back to index2022-08-07 Why is Communion so Sacred to the Church?
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All right, we are taking a short break because we have communion today and we want to make 00:00:10.620 |
sure that we're all on the same page as we participate in this communion. 00:00:15.660 |
And so we want to take some time to look at the passage in 1 Corinthians 11. 00:00:25.260 |
The whole text that we're going to be covering is from 17 all the way to 34, but I'm just 00:00:29.700 |
going to be highlighting the text in verse 23 to 26. 00:00:37.140 |
First Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23 to 26, "For I received from the Lord what that which 00:00:42.760 |
I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took 00:00:48.140 |
When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. 00:00:53.740 |
In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant 00:00:59.860 |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:01:02.700 |
For as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until 00:01:10.740 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bless this time. 00:01:13.540 |
May your word have power to change our hearts, our mind, and our very lives. 00:01:19.460 |
I pray, Father God, that what you have intended in this text, that it would have its full 00:01:27.380 |
You know, in our generation, we have a cliche that we've been saying. 00:01:36.100 |
And the cliches are there for a reason, because at the core of it, there's some truth. 00:01:40.460 |
But cliches are also very dangerous if you don't understand the context in which it is 00:01:46.940 |
said, and then you kind of universally apply in all things. 00:01:52.060 |
I think one of the most commonly heard cliches in our generation is, "Christianity is a 00:02:05.820 |
And the problem that that cliche addresses is, because we are living in a post-Christian 00:02:10.740 |
culture, that there's a lot of things that we do, we just automatically believe that 00:02:15.940 |
we've been raised in a church, and if my parents are Christians, or my great-grandparents are 00:02:21.180 |
Christians, that it would just kind of pass down to us. 00:02:26.140 |
In fact, they did a survey a while back to see what percentage of Americans consider 00:02:33.180 |
And so, again, this is a little bit outdated, and I think the number is a bit less than 00:02:39.060 |
that now, but back in the '90s, the number was almost 86% of people surveyed said that 00:02:47.020 |
Obviously, we know that that's not true, right? 00:02:49.660 |
We know that, based upon what we know in Scripture, that that number is exaggerated. 00:02:54.140 |
That means there's that many people who believe that they're Christian because they were either 00:02:58.580 |
raised in a church or have some sort of Christianity in their home, and as a result of that, that 00:03:07.020 |
Now, it is that type of culture that this cliche is addressing, that Christianity is 00:03:13.420 |
not a religion but a relationship, that there needs to be a personal relationship with Christ, 00:03:19.940 |
You can't just come to church and through osmosis and just by being in a Christian home 00:03:25.540 |
There has to be a personal relationship with Christ. 00:03:29.540 |
But along with all cliches, there's also the flip side of that, that if we're not careful 00:03:35.420 |
and if we apply it to the fullest, it's not necessarily true because Christianity is a 00:03:41.100 |
Because the definition of religion is a set of doctrine or rules that distinguishes that 00:03:50.140 |
So Christian religion is distinct from Muslims or from Buddhism. 00:03:57.060 |
There's a different set of doctrines that they believe that causes them to say that 00:04:01.180 |
we are set apart and we're different in this way. 00:04:03.620 |
So Christianity is also a religion where we adhere to certain doctrines, and if you do 00:04:10.100 |
not adhere to these doctrines, you are not Christian. 00:04:14.580 |
And so, especially in our generation, because of this cliche has been applied, there's a 00:04:20.820 |
lot of people who say, "Well, it doesn't matter if you go to church because it's just personal 00:04:26.900 |
Especially in this YouTube generation after the pandemic, we have so many people who say, 00:04:30.340 |
"Well, physical church is not important because it's about my personal relationship with God." 00:04:36.460 |
It is about your personal relationship with God, but there are specific, very focused 00:04:41.140 |
teaching that distinguishes us and tells us that this is what a Christian ought to believe 00:04:48.140 |
Now along with that, the reason why I introduced my sermon this morning is because of the religious 00:04:53.260 |
things that we talk about, there's two things that, if we're not careful, that we can just 00:05:05.020 |
So when we talk about religiousness, we say, "Well, I mean, that sounds very legalistic 00:05:09.060 |
saying like we need to be baptized or we don't get saved because of baptism." 00:05:13.820 |
So it doesn't really matter one way or the other. 00:05:26.700 |
Well, as I said, religious activity is important because these are two ordinances that has 00:05:34.340 |
When baptism is done correctly, it is a public proclamation of our faith. 00:05:43.220 |
It is the entrance into the local church, the universal church. 00:05:48.140 |
So when done properly, it reminds us of who we are, our identity, the power of the gospel. 00:05:57.140 |
It's the first act of obedience in the church. 00:06:00.340 |
And that's why even Christ, when he was being baptized by John the Baptist, he says, "I'm 00:06:08.300 |
Jesus himself submitted himself to baptism because that's what was established. 00:06:14.380 |
Communion is another one of those where we just practice it and maybe you grew up in 00:06:18.780 |
the church practicing this and it just happens and maybe not understanding the significance 00:06:24.240 |
So whether we participate in it, how we participate in it, it doesn't really matter because it's 00:06:30.260 |
You just come on Sunday and it just happened to be communion so you're just going to participate 00:06:35.980 |
When baptism is done poorly, you grow up thinking you got baptized so at some point in my life 00:06:47.640 |
We have people coming into our church all the time. 00:06:50.100 |
And I got baptized when I was two or three or five or even when I wasn't a Christian 00:06:54.180 |
I was at some camp and we just jumped into the water. 00:06:59.080 |
Everybody who came out, we were all baptized and so therefore I'm good. 00:07:03.880 |
So we have a generation filled with people because of the way that baptism was done have 00:07:08.860 |
a misunderstanding that that somehow covers them from their sins. 00:07:15.380 |
If communion is done poorly, you have a generation of people who just because they're taking 00:07:21.220 |
communion that somehow it has some magical protection power and that kind of connects 00:07:25.800 |
us to God and so we're safe at least for this period until next communion comes around. 00:07:30.620 |
Obviously communion in and of itself has no power to do that. 00:07:34.660 |
What I want to look with you this morning through this text, four things that it points 00:07:43.540 |
If communion is done correctly, it reminds and refreshes our worship to our Savior. 00:07:50.860 |
Number two, if communion is done correctly, it causes us to examine ourselves and see 00:07:59.320 |
Third, if done correctly, it restores and unites the fellowship of the body of Christ. 00:08:07.160 |
Four, when communion is done correctly, it proclaims the gospel until he comes. 00:08:13.000 |
So I want to go through these four points that are listed in this text and as we go 00:08:18.200 |
through it, hopefully when we participate in the communion that we would have a renewed 00:08:21.760 |
sense of commitment, renewed sense of reverence toward what it is that we're doing this morning. 00:08:28.320 |
One, when done correctly, it reminds us and refreshes us of our worship to our Savior. 00:08:39.000 |
When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. 00:08:45.680 |
In the same way, he took the cup also after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant 00:08:50.200 |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." 00:08:54.220 |
So first and foremost, we participate in communion. 00:08:57.960 |
Communion has been set apart in order that we can remember and focus our attention upon 00:09:04.420 |
Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. 00:09:07.720 |
The reason why this is so important is because you and I have a natural tendency to forget. 00:09:14.860 |
How many of you, you don't need to raise your hand, but how many of you were adults 00:09:22.580 |
If you remember when 9/11 happened, I mean, it was a shock for all of us to see the Twin 00:09:32.280 |
We've read about war, we've seen movies about wars, but all of a sudden war became real, 00:09:39.720 |
Thousands of people just perished just instantaneously. 00:09:42.760 |
And I remember after that, I saw something that I've never seen in my lifetime, and I'm 00:09:50.920 |
I saw the Democrats and the Republicans linked arm to arm, came out in public at Capitol 00:09:59.440 |
Hill and basically saying that, "We will never forget. 00:10:05.260 |
You attack us, we're united, we're resolved." 00:10:08.140 |
And as a result of that, it changed the way we flew. 00:10:11.240 |
You couldn't wear shoes anymore to go to the airport. 00:10:14.160 |
All of a sudden, all kinds of liquid had to be banned. 00:10:16.600 |
But at that time, people were more than willing, more than willing because they said, "We will 00:10:22.320 |
That was the mantra of that period, "We will never forget." 00:10:26.160 |
And the reason why they kept on saying that is because they were reminded, we were reminded 00:10:29.760 |
that we have people around the world who hate this country and what it stands for, and that 00:10:34.320 |
they will do everything in their power to attack us. 00:10:45.200 |
And so Republicans, Democrats came together, arms linked, saying, "We will never forget." 00:10:54.600 |
Decades have gone by, and now the TSA has become a joke, an inconvenience. 00:11:02.700 |
And so, right or wrong, all the stuff that was implemented at that time being so resolved 00:11:08.680 |
that we're going to be ready to fight and go to battle, for the most part, we've forgotten. 00:11:16.660 |
Whatever your politics may be, at that time, the reason why it was so important that we 00:11:21.520 |
never forget is because of the consequences that if we do forget. 00:11:26.840 |
When Jesus says, "Do this in remembrance of me," God knew our tendency to drift. 00:11:34.240 |
And so this that Jesus is referring to was the Passover meal that they were participating, 00:11:42.440 |
As soon as they left Egypt, God commanded the Passover meal to be celebrated every year. 00:11:50.080 |
"Then Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, 00:11:55.040 |
out of the house of slavery, for by strong hand of the Lord brought you out from this 00:12:03.120 |
And he implemented this as soon as they left Egypt. 00:12:06.040 |
Not a year, not 10 years later, but as soon as they left, because God knew the moment 00:12:10.560 |
that you forgot why or how you became a nation, you're going to start to imitate all the other 00:12:18.920 |
That the whole reason why Israel even exists is because of God's power and his mercy and 00:12:24.400 |
Again, he says in Deuteronomy 7, 18, "To remember that in the midst," when you go out there 00:12:31.040 |
and then you run into troubles and powers that are greater than you physically, remember 00:12:38.040 |
Remember how he delivered you, Deuteronomy 7, 18. 00:12:40.480 |
"If you say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I,' how can I dispossess 00:12:46.000 |
You shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember that the Lord your God did to Pharaoh 00:12:51.120 |
and all of Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty 00:12:56.560 |
hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. 00:13:00.080 |
So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid." 00:13:05.080 |
In the time of distress, in the time of trouble, and you begin to think that the powers that 00:13:10.600 |
surround you, that are suppressing you, is greater than you can handle, he says, "Remember, 00:13:17.720 |
he who began a good work in you, he will carry it unto completion to the day of Christ. 00:13:22.460 |
He who did not spare his own son, he loved you so much that he gave his only begotten 00:13:26.880 |
son," and that same power, that resurrected Christ, dwells in you. 00:13:33.200 |
How much of our depression, how much of our anxiety comes because we forget. 00:13:44.440 |
He loved us so much that he says he counts our very hairs, and yet when our finances 00:13:50.440 |
don't meet or we fall ill or something doesn't seem quite right going forward, and maybe 00:13:57.120 |
we didn't save enough for retirement, or whatever causes anxiousness, how much of that 00:14:03.160 |
is because we have forgotten what it is that we already have in Christ. 00:14:08.240 |
Why was this so essential for the nation of Israel? 00:14:11.060 |
Because the success of the nation of Israel was directly linked to their faith in God. 00:14:19.040 |
The moment they begin to drift from focusing their eyes on Christ, not just their finance, 00:14:25.960 |
not just the nation, everything begins to crumble. 00:14:33.360 |
If our whole life is connected to Christ, the moment we begin to forget what it is that 00:14:39.800 |
we have, it's just some theological thing that we check off, but it's not real. 00:14:48.000 |
But when we examine our life carefully, how much of our life actually reflect the faith 00:14:56.900 |
How much of our anxiety and depression or whatever it is that we struggle with is directly 00:15:01.440 |
linked to forgetting what it is that we have in Christ? 00:15:06.680 |
See, fourth and finally, why we need to remember, he says in Deuteronomy 8.18, and I believe 00:15:13.720 |
for us who live in Orange County, this is probably our greatest struggle. 00:15:19.560 |
He says, "Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping the commandments and 00:15:23.520 |
his rules and statutes which I commanded you today, lest when you have eaten and are full 00:15:28.160 |
and have built good houses and live in them," listen carefully, "when everything is going 00:15:35.080 |
well, you have a nice house and you have a nice car and your bills are paid, when your 00:15:40.180 |
herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have 00:15:44.360 |
is multiplied, then your heart will be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought 00:15:50.120 |
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." 00:16:02.440 |
I know many of you students are in college, but in college, you don't have a lot. 00:16:12.920 |
So when we're younger, everything's wide open, and you say, "Oh, I believe in God. 00:16:21.120 |
Then you get married, have kids, your salary begins to increase, you start getting into 00:16:27.680 |
your career and you start becoming a boss, and then you have more money than you actually 00:16:32.000 |
need, and then after a while, you look at your faith, it's nothing like it was when 00:16:42.480 |
And you begin to convince yourself that this is normal. 00:16:51.520 |
Nobody maintains their first love, and you just kind of accepted that as normal. 00:16:56.500 |
You remember what it was like when you wanted to go out to missions and the possibility 00:17:00.180 |
of doing work for the Lord and all these things, but now it's just, it's like, "Yeah, it's 00:17:08.520 |
But you're busy raising your children, paying off your mortgage, saving enough money for 00:17:16.000 |
Next thing you know, your heart is hardened toward God, and so you're going through the 00:17:20.400 |
motion and you have a form of godliness, but there's no power. 00:17:28.240 |
All your bills are paid off, everything's going well, and so the temptation is there 00:17:38.680 |
He says the communion table was given to the church for the purpose of reminding us that 00:17:46.820 |
As soon as we begin to say, "We're proud and I did this," we begin to forget God, we start 00:17:56.300 |
We sing songs, but there's no passion behind that. 00:18:00.500 |
You have to have a new song every few months because now all these new songs become old 00:18:07.480 |
You need to constantly have new songs because the songs in and of itself, it's not the words 00:18:12.320 |
that are causing you to sing praises to God, it's just the newness of things. 00:18:18.780 |
Even the sermons, great, but after you hear it for a while, it's like it's another sermon. 00:18:25.840 |
It says in verse 17, "Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of 00:18:32.360 |
You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, 00:18:37.040 |
that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, and it is this day. 00:18:41.360 |
And if you forget the Lord your God, and you go after the gods and serve them and worship 00:18:45.320 |
them," now we may look at that and say, "Well, we don't worship idols." 00:18:51.400 |
Anything that has possessed your heart, any pursuit that is greater than your pursuit 00:18:59.200 |
Israelites never shook their hands at Yahweh and said, "I don't trust you. 00:19:13.320 |
They just added that and they just ran to it whenever it was more convenient. 00:19:17.040 |
So whatever it is that we run to instead of God is our idol. 00:19:23.360 |
He says, "When you run to your gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn 00:19:29.460 |
He says, "Once you become proud, once you become independent, once you begin to forget 00:19:42.200 |
And in order to prevent them from this danger, He inaugurated the Passover meal so that every, 00:19:47.000 |
every year that they would be reminded the whole reason why you exist as a nation is 00:19:52.320 |
because God's power and His mercy and the covenant that He made with you. 00:19:58.880 |
What God has implemented with the nation of Israel, do now do this in remembrance. 00:20:04.320 |
All of the Passover was to point to what He was going to do at the cross and that our 00:20:08.840 |
health, our ability to live, to function, all of it is connected to how connected we 00:20:22.200 |
Remember, in fact, the whole nation of Israel's downfall is summarized in this text, Hosea 00:20:30.080 |
13.6, "When I fed them, they were satisfied." 00:20:46.440 |
When God fed them, when you got a job, when you were sick and you became healthy, when 00:20:53.160 |
you have relational problems and it gets solved, when you wanted something, you desire it. 00:20:59.040 |
Whatever it is that you desire, that God gave it to you and answered your prayer and He 00:21:02.520 |
was gracious and He said, "They were satisfied, thankful, worshiping." 00:21:06.520 |
He said, "When they were satisfied, they became proud." 00:21:12.560 |
That urgency, once it goes away, it's like, "Oh, I could do it." 00:21:18.200 |
Tomorrow morning, whether you prayed this week or not, whether you clung to God or not, 00:21:23.800 |
if you don't see any difference from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, that's a good 00:21:33.080 |
Whether you crack your Bible Monday or not, whether you're praying to Him and seeking 00:21:36.440 |
Him, whether you feel this urgency to share the gospel or not, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 00:21:41.240 |
Thursday, Friday doesn't look any different other than the external pressure to meet whatever 00:21:49.680 |
Outside of that, it doesn't look any different. 00:21:51.520 |
Whether you prayed for, didn't pray for a day, whether you didn't pray for a year, your 00:22:07.920 |
And as a result of that, whether you admit it or not, your heart is proud. 00:22:15.640 |
You may have the reputation of being humble, and maybe compared to other proud people, 00:22:20.320 |
you may be humble, but in God's sight, you have become proud. 00:22:26.560 |
Because He said your very life depends upon you being connected to Christ. 00:22:32.240 |
But you're not connected to Christ, other than out of religious duty. 00:22:36.080 |
See, the communion table was given to us as a result because God knew our tendency to 00:22:47.520 |
And again, most of the time, not with sinful things, just raising kids, paying bills, doing 00:22:54.160 |
a good job at work, having friends, having a good marriage, serving the church sometimes. 00:23:01.400 |
And in the midst of all of that, if you're honest, your heart has drifted far from God. 00:23:09.860 |
You can't think of the last time you came in with expectations and wanting to praise 00:23:16.380 |
You can't remember the last time that God drove you to your knees with deep sighing, 00:23:22.000 |
this groaning that the Holy Spirit has, desperate for Him, like wanting to connect with Him, 00:23:31.160 |
You can't remember the last time that has happened. 00:23:34.040 |
And so you're just kind of like, "Well, I'm just going to do what I'm supposed to do." 00:23:38.480 |
And you've been doing that for weeks, for months, maybe for years. 00:23:49.700 |
You have a form of godliness, but there's no power. 00:24:03.200 |
You say what you say in reaction, but it is not an overflow of your heart. 00:24:08.040 |
You sing because it's time to sing, but it's not an overflow of worship. 00:24:12.720 |
You evangelize because it's time to evangelize, but it's not an overflow of your heart wanting 00:24:23.720 |
Oskin is in his book, "No God But God," basically chronicles three generations of what leads 00:24:31.300 |
First generation are the people who believe Christ, and they're the ones who go out to 00:24:36.040 |
missions and sacrifice, and they're faithful to church and building up the body of Christ. 00:24:40.560 |
And he said, eventually, as they begin to drift, they raise nominal Christian kids because 00:24:46.880 |
they raise a generation of children who don't have any skin in the game. 00:24:55.200 |
So they know Christianity from a distance, from set of doctrines, from things that you 00:25:08.760 |
They've just inherited what the first generation has, and they just adopted it for themselves. 00:25:16.000 |
And so now you are raising a generation of lukewarm Christians who are just going through 00:25:21.320 |
the motion, but they don't really know the power. 00:25:27.900 |
They go to church, but give the minimum amount of time and effort. 00:25:32.700 |
And then he says the third generation is where apostasy happens. 00:25:36.020 |
Children who are raised in a lukewarm home have no purpose for this religion. 00:25:43.400 |
It does nothing other than take away what they want to do on Sunday morning. 00:25:56.120 |
And so all they see religion as sacrifice and no benefit that comes from that, other 00:26:00.960 |
than some sort of a security blanket that when I die, that maybe I'll go to heaven. 00:26:06.880 |
And he says from his study, he's not saying that every generation, every family falls 00:26:11.680 |
into that, but even just the years that I've been a pastor and a Christian, I've seen that. 00:26:19.400 |
In Revelations chapter 2, 4 to 5, you know that passage when he is warning the church 00:26:24.900 |
He said, "I have this against you, that you have left your first love." 00:26:40.000 |
He says, "You deliberately have forsaken it." 00:26:44.520 |
Book of Revelation was written in 96 AD, which means it was about 60 years removed from the 00:26:52.160 |
So it's about three generations where you have children, parents, and grandparents, 00:27:00.480 |
Maybe the first generation have already passed away. 00:27:03.600 |
Second generation are the ones who are leading the church, and then the congregants are the 00:27:10.920 |
He says to them, "You're doing all the right things. 00:27:14.920 |
You test the apostles to see if they're true, and you do not tolerate false doctrine. 00:27:22.720 |
But he says, "You have forsaken your first love. 00:27:29.360 |
And then he says, "Therefore remember from which you have fallen." 00:27:35.280 |
He doesn't say to find new ways to worship God. 00:27:38.000 |
He says, "Remember the height from which you have fallen. 00:27:42.460 |
Remember when you first met Christ, when he meant everything to you? 00:27:46.120 |
Every time you heard someone else's testimony, how it stirred you because it reminded you 00:27:52.660 |
Remember when you first became a Christian, you were so eager to share the gospel to other 00:27:55.540 |
people because you can't possibly imagine even strangers coming into the judgment of 00:28:03.280 |
Remember how you dedicated your summers to go overseas to places that are uncomfortable? 00:28:08.400 |
That you were open if God called you to full-time missions? 00:28:15.640 |
But you can't remember now the last time you wept for the lost. 00:28:23.780 |
You can't remember the last time you pleaded on your knees for even your family members 00:28:33.020 |
That our hearts have drifted so far away that we don't remember. 00:28:45.520 |
And yet we know that our hearts have drifted so far. 00:28:48.320 |
See, the communion table was given to us for that purpose because he knew our tendency 00:28:59.220 |
He knew our tendency to be wrapped up in our lives and just do what we're supposed to do 00:29:10.600 |
If done correctly, it's supposed to revive us, renew us, and refresh us. 00:29:14.960 |
That we would continue what we had from the beginning. 00:29:19.620 |
Number two, if done correctly, it causes us to examine ourselves carefully. 00:29:28.080 |
In 1 Corinthians 11, 27-32, it says, "Therefore, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup 00:29:31.960 |
of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord." 00:29:45.600 |
Whether you do it or don't do it, I mean, yeah, great. 00:29:47.920 |
I mean, you showed up today and we're going to have grape juice and this little chip that 00:30:01.160 |
You're not going to see any difference today, tomorrow, or any day. 00:30:06.600 |
It says here, if you participate in a day because they participate in an unworthy manner, 00:30:11.700 |
he said, verse 28, "But a man must examine himself and in so doing, he is to eat the 00:30:16.060 |
bread and drink of the cup for he who eats and drinks and eats and drinks judgment to 00:30:20.440 |
himself if he does not judge the body correctly." 00:30:24.120 |
In other words, if you don't understand the sacredness of what this is, that this is not 00:30:28.880 |
just grape juice, this is not just some piece of bread, but this symbolizes his blood. 00:30:39.760 |
And if you participate in an unworthy manner, he says, you are deliberately, willfully bringing 00:30:48.040 |
In fact, the early church, people were actually falling sick. 00:30:51.640 |
And then some say, he says, they were falling asleep, which means they were dying. 00:30:58.160 |
Imagine how seriously we would take communion if that was happening today. 00:31:03.240 |
If we took it today and then some of you are just vomiting, running to the bathroom. 00:31:11.580 |
Even if one person died, out of seven, eight hundred people, even if one person died, my 00:31:20.680 |
guess is next time we have communion, there's going to be some seriousness. 00:31:27.100 |
There's going to probably be a church early praying, repenting, examining that you make 00:31:35.360 |
sure that you're not participating in an unworthy manner. 00:31:46.220 |
I don't remember the last time I saw somebody who got sick and said, "Oh, it's communion." 00:31:54.360 |
Like somebody passed away, it's like, "Oh, it was an unworthy manner. 00:31:57.160 |
They didn't judge the body correctly, so they died." 00:32:21.760 |
What if God is actually disciplining the church, but you just haven't connected the dots? 00:32:30.520 |
What if a sickness that was coming on maybe didn't happen that hour? 00:32:51.720 |
What if that was a result of an unworthy participation of the Lord's table? 00:33:03.120 |
Now I'm not saying that that is, because I can't prove to you that that is, because I 00:33:09.400 |
But what I do know is that's what it says that happens in the church, in the early church. 00:33:17.980 |
Maybe that's why Paul is saying, "Some of you are falling asleep, and you don't know, 00:33:23.960 |
but that's as a result of your unworthy manner." 00:33:26.880 |
Maybe some of them didn't know that that was the connection, and that's why Paul is pointing 00:33:30.440 |
that out and telling them, "You don't realize the sickness and the trouble that you're having 00:33:34.340 |
is because you're participating in an unworthy manner." 00:33:37.360 |
Imagine the revival that would break out in the church. 00:33:41.920 |
Unconfessed sins that we will bring to the forefront. 00:33:45.900 |
People who are lukewarm, who just kind of let it be because we're busy. 00:33:51.420 |
How much that would affect the church if we actually approached the communion table the 00:34:04.720 |
If you don't believe it, all this is nonsense. 00:34:09.140 |
I come to church, and this guy's making a big deal about communion. 00:34:12.540 |
This guy's making a big deal because as long as I go to church, it's a personal relationship. 00:34:19.580 |
As long as I have a relationship with God, all this doesn't matter. 00:34:25.780 |
What I read to you is straight out of the Bible. 00:34:30.460 |
The communion table was meant for us to take time to examine ourselves carefully. 00:34:41.860 |
Have I swept sin underneath the rug and just forgotten about it? 00:34:48.340 |
Even though there's all kinds of turmoil in your life, you just don't connect it to the 00:34:52.340 |
fact that maybe it could be as a result of a discipline from our Father. 00:34:57.980 |
The Bible clearly says that those whom He loves, He disciplines. 00:35:04.140 |
You don't recognize even when you get disciplined that this is discipline from God. 00:35:12.260 |
You seek like right things, right decisions, and you seek people. 00:35:16.340 |
But did you ever consider maybe it's a discipline from God to bring us, to make us desperate, 00:35:24.460 |
to remind us, to get on our knees, to pray, and to cry out to God, to take our sins seriously? 00:35:33.240 |
At the minimum, we should consider it because it's in the Bible. 00:35:37.780 |
Thirdly, done correctly, it restores and unites the fellowship of the body. 00:35:45.100 |
For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear the divisions exist among 00:35:52.340 |
For there must also be factions among you so that those who are approved may become 00:35:56.920 |
Therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. 00:36:00.340 |
For in your eating, each one takes his own supper, and one is hungry and the other is 00:36:06.100 |
And he says that if you come and you don't consider the other people in your church, 00:36:11.220 |
he says you're not judging the body correctly. 00:36:17.460 |
There's a reason why we don't take the Lord's supper, we don't take the communion in our 00:36:22.720 |
Because it was meant to be done in the context of the body of Christ. 00:36:26.460 |
This is not something personal and romantic that you do between two people. 00:36:33.080 |
This is meant to be done in the context of the body of Christ. 00:36:37.220 |
Because part of the meaning behind it is that you and I are all one. 00:36:43.380 |
So when you say, I like these people but I don't like those people. 00:36:48.800 |
I want to spend time with them but those people I don't like. 00:36:51.580 |
These people, I don't like the way they talk. 00:36:57.900 |
When you do that, you may not be saying that but what you're doing is, I want to stick 00:37:21.960 |
So you come to church, especially as the church gets bigger, you have a sphere of friends 00:37:29.120 |
Anybody you don't tolerate, they're like acquaintances but they're not family. 00:37:38.500 |
I can tolerate them but to love them, I'm not obligated. 00:37:47.920 |
And we practice everything that we're taught. 00:37:50.900 |
You have to be patient with them but only with these people. 00:37:55.640 |
Outside of this that I've created, that's not my response. 00:38:09.960 |
We're a family of God whether we're 60 or 600 or 6,000. 00:38:16.520 |
The only criteria for my brothers to be my brothers is that we have same parents. 00:38:23.920 |
I mean, one could be athletic, the other one may be rich or poor or someone maybe, you 00:38:30.000 |
know, like to joke around, the other one's serious. 00:38:34.240 |
But we don't say, "Oh, my brother doesn't like joking around so he's not my brother. 00:38:39.840 |
I like playing basketball but he doesn't play basketball so that's not my brother." 00:38:43.600 |
No, the only criteria for them to be my brother is that we have same parents. 00:38:51.800 |
They are my brothers as long as they have the same father, which is God. 00:38:58.400 |
And if that is the case, then everything that the Bible tells me applies to that person. 00:39:06.760 |
The early church had Jews and Gentiles in the same church, right? 00:39:14.440 |
They hated each other for centuries and because of the resurrection of Christ, they were together. 00:39:22.760 |
I don't think that Christ resurrected and all of a sudden this benevolent love came 00:39:31.920 |
All that time of trying to avoid us and calling us unclean and filthy pagans, like, yeah, 00:39:49.720 |
Because the very first problem that came into the early church was that the Jews were not 00:39:59.560 |
They considered them compromised because they started adapting to the Greek culture and 00:40:02.880 |
they said, "Well, you guys are not as bad as the Gentiles but might as well because 00:40:07.520 |
you compromise," and they wouldn't feed them. 00:40:09.680 |
And that was not a small problem because if you don't feed the widows, what happens? 00:40:21.560 |
So if they didn't deal with this problem in a wise manner, it could have completely 00:40:28.560 |
And in fact, every letter that's written in the New Testament addresses that issue 00:40:34.680 |
between Jews and Gentiles, Jews and Gentiles, that we're one, we're one, we're one, 00:40:39.920 |
because they had such a hard time bringing them together. 00:40:48.280 |
And the slave owners, I mean, think about that. 00:40:50.000 |
Think how difficult that would have been to go to someone's dinner and have the slave 00:40:54.080 |
owner sitting there and the one who ran off coming for dinner. 00:41:02.360 |
Maybe the slave became more mature and he became a leader in the church and he's directing 00:41:11.240 |
the dinner and the slave owner who used to own this guy is sitting there having to submit 00:41:19.120 |
Imagine what that would have done to the church. 00:41:25.800 |
I mean, in our generation, we have the poor in one town and rich in another town. 00:41:35.760 |
Years ago when I was actively in homeless ministry, when I used to take the students 00:41:40.600 |
out to feed the homeless, it was a very popular ministry. 00:41:44.600 |
People say, "Oh, we get to go to homeless and we come back, we fed the homeless and 00:41:48.400 |
then we go back, play basketball, we go to our normal lives." 00:41:56.960 |
And so we had guys who were off the street and they, you know, they're mentally fine, 00:42:05.000 |
But once they came into our community, it completely changed. 00:42:10.720 |
Because every time they have to go eat, they have to pay for him. 00:42:14.160 |
He doesn't have a car, so you got to pick him up. 00:42:16.400 |
He can't afford clothes, so you got to buy him clothes. 00:42:18.920 |
We want to play basketball, he didn't have shoes, so we have to buy him shoes. 00:42:22.080 |
So they couldn't talk about normal things that they would talk about. 00:42:27.320 |
You can't say that when he's around because he can't afford Boba unless somebody's going 00:42:32.280 |
So it was one thing to temporarily be uncomfortable over there, but once they come here, it's 00:42:40.840 |
And they couldn't articulate it, but people were not happy about it because it just disturbed 00:42:55.680 |
There's certain people that make you feel uncomfortable. 00:43:19.040 |
Maybe you're a Dodgers fan and a bunch of Angels fans. 00:43:22.320 |
It could be as frivolous as something like that. 00:43:26.480 |
How much of our friendship and our unity is based upon, "I like him, I don't like him. 00:43:34.880 |
And so we comment, "You've created your own community within the community." 00:43:40.880 |
He says, "When you do that, that's not the Lord's table that you're participating in. 00:43:52.000 |
You're just having a piece of chip in your mouth. 00:43:57.200 |
But when done correctly, when done correctly, we examine ourselves carefully. 00:44:25.040 |
We have various backgrounds, various cultures, and there are some people who are sitting 00:44:31.840 |
If you weren't a Christian, you would never cross paths. 00:44:35.240 |
And you would never want to cross paths, because you have nothing in common outside of Christ. 00:44:42.160 |
So the moment that we begin to drift away from Christ, it begins to get highlighted 00:44:49.320 |
So as soon as you stop talking about Jesus, there's nothing to talk about. 00:45:07.200 |
And so as soon as you stop talking about Jesus, all the differences become highlighted. 00:45:29.520 |
Make Christ central, because the only reason why we're here together, that brings all 00:45:36.520 |
So the moment we begin to drift away from Christ, we begin to talk about all our differences, 00:45:43.040 |
all the things that causes me to think that, you know, it's going to be hard for me to 00:45:48.800 |
So the communion table is meant to bring us back together again and again and again and 00:45:56.440 |
It is not within our power, but it is our natural instinct to find our communities, 00:46:06.480 |
It goes against our nature to be surrounded by people that make us uncomfortable, and 00:46:15.120 |
One of the greatest witnesses in the early church was their fellowship. 00:46:23.160 |
Why did the Jews and the Gentiles, even to this day, the secular scholars can't understand 00:46:30.480 |
So they'll say blanket statement, "Oh, it's because they're all poor." 00:46:33.360 |
And then they realize Barnabas and all these people who are rich sold their land and they 00:46:40.360 |
"Oh, it was all because they were up this political things." 00:46:43.160 |
And then they do some research and realize that wasn't the case. 00:46:45.800 |
Oh, the Jews and the Gentiles, like, how did they get together? 00:46:52.360 |
So the power of the early church was their fellowship. 00:46:56.760 |
The people who would have hated each other got together and called each other brothers 00:47:01.600 |
and sisters in Christ and loved one another deeply. 00:47:07.400 |
Let me ask you, because I'm at the end of this, how much of your life you've created 00:47:19.280 |
How much of your life have you created to glorify God? 00:47:27.220 |
How much of the life that you've created, even inside the church, even as we're active, 00:47:32.920 |
was created to make you feel comfortable, make your children feel comfortable? 00:47:39.240 |
How much of the decisions that you're making, how much of the money that you're spending 00:47:43.360 |
is about building up the church in the body of Christ? 00:47:48.760 |
When somebody is weak in the church, the strong is responsible to care for them, to come alongside 00:47:55.280 |
them, to be patient with them, sometimes have to rebuke them, but to come alongside them, 00:47:59.600 |
not to stiff-arm them, but to learn how to care for those who are weak, instead of just 00:48:12.040 |
How do we bring our family together so that we can be a greater witness for Christ? 00:48:17.680 |
Fourth and finally, when done correctly, it proclaims the gospel until He comes. 00:48:21.920 |
The word "proclaim," kata angelo, basically means "intense proclamation." 00:48:29.200 |
It basically means to keep the major, major, and minor, minor, which means you and I have 00:48:35.040 |
a tendency, every generation, and I've seen maybe about two or three huge movements come 00:48:39.800 |
along just during the period that I've been a pastor, and every time these movements come, 00:48:45.200 |
people jump on board, "Oh, this is what the church needs to be. 00:48:49.480 |
The latest movement in our generation was the social justice movement, with all that 00:48:53.880 |
was going around the world and saying, "We need to do this. 00:48:58.800 |
The problem wasn't that we should care for the poor. 00:49:04.460 |
Of course we should care about sex trafficking and all that has gone wrong. 00:49:09.120 |
But when that replaces the gospel, when the movement and what's going on around the world 00:49:16.200 |
causes us to stray from the real power of God, all you've done is commit to put a band-aid 00:49:25.240 |
And the only answer to this fallen world is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:49:45.960 |
The core of every human suffering is sin, and the only power to deliver mankind from 00:49:55.840 |
Not politicians, not money, not better organization, not the right politicians in the right place, 00:50:04.520 |
Foolishness to the world, to those who are perishing, but power of God for those who 00:50:11.520 |
So the communion puts the gospel and constantly reminds us to put Christ at the center. 00:50:22.280 |
Love people, be generous, work, vote, do all of that thing, but never forget that the true 00:50:33.200 |
power is in the blood and the body of Christ. 00:50:38.480 |
So this morning, as we participate in the communion table, as I ask the praise team 00:50:42.440 |
to come up to prepare, I pray that you would take a few minutes to reflect. 00:50:54.240 |
Take every part of what you heard this morning seriously. 00:50:59.840 |
Have you come into this room this morning completely distracted? 00:51:02.640 |
The thought of communion was the last thing on your mind? 00:51:07.520 |
Let's get this over with, because I got an appointment, and you drifted, and Christ is 00:51:14.600 |
To take some time to ask the Lord to get you focused on Christ, that maybe you've taken 00:51:20.220 |
your eyes off of Him, or you have a hazy vision of who He is, to fix your eyes upon Christ. 00:51:25.360 |
Take this opportunity to ask the Lord that it would fix my eyes upon Christ, the author 00:51:34.200 |
When's the last time you prayed, "Search me and know me, try me and see if there's 00:51:37.400 |
any anxious thoughts in me, and see if there's any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the 00:51:42.320 |
When's the last time you came before the Lord, not just asking to change your circumstance, 00:51:47.400 |
but change your heart, change your attitude, change your perspective, change your compromise, 00:51:58.200 |
Search me, Lord, see if there's any hurtful ways in me, and be ready to confess that and 00:52:08.280 |
Is there bitterness, division, people you've stiff-armed, you've allowed, because you intensely 00:52:15.560 |
love this person, that you excuse not loving the other person? 00:52:21.040 |
Have one side of obedience, you've justified the disobedience on this other side? 00:52:27.240 |
Is there division in your heart to come before the Lord, to participate in a worthy manner, 00:52:34.560 |
to recognize the whole body of Christ, not just the ones that you've selected? 00:52:50.200 |
After you've done everything, after you've pursued everything, and then you sprinkle 00:53:00.000 |
Is what's major, major, minor, minor, or has that been flipped? 00:53:05.160 |
Let's take a few minutes to come before the Lord and ask the Lord to let the communion 00:53:08.920 |
have the effect that it was meant to have, and to revive our hearts, renew our hearts, 00:53:16.820 |
So I'm going to give you a few minutes to pray, get ready, and then I'll call everybody 00:53:21.960 |
together and we'll participate in the communion together.