They've Been With Jesus: Communion | Pastor Tyler Johnson | 05.03.26

May 04, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Cracks in Frank Lloyd’s Foundation

The disciples watched Jesus build His church on the rock of revelation, not human designs. Peter confessed “You are the Christ” as the foundation no storm could shake. But when we build lives on career plans, relational security, or religious performance, cracks appear like Frank Lloyd Wright’s sinking mansion. Jesus warned about houses built on sand—everything collapses when trials come. [44:41]

Christ didn’t come to bless our blueprints but to be our bedrock. The Galatians tried adding rules to grace; Paul called it deserting Christ. Every human foundation eventually shifts. Only the crucified Messiah remains unshaken.

Where do you rush to fix surface cracks instead of addressing faulty foundations? Open your calendar and bank statements—what do they say about your true cornerstone?

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 3:11, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to reveal one area you’ve built on sand instead of His rock.
Challenge: Write “Matthew 7:24-27” on sticky notes. Place them where you make key decisions today.

Day 2: The Kegger Communion Corrects

Corinthian believers turned communion into a drunken feast, ignoring the poor. Paul rebuked their self-centered rituals: “When you meet, it does more harm than good.” They’d forgotten the cross transforms consumers into servants. Jesus took bread saying “This is my body broken for you”—making personal sacrifice the meal’s main ingredient. [54:43]

Communion isn’t about getting fed but becoming food. The early church shared possessions; we often withhold compliments. When the cup becomes about our comfort rather than Christ’s covenant, we repeat Corinth’s error.

Who have you overlooked while focused on your spiritual plate? The test isn’t liturgy but love.

“When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others.”
(1 Corinthians 11:20-21, NLT)

Prayer: Confess one way you’ve treated church as a buffet line rather than a battle line.
Challenge: Buy groceries for someone today. Deliver them anonymously.

Day 3: Magnifying Glass or Mirror?

The Corinthians critiqued others while excusing their own sins. Paul commanded self-examination: “Let a person examine themselves before eating the bread.” Communion turns our critical eye inward. Like Peter seeing Christ’s scars instead of others’ failures, the elements reveal our need before highlighting others’ flaws. [01:12:32]

Jesus served Judas the bread before His betrayal. He washes feet still dusty from desertion. Communion isn’t for the worthy but the honest. When we judge others’ worship style or commitment level, we drink judgment on ourselves.

What sin have you magnified in others that God’s mirror shows in you?

“If we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.”
(1 Corinthians 11:31, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to highlight one hidden fault as clearly as you see others’ visible ones.
Challenge: Text someone you’ve criticized: “I was wrong to focus on your flaws. Will you forgive me?”

Day 4: The One Loaf Litmus Test

Paul shocked the divided Corinthians: “We who are many are one body, for we all share the one loaf.” Their factions failed the communion test. Just as twelve tribes gathered manna daily, the church shares Christ’s body without hierarchy. The disciples fought over greatness until Jesus broke bread—then they broke barriers. [01:13:39]

Unity isn’t uniformity but shared dependence. The gluten-free and sourdough lovers all need the same flour. When preferences divide us, we’ve stopped seeing the loaf.

Which relationship needs the yeast of mercy to rise again?

“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.”
(1 Corinthians 10:17, NIV)

Prayer: Intercede for someone you struggle to call “family.”
Challenge: Invite a different-generation believer to coffee. Ask about their walk with Christ.

Day 5: Covenant in Crust and Cup

Jesus used wedding language at the Last Supper: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Covenants require total commitment—no casual renewals. The disciples didn’t realize they were vowing “I do” to crucifixion paths. Yet Jesus served Judas, knowing his betrayal, proving covenant love persists through our failures. [01:21:41]

Every communion is a vow renewal. Like Hosea buying back Gomer, Christ continually redeems His bride. Our fickle hearts need weekly “I do’s” to the One who never leaves.

What idol have you flirted with that needs divorcing today?

“This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
(1 Corinthians 11:25, NLT)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for specific ways He’s kept covenant despite your failures.
Challenge: Write “I do” on your palm. Reaffirm it with every task today.

Sermon Summary

Communion appears as a foundational spiritual practice that reorients attention to the cross, calls for honest self-assessment, and restores the church to its Godward purpose. Worship must carry reverence and offering, not casual performance, because praise signals surrender and points eyes back to the Maker. The gospel resists dilution; any teaching that reduces Christ or adds human rules distorts grace and produces a sick church. First Corinthians shows communion functioning as medicine: it announces the Lord's death until he comes, demands inward examination, and requires honoring the body of Christ. Receiving the bread and cup rightly both disciplines and frees, exposing places where believers cling to religion, idols, or division, and inviting renewed dependence on Christ alone.

Communion also moves horizontal. The one-loaf imagery calls the congregation to remember mutual belonging, to stop tearing down the bride, and to protect the unity that reflects the Head. Practical warnings surface: when church gatherings leave people worse off, when gossip and casual critique replace corrective love, the assembly dishonors what Christ purchased. Communion resets motives from striving to receiving, from ritualism to relational renewal. Finally, communion carries covenant language. It invites a repeated "I do" to the Savior, a covenantal recommitment that is personal, communal, and transformative. When practiced with honesty and grace, communion is not a mere symbol but a participatory encounter that aligns heart, community, and mission around the crucified and risen Christ.

Key Takeaways

1. Worship with reverence and offering Genuine worship refuses casualness and treats praise as an offering that acknowledges God’s worth. This posture trains the soul to approach God with awe rather than entitlement, which recalibrates all subsequent spiritual practices. A reverent offering shapes how a community receives and responds to God’s grace, protecting worship from becoming mere entertainment. [18:25]
2. Communion keeps Christ at center The Lord’s Supper draws attention away from human striving and back to the finished work on the cross. Remembering the death and promise of Christ interrupts legalism and reorients disciples to dependence, not performance. When the cross holds first place, church life becomes shaped by grace rather than by peripheral priorities. [66:13]
3. Examine yourself before taking communion Communion demands inward honesty: confessing sin, repenting of surrendered ground, and removing barriers to fellowship with God. Self-examination prevents trivializing the cross and exposes where private idols or patterns of apathy have taken root. Bringing those things to the blood leads to real freedom and renewed integrity. [63:22]
4. Communion unifies and protects church Sharing one loaf reminds many that they form one body, called to represent Christ to one another. This act silences casual criticism and summons protective love that resists gossip and division. Unity before the table is not uniformity; it is a covenantal commitment to pursue truth with honor. [73:39]
5. Communion is covenantal participation The Lord’s Supper uses marriage language to invite repeated covenant vows to Christ, renewing a daily "I do." Participation is not merely symbolic remembrance but an encounter that reaffirms belonging and spiritual fidelity. Approached rightly, the table renews devotion and realigns life with the covenantal love of God. [81:41]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[17:44] - Call to reverent worship
[38:02] - Prayer and vision for the city
[39:26] - Pentecost and baptize the world
[40:25] - Series intro: They've been with Jesus
[41:06] - Warning against false gospels
[44:09] - Foundation story: faulty design
[61:32] - Paul's communion passage read
[63:22] - Self-examination before communion
[73:39] - Communion unites the body
[81:41] - Communion as covenantal vow
[85:36] - Invitation and response

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (ESV)
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."

Observation Questions

What two actions does Paul instruct believers to take before participating in communion (1 Corinthians 11:28)?
How does the sermon describe the relationship between communion and unity in the church, using the "one loaf" imagery? [13:39]
What warning does Paul give about participating in communion without self-examination (1 Corinthians 11:27-30)?
According to the sermon, how does communion function as "medicine" for a spiritually sick church? [53:15]

Interpretation Questions

Why might Paul emphasize both vertical (relationship with God) and horizontal (relationship with others) aspects of communion in 1 Corinthians 11?
How does the marriage covenant metaphor (e.g., "repeated 'I do'") deepen our understanding of communion’s purpose? [21:41]
What does it mean to "dishonor the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:27) in the context of church relationships? How might gossip or division contribute to this?
Why might casual or ritualistic participation in communion lead to spiritual weakness, as implied in 1 Corinthians 11:30?

Application Questions

In what specific area of your life (e.g., habits, relationships, priorities) do you most need to "examine yourself" before taking communion? What practical step could you take to address this?
The sermon warns against using church gatherings as opportunities for "casual critique" rather than "corrective love." [55:58] When have you been tempted to gossip or criticize others in the church? How could you redirect those conversations toward grace and unity?
The "one loaf" imagery reminds believers of their mutual belonging. What is one action you could take this week to strengthen your connection to someone in your church community?
How might treating communion as a daily "covenant renewal" (like a marriage vow) change your attitude toward sin, forgiveness, or obedience? [21:41]
The sermon describes worship as an "offering," not entertainment. [18:25] What is one way you could approach Sunday gatherings with more intentional reverence?
If communion "resets motives from striving to receiving," where do you need to stop relying on religious performance and instead rest in Christ’s finished work? [06:13]
Paul warns against leaving church gatherings "worse off" than when you arrived. [54:43] How can you intentionally encourage others in your small group or friendships this week?

Sermon Clips

34s

#JesusPlusNothing

“So he goes, I'm astonished that you so quickly deserted the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Stop. Martin Luther said it best. The believer needs to preach the gospel to themselves every single day because they forget it every single day. The gospel's simple. To the religious person in the room, you think there's a a checkbox of things that you need to do each day to make sure that you're good. No. Jesus is the checkbox. He's the first and the last. It's all about Jesus plus nothing equals everything”

38s

#OneLoafOneBride

“If I could put it this way, it's where we remember we are the body of Christ called to represent Jesus to one another and recognize him in each other. So one of the things that's supposed to happen in communion, it says we're one loaf. So when you when you get the bread and you have the cup in front you, one thing you're supposed to go is you're supposed to look at yourself and say, have I been Jesus to these people, and am I seeing Jesus in them? Or have I been divisive to these people, and have I been critical of them? And he's saying we're all in there's only one bride. This is all we got. And the reality is that the bride is flawed because of you.”

31s

#FocusedOnTheCross

“The early church, oh, they loved the cross. They were thankful for the cross. They were in awe of the cross. They had the wonder of the cross. They clinged to the cross. Yeah. You need to know something that when Jesus was here on this earth, not every question is created equal. Not every conversation is created equal. He was asked a 100 and plus 80 questions in his ministry. 180 plus questions. He only answered eight because he wasn't getting sidetracked on the peripheral. He had a focus. I need to get to the cross.”

34s

#JesusNotReduced

“But the reality is is that what I have been noticing in the Christian movement is people are not rejecting God anymore. They're now just kinda redefining them. And what's happening in Galatians is a false gospel doesn't have to remove Jesus. It just has to reduce him. And that's what Galatians did, and that's what culture can do at times. But a church that is built on the word of God, that understands the scriptures, that that understands what communion is, you will not stray from the gospel. You'll actually be the church that God died for. He goes on to say, which is really no gospel at all.”

32s

#IfJesusSaysDoIt

“Because that seeps into everywhere in your life. Right. There's so many Christians that will read the Bible, see a commandment, be like, well, maybe obey that next week. Wow. And this is a problem in the church. Yeah. The first thing we learn from communion, if Jesus says it, we do it. Can I get an amen for that? Amen. So good. Second thing we see, it keeps Christ at the center. Communion keeps Christ at the center. Communion is where we stop striving, and we start remembering it is finished. Communion pulls us back to what matters, the cross.”

29s

#ProtectTheBride

“The church is an organization. It's the bride of Christ. So when we entertain gossip, allow constant critique, tolerate division, we're not just talking about people. We're talking about his bride. So let me be clear. Jesus is patient with broken people, but he is protective over his bride. You don't get a claim you you love Jesus while casually criticizing what he died for. You can honor the you you can't honor the head and then dishonor the body. Gossip in the church isn't harmless. It's personal to Jesus. Now let me do some teaching real quick.”

33s

#ExamineAndRepent

“And so you take the mirror, which is communion. It's the standard that Jesus has for your life. And you examine yourself. You repent of it. You don't justify it. You don't try to hide it. You bring it to the blood, and you say, Lord, will you forgive me? And when you examine yourself and you bring it, you walk away free. Come on now. Who doesn't want that in their life? Amen? Now the the the fourth one is it unifies the church. It unifies the church. Now this one's fascinating to me. I I I I never saw this till I really got in this study. So even for me, this has been great for me.”

45s

#GospelIsNotEdited

“This is Paul is saying. You know, on Paul, Saul to Paul, on the road to Damascus, Jesus literally met me there, called me, and sent me out. I have no editing authority. He goes, you have no editing authority. The angels have no editing authority. The gospel is the gospel. It goes on to say, am I now trying to win approval of human beings? Of course not. I don't know. I don't know what I don't know what happened where some Christians think they're not supposed to share the truth and upset people. It's gonna upset people sometimes. I just came to the conclusion, I'm okay with it. If you don't like it, talk to my boss.”

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They've Been With Jesus: Communion | Pastor Tyler Johnson | 05.03.26

Devotional

Day 1: Cracks in Frank Lloyd’s Foundation

Day 2: The Kegger Communion Corrects

Day 3: Magnifying Glass or Mirror?

Day 4: The One Loaf Litmus Test

Day 5: Covenant in Crust and Cup

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

They've Been With Jesus: Communion | Pastor Tyler Johnson | 05.03.26

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