A Deeper Look at the Lord’s Table

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.

1 Corinthians 10:21

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

Acts 2 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 11:20

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

Matthew 26:27–28

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

1 Corinthians 10:16

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

Acts 20:7

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.

John 6:53–58

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

John 6 · chapter mention

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

John 6 · chapter mention

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

John 6 · chapter mention

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

John 6 · chapter mention

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 3 · chapter mention

Leviticus chapter 17, where Jews were told don't even eat meat

Leviticus 17 · chapter mention

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

Exodus 6:6–7

through 7. Each line is 1 cup of the meal.

I promised it would be boring. Exodus chapter 6.

Exodus 6 · chapter mention

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

Luke 22:19

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.

Luke 22:20

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

1 Corinthians 11:27–29

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.