We joined a church in the last couple of years and we haven't reviewed, again, the meaning of communion in our church. And so we want to make sure that we participate not as a religious ritual, but something that we really know what we're getting into. So I'm going to take some time today to cover that before we participate in communion.

So let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we thank you so much for your continued grace, especially as we prepare our hearts for this communion Sunday. We ask, Lord, that you would search our hearts, know and show us, Lord God, if there's any hurtful ways in us. If our minds, our habits, what we run to for refuge and for Sabbath, if it is anything but you, I pray, Father God, that this time of communion, the sacred time, Lord God, that you've ordained would cause our church to be mindful of who you are and what you've done.

And that we would not just in our thinking, but in our hearts, in our wills, in the very way that we spend our lives, Lord God, we'd be recalibrated according to your will. So we pray for your blessing this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There was a stretch of period while in the beginning of the church in order to make extra income I had to teach ESL.

And for about five years I taught various levels of ESL. And one of the things that I learned from teaching ESL, being trained how to teach ESL, is that English is a very difficult language to pick up. And part of the reason why is because there's so many irregulars.

You know, when you teach grammar, you teach the rule, and then there's a lot of things that just don't fit. In fact, more than 45% of the grammar doesn't fit the rules that you teach. So one of the things that I was taught in teaching ESL is to not teach grammar.

Right? He said, not to teach, not at all, but he said, don't make teaching English about teaching grammar because they're going to get confused. And so he said, just mimic. You know, like this is the way they speak. And so we do a lot of role playing. And then you would say, this is what they would do when they go to the market.

And this is what they would do when they go to the post office. And then we would just kind of mimic each other, and that's how people would pick up English. There's a lot of things that we say in English that even we don't know where it comes from.

But we just say it anyway. There's a lot of idioms. See if you can, see if maybe some of you guys can recognize some of this. You can't have your cake and eat it too. What does that mean? Right? We know what it means, but what does that mean?

Right? You can't have your cake and eat it too. But we say it all the time. It's raining cats and dogs. Why cats and dogs? Right? These are the things that we say all the time. We just say it because you probably heard it somewhere and you just mimic, and that's how you learned it.

If you want to hear from somebody directly, what do you say? You want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. Where did that come from? Does that make any sense to you? But we use it all the time because that's what we heard, and so that's what it means.

We just say it, but we don't know where it comes from. Maybe some of you guys do. If somebody is staying quiet and they're not speaking, what do you say? Cats got your tongue. Right? What does that have to do with staying quiet and not sharing? What's wrong? Cats got your tongue?

Again, there's so many of these. I could just sit here for the next hour just talking about idioms that we don't really understand we use, but it's part of our language. When you get sick or you don't feel well, what do you say? You are under the weather. What does that mean?

Where did that come from? So if you're teaching English to a non-English speaking person and they tell you, "Okay, when you're sick, you say you're under the weather." Why? Why would you say that? I don't know. I just heard it from my teachers and I heard it growing up, so I just repeat it.

When you go evangelism just randomly out on the street, what do you say? You go cold turkey. What does cold turkey have to do with evangelism? Or if you're doing sales and you're just calling people up randomly without any kind of previous call, you say you're calling cold turkey.

Where does that term come from? If you Google it, I'm sure you can find it. You can Google it. Some of these idioms I looked at and it had actually pretty decent reasons and where it came from. A lot of these things, nobody knows. It's just been passed down from generation to generation and so it just became a part of the English language and we know how to use it in context, but we don't exactly know where it came from.

Anything that we do repeatedly year after year after year after year, there are certain things that just kind of fall through without us ever really asking. So when you're learning English for the first time, they will always ask, "What does that mean? Where did it come from? Why do you use that phrase?" But if you've been speaking English all your life, there's tons of things that we say that we don't think twice about.

It's just part of our language. Now there are certain things that we can get away with and it'll function fine, but a lot of times what we do as Christians in the church also creep through without ever really knowing why. We just do it. Why does a church need to gather together in corporate worship?

Why can't you sit in front of a television and watch the program? Why is it necessary to come together? Why do we sing certain songs? Why do some churches have praise teams and why do some churches only use organs? Imagine all these things that happen that if you happen to have grown up in a church, whatever culture that was normal in that church, you just kind of became part of what you believe Christianity is without really thinking through why these things are happening.

And of all the things that we do, that we actually need to know what it is, one of the most key things that we do as a church is the communion table. So why do we do it? What is the meaning behind it? Does it have some special power over you that if you do it or don't do it, it's going to have some kind of effect?

We need to understand what we're participating in, that you don't just do it because you're a member of the church and you just happen to come to Berean and then we have communion every other month and so we just do it. We're told it's important, so it's important. So I'm going to give you briefly the different views.

The first two views are not, we wouldn't consider that a debatable issue within the Christian community. The first is the Roman Catholic, the second is the traditional Lutheran view. The first view, the Roman Catholic view, is called a transubstantiation. In transubstantiation, the wine and bread become the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ.

So when Jesus says, "Do this and this is my blood and this is my body," they take that literally means that when the communion is given in service, that it literally becomes the blood, literally becomes the flesh of Christ. Obviously that's not what it means, right? There's a lot of things that Jesus said.

When Jesus says, "I am the vine," he didn't literally mean that he was the vine. He was using it symbolically to mean something. So obviously we do not believe that. The Lutherans believe in what's called the consubstantiation. So when Luther protested against the church, he evaluated what they were doing.

He said, "No, it is not literal." But he took maybe about half a step away from the Catholic Church, called consubstantiation, where wine and bread, not literally the body blood, but Jesus Christ is literally present in the body and the blood. Meaning that the bread and the wine doesn't necessarily literally become the body and blood of Christ, but Christ stands here.

So the Lutherans believe whenever we have communion, Jesus physically, spiritually, that we can't see, is present. Again, that is not what we believe. The next two views are the two views between the Presbyterians and the Baptists. These majority of Protestants will fall into one or the other view. We're Baptist, so let me give you the first, the Presbyterian view.

And their view is the sacramental view, memorial. It's something done in remembrance of Jesus' death and in anticipation of his second coming, but here's where we differ. Jesus is present spiritually in the wine and bread. It is a participation in the body of Christ. So there is some benefit of participating in it because there is a dynamic presence of Christ in the communion table.

Meaning that when you participate in it, there is some spiritual benefit to the church. Literally there is some spiritual benefit because the dynamic presence of Christ is in the communion table. So they tend to, some churches tend to do it more often, week after week after week. Or some churches will do it even more than that.

Every time they get together, it's kind of like the Catholic church. Every time they gather, whether it's Bible study or not, they will have some type of communion. Because of this dynamic presence in that. And this is also related to the infant baptism. Whether they confess Christ as Lord and Savior, there is some dynamic presence of Christ in the baptism where there is a blessing over that child because of the baptism.

And that's where we differ as Baptists. The Baptists believe, we call this a memorial, primary to remember. It's primarily symbolic. So the first is the same. Something done in remembrance of Jesus' death and in anticipation of his second coming. And the reason why we don't believe that there is a blessing, but the blessing is primarily symbolic.

And the reason why I believe that, the reason why the Baptists believe that, because in the Old Testament, when the sacrifices were given, when they didn't do this in a manner worthy of Christ, what did God say to the Israelites? Your burnt offering is meaningless. And the scripture says that all the sacrifices had absolutely no power to forgive sins.

All it did was to symbolically point to Christ. And so when Christ came and fulfilled it, there is no power in and of the act of itself. The only reason why there was power in it is because they participated in faith and what it pointed to. So when we come to the New Testament, we practice communion.

Communion, the purpose of it was ultimately symbolically cause us to remember. And the benefit that we have in the communion table is that as we remember, and as we talked about last week, when Paul says that he did this in order to stir up in them in remembrance of what Christ has done.

So the primary purpose of the communion table is to cause us to keep the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at the forefront of our thoughts, at the forefront of our singing, our Bible study and our fellowship. Because the moment we stray away from that, everything else becomes just ritual.

Just like it did in the Old Testament when they were giving all these sacrifices, and yet when it came to true devotion to God and mercy and grace toward those who are in need, God said your sacrifices meant absolutely nothing. So the Baptist view is strictly for the purpose of remembering, to stir up in us remembering.

In Luke chapter 11, verse 14 to 22, it says, "When the hour came, he reclined at table and the apostles with him. And he said to them, 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'" He's talking about his death and resurrection.

He took up a cup and when he had given thanks, he said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." So the benefit, again, of the communion table is to fulfill what Christ says. That every time you do this, this Passover meal, which was replaced by the communion, this is this communion meal that they had in the early church, breaking of bread, it is no longer to talk about the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptians, but deliverance of our sins by Christ, by remembrance.

So participating in the communion table in and of itself has no benefit for you. In and of itself. If you came in here with hearts that are hardened, having communion doesn't cause you to be a better Christian. You are not better off in standing before God because you participate in the communion table.

You were somehow spiritually weak and then you participate in the communion table. By in and of itself, there is no benefit. In fact, it can actually ruin you by not participating in a worthy manner. So we'll talk about that in a little bit. In a nutshell, I've explained to you at least the Baptistic view of communion.

At our church, we have it every other month. We could have it every month. We could have it every week. There's nothing in the scripture that mandates how often it should be done. I've had plenty of debates with friends and saying that it should be done more regularly, maybe once a month, or even every week.

But again, all of that is completely arbitrary because it is not mandated in scripture. Having it every month doesn't make it more precious. Having it every week doesn't make it any less precious. But the meaning behind it doesn't change. If the primary purpose of this is to cause us to remember and is a replacement of the Passover meal, what was the purpose of the Passover meal?

And what were we to remember? There are three aspects of things that we need to focus on, and hopefully we'll get a better understanding of what Christ desires from us. Number one, the Passover meal was a celebration of God's deliverance of Israel. So Israelites did that for hundreds of years, and every time they had the Passover meal, it was causing them to think about the beginning of Israel, the deliverance.

So in Exodus chapter 13, it says, "Then Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place.'" Their primary role was to declare God's glory and worship Him.

That was the purpose of Israel. The moment that they forgot what God had done, their ability to worship God is tainted. Because if the whole purpose of our gathering is to worship God, and then the whole motivation and the fuel behind why we worship God is represented at this communion table, the moment Christ's sacrifice and death and resurrection of Christ has become old to you, so has your worship.

It doesn't matter how loud you sing. It doesn't matter how much money you put into the basket. It doesn't matter how early you woke up to serve the church. Because the primary fuel, primary motive in why we worship God is because of what Christ has done. And so the nation of Israel was commanded that every year, and the Passover was their greatest holiday, that every Passover that they would reenact what happened in the beginning of the nation of Israel.

And that's what we are to remember primarily at the communion table. 1 Corinthians 11, 26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." So when we participate in the communion table, it is to remind us of what he has done.

I can tell you, when I sit in front of somebody, and we can talk about church, we can talk about evangelism, we can talk about feeding the poor and taking care of orphans, and we can talk about all of that, and there's a lot of excitement and passion. But if there is no passion for what Christ has done, all of that is nothing more than social work.

Because the primary thing that God wants us to do is to give him worship. So if Christ's death and resurrection has just become idioms that have just kind of passed through from generation to generation, it just kind of happened to stop with you. And if somebody asks you, like, "What do you believe?" You say, "Well, I believe Jesus died." You don't know how many times I've been out on the street sharing the gospel with somebody, and they chased me out saying, "I know that already.

Get out of here." Or even within the church, we'd have a conversation about Christ, and there's this kind of blank look on their face as if it has nothing to do with them. It's like, "Well, I already know it. It's almost kind of like I've done my part already.

I'm already justified, so stop telling me this." The moment that the news of the gospel becomes old, everything that you're doing as a Christian is tainted. It's no different than the Israelites who are coming and giving meaningless sacrifices where they're singing songs and they're serving the temple, and God says, "Your assembly is evil.

Your singing is noise to me." That's why he implemented this year after year after year to remind them, to fuel them for worship. Let me ask you, and the same question I asked last week, remember when the cross of Christ was the reason why you came to church? Not because of some event, not because you're meeting your friends, where you wanted to meet Christ, because what Christ has done affected you so deeply.

Some of you are brand new Christians, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. The moment that that gospel message that you may have heard all your life and you understood bits and pieces, but all of a sudden by his Holy Spirit took his words and it was yours.

He didn't just forgive sins, he forgave your sins. As a result of that, you wanted to sing like you've never sung before. All of a sudden, sitting and having conversation about Christ was enjoyable. You wanted to study to know what the Word of God says, because the God who wrote it gave his most precious gift to you.

Even evangelism. When evangelism becomes a duty where you have to share or else God's going to be angry, we're just not effective no matter how much effort we put into it. No matter how hard we study and put all the newest techniques, it's just not effective because people look right through it and say, "Well, you don't believe it." We are the best in worship, our fellowship, our evangelism.

Everything that we do is directly affected by how you are affected by the cross. We all talk about how we want to be like the early church. The early church described in Acts 2, 44 to 47, "And all who believed were together and all had things in common." They were all just openly sharing with one another.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

I mean, you're talking about an ideal church who was generous, they loved to get together, they were devoted to the study and prayer, and then evangelism was happening. As a result of their devotion, the Lord was adding to their number constantly. So we look back at them and say, "Well, how do we become like the early church?

What did they do? What program caused them to be this way? What kind of discipleship led to this church? What kind of teaching, what was it that caused all of them to be generous? To get together and just couldn't wait to fellowship? Where people were just coming to participate?

How were they running the church that they had that kind of a church that we all envy? Only thing that we knew is they heard the preaching of the cross and they were convicted and they repented. That's it. That's what happened. The preaching of the cross caused them to be convicted and they repented and then all of a sudden you have a church that was generous.

It wasn't because they had years of training of stewardship. It wasn't because they were taught this great doctrine they dug and the more they understood the greater the church became. No, they were people who had just simply heard the preaching of the cross and they were convicted. At the core of discipleship is what we're participating in today.

Is to remember and to rethink and reconsider where is your heart in line with what we are participating today. When we talk about the cross has your heart become numb? Has it become old information when we talk about his death and resurrection? When we talk about the judgment of the world and the glory that is coming with Christ has that just become theology in your heart?

You don't need more discipleship for that. Something has caused you to be hardened in your heart and the only remedy that the scripture gives for that is Christ crucified. Now don't get me wrong. The scripture does tell us to teach them to observe all that I have commanded in the great commission that it is our duty in the church to teach and to disciple.

But the primary thing that causes us to be better worshippers is what this table represents. In Psalm 51 9-17, "Hide your face from me." This is David confessing his sins. And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. In his repentance, what does it say? What has his sin caused in his heart? The joy of his salvation. The joy of his salvation was quenched because of his sins.

That's what the communion table does. It causes us to examine ourselves, to see, because we need to confess our sins. We need to acknowledge and receive forgiveness. There is no power in and of itself if you do not come in repentance, without self-examination, because the communion table is the open door where we can approach the throne of grace with confidence.

But if we're nonchalant about our sins, we're probably nonchalant about our salvation. And so when David pleads, the primary thing that he pleads for is to restore the joy of my salvation, because without the joy of my salvation, it doesn't matter how loud you sing. It doesn't matter how hard you study the Bible.

It doesn't matter how much sweat equity you put into building up the church, because what God desires more than anything else is worshippers who will worship in spirit and in truth. But if the joy of your salvation has been quenched, possibly because of compromise, maybe neglect, whatever it may be, the communion table was given to us so that we can remember and recalibrate and refocus.

The second thing, the reason why God gave the Passover meal, number two, the Passover served to remind Israel of God's care and deliverance during times of hardship. In Deuteronomy 7, 17 and on, it says, "If you say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I, how can I dispossess them?' You shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt." God already knew as he delivered them that times of hardship is going to come.

And because we live in this physical world, when you see your enemies coming, when you see hardship coming, and you forget who you serve, that every time that you have the Passover meal, we are to remember God's power and deliverance and care for us so we would not fall into despair.

Verse 19, "The great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out, so will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid." So the second meaning of the communion table are for believers who confess that Christ gave his only begotten Son to die for them.

And again, I want you to really consider what that means. Those of you who are worried about not being able to pay your bills tomorrow, those of you who are worried about the future of your children, those of you who are worried about your jobs, maybe even your health, whatever it is that causes anxiousness while living on this earth, this fear that somehow we're not keeping up with the Joneses or the Kims or the Chains.

All that anxiety that is created because we forget who we serve, that we're comparing ourselves with the rest of the world and we want to be where they are, where God calls us to be light and where they are to look at us and to be envy where we are at.

And so if we're living our life looking at them with envy, something has seriously gone wrong. Romans chapter 8, 31 to 36 says, "What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" What is causing anxiousness? Can you possibly be sick and God looks at it and says, "Oh my gosh, I forgot him for a minute." A God who sent his only begotten Son to die for us and he said he counts the very hairs on our head, could he have possibly forgotten about you?

Could he have possibly looked at the world and said, "Oh shoot, I forgot." You take our children and no matter how much we love them, if the three-year-old runs off and we're constantly living in anxiety that we're going to lose them when we're in public. You think that's what happened to God whenever we feel lost and we are anxious?

He just has too many kids to look after and he just lost some. Verse 32, "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? How will he not if he gave his only begotten Son?" If somebody gave you a brand new car, you think he's going to be stingy with gas?

"I gave you this car, I spent $25,000 to give you this car and I just worked so hard to give you this car but I can't use it because I don't have gas money." He's like, "You get your own gas money." He who did not spare his own son, how will he not along with him give us all things?

That's what the communion table was to do, is to cause us to remember. Now, it is only effective if you believe. If you don't believe it, it's just theory. These are just thoughts, this is part of theology, this is what the church teaches. But if you believe this, how can you not be affected?

The moment anxiousness comes, our first thought is, "I have a sovereign God who loves me and gave his only begotten Son." Do you believe that? And that's what this communion table was meant to do, cause you to take a step back and ask yourself, "Do you believe in what this represents?

Do you believe that this is the body of Christ that was broken for you? Do you believe that he shed his only begotten Son's blood to save you from hell? Do you believe that?" And if you believe that, do you think that anything that's happening in your life, any anxiousness that you feel, is because somehow God has forgotten about you?

Or he ran out of mercy? That somehow his hands is too short to reach you? It is to remind us of who he is and what he has given. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding on our behalf. Not only did he send his only begotten Son, he is continually working, praying on our behalf. Again, this is only effective if you believe. If you don't believe it, or you just kind of received it out of kind of like inheritance, you think you received your faith as an inheritance from your parents, you grew up in the church, so there's more superstition in you than real faith.

You understand what I'm saying? You're more afraid of not doing the right thing superstitiously. So somehow God's not going to bless you, your kids aren't going to be healthy, or you started a business and you're not going to do well. It's more superstition. And so if you're living your life out of superstition, you will do what is required, absolute minimum requirement to meet that need.

But if you believe this, this becomes your pursuit. This becomes your treasure. This becomes your comfort. This becomes your refuge. This becomes your hope. If you believe it. Again, you know, the reason why I keep saying this is because we live in a place of the world where Christianity is assumed, and so we grow up in churches where we just assume we're believers because we've been doing this physically, never really giving serious thought, do I believe this?

And if I do believe this, what does this mean? You can't confess to believe this and then think and act and feel like the rest of the world because your actions contradict your faith. It needs to be consistent, and so that's what this is. It is a recalibration of believers who may have drifted.

Thirdly, the Passover served to remind Israel of God's provision during times of abundance. There are people in our church who are struggling, who have loved ones who are sick or having financial issues or serious issues, marriage problems, but there are greater numbers of us who are living in absolute peace and in abundance, and we are wrestling to remind ourselves that we need Christ.

And every Sunday you come, you are reminded that you need Christ, but the moment the Sunday service is over, everything about your life says you don't really need him. That's why this communion table is here. Deuteronomy chapter 8, 11, it says, "Take care lest you forget the Lord your God." And again, this is the constant struggle of where we live because your bills are paid for.

Nobody's trying to bomb your house. Your children are well-educated, well-fed, well-entertained. And so we have a tendency to forget, constantly forget. And we are comforted by the fact that we go to church, which is very, very, very, very dangerous to rely on church attendance for our safety because the people who are rebuked the harshest were the Pharisees, who are the busiest at the temple.

Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I commanded you, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heartbeat lift it up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Let me say something that's going to be really disturbing to you, and hopefully it's not, but it may. If you're a Christian who are living in abundance and peace and your heart has become dull and drifted away from God, disaster is the greatest thing that can happen to you.

Sickness is the greatest thing that will happen to you. Hardship is the greatest thing that will happen to you because God will use that to recalibrate you and bring you back. If you're not a Christian and you're living in peace and you're drifting, that's the worst thing that can happen because God has released you and allowed you to drift.

You're drifting far and far and far away from God and you're living in peace and you feel no anxiousness, there's no sense of urgency to get right with God. You're just watching your boat floating away and nothing is happening in your life. That's the worst thing that can happen to you.

If you're a believer that has drifted and your heart has hardened and you are a genuine believer and God truly does love you, he will discipline you. That's what the scripture says. Not because he hates you, not necessarily simply as a punishment, but to bring you back because he loves us.

So the communion table is to remind us not to become arrogant, to remember that we are in dire need of Christ, to recalibrate a sense of urgency for him. That even while our bills are paid, even when our children are well and our marriage is going well and ministry on the surface looks like it's going well, that when we look to the cross and why he came and what the scripture says about the end, collegians, everybody else, we just came out of studying the book of Revelation.

Maybe we've already forgotten where this is headed. And so the purpose of this is to restore in us a sense of urgency for your sins and for the sins of the people that you love. Maybe you have a mom or a dad or brother or a sister or co-worker or even a stranger or neighbor who do not believe and your heart has become hardened toward them and them going to hell is something that you confess, but there's no urgency to share the gospel.

This is to remind us of what you and I confess every single Sunday and that your life and your speech and your heart, the way you spend your money, the way you spend your time, what you are looking for, who you are comparing with, what you envy, when it does not match what we celebrate at this table, the communion table is to recalibrate us, to bring us back, to remind us that we are desperate without Christ, that we are desperate and that the world is under judgment.

See, a Christian cannot confess that and say, "Oh well," and walk away. Then you wouldn't be a Christian. By your action, you confess you do not believe. So again, if you are a believer, it is to recalibrate that. If you are not a believer, it may cause you to confirm that you do not believe.

Hosea chapter 13, verse 4-6, "But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. You know no God but Me, and beside Me there is no Savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of the drought. But when they had grazed, they became full.

They were filled and their heart was lifted up. Therefore, they forgot Me." And that's our constant challenge because our life is getting better and better because we're living in a safe country. We're not persecuted. Air conditioning works fine today, right? Parking wasn't too far, right? People said hello to you when you entered, right?

People aren't angry with you. So life is good for the most part. And I know superficially there's other stuff going on in your life, but for the most part, you're not desperate. And as a result of that, maybe you're drifting. Hebrews chapter 2-1, it says, "Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." Can a Christian who lives in a constant drift have assurance of salvation?

You can come talk to me if this disturbs you, right? You cannot. You cannot. Because, not because you're saved by your works, not because you have some emotion in your heart, but to be in a constant drift may be evidence that you don't believe. To be in constant state of lukewarmness and to have accepted that, to be in constant state of apathy and to have accepted that as a normal part of your life could be evidence that you don't really believe.

Because if you really believe, time to time, the Holy Spirit is going to jolt you up. Because He's going to remind us where we're headed. We don't belong here. This is not our home. The Christ that we serve looks at this world and says, "It is condemned." And it's no different than Lot's wife, who as she is running, looking back with envy.

Hebrews 2.3, "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" How shall we escape if we're living in constant neglect? Do you know how we live in neglect? We fill our schedules with things that have nothing to do with God. That's how we neglect. You don't sit there and we're just like, "Oh, I'm not going to think about God." You fill your mind with things that have nothing to do with God.

So we binge on Netflix. Every free time we have, we run to fill it with entertainment. Constantly hanging out, doing things. And again, none of these things in and of itself are evil. But it is the cause of our neglect. It is at the core cause of our drift and our apathy.

And we're living in that constant, because I don't want to be disturbed. Like I like my life like that. I don't want anybody to tell me what to do, what not to do. And so we can easily dismiss the speaker, dismiss this, and this is that Bible study. But when we come to the communion table and we confess that God of the universe died for me and then he gave us a great commission to now go to the world, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teach them to observe all that I've commanded you, and then we say, "Maybe not me." You can't come to the communion table if you reject that, if you're apathetic toward that.

I'm going to conclude with a quick fire, four different words of this communion table, just to kind of remind us. There are four different words in different groups that use the term to describe the communion table. One is the word sacrament. You've probably heard that before. It comes from a Latin word to mean holy or sacred.

In 1 Corinthians 11.27 it says, "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord." Here the unworthy manner was talking about they were getting together and they weren't thinking about the poor people.

So they were eating and drinking and having fun, and then when the poor people came, they had nothing to eat and they couldn't care because they were self-focused. Now here when it says unworthy manner, they didn't consider it sacred, and as a result of that in verse 30, it says people are actually dying.

It was completely symbolic, but it was given by the Lord. Just because it's symbolic doesn't mean it's not sacred, just like the Old Testament sacrifices, just because it was symbolic didn't mean that God didn't care how you handled it. Nadab and Nebihu, they came and were giving symbolic sacrifices, but because it was unauthorized, what happened?

Fire comes and consumes them. So the communion table was two of the sacraments that God gave to be sacred. So when you come to the table in an unworthy manner, meaning unrepentant, unrepentant of a self-centered, apathetic, uncaring, unforgiving, bitter heart, we participate in an unworthy manner. So one, sacrament, it is sacred.

And so this sacred time that we have should cause the church to reflect. Now you can say, you know what, my heart's not ready, apathetic, so I shouldn't participate in it. Not participating in it means that I am outside of the fellowship of the body of Christ. I'm disconnected with Christ.

That's what it means. So a believer can only participate in a worthy manner, and it is a cause of repentance in the church. Sacrament, that's the first word. Second, communion. Communion is where we get the word kononia, togetherness. In 1 Corinthians 11, 29, "For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep." Communion table, this communion table, is not to be done in isolation. I hear and see more and more people say, "Oh, we want to have an intimate time of communion, just me and my friends." Communion was meant to be done in the context of the body of Christ, because it symbolizes all together.

In the early part of the church, we used to have one loaf of bread, and everybody kind of take a chunk of that to symbolize that we're breaking the body of Christ. And then we realized that the bread just tasted too good, and then people were just chomping on it, and then it didn't convey what we wanted.

So we got rid of it. But the idea behind it is that the whole body of Christ are recognizing that we are one. So if we come up here with bitterness of heart, unforgiving, holding grudges, unreconciled relationships, it says you're coming to the communion table in an unworthy manner.

People will always say, "Well, you don't know what they've done to me." And we talk about, again, the last 10 years, the gospel-centered this, gospel-centered that. There is nothing that truly tests gospel-centeredness than when you feel wronged, how you treat people that you think wronged you, because that's at the core of the gospel message.

Sinners who are rebellious against God came and died for us. So the communion table reminds us of that. Thirdly, Eucharist, literally the word means good grace, and it's the word that is used to give thanks. So the communion table is meant for people to come and to remember and to, as an act of worship, to give thanks.

First Thessalonians 5, 16, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." This is God's will, to give thanks and worship. Fifth and finally, the Lord's table, which is the term that we oftentimes use. And the Lord's table, in that Asian culture, typically meant an opportunity for celebration.

So whenever people have weddings, it's followed by some sort of banquet. You may have different kinds of food, different venue, different activity, but the intention behind it is celebration. And so the Lord's table is an act of worship, and to celebrate. It isn't simply meant to be an opportunity for us to weep and to repent.

That's to be done before you come up. But the table itself is to remind us that we have reasons to celebrate. And let me conclude with this, Revelation 19, 7-9, "Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. An angel said to me, 'Write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb,' and he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.'" So participating in the Lord's table is a declaration of his death and resurrection.

It is a reminder to us that this is where we're headed. It's the marriage supper of the Lamb, and this is a taste of what is coming. And if we have forgotten about that, it is to remind us of that. So this morning, as we come to the communion table, you know, before I open it up, you know, as a pastor, you know, I was talking to a pastor in India, you know, and saying, you know, it must be hard to minister over there because of persecution and all this stuff.

And he said, "Well, you know, where we are, we have sheep. And they're in danger, so they're very eager to listen to the shepherd because you have one place where you eat, and in between you have wolves coming to get them. And so when the shepherd says, 'We're going to go,' they're always running close by the shepherd to get them to the other side to eat." He said, "But we know who our sheep is, and our sheep are eager to move." You know, he said, "But where you are, you're in the city.

You're trying to guide the sheep through the city where there's trash everywhere, and there's red lights and honking, and every turn you have, you have another one just kind of going down the street distracted." And so it's hard to move your sheep, and oftentimes don't even know who your sheep are, even in the same church.

That's where you and I are. We're in the big city with so much destruction constantly, even today. I want to challenge you. Think practically about what you're entertained by. Think practically. Don't make these big judgments about, "I want to love Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. I want to do great things for Jesus." And then you go, and you spend the next three hours doing things that have nothing to do with God, and then that desire is gone already.

Our biggest challenge are not the wolves. It's not Taliban. It's not the US government. That's not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is constantly being distracted by the honking, and the trash, and the smell that constantly gets our attention. And we take our eyes off of where we're headed and where we're going, and we don't have an appetite for the things of God when we come.

So I want to challenge you and encourage you. Don't make commitments that are broad and big, because you're not going to follow through on that. What were you watching this week? Where did your money go? What did your conversations with your friend, your Christian friend, sounded like? What are you looking forward to?

Is it some trip that you're headed? Is it something that you're wanting to buy, and that's kind of filled your heart? What idols? What are the sins that so easily entangles you today? Think about that. Think practically. How can I stir up a hungering and thirsting for God today that's going to lead me to remain focused on Christ?

So as we open up this communion table, again, I'm going to ask you guys to take some time to evaluate. And don't say, "All my friends are doing it." Sometimes the church could be the biggest hindrance of genuine love for Christ. So don't use your friends and your environment as an excuse.

If you hear the voice of Christ, follow Him. Don't follow me. Don't follow your friends. Don't follow your small group leaders. Follow Christ. So let's take some time. I want to invite our worship team to come up. Take some time to prepare your hearts for the communion table. The scripture says, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread.

And when He had given things, He broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also He took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in the blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.'" Heavenly Father, as we come before you to remember what Christ has done, may His sacrifice have a deep effect in our thoughts, our lives, what we pursue.

Help us, Lord God, not to simply confess with our mouth that you are our treasure, but it would be evident, Lord God, in all that we do. We pray, Father God, that you would bless this church through this time. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.