SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Fapter, helping people to know, joy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we've come to do just that, to behold you, to see you as you are, not as we prefer you to be, or we were told one time that you were like.
SPEAKER_01: We've come to experience you, to taste and see that the Lord is good, to remember you, because we are hardwired to forget God.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have to we have to have ordinances like communion that kind of bring us back and reorient us around and help us to remember who you are and what you've done.
SPEAKER_01: That is humbling and liberating at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've come today to engage in this process that you said, hey, this is not just ritual, this is reality.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Holy Spirit, lead us into this time, we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat if you're our guest.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say, welcome.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Neil, I'm the lead pastor at Grand Park Way.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and let me explain to you what you see around the room.
SPEAKER_01: You may be like, what's the deal?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, today we're observing communion, and communion is the entire service.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I'll read a passage of scripture and then I'll give like what's called a homily, which is a big word for a short sermon.
SPEAKER_01: And we love short sermons here, amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna fight every one of you in the parking lot as soon as church is over.
SPEAKER_01: You just take your shirts off and meet me out there.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh, no?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so, and so here here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: We practice a couple things.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we practice open communion, which means if you're a Christian, not just oh, I believe in God, but you've been converted, you have a relationship with God, then you're welcome, more than welcome to come and receive the elements today.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how we do it we do it kind of family style.
SPEAKER_01: I'll I'll read a passage of scripture, I'll talk for about 10 minutes, uh, and then some of our servers will go to our stations, and then we'll just continue to worship.
SPEAKER_01: And as we're worshiping, people will come.
SPEAKER_01: You come as groups of friends, come as family members, whatever, and we'll serve you the elements.
SPEAKER_01: We've got nine stations set up in here, so it doesn't take all afternoon.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh some of our late people and our staff and elders will be at different stations, and you come and we'll serve you the elements, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: All of the elements are gluten-free.
SPEAKER_01: So you don't have to go, oh, no bread for me.
SPEAKER_01: It's not bread.
SPEAKER_01: They're all gluten-free.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so once you receive the elements, if we can pray for you, just say, Hey, you this is how you can pray for me.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Then you go back to your seat and you're not done, just continue to engage in worship.
SPEAKER_01: There'll be singing songs, there'll be readings from different places of scripture, people will be praying.
SPEAKER_01: And so the entire worship service and communion is immersed in the context of worship.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let me read because the Bible gives us very sp very clear directions on how to go about this to keep it from just becoming a ritual and let it stay a reality.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.
SPEAKER_01: But the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, This is my body which is for you.
SPEAKER_01: Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_01: In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
SPEAKER_01: Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_01: For as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let a person examine himself then, and also and and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
SPEAKER_01: For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
SPEAKER_01: That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
SPEAKER_01: But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
SPEAKER_01: But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
SPEAKER_01: So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home.
SPEAKER_01: So that when you come together, it will not be for judgment.
SPEAKER_01: About the other things, I will give directions when I come.
SPEAKER_01: Now, uh three words I want us to think about as we prepare to come to the table.
SPEAKER_01: Number one is necessity.
SPEAKER_01: Necessity.
SPEAKER_01: It's verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: He says, As often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you leave your seat today, and I hope you will, and come to one of these stations in the front or in the back of the auditorium here, uh what you're doing is you're you're saying, I am by nature so sinful and by choice, so separated from God, that I am so imperfect that a perfect being has to be sacrificed in my place and for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: I have no other means of getting right with God.
SPEAKER_01: So when you come and receive communion, you're proclaiming the Lord's death.
SPEAKER_01: You are saying with your behavior, absolutely, there's no way I could get right with God in and of myself.
SPEAKER_01: You proclaim the Lord's death.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I sent you an email yesterday and somebody texted me and said, Man, you kind of that kind of made me think.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, yeah, I'm not trying to play keep away, but we got to be sober and honest and authentic.
SPEAKER_01: We love the word authenticity in our culture, except when it comes to church, because you can be authentic out there and be really phony in here.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is listen carefully to what I'm about to say.
SPEAKER_01: Because some of you, if you're just living in willful standing, you're like, I'm not, I'm not gonna stop.
SPEAKER_01: You should abstain today, but you shouldn't stay in your seat.
SPEAKER_01: Like if you're a teenager and you're like, I don't give a rip about this, or if you've deconstructed your faith and you're like, I don't believe this at all, you should come with your family.
SPEAKER_01: And when the server says, you know, hold out the element, you should just say, I'm abstaining because I think I'm smarter than God.
SPEAKER_01: And why would I worship a being who's beneath me?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: You should hear, give yourself the experience of hearing out loud what you actually believe on the inside.
SPEAKER_01: Because we act like as long as I keep it in here, nobody knows.
SPEAKER_01: No, and by the way, we're not gonna shame you or condemn you, or think we'll just say, Oh, thank you for letting me know.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's learn how to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Or if you're living in sin and you just think this satisfies me, I'm not gonna stop.
SPEAKER_01: Just say, hey, I sleep with my girlfriend and it meets my needs in ways that I don't think Jesus ever could.
SPEAKER_01: No, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I wish y'all could see your faces.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are like, or pull out your pill bottle and just hold it up and just say, hey, no, my addiction is gonna take care of me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just be authentic.
SPEAKER_01: Be who you really say you are.
SPEAKER_01: And not that the church is gonna mock you.
SPEAKER_01: That's not our place.
SPEAKER_01: It is our place to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Some of my dearest friends think I am crazy because I believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: They don't hold back, and so I don't hold back.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just saying, don't sit in your seat and think, oh, if I haven't done this, I wouldn't shave my legs and come to church.
SPEAKER_01: No, come and just say, you know what, I'm abstaining.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why.
SPEAKER_01: It lets us know how to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: This is still necessary.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second word I want to give you sufficiency, necessity and insufficiency.
SPEAKER_01: Not only did a perfect God sacrifice himself for us in our place, but his death was sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: It not only purchases my forgiveness, but it ensures my sanctification.
SPEAKER_01: Big word, sanctification just means I'm becoming more and more every day who the Bible says I am.
SPEAKER_01: Does it make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'm because I'm not perfect, I haven't arrived, but I am in progress, and I'm not the person I used to be, and I'm not the person I'm going to be.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to get better and better and better for me.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's one of the ways, a real practical way you can tell that you believe in the sufficiency of Christ's death on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And it's very simple, very accessible, and it's simply this you're not defensive.
SPEAKER_01: People that do not believe in the sufficiency of the crucifixion, they're defensive.
SPEAKER_01: They're never wrong, they never make a mistake.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine going to work tomorrow if you're a boss when the employee comes to you and says, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I totally screwed this up.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have a leg to stand on.
SPEAKER_01: I'm even tempted to shade the truth or what the Bible would call lie, but I'm not going to because my imperfection has been paid for by the perfection of Jesus on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine your kids?
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine your 16-year-old who you hadn't bought a car for yet?
SPEAKER_01: Well, she took your truck, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: And she comes in a little bit late and she has that sheepish look on her face.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, hey, what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: Well, Dad, I wanted to park your truck in the street and make it look like one of the neighbors hit it.
SPEAKER_01: But I was going through the drive-thru at Starbucks and I just scraped it all down the side.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to need a side view mirror and probably a new quarter panel.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, you don't know my kids.
SPEAKER_01: That thing will be parked in the street and they go, Oh, look like somebody hit you, Dad.
SPEAKER_01: But if you believe in the sufficiency, listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: If you believe in the sufficiency of Jesus, why would you ever be defensive?
SPEAKER_01: Why would you ever want somebody to think you were never wrong?
SPEAKER_01: Would you not boast all the more gladly about your weaknesses because when you're weak, you're really strong?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last word I want to give you responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: It's that last part down there.
SPEAKER_01: It gets kind of kooky.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like, what's he talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
SPEAKER_01: For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
SPEAKER_01: When he talks about discerning the body, he's talking about uh thinking about yourself in light of the people, the body, the local church that you're sitting around right now.
SPEAKER_01: Let me keep reading.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
SPEAKER_01: This is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.
SPEAKER_01: But if we judge ourselves truly, that word judged is the same word, Greek word used for discerning the body.
SPEAKER_01: If we discerned ourselves truly, accurately, if we stop lying to ourselves about who we really are, if we uh assess ourselves honestly, you would not be judged.
SPEAKER_01: But when we're judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
SPEAKER_01: So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for judgment about these other things.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you direction when I come.
SPEAKER_01: Why is it what's the Bible talking about there?
SPEAKER_01: It's very simple.
SPEAKER_01: They would get together before they had communion, they would have what's called a love feast, a big meal.
SPEAKER_01: Baptists call it a potluck dinner, amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so rich people would come and they would bring food and the best wine, and they would get there early.
SPEAKER_01: And the poor people get there later, and the rich people get there, they look around, they kind of go, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Let's don't wait, let's get started.
SPEAKER_01: And they would eat all the food and drink all the wine, kind of like your sister-in-law at Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: And then the poor people come, and by the way, when they run through the love feast, the meal, they would look around and go, Let's go ahead and have communion.
SPEAKER_01: And they would use all the communion, they drink all the wine and eat all the bread.
SPEAKER_01: And the poor people would get there and they'd be like, Hey, I thought we were all in this together.
SPEAKER_01: This is why the Bible says, Hey, when anyone eats and drinks without discerning the body, you don't come to church just to enhance your individualistic status and standing on Instagram.
SPEAKER_01: This is not for individuals, this is a corporate body.
SPEAKER_01: You got to discern the body.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that sounds like, oh, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Uh let me just give you a practical example out of my own life, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Last Sunday, I was marching to have some friends, and the wife's parents just moved here.
SPEAKER_01: And I was talking to them, the mom, the mother, the parent that just moved here from Florida, and they said, I said, How's the new house?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, how many hoses?
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to my yard, and I have like a 75-foot hose with a hose stand concreted in.
SPEAKER_01: I put it in there myself, and but it's kind of heavy, and you pull it, you gotta drag it.
SPEAKER_01: And I saw that at the store on these little lightweight hoses, it's about that long, and you turn the water on and pull, it comes 100 feet long with a spray nozzle on bonus feature.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Bam! I got that thing, I put it in the garage.
SPEAKER_01: One of my neighbors was in my driveway, he goes, When are you gonna get your hose out?
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'm waiting for the right occasion.
SPEAKER_01: Don't rush me.
SPEAKER_01: So I saw the family last week and I said, Hey, I've got a new, I've got a hose I'm not using, thinking of the old one.
SPEAKER_01: Got home about Monday, walked out of my garage, and that little voice in me said, Uh, you're gonna give that heavy old hose to that couple that's older than you.
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we discern the body?
SPEAKER_01: Oh Lord, the devil's trying to tempt me to be a bad steward of my new hose.
SPEAKER_01: It comes with an attachable spray sprayer on the end of it.
SPEAKER_01: So I texted the daughter and said, Hey, I got a hose for your mom and dad.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because when you just look at me, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: When you actually discern the body, you become capable of more than by nature you think you're capable of.
SPEAKER_01: And so necessity, sufficiency, responsibility, discern the body.
SPEAKER_01: Your sin affects your faith community.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says, hey, take some time and think about what you're fixing to do.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what we're gonna do right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'll voice a brief prayer, and then we'll just spend about a minute just kind of thinking about what we're getting ready to do.
SPEAKER_01: And if you leave your seat, and listen to me, I hope you will.
SPEAKER_01: I hope you will.
SPEAKER_01: Leave your seat and come.
SPEAKER_01: And even if you say, I gotta abstain it, I don't want to say why, it's none of our business.
SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna go, wow, why that's between you and God.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're like, here's why.
SPEAKER_01: That lets us know how to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: We're here to love you, not judge you.
SPEAKER_01: That's not our responsibility, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Let me voice a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: God, thanks for your sacrifice on the cross because it reminds us that greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.
SPEAKER_01: And so we say we love each other until it comes time for us to lay down our stuff for each other, and it's a different story.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, we're here, we're humbled by the necessity of your death.
SPEAKER_01: Because without it, there's no way we could be right with God.
SPEAKER_01: We are by nature sinful and separated from God.
SPEAKER_01: That's just who we are, and there's no hope of getting right with you.
SPEAKER_01: And so you came, you left the sanctity of heaven and came to the uncertainty of earth to make us right with you, to give us an out where we could just say, I needed a power greater than myself to help me regain control.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, there's not just necessity in your death, but there's sufficiency that you died is enough.
SPEAKER_01: The resurrection is the receipt that confirms that God has accepted Jesus' death on the cross in my place and for my sin.
SPEAKER_01: And finally, God, we have a responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: We just can't just glibly walk all over that.
SPEAKER_01: We have a responsibility when it comes to each other, and let us steward that well now.
SPEAKER_01: Let us steward that in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: As we just think and reflect and get our head and our heart ready.
SPEAKER_01: Root over us, Holy Spirit, we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Just be still for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Just ask the Holy Spirit what you walk away with today.
SPEAKER_01: If you're visiting today, you may be thinking that's a little bit different.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is the way the church should be.
SPEAKER_01: We should be together and look around and kind of think, yeah, it matters that I'm in this room with these people.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about being efficient.
SPEAKER_01: Life is not about being efficient, it's about being available.
SPEAKER_01: Be available to each other.
SPEAKER_01: So when you're 17, you don't think you're all alone and it depends on you.
SPEAKER_01: Or you're getting ready to graduate college, and you're like, you know, every time I turn on the TV, God, there's bad news.
SPEAKER_01: Is there gonna be a job for me?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: And not because of the economy, but because of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: You don't live in the economy, you live in the kingdom of God if you're a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And so relax, the cross is not just payment for your sin, it is that.
SPEAKER_01: But then God says, I throw your sin into the sea and I remember it no more.
SPEAKER_01: And so He didn't want you relating to Him out of the basis of your failure.
SPEAKER_01: It's not pay just payment, it's provision.
SPEAKER_01: That's who God is.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I want to provide for you.
SPEAKER_01: I already know who you're gonna marry, and it's none of the losers you go to high school with, so be freed up.
SPEAKER_01: Go to school tomorrow and tell some boys off, ladies, it's liberating.
SPEAKER_01: Trust your father.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 8 says this, and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: He who spared not his own son, that's the cross, but freely offered him up for us all.
SPEAKER_01: How will he not also, along with him, graciously, freely give us all things?
SPEAKER_01: The crucifixion, the cross is an indication of God's heart towards you.
SPEAKER_01: Why would you want to live anywhere else?
SPEAKER_01: Why would you want to live in anything else besides that kind of provision?
SPEAKER_01: Would you walk away with today?
SPEAKER_01: He paid for you in full.
SPEAKER_01: You were not on the clearance rack either.
SPEAKER_01: Forty percent off, because this was defective.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: You are the prize that he wanted, and you are the people that he prayed for.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, the Bible says, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: Depart.
SPEAKER_01: Live in.
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: Accept, and believe your true identity.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.