back to index2021-01-07 Meaning of Communion
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke 22, verse 15. 00:00:12.480 |
We're going to take some time this morning before I jump into the book of Hebrews to 00:00:24.680 |
You know, there's some people who may go to church in and out and they're, again, not 00:00:30.440 |
really understanding the significance of some of the things that we do at church. 00:00:35.680 |
And so there's a tendency to think that the most important things that we need to practice 00:00:42.680 |
How do we raise children about finance, about evangelism, about making disciples? 00:00:46.880 |
But when it comes to maybe baptism and communion, those are things for like, for religious people, 00:00:53.520 |
We learned this in seminary, but for the regular people, it really doesn't matter. 00:00:58.480 |
There's nothing in the Bible that differentiates between... 00:01:01.880 |
These are important for pastors, but regular people, it doesn't matter. 00:01:05.120 |
When the Bible says not to turn from it to the left or to the right, that's a command 00:01:11.400 |
So we need to be careful that we don't participate in things that we don't understand for religious 00:01:15.800 |
reasons because, you know, if you look at the nation of Israel, before they went into 00:01:23.640 |
They were at the temple doing what God told them to do, and yet God would call them evil 00:01:28.360 |
assemblies, that their worship was a burden to them because they were going through it 00:01:32.360 |
through the motion, obeying the letter of the law, but they have no understanding of 00:01:36.560 |
the spirit of the law, why God gave those laws to begin with. 00:01:40.240 |
So we want to make sure that as a church, that we are not just reformed in theology, 00:01:47.040 |
That everything that we're doing in church, we're doing out of obedience to what we see 00:01:54.400 |
Communion is one of those things that if we don't understand what we're doing, it just 00:01:57.760 |
becomes a religious practice that we do and say, "Well, it means the body, it means the 00:02:04.080 |
You know, you do it that way, this church does it that way, so it must not be significant. 00:02:08.120 |
Since there is no complete agreement, so whenever there isn't 100% agreement, it must not be 00:02:14.760 |
And it's dangerous for us to approach the scriptures that way because there isn't 100% 00:02:19.760 |
agreement in anything in scripture, even the gospel. 00:02:23.720 |
And so if we dismiss something simply because there isn't 100% agreement, we're in danger 00:02:28.720 |
of us picking and choosing what we think is important and what's not important. 00:02:31.800 |
So we want to make sure that as we continue to practice communion, that this is taught 00:02:36.360 |
in our BCC class, but we also want to make sure that whether you are new to the church 00:02:41.600 |
or whether you've been in here for a while, that there's nothing that we do, especially 00:02:46.040 |
the communion table, which is so sacred in a way that we don't fully get what we're doing 00:02:51.360 |
and why we're doing what we're doing and how we're doing what we're doing. 00:02:54.560 |
So we want to take some time, and again, I'm probably already turned off some of you, right? 00:02:59.280 |
We're going to spend the whole day just talking about communion, but again, we believe it's 00:03:03.400 |
important enough that we want to make sure we're on the same page. 00:03:07.920 |
Luke chapter 22, 15, again, we're going to be in various passages, but we want to look 00:03:12.240 |
at the central thing that Jesus gave us before and what initiated this communion, this Lord's 00:03:19.320 |
In Luke 22, verse 15, "He said to them, 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover 00:03:28.080 |
Verse 19, "And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it 00:03:31.880 |
to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. 00:03:37.320 |
And in the same way, He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup, which 00:03:41.320 |
is poured out for you, is the new covenant in my blood.'" 00:03:45.400 |
So let's pray, and then we'll jump into the text. 00:03:47.760 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your continued grace. 00:03:53.080 |
Help us to have a deepening understanding of what you have commanded the church to practice, 00:03:59.320 |
the significance of it and what it was given us for, that we would be sustained, strengthened, 00:04:07.860 |
and to be matured, Lord God, so that we may be anchored in Christ and Christ alone. 00:04:15.320 |
Again, if you've been raised in the church, so maybe your parents were Christians or maybe 00:04:22.280 |
you went to church early, in elementary school or high school, there are certain things that 00:04:26.520 |
you do without fully engaging, without fully understanding why these things are done. 00:04:33.200 |
Every once in a while, somebody might challenge you and say, "Oh yeah, why do we do that?" 00:04:36.560 |
Or maybe you'll go to another church that practices it a different way, and then you 00:04:39.920 |
might ask, "Huh, I wonder why they do it this way?" 00:04:43.840 |
And then, so you might dig further to properly understand, or you might just say, "Well, 00:04:49.400 |
you know, we have differences of opinion, but we don't really dig further." 00:04:52.500 |
And then we have the superficial questioning of why are there denominations? 00:04:57.960 |
God clearly must not be happy with denominations, so therefore, anything that causes any kind 00:05:04.640 |
of division in the church should not be emphasized too much. 00:05:10.040 |
Jesus loved us, died for us, resurrected on the third day, and we should gather together 00:05:15.080 |
And outside of that, don't talk about it too much, or it'll divide the church. 00:05:20.020 |
That is the misunderstanding, and again, a very dangerous approach to the scripture, 00:05:26.840 |
because by doing so, all kinds of false doctrines enter into the church because we're not paying 00:05:33.240 |
We have to make sure that we understand all of scripture, that we are practicing all of 00:05:38.600 |
In fact, I have found that the more we pay attention to scripture, the more we practice 00:05:43.440 |
the details of what the scripture says, I actually find a greater unity, not only within 00:05:50.360 |
Whenever I see another pastor, another church that really is dedicated to the verse-by-verse, 00:05:56.080 |
careful analysis of what the scripture says, I find complete union with that person or 00:06:00.640 |
with that church, more than you could say you're a Baptist or just have a name title, 00:06:07.560 |
And superficially, we seem united, but in reality, we're not. 00:06:11.800 |
You know where it first hit me, where there's so many traditions that we practice that we 00:06:17.160 |
don't really understand, was when I first started officiating weddings. 00:06:22.360 |
Because I grew up in the church, so I just assumed a lot of things. 00:06:24.560 |
I just saw what my parents did, what my dad did, or what I was taught, and I just started 00:06:28.080 |
practicing it in the church because the seminary doesn't, at least the seminary I went to, 00:06:32.840 |
doesn't teach us how to do all these things, right? 00:06:35.240 |
We learn the scripture, but the practice of it, it's not really emphasized. 00:06:39.880 |
But I remember the very first wedding that I officiated, I was very nervous. 00:06:44.560 |
I was very nervous because it's a very important time, and you have adults and children and 00:06:51.860 |
all different groups of people from various backgrounds coming, and I wanted to make sure 00:06:57.320 |
So I felt more nervous than the very first time I gave my sermon because I wanted to 00:07:02.360 |
But obviously, I didn't know what I was doing. 00:07:04.720 |
So I was going off of what I remembered, right? 00:07:08.640 |
What my wedding was like or a wedding that I participated in. 00:07:11.360 |
So I was just getting things from just from memory. 00:07:17.880 |
I couldn't just go to the internet and say, "Okay, what is a Christian wedding supposed 00:07:22.800 |
What are the elements you're supposed to do and not do?" 00:07:26.200 |
I was asking people, but again, there weren't a lot of people that I could ask at that time. 00:07:30.920 |
So I remember the very first wedding, and it was a former youth student that used to 00:07:36.560 |
be in my youth group, graduated, met her fiance, asked me to officiate the wedding. 00:07:44.920 |
We showed up, and any of you who participated in that wedding, there's a lot of like, "You 00:07:49.280 |
should do this and you shouldn't do this," right? 00:07:59.400 |
Well, where do the grooms, where do they stand? 00:08:05.480 |
And during the ceremony, like, there's an announcement. 00:08:11.680 |
So I'm just trying to remember all this stuff. 00:08:14.360 |
And then all throughout the thing, I'm trying to remember the tradition, but I don't remember 00:08:21.120 |
And I remember thinking, I don't know if I saw it in a wedding or I saw it in a movie 00:08:26.960 |
You know, I know that they throw rice at people. 00:08:34.160 |
And then there's a part of the wedding where they would ask, "If anybody has anything against 00:08:39.520 |
these two people getting married, speak now forever, hold your peace." 00:08:43.600 |
That's a weird thing to ask in the middle of a wedding. 00:08:47.040 |
And I was thinking, they should have said that before they came to the wedding. 00:08:50.320 |
Why are they waiting until right before they get married to say that? 00:08:54.920 |
And I remember just kind of trying to figure this out at the practice. 00:08:59.080 |
And one of the moms asked me, the mom of the groom, you know, the side that I didn't know. 00:09:03.800 |
I knew the bride's side, but I didn't know the groom's side. 00:09:07.800 |
She asked me, like, at the end of the wedding, who's supposed to go out first? 00:09:12.480 |
Do the groom's side go out first or the bride's side go out first? 00:09:17.720 |
And I hesitated for a minute, for a second, you know, because I'm trying to figure out, 00:09:21.680 |
I'm winging this thing from the beginning to the end, right? 00:09:24.880 |
I didn't want to act like I didn't know what I was doing. 00:09:27.960 |
But the mother of the bride saw that I was hesitating and she grabbed the other mother 00:09:33.640 |
of the groom and pulled her aside and whispered in her ear where I heard, "Don't ask him because 00:09:43.880 |
And I was so nervous going into that practice, but after she said that, it's like, "Okay, 00:09:49.720 |
Forget this, you know, this is going to be a big joke." 00:09:52.140 |
After that, obviously, after that wedding, we got through it. 00:09:55.880 |
And starting from the next wedding, I wanted to make sure, right? 00:10:11.680 |
And then, so I just kind of took out the things that I didn't fully understand. 00:10:15.160 |
And I realized that there wasn't really a standard. 00:10:18.120 |
It's not like a biblical standard, like the Bible says to do this, because there is no 00:10:26.360 |
So you'll see if you go to a wedding, their basic elements are similar. 00:10:32.320 |
And then there's 10%, you know, sometimes they take off their shoes and wash their feet 00:10:37.520 |
But there is no, you can or cannot do, because it's not instructed in the Bible, right? 00:10:42.920 |
Now I say all of that to introduce to you, sometimes the things that we do in the church, 00:10:48.020 |
we don't really realize is that biblical or is that not biblical? 00:10:54.800 |
If you go to church, you're supposed to be baptized, right? 00:10:59.040 |
You give offerings, somebody gives a sermon, you know, and then we have fellowship, and 00:11:03.960 |
then we have discipleship, we have evangelism, we have short-term missions. 00:11:06.840 |
So you have all these elements that the churches do, and there's some things that are clearly 00:11:12.280 |
biblical that's being taught, and then there are some things that may be biblical, but 00:11:16.360 |
you don't understand the meaning behind it, but you just do it out of tradition, right? 00:11:22.200 |
But because you do it out of tradition and you don't understand the significance of what 00:11:25.640 |
it is, it doesn't benefit you the way it's supposed to. 00:11:31.560 |
The Bible gives us two ordinances, the baptism and communion that is elevated above everything 00:11:40.480 |
It's not because we elevated it, the Bible elevated it, and this is universal in all 00:11:46.640 |
Whether you are a Presbyterian or a Methodist or whatever denomination you come from, the 00:11:52.080 |
fact that these two ordinances were given to us in the church is agreed upon. 00:11:59.080 |
The meaning and practice of it may be different, but the fact that they are ordained in the 00:12:04.480 |
church to be elevated and to be taken seriously is universally accepted. 00:12:11.100 |
So as we practice communion, we want to make sure that just like we're doing baptism, we're 00:12:17.280 |
reviewing baptism, and are we practicing it the way that the Bible teaches, and are there 00:12:21.940 |
biblical things that we can stand upon and give you evidence that this is the reason 00:12:27.720 |
In the same way, we want to make sure that our church, not just the pastors, not just 00:12:31.280 |
the elders, our church understands this thing that we do every other month. 00:12:36.960 |
Some of you may come from churches that do it every week. 00:12:39.840 |
Some of you came from churches that did it once a month. 00:12:41.760 |
Some of you may have come from churches that don't practice it at all. 00:12:50.680 |
What are the ways and what are the reasoning behind this? 00:12:53.800 |
So the text that we read in Luke chapter 22, 15 to 19, to start off, it clearly says that 00:13:01.200 |
Jesus as he was participating in the Passover meal, he says to do this in remembrance of 00:13:07.960 |
In other words, what the Jews were doing, what the Israelites were doing to commemorate 00:13:12.400 |
the Passover was now to be taken and to be applied to Christ. 00:13:19.560 |
So the most clearest understanding of the communion comes from the Lord's table before 00:13:25.120 |
Jesus goes to the cross, to do this in remembrance of me. 00:13:30.000 |
So the first part, I want to make sure that we understand what does the Bible teach us 00:13:36.800 |
I'm going to go over the first different views that people have of communion and then I'll 00:13:44.560 |
start with the meaning behind the Baptist meaning. 00:13:47.640 |
The Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation, which literally means that the elements actually 00:13:53.600 |
physically become the blood of Christ and the body of Christ. 00:13:58.200 |
Obviously we don't believe that, but that's what the Catholics believe. 00:14:01.720 |
The Lutherans believe in consubstantiation, that they're a step below that where they 00:14:08.400 |
don't think that the elements actually turn into the body and the blood, but the actual 00:14:12.600 |
body and the blood appears at the communion table with, alongside, that's what consubstantiation 00:14:21.120 |
The Presbyterians believe what's called a sacramental memorial. 00:14:26.200 |
Sacramental memorial is the primary meaning behind it is a memorial, is for the purpose 00:14:32.560 |
But it's a sacramental memorial, meaning that they believe in the dynamic presence of Christ, 00:14:37.900 |
that in the element of itself, when it is participated, there is grace given to everybody 00:14:46.180 |
So there is a dynamic presence of Christ in the communion. 00:14:50.420 |
The Baptist view of the communion is memorial for the purpose of remembering, reviving. 00:14:58.660 |
It's kind of like celebrating an event and you have a memorial in order to remind people 00:15:04.940 |
so that we do not forget, so that whatever it is that we are to do going forward, that 00:15:11.060 |
That's why when you have important events in history, they set up memorials, right? 00:15:14.940 |
If you go to New York, they have memorials for the people who died there and they have 00:15:18.740 |
a memorial for the firefighters and for the police officers who gave their life in sacrifice. 00:15:26.900 |
So that people will not forget the sacrifice, that they may be honored for the life that 00:15:34.860 |
So baptism, from our point of view, from what I see in scripture, what Jesus says, 00:15:39.900 |
to do this in remembrance of me, in remembrance of me. 00:15:45.020 |
So when we participate in this communion, there is no power in these elements. 00:15:51.660 |
You can't take this into your car and then drink it and say, "I feel it." 00:15:59.220 |
Somehow God has ordained this bread and God has ordained this drink and all of a sudden 00:16:03.940 |
there's something supernatural going on inside because you happen to participate in it. 00:16:08.060 |
It's what it signifies and what it causes us to remember as a memorial that has the 00:16:17.020 |
So if we think that way, some people think that, well, if that's the case, if it's 00:16:20.540 |
just a memorial, why do we take it seriously? 00:16:28.860 |
Because the Bible doesn't present that even though it is a memorial, the Bible just doesn't 00:16:32.660 |
say, "Well, since it's a memorial, it's not important. 00:16:37.420 |
It is only one of two ordinances given to us. 00:16:41.900 |
The word "ordinance," before we get into the meaning of the Passover, the word "ordinance," 00:16:48.220 |
at some point, I forget if it was in November or December, remember the governor of the 00:16:52.300 |
state passed an ordinance that there was going to be a curfew at 10 o'clock. 00:17:00.740 |
A law that is passed that everyone is supposed to obey, which nobody obeyed. 00:17:06.420 |
I don't know a single person who even knows that that even existed, right? 00:17:10.540 |
People didn't take it seriously, but at least that's what it means by an ordinance, like 00:17:15.020 |
a set of rules that's supposed to govern wherever that law has authority. 00:17:21.140 |
And so in the Scripture, the local church, two ordinances have been given, the baptism 00:17:28.980 |
So we want to make sure, we want to make sure that the Bible is handled correctly. 00:17:33.420 |
We want to make sure that the fellowship reflects who God is, that we do evangelism. 00:17:37.660 |
But above all the things that the church has been called to do, there's only two things 00:17:41.860 |
that are elevated as an ordinance, baptism and communion. 00:17:50.540 |
We want to make sure that we don't just simply dismiss that and say, "Oh, we're not completely 00:17:57.060 |
You can't simply say, "We're not united so it's not important." 00:18:00.380 |
It's because it's important that we need to pay extra attention that we apply it biblically. 00:18:08.060 |
And so that's why we visited about the baptism and certain things are being taught and certain 00:18:13.860 |
things being practiced because we want to be, we want to respect what the Bible says, 00:18:18.820 |
not to turn from it to the left or to the right. 00:18:21.100 |
And we want to do the same thing when it comes to communion. 00:18:24.260 |
That you understand that this thing that we do every other month, what is the significance 00:18:28.940 |
of it and what is it supposed to do and why do we practice it the way that we practice 00:18:33.540 |
So, first of all, because Jesus said in the Passover meal to do this in remembrance of 00:18:40.700 |
me, there's three things that the Passover meal was supposed to cause them to remember. 00:18:46.980 |
The first thing is, the first thing of the Passover meal was a celebration of God's 00:18:56.860 |
That's the clearest and the obvious and the plainest teaching of the Passover meal. 00:19:02.420 |
So you remember the Passover where God's Spirit comes and he judges the nation of Egypt and 00:19:08.340 |
he says to put the lamb's blood on the doorpost and as a result of the lamb's blood, the angel 00:19:14.420 |
of death crosses over and they are delivered. 00:19:19.900 |
So every time they commemorated this, the Passover, they would remember by God's protection, 00:19:26.220 |
the lamb of the blood caused them to be saved. 00:19:29.860 |
And that's what it says in Exodus chapter 13, 3, "Moses said to the people, 'Remember 00:19:33.740 |
this day in which you went out from Egypt from the house of slavery, for by a powerful 00:19:38.620 |
hand the Lord brought you out from this place and nothing leavened shall be eaten.'" 00:19:44.900 |
And so every time they had the Passover meal, it was to remind them of God's deliverance 00:19:50.740 |
That the only reason why they even exist is because God was merciful. 00:20:01.440 |
God supernaturally had mercy and had a power encounter with the Egyptian idols and delivered 00:20:10.340 |
So it was to constantly cause them to remember, you live because of Him. 00:20:18.440 |
And so when we come to the New Testament, when Jesus says to do that in remembrance 00:20:21.900 |
of me, He says all of that what the Israelites were doing was to prepare for the real deliverance 00:20:30.380 |
In 1 Corinthians 11, 26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you 00:20:35.180 |
proclaim the Lord's death until He comes so that we would not forget." 00:20:42.980 |
You know, again, I think in the last 10 years there was this movement, like the gospel-centered 00:20:49.900 |
And I think the important part of that movement was it's true. 00:20:56.300 |
The moment we begin to drift away from what saved us, we can easily drift to think and 00:21:03.460 |
to be sidetracked to think somehow that if we work hard enough, if we find the right 00:21:07.980 |
method, if we write the right books, if we have the right leader, somehow revival is 00:21:14.860 |
It was to constantly cause the nation of Israel to remember so that they do not drift from 00:21:24.900 |
Because there's so many things in our life that can easily cause us to be distracted. 00:21:31.040 |
If you were going to Hawaii on a little, tiny little sailboat, right, and you may have heard 00:21:36.420 |
this illustration before, but you don't need to change the boat from here to here to get 00:21:45.740 |
All you need is a slight change of direction. 00:21:48.720 |
That in the beginning seems like nothing, but after you've traveled four or five miles, 00:21:54.560 |
And that's why when the Bible says not to drift, drifting is when we're not clearly 00:21:59.800 |
anchored in Christ, little things that we do causes us to drift toward things ultimately 00:22:07.560 |
So when people fall away from God, most of the time they can't point to something and 00:22:12.120 |
say, "Oh, this is when I decided to fall away from God." 00:22:15.520 |
They can't have, there's not a clear point where it says, "Oh, I rejected God at this 00:22:20.640 |
At some point in their life, they gave into their compromise. 00:22:24.200 |
At some point in their life, they didn't take their faith seriously. 00:22:27.680 |
At some point in their life, they began to slightly drift. 00:22:31.560 |
And that slight drift a year later, five years later, 10 years later, 30 years later, you 00:22:36.600 |
end up waking up one day, "How did I get here? 00:22:38.800 |
I remember when I was in college, I was willing to give my life for Christ. 00:22:43.880 |
I wanted to marry a missionary and I want to do all this stuff." 00:22:46.600 |
Twenty years later, after tiny compromise, one after another, you realize you are so 00:22:51.800 |
far away from God and you can't pinpoint exactly when this happened. 00:23:05.240 |
And I think there's many of us, even in this room and all over the world, who they can 00:23:10.800 |
look back at a certain stage in their life and say, "You know, man, I wish I could turn 00:23:17.320 |
But now the worries of life, concerns about retirement, about paying bills, about raising 00:23:22.560 |
children has got me all caught up and I've drifted. 00:23:25.720 |
And I know I've drifted, but how do I get back?" 00:23:31.320 |
You know, our human tendency is when we see people drifting, like we have to switch programs. 00:23:42.880 |
We have older brothers looking out for younger brothers, senior to freshman. 00:23:46.920 |
So we establish all of these things, saying like, "If we wanted to get back to God, we 00:23:53.760 |
Well, none of those things are wrong, but none of those things are explicitly written 00:24:01.600 |
The only thing that is explicitly written in Scripture is to fix your eyes upon Christ, 00:24:08.520 |
We've been studying the book of Hebrews because they were drifting away, right? 00:24:15.920 |
They weren't saying that He wasn't resurrected from Christ. 00:24:19.400 |
They didn't take seriously the weightiness of what they had. 00:24:24.280 |
So because they were drifting, the solution to their drifting is Christ. 00:24:29.240 |
So we spent 10 chapters, from chapter 1 to chapter 10, and then in chapter 11, being 00:24:39.760 |
Because what God gave us so that we do not drift is to constantly remember what saved 00:24:47.960 |
In the book, Ask Guinness, "No God but God," he describes three generations that 00:24:55.840 |
The first generation are the ones who convert, and they're the builders. 00:25:01.040 |
And then their children are the second generation where they become lukewarm, where the passion 00:25:06.200 |
that they had initially starts to wane at the end of their life, and their children 00:25:10.060 |
remember who they were at the end of their life. 00:25:13.680 |
And so they inherit the form without the power. 00:25:19.060 |
But the lukewarm Christian at the end of their life begins to drift so far away from God 00:25:23.880 |
that with the third generation, all they remember is the tail end of the lukewarm life. 00:25:30.400 |
And so that's how he says in his study, by third generation, there's apostasy. 00:25:36.120 |
So if you're part of the first generation that received Christ, tendency is, and don't 00:25:45.120 |
But the tendency is if we do not continue to anchor in Christ all our life, our next 00:25:51.320 |
generation is going to inherit the church, inherit the Sunday school, inherit VBS, inherit 00:25:56.560 |
the form without the passion, without the faith. 00:26:02.960 |
Apostasy happens in the third generation because there was nothing for them to inherit at the 00:26:08.120 |
tail end of the second generation, and the third generation just walks away from their 00:26:13.520 |
And this is why the communion table is so important. 00:26:16.480 |
Not the form, not putting this in our body and say, "Well, I did it, so I have somehow 00:26:25.720 |
As a pastor, my constant struggle is when I forget what saved me, what I value, and 00:26:34.320 |
why I came into ministry, it just becomes a job. 00:26:41.120 |
And when it just becomes a job, it's unbearable. 00:26:45.760 |
And so I have to constantly fight in my heart, not just through communion, but through devotions, 00:26:51.160 |
I have to constantly remind it, "Why did I start this?" 00:26:54.600 |
For the moment I drift from that and it becomes a job, it's not worth it. 00:27:01.200 |
As Christians, if you forget and you start to drift, eventually you have to salvage something 00:27:11.800 |
Because if it's not your devotion, if it's not your love for Christ and Christ's love 00:27:14.840 |
for you that's drawing you to church, something else is drawing you to church. 00:27:23.240 |
So when people are nice to you, when you fit in and you're loved and you're part of a community, 00:27:27.160 |
it's great, but as soon as that starts to break down, I don't want to go to church anymore 00:27:30.680 |
because the church is filled with hypocrites. 00:27:33.680 |
So at some point in their walk with God, the fellowship became the primary thing because 00:27:43.280 |
Again, when that happens, there's no, you can't pinpoint at one point that happens, 00:27:48.800 |
but you know in your heart when that happens. 00:27:51.000 |
It's no longer the love for Christ, it's no longer his sacrifice that's drawing me to him, 00:27:57.880 |
A church that forgets and begins to drift, it becomes nothing more than a social gathering 00:28:06.200 |
Where you know, we need to salvage, why are we gathered together? 00:28:09.120 |
We have these resources, we have homeless people, we have sex trafficking, and so we 00:28:17.160 |
The Bible tells us that those things ought to be our characters, those things ought to 00:28:24.360 |
But that is not the central purpose of the church. 00:28:28.320 |
Chuck Colson in his book, The Church, he writes of a story of this church in the South where 00:28:34.720 |
it's a tiny church, they wanted to help for social causes and there was this lady who 00:28:42.520 |
And so she started cooking fried chicken, they started raising a lot of money and everybody 00:28:45.820 |
around town started to hear about her fried chicken. 00:28:48.700 |
And so the fried chicken became the central thing at this church. 00:28:51.960 |
The people outside the church would come and buy this fried chicken, but at the same time, 00:28:56.160 |
the core things of the church, preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible and fellowship 00:29:02.060 |
in Christ started getting neglected and this fried chicken started to really take off. 00:29:06.960 |
And they were doing good things with this money, helping the poor. 00:29:09.760 |
And he talks about how this church eventually drifted away, ended up shutting down the church 00:29:20.040 |
A church that forgets why we are gathered together becomes nothing more than a social 00:29:28.280 |
And sometimes we're not even aware of it until we start having relational problems 00:29:32.240 |
and then the church has no longer any meaning. 00:29:37.720 |
That's why the communion table has been given to us so that we do not drift. 00:29:44.480 |
The reason why you and I are gathered together is because He is our salvation. 00:29:48.640 |
That's what the communion table is to remind us of. 00:29:51.160 |
Secondly, the Passover served to remind Israel of God's care and deliverance during times 00:29:56.960 |
He says in Deuteronomy 7.17, "If you should say in your heart, 'These nations are greater 00:30:05.960 |
You shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt." 00:30:11.760 |
He says, as you wander in the desert, as you get into the promised land, there's going 00:30:15.680 |
to be nations that are much more fortified and stronger. 00:30:23.760 |
You're going to experience trials and maybe some of it that you're not even going to understand. 00:30:28.160 |
But during those periods, remember that God delivered you. 00:30:34.320 |
He saved you, so He's also going to sustain you. 00:30:39.440 |
And so that's what the Passover, not only to remember what He did in the past, but because 00:30:43.880 |
of what He has done in the past, how will He not, who saved you from all of that, not 00:30:48.960 |
sustain you, just kind of send you out into the wilderness and say, "Good luck. 00:30:52.760 |
And it's to remind them that their strength is in God. 00:30:58.240 |
That's what it was supposed to remind them every year at the Passover meal. 00:31:02.560 |
And in the same way, it says in Romans 8.31-35, Apostle Paul says, "What then shall we say 00:31:13.200 |
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us, so how will He not also with 00:31:20.200 |
That's exactly what the Passover meal was for. 00:31:23.400 |
If He delivered you, if He cared for you enough to deliver you, why would He not sustain you 00:31:33.000 |
If we truly believe that He loved us enough to send His only begotten Son. 00:31:42.400 |
It is inconsistent to believe in a God who would send His only begotten Son and then 00:31:49.000 |
question what God is going to take care of us financially. 00:31:53.480 |
Whether we're going to stay healthy or not, or worried about the future. 00:31:57.240 |
Now, obviously, we're human beings, so as long as we live on this earth, there's going 00:32:03.320 |
But in the big scheme of things, we're to constantly remember the communion table that 00:32:09.000 |
not only has He justified us, it is by His mercy we are sanctified. 00:32:14.960 |
So there is nothing that's going to happen in our life that doesn't come through a sovereign 00:32:21.800 |
So whatever pain that we experience, whatever things that we cannot understand, once we 00:32:26.880 |
understand that God is in the midst of this, all of a sudden, it's okay. 00:32:33.200 |
We can experience pain, but if that pain is coming from somebody who's trying to hurt 00:32:37.080 |
us versus a doctor who's giving surgery and this pain is going to lead to fixing the problem 00:32:45.640 |
that we came in with, those two different pains have a completely different purpose. 00:32:53.320 |
So in our Christian life, there may be things that come in where we need sustenance, we 00:32:59.200 |
Before we run to counselors, before we run to friendship, before we run to community, 00:33:04.360 |
that we come to the communion table and remember, He who did not spare even His own Son to deliver 00:33:11.080 |
us, how will He not, along with Him, give us all things that are necessary? 00:33:19.600 |
Sometimes even pain is given to us for our good. 00:33:24.320 |
That's what the Passover was to remind us of. 00:33:30.160 |
2nd part of Romans 8, again 33 says, "Will He bring a charge against God's elect? 00:33:38.640 |
Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised. 00:33:45.680 |
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? 00:33:47.600 |
Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness, peril or sword?" 00:33:59.420 |
He doesn't justify us and then He sends you off and is like, "Try hard to be sanctified 00:34:04.840 |
He said, "No, if He justified us, He will sanctify us and then He will eventually glorify 00:34:15.880 |
Our very practical needs today, there's a tendency to think the church is good for religious 00:34:22.320 |
When I want to think about eternity, when I want to talk about evangelism, then the 00:34:28.920 |
To pay my bills, raising children, retirement, these are things that I need to do. 00:34:40.040 |
Sometimes again, that causes us to get into trouble and that's what the communion table 00:34:47.440 |
But the third reason I think is the most relevant to us for the Passover. 00:34:54.000 |
Because when trials and hardship comes, if you are a genuine believer, it causes us to 00:35:05.520 |
So when persecution comes, it almost always leads to the purification of the church. 00:35:10.400 |
I was reading this week that because of the pandemic and so many people who've been online 00:35:16.200 |
and not physically at church, as an ability to be fellowship, participate in Bible study, 00:35:21.520 |
the surprising number of people who fell away from church, they said 50%. 00:35:28.280 |
So we have no idea when all the churches open, what the church is going to look like, because 00:35:35.760 |
Out of the 50%, some of them have gone for good. 00:35:40.880 |
Out of the 50%, some of them have moved churches. 00:35:45.960 |
The 50% is, if you take the totality of the churches, that the people who used to be at 00:35:51.640 |
that church, 50% are no longer at that church. 00:35:55.800 |
Now we may be shocked by that and say, "Well, I mean, we had hardship and it's actually 00:36:04.200 |
In fact, you know, when I talked to the Indian pastors, they said, "With all the persecution 00:36:08.600 |
that's coming and literally they don't know if they're going to walk into the village, 00:36:12.720 |
if they're going to get stoned or not, how does that affect you guys?" 00:36:16.640 |
And he said, "It's been good because it purified the church. 00:36:26.680 |
And so the few who are genuinely walking with God are more fervent in their faith. 00:36:35.680 |
So persecution is not what worries the church. 00:36:42.480 |
If your end goal is safety, if your end goal is to live a good life where your children 00:36:47.280 |
are raised in a godly home, go to a good church, go to VPS, and then they live a peaceful, 00:36:52.120 |
comfortable life until they're 80, and then they live... 00:36:54.280 |
If that's your goal, yes, persecution is going to disturb that. 00:36:58.400 |
Before end goal is to glorify God and to share the gospel, persecution is actually good. 00:37:03.280 |
The challenge and the struggle is actually good for us than to live in peace. 00:37:08.120 |
Our problem is not persecution, it's in times of peace when we don't feel pressure. 00:37:16.520 |
And our natural tendency is we want to live where there is good neighborhood, where we 00:37:24.860 |
But our natural tendency to live in comfort is what causes us to drift. 00:37:31.560 |
When the storm comes, everybody anchors because they see the danger. 00:37:35.960 |
Because if you're not anchored when the storm comes, I mean, you can literally die. 00:37:45.200 |
And that's what he says in Deuteronomy 8, 11. 00:37:48.120 |
"Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His 00:37:51.920 |
ordinances and His statutes, which I am commanding you today. 00:37:56.200 |
Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses and lived in them, 00:38:01.000 |
and when your herds of your flocks multiply and your silver and gold multiply, and all 00:38:05.160 |
that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the 00:38:09.200 |
Lord and your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery." 00:38:13.720 |
17, "Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made 00:38:22.320 |
But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He," look at how many times he says 00:38:27.640 |
"It is He who is giving you the power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which 00:38:33.120 |
He swore to your fathers, and it is this day." 00:38:40.280 |
The main problem of the Israelites was not when the enemies were coming. 00:38:50.560 |
It was when they were financially stable, when the temple was being used at full force, 00:38:58.160 |
when everything was being done, and they were following the command, the letter of the law. 00:39:11.280 |
He said, "Even the music, the instruments that you play," He said, "has become noise 00:39:16.940 |
Hosea 13, 5-6, "I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of the drought. 00:39:22.840 |
As they had their pasture, they became satisfied; and being satisfied, their heart became proud. 00:39:33.460 |
If you look in the book of Judges, right before revival, there's judgment because they forgot 00:39:44.440 |
So when they were in the greatest danger was not when the judgment was there, was not when 00:39:51.920 |
Because when the enemies started to attack, that's when they cried out to God. 00:39:54.560 |
God had mercy and would raise up a judge and through the judge overthrow their enemies, 00:40:01.780 |
And after they celebrated, they became satisfied. 00:40:04.720 |
And once they became satisfied, they became proud and they forgot God. 00:40:07.720 |
So the most dangerous period in Israel's cycle is when they were at peace. 00:40:20.040 |
Because when we are doing well, our bills are paid, and things are going well, our natural 00:40:24.420 |
tendency is I made a good judgment, I bought the house at the right time, I sold it at 00:40:28.080 |
the right time, I put my money at game stop when it was $6, and so therefore if I find 00:40:33.040 |
two more of these, I can retire by the time I'm 35. 00:40:36.840 |
And when things are going well, that's when we need to be careful. 00:40:41.560 |
Be careful when you think you stand, because that's when you will fall. 00:40:46.520 |
See, the communion, the Passover meal was given to us even in times of peace to humble 00:40:55.600 |
Every time we come to the communion table is to remind us, you did not get here on your 00:41:02.000 |
You did not come to the table because you were good this week. 00:41:06.020 |
And you cannot resist the table because you were bad. 00:41:09.520 |
The communion table humbles Nicodemus and it raises the Samaritan woman. 00:41:18.760 |
It humbles the proud and it lifts up the humble. 00:41:29.080 |
And that's why we participate in this communion, because once we forget that, what it symbolizes, 00:41:33.800 |
what it was supposed to remind us, and the moment we start to drift, we rely on our own 00:41:38.720 |
resources, we are satisfied where we are at, and we're no longer desperate. 00:41:45.320 |
And again, when we are the most in danger is when we don't feel this desperateness for 00:41:52.080 |
Because our bills are paid, our children are doing well, you have enough money in the retirement, 00:41:57.360 |
all these things that make you a good father, good mother. 00:42:00.760 |
And when you begin to take a step back and say, "Wow, I've done my job," he says, "Watch 00:42:06.640 |
Because the communion table is to remind us of our constant need for Christ. 00:42:12.240 |
So after saying that, I said, "Well, if you believe in this symbolism, why do we take 00:42:20.000 |
One, like I said, because it is an ordinance. 00:42:31.000 |
But there are a few names that different denominations, different groups, and even within the same 00:42:36.240 |
church we may use different names, and it conveys some of the things that the Bible 00:42:46.760 |
This is not a suggestion that every church that is obedient is to practice this. 00:42:51.760 |
That's why the parachurches, we don't call them churches, because one of the key factors 00:42:59.960 |
of what a church is is to practice the ordinance. 00:43:02.520 |
You can't say, "We're not a local church, so we don't practice it." 00:43:15.160 |
We don't normally use the word sacrament because there's historical connotations attached 00:43:21.040 |
But the meaning behind it is something that we need to understand. 00:43:23.840 |
Sacrament basically means sacred or set apart. 00:43:26.800 |
Just like when the priests were entering into the Holy of Holies, there was a degree of 00:43:31.200 |
seriousness that they were to take when they went into the Holy of Holies. 00:43:35.280 |
Jesus was angered because the Jews were doing selling of other products and animals and 00:43:43.600 |
making profit out the outer court where it was supposed to be a place of worship. 00:43:49.320 |
And that's why Jesus says He will be consumed with His Father's house, that it ought to 00:44:00.040 |
Now, though it is symbolic and it is a memorial, it is to be taken seriously, just like with 00:44:09.400 |
We don't just do it because that's what we think or I believe. 00:44:14.720 |
That we do not turn from it to the left or to the right because it is an ordinance commanded 00:44:19.400 |
In fact, it is so sacred in 1 Corinthians 11, 27, 28, some people were actually dying 00:44:29.280 |
because they were disrespecting the communion table. 00:44:32.040 |
"Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner 00:44:36.360 |
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." 00:44:38.560 |
In other words, you're taking something that is so sacred and you're treating it like it's 00:44:44.580 |
And so what was happening at Corinth, they were coming together and the rich people were 00:44:50.240 |
And so by doing that, causing division, right? 00:44:55.040 |
So they weren't acknowledging that the communion table itself and so they were participating 00:45:01.880 |
And because God wanted to teach the early church the significance of this ordinance, 00:45:07.600 |
the consequence of that was some of them were actually dying from this. 00:45:11.460 |
And so though we may not experience that, right? 00:45:15.480 |
But the point that God was trying to make in the Corinthian church of the sacredness 00:45:20.340 |
of this event, we ought to take seriously because it is meant to be sacred, it is meant 00:45:25.160 |
to be law, that we ought to practice it exactly the way or the way that honors God, that lends 00:45:31.780 |
to the weightiness of what it is that we are doing. 00:45:34.920 |
The other word that we use in our church that we use commonly is the word communion. 00:45:39.640 |
The word communion literally is koinonia, fellowship, to partner. 00:45:44.400 |
And so the significance behind that is that the communion was to bring the church together, 00:45:51.320 |
So communion was never meant to be done in private. 00:45:56.200 |
It was meant to be done in the context of the body of Christ. 00:45:58.360 |
And this is the reason why we do not practice communion at home, because it is to be done 00:46:08.800 |
And we do not practice communion at the wedding, because the wedding is not a gathering of 00:46:15.000 |
It is a segment of the church, it is not a gathering of the whole church. 00:46:18.280 |
And so we practice communion when the physical body of Christ is gathered together. 00:46:22.880 |
So I know that at the beginning of the pandemic, we were discussing about how come we do not 00:46:27.720 |
let the people who are at home participate in the communion. 00:46:29.920 |
And again, as much as we would like to, we do not want to give disinformation about what 00:46:37.680 |
Communion was meant for the physical gathering of the church, not to be done privately between 00:46:44.040 |
And that is why a long time ago, understanding this, we used to practice communion with the 00:46:52.360 |
Hawaiian bread, because that is kind of like the way I learned it. 00:46:57.880 |
And so the Hawaiian bread basically means it is one body and everybody participating 00:47:03.680 |
And so the way I learned it when I was young, again like I said, I was never taught this 00:47:09.320 |
So as I was practicing communion, I was just kind of going off of my memory as a youth 00:47:16.640 |
And so I remember going up to retreats and he would pass around Hawaiian bread. 00:47:20.240 |
And if he did not have one loaf, it would be just coming in that bag. 00:47:25.560 |
And then we did not have little cups, so he would give us the grape juice boxes. 00:47:30.800 |
So we would have a box of that, right, or a cup, but we would have something with the 00:47:39.600 |
And after we were finished, we would bring salami, because salami tastes really good 00:47:45.320 |
And then we would drink the rest of the grape juice and we would have lunch, right. 00:47:52.840 |
So earlier part of the church, we kind of had a version of that at church, right. 00:47:59.560 |
And I know this is sacred, but that is kind of what I remember. 00:48:02.960 |
So I remember the first three, four years of the church, we would have the Hawaiian 00:48:07.760 |
I would pour the grape juice in a big bowl and then take the Hawaiian bread from one 00:48:12.800 |
loaf and then dip it and then eat it and then go. 00:48:17.400 |
And then after we're done, whatever's left over, we would drink and get salami and then 00:48:24.600 |
And then we had a brother who came to church and he was fairly new. 00:48:32.800 |
He just kind of passionately said, you know, he saw us like taking the bread and everybody 00:48:45.560 |
And then, you know, I just heard it in passing. 00:48:46.800 |
And I said, "Oh, we do that because, you know, it's one loaf, one bread and we're doing all 00:48:59.920 |
It's like, "Maybe we shouldn't be doing that." 00:49:02.320 |
And then we started thinking like, "It's supposed to be unleavened bread. 00:49:10.840 |
And then the wine part of it that, you know, we said, "Oh, we just stopped that because 00:49:16.720 |
So we found cops and we started doing it differently. 00:49:18.780 |
So we started kind of like, "What is the best way? 00:49:21.360 |
What is the best way for us to signify what it means and convey the meaning of significance?" 00:49:27.600 |
And so that's why when we started practicing the communion, we want to make sure that we 00:49:37.840 |
So every once in a while, somebody would see us stumbling up here, putting it together 00:49:41.480 |
And somebody would say, "Hey, do you guys need some help?" 00:49:43.840 |
And you probably had to say, "Oh, we don't need your help," even though we're fumbling. 00:49:49.480 |
A part of the reason why is because we wanted to convey the sacredness of what it is that 00:49:55.840 |
Even though it is symbolic, it's not just bread. 00:49:59.440 |
That this is sacred enough that God has separated this as an ordinance, a command for the church 00:50:06.520 |
And so even this, you know, like this existed a long time ago, you know, and there was some 00:50:14.440 |
And it'd be so much easier than to set it up. 00:50:16.120 |
We just buy this and put it on the thing, just throw it away. 00:50:19.480 |
Obviously, we introduced this because we're in a pandemic. 00:50:24.480 |
But once this is done, you know, we choose not to practice it this way because of the 00:50:31.440 |
We want the church to understand that the body of Christ is coming together. 00:50:35.440 |
We're handling the body of Christ and the blood of Christ symbolically. 00:50:40.920 |
The baptism signifies a death and resurrection. 00:50:43.160 |
So we practice immersion as the Bible teaches. 00:50:47.240 |
So once we are done with the pandemic, we're going to go back to that. 00:50:51.000 |
But we want to make sure that everybody understands that that's exactly what we're doing. 00:50:56.520 |
To remember Christ's sacrifice, that He's sustaining us, that this is an ordinance, 00:51:02.000 |
This is a communion to remind us that we are one together. 00:51:05.360 |
That's why before we participate in communion, we ask you to think, "Are there relationships 00:51:11.200 |
that have been broken that you need to confess?" 00:51:14.120 |
You know, and obviously, it's hard to practice that perfectly. 00:51:17.840 |
But are there things that you're holding in your heart that you need to confess and reconcile 00:51:23.000 |
Are we acknowledging the body of Christ or have we drifted away from the church and we're 00:51:30.160 |
And to remind us that this is supposed to galvanize us together, the body of Christ. 00:51:38.520 |
Sometimes the Lutheran church uses this term, but the meaning behind "Eucharist" basically 00:51:52.720 |
Maybe you come in and there's things that you're not happy about. 00:51:56.480 |
You've been grumbling this week or last week, and there's a lot of things, and you have 00:51:59.680 |
a tendency to articulate things that you're frustrated, and I catch myself doing that 00:52:06.080 |
And so at the communion table, it is a place to celebrate, right? 00:52:10.920 |
In light of what he has given me and recalibrate my thoughts, my heart. 00:52:16.680 |
I have way more things to be thankful for than to be concerned about. 00:52:21.360 |
Way more things to praise him for than to complain about. 00:52:25.540 |
And so that's what the Eucharist is meant to be. 00:52:27.680 |
And then the last one, again, this is a term that we often use as well, "the Lord's table." 00:52:33.880 |
It's meant to be a celebration, to remind us, ultimately pointing to the second coming 00:52:40.300 |
The Bible says in Revelations 19, 7-9, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory 00:52:45.520 |
to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. 00:52:50.780 |
It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen 00:52:55.400 |
in the righteousness, righteous acts of the saints. 00:52:58.180 |
Then he said to me, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the 00:53:03.160 |
And he said to me, 'These are true words of God.'" 00:53:06.760 |
So this communion table, the Lord's Supper, is to remind us, not only did he die for us, 00:53:11.600 |
but because he died for us, he's going to take us into eternity. 00:53:16.880 |
And in eternity, we're going to be celebrating in his marriage ceremony. 00:53:22.100 |
He's the groom and we are the bride, and we're going to participate in this joyous wedding. 00:53:27.800 |
People ask me all the time, because I told you the first wedding that I did, since then 00:53:42.040 |
You go to so many weddings, you do the same thing every time." 00:53:50.760 |
It does not get old, even though it looks the same, and sometimes you might hear the 00:53:57.500 |
And I know I'm preaching to the same people a hundred times, so I'm aware of the pressure. 00:54:08.200 |
But wedding ceremony never gets old because it's the beginning of two people starting 00:54:16.160 |
Disneyland is not the happiest place in the world. 00:54:18.840 |
I think the wedding banquet is the happiest place in the world, where everybody's excited 00:54:23.280 |
to see these young couple celebrate the beginning of a new life. 00:54:29.600 |
And to be able to be a part of that and be a part of that ceremony, that part never gets 00:54:39.480 |
So the communion table is to remind us of the real celebration. 00:54:43.480 |
All of that to point to the celebration of the coming of Christ. 00:54:47.440 |
And so that's why we want to lift up the communion, that we understand as a church, 00:54:52.460 |
not just the pastors, not just the leaders who make decisions, but the church understands 00:55:02.220 |
Remember in times of hardship, remember when things are well, that God had given us this 00:55:07.520 |
ordinance not simply to go through the motion and say we did it, but to remember him and 00:55:15.480 |
So those of you who are not doing well, by the grace of God, participate. 00:55:21.320 |
Where those of you who are filled with pride thinking that you're going to come here because 00:55:23.840 |
you've been good, to be humbled when you come to the communion table. 00:55:29.200 |
And for all of us to eagerly anticipate, no matter what's going on now, we're just passing 00:55:39.120 |
Our eternity is coming and we're going to be at the wedding together with Christ.