If you were to drive this afternoon to Carthage, IL to the
Dairy Queen and you were to sit in the booth on the southeast
corner of the building, you would be exactly where Jennifer
and I went on our first non date.
Now I call it a non date because on the way there Jennifer asked
me is this a date? To which I replied, no, I
ordered the chicken strip basket with the gravy and the Texas
toast. Raise your hand if you're a
Christian and you know what I'm talking about.
I also got the Cookie Jar Blizzard.
And for those of you who don't know, the Cookie Jar Blizzard is
normally not on the menu. You have to ask for it.
You have to be an insider, You have to be a person of prestige,
prominence, position. And the Cookie Jar Blizzard is
where they take the ice cream and then they combine 2
toppings, the chocolate chip cookie dough and the Oreo.
And then if you are kind, sweet, caring, if they can tell that
you're a good soul, you can look into the eyes of the person at
the register and you could say, would you be willing to?
And I mean, you don't have to do this, but it would just be
wonderful if you did. Would you go back to the freezer
where you guys keep the icing that you use on the cakes?
And after you filled up my Blizzard about 3/4 of the way
full of ice cream, would you fill the remaining 25% with
icing and you will have the most delicious ice cream you have
ever had in your entire life? And to this day, I cannot go buy
a Dairy Queen and not have memories.
I can't look at a Dairy Queen sign, see a Dairy Queen
advertisement, and not think back to that night.
Not because of what those places are, but because of what that
moment and that night represented.
I want to welcome those of you joining in all of our different
locations, those of you watching online, and those of you who are
part of the Crossing inside. I also want to wish a special
welcome to those of you who are new here to the Crossing.
Whether it's your first time or your first time in a long time,
we are so glad that you are here and I want to encourage you to
take advantage of the new here booth in all of our lobbies.
And if you're watching online, you can check the link in the
chat that just got posted. We are in a sermon series called
some assembly required. Not all assembly required like
IKEA furniture and Legos could God no, not not all are not no
assembly required like your cell phone or your car.
But some, some assembly required.
Turn to your neighbor and say some, some assembly required.
You see, God provided all the necessary elements for the
church. We just have to put these pieces
together to experience a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
This sermon series is part what we believe as a church, part why
we do what we do as a church, and part how to build a
meaningful encounter with God. And I believe one of the best
ways for you to develop a meaningful encounter with God is
through the gift of communion. Now you have to think for just a
second for those of you who are Christian, kind of go on a
journey with me. Communion has got to be one of
the weirdest, strangest things that our church does.
If you are a person who has no church or religious background,
you show up, bunch of worship, then you listen to a sermon and
then there's more exciting worship and everybody's excited.
And then all of a sudden we get super quiet, super somber, and
then we take some stale bread, some room temperature juice and
you're going, what is that? You got to think, to the
outsider looking in, communion is like a really bad snack time
in the midst of a service. But if you were to put that same
lens on, a lot of what we do as a church would make no sense to
somebody who has no religious background.
Think about baptism. We're obviously right now
experiencing all kinds of baptisms at our church.
Imagine being a person who has no religious experience
whatsoever, and you see a baptism take place at our
church. You just get done with the
exciting worship, you get done with this weird communion thing.
And then all of a sudden people walk down into the water and
people start cheering. And then the person talking gets
a little choked up and then they dunk them, put them all the way
under, bring them all the way back up.
And people cheer even louder. Like, why is every I don't I
I've done, I've seen that happen in pools my whole life.
Why is it so special here? Why are they doing it in front
of everybody? And then after that, the person
gets up on stage and they start talking to you to do the
announcements and they're a little teary eyed and they go
that moment right there. That was an answer to 1000
prayers and you're thinking 1000 prayers for somebody get dunked
in front of a whole bunch of people.
This makes no sense. And then somebody else will
maybe say, hey, and for those of you who give thanks for giving
because you give, we're able to have moments like this and
they're going, I don't understand.
A person shows up and gets wet in front of a whole bunch of
people and this is what this church is all about.
You have to think from the outside looking in, there are
things that we do as Christians that make absolutely no sense.
Must be bonkers to somebody who has no experience with Jesus or
with God. That is why this series is so
important because when you know, you know and when you know it
changes everything. So let's get into it.
Now I'm going to be upfront with you.
The 1st 20 minutes of the sermon I called boring.
Turn to your other neighbor and say boring.
Turn to your first neighbor and say it's a bad week to come.
He's boring this week. OK, But if you can stick with
me, OK, The goal is I have to kind of do some assembly in
order to be able to give you a gift.
All right, so let's enter into the 20 minutes of boring in
5432. Some of you might be going.
Why does Communion have all kinds of names?
Like, why can't we just pick on a name?
There's all kinds of names for Communion in Scripture.
For instance, here's one of the names, the Lord's Table.
Here's another one, the breaking of bread.
Here's another one, the Lord's Supper.
There's also the Eucharist. There's also communion.
Why are these all these different names for communion?
Well, I'll tell you because that's what's in the Bible.
Look at what happens in First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 21.
You cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons
too. You cannot have part in both the
Lord's table and the table of demons.
The reason why we sometimes call it the Lord's table is because
the Bible sometimes calls it the Lord's Table.
What about the breaking of bread?
Why is it called the breaking of bread?
Well, because in Acts chapter 2, it says they devoted themselves
to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and to prayer. Sometimes the reason why we call
it the breaking of bread is because sometimes in Scripture
it calls it the breaking of bread.
You wonder why it's sometimes called the Lord's Supper.
You're going to get catch a theme here.
It's because it's in the Bible, which is kind of like how we
want to operate as a church. First Corinthians Chapter 11
verse 20 says this. So when you come together it is
it not the Lord's Supper you eat The reason why it is called the
Eucharist. Some of many of you, you your
background is you called this the Eucharist this Now you have
to do, I have to do a little bit of teaching here, but in Matthew
chapter 26 verses 27 through 28, it says this.
Then when he took a cup and when he had given thanks in the
Greek, which is the original text, the word here is
Eucharisto. So the reason it's called the
Eucharist is because that is the Greek word behind give thanks,
which means communion is a time where we give thanks for what
God has done on our behalf, which I'll unpack that in just a
little bit. Then why is it called communion?
Because in First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 16, we find
this is it not the cup of Thanksgiving for which we give
thanks? This is Eucharist talk again, a
participation in the blood of Christ.
And is it not the bread that we break a participation in the
body of Christ? The Greek word here is Koinonia,
and when the Bible was translated from Greek into
Latin, the word that they used here was communio, from which we
get the word communion. So when you and I gather
together, it is a fellowshipping that takes place.
It is a participation that we have.
Now, why do we as a church take communion every week?
Some of you may be a part of a tradition where you take it once
a year, once a quarter, once a month.
Why do we as a church take it every time we get together?
Well, that's because in Acts chapter 20, verse 7, this is
what it says. On the first day of the week, we
came together to break bread. So when we gather together on
the first day of the week, we are gathering together and one
of the things that we're going to do every single time we
gather as a church is we're going to take communion.
So let me ask this question or this might be a question some of
you have. Does the bread and juice really
become the flesh and blood of Jesus?
Now, I cannot unpack all of this here, but I'm going to at least
kind of give you an answer and some reasons for that answer.
The short answer is no. The main text used to back up
the the communion elements becoming the actual body and
blood of Jesus is found in John chapter 6, verse 53 through 58.
Let's read it and you're going to go.
This is a pretty compelling case.
All right, Jesus said to them, very truly, I tell you, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks
my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last
day, For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in
them. Just as the living Father sent
me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on
me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down
from heaven. Your ancestors ate mana and
died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
All of these words are the words of Jesus.
This is Jesus talking. And out of fairness, when you
read John chapter 6, it actually makes a very compelling case
that when you take the bread and when you take the juice, it
becomes the real body of Jesus and the real blood of Jesus.
But there are a couple of things that I would note to tell you
why my answer to that is no, that is not the case. 1 John
chapter 6 is not about communion.
John chapter 6 happens a full year and more than likely a year
and a half before Jesus ever institutes the practice of
communion. But you might be going by
Clayton when you read that. I thought about communion and
when we talk about communion, that kind of makes sense.
Let me tell you why I think that happens.
Here is John 6. OK, you guys have a wide shot so
I can kind of do this. So OK, this is John 6.
You read John 6, you have Jesus, death on the cross and you have
communion. The reason why Communion and
John chapter 6 looks so familiar is because John 6 is pointing
not to communion. John 6 is pointing towards Jesus
on the cross. The reason why Communion looks
so much like John 6 is because Communion is looking at the
cross. It is showing us something that
is happening at the cross. John 6 is showing us something
that is happening at the cross. John 6 and Communion look like
each other because they're both trying to look like the same
thing. But John 6 is not about
communion, and communion is not about John 6.
John 6 is about Jesus on the cross.
Communion is about Jesus on the cross.
They look similar because they're pointing to the exact
same event, Jesus on the cross becoming everything that we need
for salvation and life in this world.
Now you might be going, but Clayton, when you were reading
that passage, there was a word in there that seemed pretty
strong. The word real.
My blood is real drink, my flesh is real food.
The word real there is a lathace.
It comes from the word meaning are from the word a lathia,
which means true or reliable. Here's what Jesus is saying.
He's saying the same thing to these people in John chapter 6
that he said to the to the woman in John 4, when he says, I will
give you living water, I'm going to give you reliable water.
He's not saying, hey, when you eat from me, you'll never be
hungry again. When you drink from me, you'll
never be thirsty again. Literally.
Because if that was the case, we would all take a cup of holy
water and we would never have to order a Coke, a Pepsi, a beer, a
bourbon. We would never need Gatorade.
We'd never need electrolytes. We would never need anything
else to drink because if we just took One Cup of holy water, we
would all be good. What Jesus is getting at is
Jesus is saying I am real sustenance for your spiritual
life just like food is sustenance for your physical
life. Next thing the words eat and
drink are past tense verbs. These suggest a one time
provision through Christ as the basis for our salvation, which
means salvation is not found in the continual eating and
drinking of the blood. If John six were about
communion, it would mean that salvation is attained through
the taking of communion. But that is how you and I get
salvation through the eating of the bread and the drinking of
the cup. It would mean that if you're not
taking communion, you're not saved.
And if you do take it, you're are.
And we learned this last week, the reason we are saved is
because of Jesus's finished work on the cross.
So what is Jesus doing? Jesus is using figurative
language. He is not asking all Christians
to become cannibals. This would go against everything
that he wrote in the book of Leviticus chapter 3 and
Leviticus chapter 17, where Jews were told don't even eat meat
that still has blood in it. A good Jew never had a medium
rare steak. Well, they didn't have a lot.
Yeah, a lot of other things too, including steak.
The the reason this is happening is because Jesus is wanting to
show them that he is establishing something brand
new, which we're going to get to in just a second.
Here is what Jesus is saying. He's saying just as good food
and good drink are reliable for your physical life, Jesus is the
reliable spiritual food and drink for our spiritual and our
eternal life. Now, some of you who are
bringing me brand new to Jesus and brand new to the church
might be going, Clayton, what is communion?
Because you've done a whole lot of talking and I still don't
even know what we're talking about.
You're like Clayton, if you were like a, you know, a decent
public speaker, you would have started there.
But you know, I like to keep it interesting.
And remember when I said boring? I promised to deliver.
Now, So what is communion? Communion is a time during the
service where we take a little bit of bread and a little bit of
juice, and we remember what Jesus did for us on the cross.
But to really answer what's happening here in communion, we
have to go all the way back to the book of Exodus.
Some of you, you might remember our sermon series, Decisions in
the Desert, but for those of you who weren't around for that, let
me kind of unpack this. The people of God, the Jews,
were living in captivity. They were slaves to the
Egyptians for 400 years. God sends them Moses to be a
deliverer, to be a prophet, to be a leader, to lead the people
out of the hands of the Egyptians and into the Promised
Land. God to get the attention of the
Egyptians, He did 10 plagues, 10 acts of judgement to get the the
Egyptians to go. You know what?
We don't want to have these Israelites in captivity and
slavery anymore. We are going to let them go.
And God did. Plague 1 and they didn't listen.
Plague 2 they didn't listen. Plague 3 they didn't listen.
Plague 4 they didn't listen. Does it sound like your kids
yet? Plague 5 they didn't listen.
Plague 6 How many times do I have to tell you?
Plague 7 they didn't listen. Plague 8 they didn't listen.
Plague 9 they didn't listen. And God said listen, here comes
the 10th plague and what's going to happen is I'm going to send
the Angel of death out and I'm going to kill all the first born
in the land. However, any house that takes
the blood of a lamb and spreads the blood on the blood on the
side of the doorpost and the top of the doorpost and the side of
the doorpost, the entrance to their home.
When I see the blood, the Angel of death, the punishment that is
coming after 9:10 plagues. If I can't get your attention,
I'm going to get it now. Let my people go.
And when I send this Angel out, he is going to kill every house
that is not covered by the blood.
And so the Jews gathered and they covered the door frame of
their house in the blood, and they celebrated a meal called
the Passover meal because the judgement of God was going to
pass over their home. That night.
The Angel of death went out and immediately Pharaoh released all
of the Israelites to go towards freedom.
The Israelites left in such a hurry that when they left, they
took bread that did not yet have the yeast added to it.
It was unleavened bread. This became such a big deal that
every single year Jews would celebrate the Passover meal.
The meal would tell the story of God's deliverance of His people,
and part of that meal included unleavened bread, bread that has
no yeast, and wine. Now, to get a proper
understanding of the significance of Passover, you
would need to, if you're an American, take everything that
the July 4th represents, everything that Thanksgiving
represents, and everything that Christmas represents, and
package it into one meal. This is their Declaration of
Independence. This is their freedom from
captivity. This is a family meal where
everybody gathers around and give thanks for the mighty thing
that is taking place on their behalf and receive the gift of
God's grace into their lives. So imagine when you get ready to
do the Passover, you are celebrating the 4th of July, you
are celebrating Thanksgiving and you are celebrating Christmas.
You cannot underestimate the importance of the Passover for a
Jew. And before they would eat the
roasted lamb, the young boy and the family would walk up and go,
Father, what all does this represent?
This is all scripted, of course. The boy had been practicing his
lines upstairs in his little Jewish mirror, going, OK, when I
go down in front of everybody in the family, I'm supposed to say
now, father, what does this all represent?
So the little boy comes down the stairs, and the father's waiting
there, waiting to see his son step into the moment in the
center stage of the family. Father, what does this
represent? And then the father, who's also
been practicing all of his lines, would step center stage
in front of the whole family, and he would recount the
history. Of the Exodus and the glorious
redemption of God's people. The meal played out in four acts
and each act was represented by a cup.
There were four cups representing 4 acts that took
place and this all comes out of Exodus chapter 6 verses 6
through 7. Each line is 1 cup of the meal.
I promised it would be boring. Exodus chapter 6.
I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of
the Egyptians. I will free you from being
slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched
arm and with mighty acts of judgement.
I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.
Cup 1. I am the Lord, and I will bring
you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
This cup was taking place, or would take place while they were
serving hors d'oeuvres before the meal ever started.
After they had finished the first cup, they would move to
the place where they were going to actually have the meal.
Cup 2. I will free you from being
slaves to them. Cup 3 I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
Cup 4. I will take you as my own
people, and I will be your God. This is the first Passover, and
this Passover is still celebrated today by Jews who do
not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Now Fast forward 1500 years from
that first Passover and Jesus goes into an upper room with his
disciples during the Feast of Unleavened Bread to celebrate
the Passover and Jesus shows up and he's with his disciples.
Watch this. Cup 1 I am the Lord, I will
bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
Jesus turns to his disciples. Cup 2.
I will free you from being slaves to them.
Cup three. You cannot help but see what is
happening here. While they are celebrating God
delivering them from slavery, you are recognizing that Jesus
is ours away from rescuing us from the slavery of sin and
death and the power of Satan. The actual Passover meal takes
place between cups 2 and cups three.
That's why if you're reading in the Gospel of Luke, you'll
notice it talks about a cup, then bread, then cup.
It's because it's moving through the Passover, through the four
cups of the Passover. This is where Jesus says in Luke
22 verse 19 and he took bread, gave thanks Eucharist and broke
it and gave it to them, saying this is my body given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me. Cup three, I will redeem you
with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
You can't help but picture Jesus, arms stretched out on the
cross, redeeming his people with arts with outstretched arms
while he experiences the mighty judgment of God on our behalf.
Jesus hung between heaven and earth, getting the wrath that
you and I deserve. You see what's happening.
God or Jesus is taking over the Passover.
Luke 22 verse 20 says this in the same way.
After the supper he took the cup, saying this cup is the new
covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.
Matthew records Jesus making it clear here that this blood is
the beginning of a new covenant poured out for the forgiveness
of sins. Cup 4 This is Jesus talking, and
I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.
Jesus does at least three things during this Passover.
Meal 1 He takes it over. He says this Passover, it's
about me now I'm the one who's going to take your place.
The judgement of God is going to fall on me and everybody who is
covered in my blood because of what I did on the cross, the
judgement of God will Passover them.
It will fall on me. Second thing he does is he
abolish is the Passover. The celebration of the Passover
was a Jewish custom under the Jewish law.
And Jesus is saying as Jesus followers, those of you who are
covered in my blood, those of you who have taken what I have
done on your behalf and applied it to your life, this is no
longer something that you have to do.
Then #3 He establishes communion.
When you guys get together, I want you to take some bread and
I want you to take some juice, and I want you to remember what
I have done on your behalf. I want you to remember the
sacrifice, the love, the grace, and the mercy.
In light of all of this, it makes complete sense why Paul,
when he is writing to the church in Corinth, says, hey, when you
get together as a church and you're getting ready to take
communion, you better do it in a proper way.
Look what it says in First Corinthians Chapter 11, verse 27
through 29. So then whoever eats the bread
or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be
guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord.
Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of
the bread and drink from the cup.
For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of
Christ, eat and drink judgement on themselves.
How many of you? You don't need any more
judgement on your life. Like, you're bad enough as it
is. Yeah.
The last thing you want to do is like, yeah, I'll take more
judgement, please. For 300.
That's what I would like. Just more judgement.
What? What Paul's saying is, in light
of everything that Jesus has done on the cross, when you get
together to remember what Jesus did on the cross, don't screw
around with that. Don't mess with this.
If you've ever been to Washington, DC, and you go to
all the war memorials, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, it
becomes abundantly clear instantly that you better act
right. Stop jacking around, make sure
you get your head right and your heart right because you are
standing in the middle of great sacrifice.
That's why as a church, when we take communion, we always put
that verse up on the screen because we want people to take
communion in a worthy manner. So obvious point of the sermon,
how do I take make sure that I take communion in a worthy
manner? How do I make sure that I'm
doing it right? Well, First off, we take
communion in an unworthy manner if we're not a Christian.
How can you honor the death and the sacrifice of Jesus if you
have not accepted the death and life of Jesus into your life and
made him the king of your life? To spend time taking community
and thanking Jesus for dying on the cross for your sins without
allowing what Jesus Christ did for your life to be applied to
your life is doing so in an unworthy manner.
So if you are a person who is not a Christian, you should not
take communion. 2 We make sure that we're taking it in a worthy
manner when we recognize that what we are doing is way more
than taking a piece of bread and drinking a small cup of juice,
but we focus on what they represent.
They represent the love of God being poured out on undeserving
sinners, us at great cost. How do we make sure we take
communion in a worthy manner? We do heart checks to make sure
that we are aware of our identity in Christ and how
helpless we are without Him. We look around at the people
that are close to us and we realize that they are either our
brothers and sisters in Christ or lost without God.
And that means that when we take communion, it changes how we see
people. So what I'd like to do right now
is I would like to take a moment to take communion together as a
church. And for those of you who aren't
a Christian yet, I'm just going to ask you to just kind of watch
and observe what's happening. But for those of you who are a
Christian, they've either put a couple communion things
underneath your chair or close to your chair.
You're going to need two of them.
If you can leave the rest there so that way they don't have to
reset it for the next service, they would be very grateful to
you. At some of our locations, they
might be passing it to you, or there might be a spot where you
can go grab some. It is completely acceptable for
you to move around at this point in the service, but don't start
yet. Since I'm in ministry, I go to
church a lot. Like I think last year I I did
156 services. So you can imagine going to
church 100. And I'm the kind of guy who
needs to go to church 156 times. I mean, I need it and you can
imagine showing up at 156 services for me, there would be
a chance for me to take communion 156 times and there
would also be a chance for me to kind of take it in an unworthy
manner. And so a long time ago, early in
my ministry, I just was kind of like, I need a, a good rhythm
for me to take communion. And, and what I'm about to do
is, if you'll allow me, I want to give you the gift of how I
take communion. Now, logistically, we don't have
the ability for you all to do this all the time, but when I
take communion, I take it one service a weekend.
And I usually try to do it when my wife Jennifer is here because
I like taking communion with her.
And a long time ago, I came up with four prayers that I used
during communion and I take double communion.
And there are four prayers that I pray during my communion time.
And it has helped me grow in my affection for Christ, grow in my
appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ.
It has changed how I view myself, and it has changed how I
view other people. So if you're willing, would you
go on this journey with me? So if you would take one of your
cups, logistically, this is going to be a nightmare.
I just want you to know that. Just just please push through
it. I want you to just get one piece
of bread out. And here's the prayer I pray,
but I'm getting ready to take the first piece of communion.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins and paying a price I
could not pay. Jesus was the only way I was
ever going to be saved. I am completely lost without
Him. I could never be good enough.
I could never measure up enough. It is only because of Jesus.
If I were to stand before God on my own record, I stand no chance
of salvation. But because of what Jesus Christ
has done on the cross, I don't stand before my God on my
record. I stand before God on the record
of Jesus Christ. Think about this, The judgement
that I deserve has passed over me.
I am covered in the blood, which means that when God looks at me,
he doesn't see my sin, He sees his Son.
It changes how I view myself because my identity is found in
the fact that God loved me enough to come and die on my
behalf. If my identity is found and how
much money I make, what happens when I lose my money?
If my identity is found and how good of a preacher I am?
What happens if I'm not a good preacher?
If my identity is found and how good I look in the mirror, what
happens when when I look at the mirror, it doesn't look like
what it used to look like? If my identity is wrapped up in
who's married to me or who likes me or who doesn't like me, what
happens when that changes? But now my identity is not found
in any of those things. My identity is found and the
fact that God in His great love and mercy sent His Son to die on
the cross on my behalf, and no one can take that from me.
So would you take a second and pray that prayer as you take the
first bread? Now I would like you to get the
other cup of juice out and get the other bread.
It's going to be risky. This is going to be a shout
weekend. Everybody's going to have grape
juice on them. I get the second piece of bread
and I pray a second prayer. And this is my prayer.
Thank you for not giving up on me even though I deserve it.
I am amazed at my sinfulness. I'm amazed at my propensity to
have a wandering heart. I have made promise after
promise to Him, commitment after commitment to Him, and I have
fallen short again and again and again.
I've asked for forgiveness for the same sins over and over and
over again, and not once has he ever turned away from me.
Not once has he sealed me off so that way He won't listen to my
prayers. So much of the pain we
experience in this world is being afraid of being truly
known. Because if somebody truly knew
us, they would want nothing to do with us.
If they knew every thought, every failure, every
shortcoming, they would run. And here's what I can't get
over. The one who knows me the most,
the one who I have hurt the most, the one who I have let
down the most is the same one who has done the most on my
behalf. If anybody had a right to give
up on me, it would be him. But not once has he ever done
it. Would you pray the second prayer
with me as you take the bread? As you get one of the cups of
juice, my third prayer when I take communion every week is
help me to live a life in response to your love.
I want to be a person who's been changed by him, impacted by him,
altered by him, shaped by him, molded by him.
And when I look back at the mighty work that God has done on
my behalf, I want to be a great steward of that.
How could I be the recipient of such love, such grace, such
mercy, such patience, such long-suffering, and not be moved
by it, not be changed by it? How could we look at the cross
of Jesus Christ and see what He has done on our behalf and walk
away unfazed? How could we go about our lives
like we've always gone about them?
I want to be a person who lives a life of response to God's
great redemptive work on my behalf.
I want to be a great steward of what He has done for me.
So would you pray this prayer as you take one of the juices?
OK, you're getting ready for the second cup.
We're getting ready for the 4th prayer.
And I just want to tell you gently to brace yourself because
the fourth prayer is to help me remember that you did not die
just for me, but for everyone in the world.
This prayer reminds me that the sacrifice of Jesus was not just
for me, it's for my family, for my neighbors, for my Co workers.
Jesus died for people that don't like me.
Jesus died for people that I don't like.
Jesus died for my enemies. Jesus died for people who've
hurt me, said bad things about me, abused me, done me wrong,
taken from me. And God's love for me should
change how I view them, act towards them, love them.
It should and must change how I treat them.
Think about them. Let me be clear.
The Bible states that outside of Christ, we are enemies of God.
Our sin made us hostile to the throne of God.
We were enemies. And how did God treat His
enemies? He sent His one and only Son on
their behalf to redeem and to rescue and to restore.
And if God had not moved on that in that way on behalf of His
enemies, I would not be where I am today, and neither would you.
That's why Jesus says one of the hallmarks of Christianity is
enemy love. Why?
Because when we were enemies, he loved us.
And it is reasonable to expect that people who've been impacted
by enemy love should be capable of enemy love.
It must change the way I view them.
The same rescue mission that saved me.
God is trying to use to save them.
You've heard me say this before, you will never lay eyes on
somebody that God doesn't love and Jesus didn't die for.
So if you're willing, would you pray the 4th prayer and drink
the cup? That night in Carthage led to a
walk around a camp that I grew up at, and Jennifer and I took
this picture. Look at that guy.
Look at him. Yeah, me and the sunset are the
easiest things to look at in that picture.
You might wonder, why do I have a beard?
It's because that double chin was coming in pretty early at a
young age. That was a 26 year old double
chin. Like we Jennifer says, listen,
you, you look better when there's less of your face to
see. And I was like, yes, ma'am, I
appreciate enemy love. That's what that was.
That was not the last picture. Oh man, I took a lot more
pictures. I took this picture and this
one. Oh yeah, I'm romantic.
And this one and this one and this one, I was figuring out
technology like a boomer. That picture led to this picture
in Jamaica, which led to this picture
and all the pictures that have come after that.
You see a Dairy Queen, you see a chicken strip basket.
But I see the rest of my life. Others see bread and juice.
I see my identity. I see my victory.
I see my salvation. I see my hope.
I see my peace. I see the grace I've been
longing for, the mercy I desire. I see my destiny.
I see my eternity. Other people, other people just
see some bread and juice and I see everything that was wrong
with me and everything that was right about him.
Which is why when we gather every week, we take communion to
remind us that this is not all that there is and not all that
is possible through him. We're moving to a time of
decision. I'll be quick.
If you are here today and you don't have an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, you are not a Christian.
You are a person who has not stepped over the line and said I
want to be identified with Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.
I want to make him my Savior who rescues me from impending hell,
and I want him to be my Lord who directs my path for the rest of
my life. Can I just tell you I am one
satisfied customer of making that decision and I will tell
you I haven't met anybody else who would disagree with me.
Now, when you come into an intimate, personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, it changes absolutely everything and it is
the thing that you were made for, created for, and destined
for. That hole in your heart cannot
be filled with anything other than Him.
You were made for Him. That's why no matter how much
money you keep making, it's never enough.
Remember how many people you become friends with, it's never
enough. No matter how many possessions
you have, it is never enough. There is a hole inside of you
that cannot be satisfied, that cannot be filled because the
only person who can fill the infinite hole is an infinite
God. And if you are outside of a
relationship with Him, I would tell you at least today, start
asking questions of somebody who has a relationship with him.
Because I believe that when you start asking those questions,
you're going to get the answers you've been longing for.
Others of you, you know, you know enough.
You've known enough for a long time, and for some reason you
keep putting it off. Maybe today you take a step in
just a few moments when the people around you stand and sing
and some of them come to the steps and pray.
I want to encourage you to walk right over there next to the
baptistry underneath that screen, and talk to somebody
about what it means to start an intimate, personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. To those of you who do have a
relationship with Jesus Christ, allow Communion to spur you on
in a reckless, radical way as we try to make this region the
hardest place on planet earth to get to hell from.
Communion is a time for us to for us to remember what He has
done on our behalf and what He expects us to do.
And so as you come to the steps and pray for the people in your
life that you care about, the people that are close to you and
far from God, as you get down there and pray about the things
that are going through your life, don't forget the fact that
God is on a rescue mission and is inviting us to participate.
Would you stand with me? God?
I'm asking you to do a work in every heart that's in this room
and every heart that's watching online.
God, I'm asking you to do what only you can do in ways that
only you can do it. We want what happens here to be
by your hand, not by human wisdom or human effort.
God, I ask that you'd help us to surrender the things that are
getting in the way of us becoming who you called and
created us to become. Use this moment to pour concrete
on the emotions and the commitments that we want to
make, and I pray. Amen.