mark 9:22-24

I love that prayer “I do believe [pause]; help me overcome my unbelief!”

So I just want to pause for a moment in the middle of this message to give you a chance to connect with God.

If you are fully surrendered but needing to confess something, now is your chance to do that.

If you are wanting to restart a relationship (not have a religious view of God) or fully surrender for the first time, now is an opportunity to do this.

If you want to believe, ask Him to help you.

Right now, in the silence, connect your heart to God on your own in your own heart and mind. If you are in a good place, prayer for others during this time.

Examples of how to pray:

“Heavenly Father, forgive me for going my own way. Jesus, I ask that you would forgive me and become my leader, my Lord. Holy Spirit, come into my life and guide me to live a fully surrendered life.”

“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

If you prayed this for the first time or this is the first time you are understanding it’s his grace and not your works that enables you to have this relationship with God, we are so excited for you and want to ask that you let us know so we can serve you in your journey. Just use the connect card to indicate that today you have decided to follow Jesus.

Back to the Shema, the 2nd thing we notice is that…

God forms us.

Let’s read it again:

We are shaped by daily rhythms—prayer, Scripture, worship, meals, conversations, and community.

Faith grows through everyday rhythms, not extraordinary moments.

“Talk about them when you sit…walk…lie down…get up.”

Notice that Moses doesn’t describe spectacular moments. He describes ordinary life. The greatest spiritual formation doesn’t usually happen at special events. It happens during breakfast, on the drive to school, at bedtime, during difficult conversations, and in everyday faithfulness.

The Shema assumes discipleship is woven into life.

Transformation happens over time as we consistently return to God’s presence.

Transformation almost always feels slow. Most things grow slowly like seeds becoming trees, children becoming adults. This is also true of those who are disciples of Jesus.

Devotion is repeated faithfulness over time. Growth isn’t usually dramatic but it’s cumulative. Growth happens over a meal, through our prayers, through conversations, and through every act of obedience.

God uses ordinary faithfulness to produce extraordinary fruit.

The rhythms God gives us are reminders of grace. We become what we worship. If our daily rhythms revolve around success, comfort, achievement, or approval, those things shape our hearts. Everyone is being discipled by something. The question isn’t whether you’re being formed, but what is forming you?

In this next season, how can you prioritize your relationship with God so that He remains the center of your life?

Are there some things at work that you need to turn down or ways to bring God in?

Are there things with your kids busy lives that you need to say “no” or “maybe later” or can you be a light and more intentional reaching out to others at those practices and games?

Are there ways you can make coming on Sundays more possible?
Is there a group during the week or a team on Sundays with which you can join?

Is there a way God is calling you to start something new here with us, in your neighborhood, or at your work?

And finally, the Shema teaches us…

God gives us a family.

No one follows Jesus alone. The Church is a family where everyone has a seat.

Ancient Israel never imagined someone following God by themselves. The Shema was communal. “Hear, O Israel…” Not: “Hear, isolated individual.”

We saw this as we went through the book of Acts this past spring and into the summer. Acts 2 echoes this beautifully.

Just after the message Peter shared at Pentecost in Acts 2, notice the response from the people and how they lived their lives together.

41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. – Acts 2:41-47

The early believers devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer. Notice how often meals appear. They didn’t merely attend services. They shared lives. The table became a picture of the Kingdom. Everyone needed everyone. The church isn’t an event but a family.

We cannot fully become the person God has created us to be without being in community. We need encouragement and accountability. We need other people!

And when we start to follow Jesus, we are part of His family! That means we become aunties and uncles, big sisters, and big brothers, and even spiritual moms and spiritual dads to those we lead to faith and help grow in their faith.

God invites us into relationship.

He invites us to the table where He forms us and where we enjoy family, community. We are formed at God’s table so we can make room for others at His table.

As we close, I want to share a practical challenge with you.

Practical Challenge

This week, intentionally gather around a table.
Share one meal without distractions with your roommates, your small group, or your family.
Pray together with your family or with a friend each day.
Begin the Pray First devotional.
Ask someone to share how God has been faithful in their life.
Create space for spiritual conversations at home, school, or at work.