That even now he turns normal people into wild uncontrolled creatures. Hmm. I realized—did you ever have a great idea right in the middle of the thing? I just realized what would have been so much cooler is if we had left the lights down and I just clicked on a flashlight. Are you scared?
Second service, that's right. You know how we work around here; it's like half time. We go in X's and O's.
Hey, I've really been looking forward to starting this series with you guys. I've missed you guys. I've been up here in a while. Of course, I love the 9 A.M. more than the 11 A.M. Don't tell them, but I missed you guys the most.
We're going to be reading out of John chapter 14. We're going to be reading verses 12 through 27. If you want to go ahead and turn there, and while you're turning there, before we get started, let me just say—before you start thinking too much about spooky ghost story type tales, let me just kind of clear up here.
Let's get—it's just an Old English way of saying Holy Spirit. That's King James version for Holy Spirit. But we are going to be telling ghost stories this month. We're going to be diving into scripture and learning what scripture says about the person and the role of the Holy Spirit.
We're not only going to be studying the scriptures, but we're going to be sharing about our personal experiences. So this sermon today is really a conversation starter because next week, matter of fact, we're going to have a bonfire type setup up here on the stage where we're actually going to be sitting down together, a few of us, and having a conversation about the Holy Spirit.
So that's what we're going to be doing. So I want you to just imagine this. And I say bonfire because that's what we do. We don't camp a lot; bonfire is what the Faxtons do in the backyard. One of the greatest moments in my young adult life was when I confidently learned how to build a fire quickly. Can any man in the room relate to that?
Because if you've ever been foreign expecting that—but I like it. Can any man relate to that though? That moment in your life where you didn't know how to build the fire and you were at the big family thing or the friend event and somebody's like, "Can somebody build a fire?" and you thought, "How hard can it be?" And then for the next 30 minutes, you look like the weakest man alive, just a pitiful poor example.
It's not me these days; it's caveman style. We get out there, and now Seth's learning how to do it. But bonfires are the way that we do it at my house, and I love bonfires because it's a cool time—not just in the air, but between me and Megs. Because the kids, they'll typically be in the backyard playing while me and Meg sit around the bonfire, sipping on our coffee and just catching up on life, talking about everything and anything.
It's where we solve world peace, beginning with our household, that type of thing. So I always look forward to having those conversations with Megs. And sometimes the conversations will turn to things that are really important, and I think that what we're talking about this month definitely falls into that category.
So I just want you to imagine for a second that you're sitting around the campfire. Maybe you're sitting around the campfire with four of your close friends, and you're talking about whatever you guys talk about when you're sitting around a fire. But the conversation shifts toward this very important topic: who and what is the Holy Spirit?
Who are you among your friends in that conversation? Are you more of the skeptic? Are you the person who has a hard time believing any of the scriptures that others might share or even the personal experiences they might talk about? Are you the person who's a bit more curious about this topic, that you have this eagerness to learn, but you're just uncertain about what to believe?
Maybe you're more of the enthusiast, that you just want to believe. You have those doubts, but you want to believe. Or maybe you're that person in your friend group who's just kind of out there, and you believe it all. I just want to hear it all; I love it all; I believe it all.
If you don't know who that person is, maybe if you are that person, and I'm glad you're here today. But what I have found is that, like listening to that, we all might resonate with one of those descriptions, but we all also may wish that we were a little bit more like one of our friends.
Maybe we all would sit here and say, "I think I would do well to be a bit more skeptical at times. I'm kind of gullible; I fall for things, and I fall for things that I shouldn't fall for." So maybe if I was a little bit more skeptical, I'd be all right.
And maybe I could be a little bit more enthusiastic about these types of topics rather than being so head knowledge about it. Maybe I could try to learn and listen with my heart a little bit more and maybe be a bit more enthusiastic. I mean, I think to quote the great Ted Lasso, we could all be a bit more curious for sure. We could all love learning a little bit more.
I think it does well in life for all of us to be learners. But I want you to just imagine with you and your friends, maybe you and your family, what would that conversation be like? What kind of friend would you be in that conversation?
Can I tell you something that just is so awesome to me? When we look at the New Testament, it becomes very clear who Jesus is, the way he loves us, the way he meets us where we are in our life. That Jesus would love to be at that bonfire with you and your friends. He would love to be at that bonfire with you and your family, and he would have this unique way of engaging all of you together and individually.
He would have this unique way of speaking that he could make it all make sense. He could make it so that all of you could understand. He would know what to say, and he would say it in the way that each of you would need it to grasp this.
So this topic that is so important to our Christian life, and so my hope is that what you'll get out of this series—what our hope is for this series—is that you will have your thoughts provoked, right? You'll doubt your doubts; you'll become a bit more enthusiastic. And that's what my goal is today.
My goal is not to bring any kind of major conclusion, but really to get the conversation started, to provoke thought and stir the pot. Come on, somebody! To get you guys talking at lunch today: What do you believe? What do you think about what he said? What do you feel about that topic?
That's my hope today, that I can get those kinds of things started. And what I want to prove to you today is that Jesus would love to be a part of that conversation with you—not only with you individually, but with all of us together here. He would love to be the one to guide and direct our understanding so that we could arrive at a proper understanding of who the Holy Spirit is.
And so I want to prove that to you by reading from John's gospel, and we're going to read out of what's called the farewell discourse. Now just so you know this, I am a total nerd. Sam always jokes about nerdy, nerdy dork dork, but I am an absolute nerd over John's gospel. I've studied it more than any others, and so whenever I preach or teach, I find any excuse to preach out of John's gospel. I absolutely love it.
And I'm going to mention a few things today that if you ever wanted to go a little further in this study, there's a guy that I have followed for a few years, an author. His name's Andreas Kostenberger—not very hard to find; that's a very unique name. But he's one of the most amazing writers and authors and scholars that I have found that just bring so much light and energy to John's gospel.
There's a lot that I'm going to be talking through today that will come from his writings and things that he's done that have inspired me. So if you ever wanted to go further and look at that, you should.
But what we learn when we look at John's gospel is that Jesus gave what was called this farewell discourse. In this discourse, what he was doing was he was readying his disciples for his death, resurrection, and departure.
So the gospel begins with John introducing us to Christ. He was the Word of God made flesh who dwelt among men, right? He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made; without him, nothing that exists would exist. And this Word became flesh and dwelt among men and came to that which was his own, and many of them did not receive him.
But to those that did receive him, he gave them the right to become children of God. So essentially, this gospel begins with the writer John telling us that Jesus has made himself known to the people in these stories.
And what these stories do is paint this contrast between the people who received him as the Son of God and Savior and the people who did not. And oftentimes, we're surprised as the readers, as the audience, as to who did receive him and who did not.
John's a great author; he does some powerful contrast. He tells the story of Nicodemus, a spiritual leader who comes to Jesus in the middle of the night, who should have understood who Jesus was, but he doesn't. And then the very next story, John tells us the story, the eyewitness account of the woman at the well, a social outcast who Jesus talked to in the middle of the day.
So everything about their stories is opposite, but she does receive him, and many more people come to believe because of her personal story. So over and over, John does this, and that's really what chapters 1 through 12 are all about: Jesus making himself known to everybody in the way that they needed him to or in the way that maybe they didn't want him to, but they needed him to.
But when you get to John 13, this intimate setting is set, and it begins with Jesus's meal and instruction with his disciples. You might know the story famously: Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, and then he takes communion with them, just like we're going to do today.
And in that setting, what Jesus does is pretty radical. He washes the feet and takes communion with those that were going to betray him, deny him, and scatter when he was arrested. But that didn't stop him from trying or planting a seed that would produce future fruit—not present fruit—readying them for his death, resurrection, and departure.
And a huge part of that conversation was Jesus's teaching on the Holy Spirit, and that's what we're going to read today, and that's what I'm going to do my best to break down for all of us to get this conversation started.
So Jesus is telling them—he's answering the question because he starts telling them—he's saying, "I'm leaving; I'm going back to the Father, and where I'm going, you cannot go." But he says, "Take heart and do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house, there are many rooms," right?
And he says, "If I tell you this, surely I will come back and bring you to where I am." So he's saying all these things that start flying over their heads, and this thing starts coming up in their minds that's similar to what we might say today: "Okay, how are we going to live without Jesus being with us here physically?"
I mean, he's telling us that he's leaving, so how am I supposed to be a Christian if he's not here to teach me how? How am I supposed to know how to live the life of a Christian or to make decisions like a Christian or to have the desires of a Christian if the founder of Christianity isn't here leading us as we continue on?
And he keeps saying to them, "Let not your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. Trust in God; trust in me." But he's going to answer that question: How do we live the Christian life without Jesus physically present in our lives? How do we follow Jesus without physically seeing him and following him? That's what he's going to say.
So let's read it together. John 14, starting at verse 12. He says, "Truly, truly..." I'm going to start saying that to my kids: "Truly, truly." We had one of these conversations yesterday.
"I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
So right away, I'm sure we're all thinking, "Whoa, that's big!" He's saying, "I'm going to do greater works than Jesus did, and I'm going to ask things of the Father, and he's going to do it to glorify the Son."
So then verse 15, he says even further, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."
You know him; he will be with you and in you as believers.
So verse 18, he's going to now tell them how this is going to happen because what did he say? He said three things will define you as a community. Three things will define you as individuals, as Christians: that you will pray things in my name, and it will be answered to glorify God; you will keep my commandments if you love me; and you will do great works, even greater works than I've done while I was here on the earth.
And they're thinking exactly what you're thinking: "How would that ever be possible in my life? How could those things ever be possible of me? I'm too much for God to love; I'm not enough for God to use." And he's going to answer that because neither of those things are true.
He says in verse 18, "I will not leave you as orphans." Although physically I'm leaving and going to the Father, I will not leave you as orphans. "I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live; you also will live."
He's speaking about his resurrection. Jesus gives us new life through belief. And in verse 20, he says, "In that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."
Start sounding like riddles here. "And whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
Remember that part: "manifest myself to." Manifest there basically means that we will see him, but he's not going to be here. How's that possible?
Judas, not Iscariot, not the one who betrayed Jesus, the other Judas, said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?"
Don't you love it when the disciples ask the same questions you would ask, when they're having the same thoughts that you're having?
Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me."
"These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the helper"—this also means counselor or advocate, like a lawyer, not a therapist, like a lawyer, someone who speaks for you on your behalf—"but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."
So did you hear what Jesus said? In so many words, what he says is that if we learn to love Jesus, we will keep his commandments. Is that what you heard? I want to make sure that's what you heard. Or did you hear, "If we keep his commandments, we will learn to love Jesus"?
Like, okay, what's the difference? Well, the difference is huge. He tells us—he sets it up kind of in reverse. He says when we believe in Christ, we will receive this promise, the Holy Spirit.
And that might be foreign to so many of us, but you have to understand to these guys that he was speaking to, they had always expected the arrival of two things at the end of the age, in the last days, from prophecy. And from their childhood, they had been taught that God would send a Messiah and God would pour out the Holy Spirit.
And in the same way that the Holy Spirit had come upon the kings and the prophets and the leaders of Israel, the Holy Spirit would come upon even the sons and daughters of Israel. The Holy Spirit would do a personal and powerful work in the life of everyone who believes.
So now Jesus is referring back to those things, and he's shedding new light on those things and telling them all and us about this new creation that we're a part of. He's raising the level of their expectation, and he starts telling them, "I’m going to the Father, and I will ask the Father in my name, and he will send the Holy Spirit who will enable you to do these things I'm talking about."
What did he say? Greater works than I've done. You will pray prayers in my name, and they will be answered to glorify God, and you will love me, and people will know you love me because you keep my commandments.
Now what we may think in our heart is, "Okay, if I keep God's commandments, then that proves I love him." But that's not the gospel. You can't earn the love of God; you have to learn the love of God.
If you love Jesus, you will keep his commandments—not if you keep his commandments, you will love Jesus. Do you know that it is really easy to pretend to be a Christian, but only for a time? You can only pretend so long to be something that you're not.
Jesus is telling us about something different than religion. He's telling us that through belief in him, we will receive new life as a part of this new creation, and God himself will give us the same Spirit that Christ received at his baptism—the same Spirit that we've seen in the Old Testament all the way back to Genesis, bringing about creation.
And he's going to bring about a new creation in us. He's going to transform our desires; he's going to teach us how to love Jesus because the role and goal of the Holy Spirit on this earth is to glorify the Son.
If you can remember anything that I say today, it is that statement right there: the role and goal of the Holy Spirit sent by God on the earth is to glorify the Son.
So what is he doing? He's teaching us who Jesus is. He's introducing us to Jesus as people, as humans, a part of this world, bringing us into this new creation. He's persuading us that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and as we put our trust in him, he's growing us in that relationship, in that understanding.
And then not only does he grow us, but he sends us, and we go and do for others the way Christ has done for us. He makes us a part of a new creation, but it all begins with belief and learning about this love.
It is the belief that causes me to receive this Spirit, not any works that I have done, but I receive it as an unconditional gift where God adopts me as his child and raises me as his own. This is what I experience. This is a transformation of our thinking that we all have to experience because many of us would love to just hear that if I keep his commandments, I prove I love him.
But the reality is we can all keep his commandments for a while, but if we learn to love him, then we will keep his commandments. I know this might be a bit confusing. Let me read something to you I heard a while back, and it really inspired me.
It was a hymn written by this guy named William Cowper. It was a poem called "Love Constraining to Obedience." Listen to this phrase here; he's touching on what I'm talking about. He says this: "To see the law by Christ fulfilled and hear his pardoning voice changes a slave into a child and duty into a choice."
Let me read it again: "To see the law by Christ fulfilled and hear his pardoning voice changes a slave into a child and duty into a choice."
There's a great transformation that happens in our hearts when we learn about how much Christ has loved us. This is what the Holy Spirit does; this is his role; this is his goal: to glorify the Son, to persuade each one of us that Jesus is God's Son and the Savior of the world.
And when we put our trust in him, to grow us in that relationship and then to send us out to do the same for others, to serve others the way we've been served. So this is what he's doing in each one of our lives, but it begins with a transformation that comes as a result of hearing the good news that while we did not deserve God's love, he gave it—that he loved us before we loved him.
So how do we learn to love Christ? By learning he loved us first, by hearing this good news that all of us have fallen short of the moral standard required to have a relationship with God. We were created in God's image. God built and designed and made us for relationship with him, to worship him, but we rebelled against him, chose our own way, and that sin separated us from him.
But that sin did not stop him from loving us, so he sent Jesus to the earth to live a perfect, obedient life that we could not live. And even though he did not deserve the punishment we all deserve, he took it upon himself so that we could all receive the blessing that he actually did deserve.
And the more we learn about this, the more we learn this good news that all have fallen short of the glory of God, but yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly, and whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
We fall in love with him and keep his commandments. We fall in love with him by learning that he loved us first.
When you believe in Jesus, here's the gospel: the Father treats you as if you've done everything Jesus did. This is only possible because Jesus was treated on the cross by the Father as if he had done everything you've done. Therefore, when you believe in Jesus and put your trust in him, the Father gives you the Holy Spirit just as he did with Jesus.
This is why Paul wrote in Titus, he said, "I want you to remind everybody in your congregation, Titus, that we were all once led astray, disobedient, led by various passions, children of disobedience, sons of disobedience. It was what we did; it was who we were. But God, rich in mercy, poured out his love on us and regenerated us from the inside out by the work of the Holy Spirit."
What is he saying? He's saying that when we put our trust in Christ, we receive a new heart when the Spirit comes upon us to be in us and with us, just as it was foretold long ago. He makes us a part of a new creation.
When we believe, we are born again. When we believe, we are born again, and we receive a new heart with new affections and new desires. But here's the kicker; here's the thing that confuses a lot of people.
What people think—because again, our instinct is to say, "If I keep his commandments, I will love him." But that's not what he said. He said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
In the same way, we think wrongly: "If I really love God, I won't do anything evil anymore. I won't desire evil anymore. I won't desire that old way of thinking or living or moving or whatever it is."
But the truth is, when you receive this Spirit, you now have two natures at war. You inherited one nature in your flesh from Adam, and now as you were born again, you inherit a new nature through Christ, and those battle each other every single day.
And it's the Holy Spirit who is, in a sense, taking Jesus's place here on earth. Think of it this way: Jesus was God's helpful presence manifested in the flesh; the Holy Spirit is God's helpful presence manifested in us.
And he walks with us just as Jesus did. He guides us just as Jesus did. He teaches us just as Jesus did how to live the life of Christ. He speaks to us.
I want to make this so practical. I don't want this part to be confusing, but let me just break this down for a moment. The way he speaks to us—because what did he say? Remember, he says belief in Jesus leads to doing his works and even greater ones. Praying in Jesus' name results in answered prayers for God's glory, and the love we have for Jesus will be demonstrated as we obey his commandments.
So how is this possible? How will we do this? By the help of the Holy Spirit, God's helpful presence in our life. He will be in us; he will be with us, and that starts at our conversion when we hear this message of the cross.
Just like Paul said to Titus, we will be regenerated. The Holy Spirit himself will persuade us that Jesus is God's Son and the Savior of the world, and we will come to realize two things at one time: that we have went our own way; we have went astray, creating good and evil and a life for ourselves.
But we can surrender that, turn from it, and turn to him who gives us his life. He says, "I'll trade your death for my life. I'll die your death so that you can live my life. You will be treated as if you've done everything I have done because I will be treated as if I've done everything you all have done. I will become the curse so that you can receive the blessing."
He speaks that to us. I can do my absolute best to articulate this, but he speaks this to us. That's why he said to Peter, "Blessed are you, Peter, for this was not revealed to you by men, but this was shown to you, manifested to you, made plain to you by your heavenly Father."
He is the one who has persuaded you. He speaks to us at our conversion. We hear a message we've heard all of our lives: that Jesus is Lord, the Savior of the world, the Son of God. And we might have heard that many times and not believed, but something happens in a unique moment where the Holy Spirit himself persuades us; he convinces us.
But then he begins to speak to us continually through our conscience. We're going to talk about this in our bonfire conversation this month. Do you know Paul put it well? Paul put it this way: it's one of my favorites. In Romans 8, Paul says he bears witness with our conscience that we are children of God.
He says we've not received a spirit of fear but of adoption as sons. And this Spirit within us cries, "Abba, Father," which means basically "Daddy" in that language. There's this very intimate parent-child relationship that is created as we are adopted, and he's raising us as his own.
But it says he bears witness with our conscience that we are children of God. So what does that mean? This nature I inherited from Adam—conscience—is now in conflict with this new nature I have received in Christ. And every day, I learn righteousness. Every day, I learn how to live a life that God approves of.
Every day, I learn how to live a life and make decisions that God approves of. His opinion of my decisions becomes more important to me than anything else—that's my conscience. But I need something to check my conscience with.
How many of us know that if we're left to just our conscience, we can come up with some pretty wild things? We can convince ourselves of things that may not be true. So what does he give us? He gives us his word. He gives us the scriptures.
He speaks to us at our conversion; he speaks to us through our conscience; he speaks to us through the scriptures. Here's my belief: if the Holy Spirit inspired the authors in its writing, he's going to inspire the readers in their reading. If he helped them to write it, he will help you to read it. He will bring it to life for you.
And just like a bonfire conversation, whether you're the skeptic, the curious one, the enthusiast, or the one who's just out there, Jesus meets you where you are through his word every day.
Don't ever allow yourself to say, "I don't know what God wants me to do. I don't hear him speaking." His speech pours forth every single day, and when we open his word, this new spirit, new life, new affection that we've received teaches us.
Isn't that what he said? He said the Holy Spirit will teach and remind you. Not only will he make it known to you, not only will he teach you that Jesus is God's Son, that he is your Lord, but he'll remind you, and you'll find yourself at moments in life where something you've heard, something you've read, something that was meaningful, and this morning all those years ago comes back up when you need it or when someone else needs it.
But he reminds you of the things that you've heard and helps you to put them into practice. And then finally, what we're all doing here, what we're participating in today—how does he speak to us? He speaks to us through his church.
He speaks to us at our conversion, through our conscience, through the scripture, and through his church—through preaching and teaching of church leaders, through small group leaders, through people we serve with, through random acts of kindness, the way that we serve each other, the way that we might be there for each other in the way that Christ has been there for us—to love and serve and forgive as Christ has loved and served and forgiven us.
We can experience the love of God through his church, and we can learn the love of God through his church. We can love God more because of his people.
I know many of us would say—and this is a part of my family history—that we love God less because of his people. But when you find a healthy place of a bunch of humble hypocrites, you might discover that you can love God more because of his people.
And that he will speak to you through the most unlikely of means to tell you that he loves you, that you can trust him. And even through his church, through imperfect people like you, he will speak to you.
Now here's the deal: you have to have all four. You can't just pick your favorite one. You can't say, "Oh, I've been saved, and that's all." You can't say, "Oh, I'm good all by myself with my conscience to figure this out."
You can't say, "It's the scripture in scripture alone by myself at my house, coming up with all the doctrines that I like or ignoring the ones I don't." And you can't say, "Well, I'm just going to go to church and ignore the rest."
If I love God, I'll go to church. No! If you love me, you will learn to obey what I taught. That's why he said in the Great Commission, "Go and make disciples. Go and make disciples and teach them to obey all that I have commanded you. Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I am with you to the end of the age."
Jesus helps us to do three things: he helps us to follow by sending the Holy Spirit; he helps us to grow by sending the Holy Spirit; he helps us to go by sending the Holy Spirit.
This month, we're going to learn that the Holy Spirit helps us to follow, grow, and go—lead others to follow, grow, and go. This was such a huge conversation for these guys that night, for these gals that night. They were all together, bonfire-like, and Jesus is talking to them, talking to their hearts, and preparing them for his departure, for his resurrection, for his death.
And he started in this upper room, and he moved down into the Kidron Valley, and all of it ended in the Garden of Gethsemane with only three remaining. And he said, "Will you pray with me?" And he took his place in that garden, and he prayed with so much turmoil that he sweated blood in preparation for his death because he was going to do what the Father had sent him to do.
He was going to accomplish, through his perfect obedience, even suffering on the cross, this thing that had to be accomplished so that you and I could learn the love of God and keep his commandments—not keep his commandments to prove we love God.
He was doing this thing that we could not do for ourselves, and he told them, "This is what's about to happen. One of you is going to betray me; Peter, you're going to deny me; all of you are going to scatter before the morning. You're not ready. Even though I've told you this is going to happen, you're not ready. But when you come together in my name again, I want you to remember me."
So he took the bread, and he took the cup, and he said, "This is my body which will be broken for you. This is my blood which will be shed for you. When you come together in my name, do this in remembrance of me."
Peter, even though you'll deny me, when you return, go get your brothers also. He had factored their failure into his plan for them.
Can I tell you what the Holy Spirit does? His role and his goal is to glorify Jesus, and Jesus is not glorified in you pretending to be perfect. Jesus is glorified in you making spiritual progress.
The Holy Spirit bears witness with your conscience. What does that mean? He knows your conscience. He knows everything you think, everything you've planned, every bank robber you've planned, every big fight you've planned. He knows it all, yet he talks to you and teaches you how to live the life of Christ.
He empowers you to be a participant in other people's salvation story. He is God with you; he is in you; he is God's helpful presence here on earth, and he's with us until the end of the age and forever.
This was a huge conversation that Jesus needed them to understand, but here's the deal: they didn't fully understand. They even write that in this text many times: "We did not fully understand until later." But he said it to us anyway.
My hope is that this month we gain understanding; we have a great conversation. The conversation continues with you and your family and your friends as you leave here today.
But there would be no better way of starting this conversation than doing it the way Jesus did with these folks that were there—with communion.
So we're going to invite you to take communion with us today. Communion is a sacrament that the church has practiced from the very beginning. Jesus founded this sacrament the night that he was betrayed, and Paul in Corinthians teaches us that when we do this together, we should remember that Jesus's body was broken, his blood was shed, and we should examine ourselves against what he did for us, remembering the sacrifice that he made on our behalf.
People who are non-Christians, they're not expected to participate, and this is absolutely an invitation. No one is forced to do this today. I would say it's really not that meaningful if you're not a Christian.
But if you are a Christian, this is a moment for you to remember that he's called each one of us to love as we've been loved, to serve as we've been served, and to forgive as we've been forgiven. And that we will participate in this supper together until his return.
So the way I love to say it is this: when we take communion, what are we doing? We're saying cheers to the King who is to come. And we get to do this not only with everybody in this room or watching online, but with Christians all around the world today who are pausing to reflect on who Jesus is, to worship him, and to be a part of his works.
And I just love that because, you know, there are many people who are not doing that today, and I just have to imagine how good it must make God feel for all of us to be in this room together doing exactly what he asked us to do in his name.
So here's what we've got: we've got four stations in the room, and they have gluten-free elements prepared, so if that's a concern, don't worry about that; all of it's gluten-free. They're going to serve you; they're going to speak those words, right? His body broken for us, his blood shed for us.
And here's what we do: we give you the ability to move when you're ready to move. And so in just a moment, I'm going to pray over our time, but then once I'm done praying, you can go and be served when you're ready. You can go to any of the four stations or the closest one to you.
But this is a moment for all of us to think about what Jesus did for us, to learn that he loved us first, and to be reminded that he loved us first.
So when you go up, you'll grab the bread, you dip it, and you'll take it.
All right, let me pray for you guys.
Father, we thank you for what you've been doing in each one of our lives and what you've done in our lives today—the way you've spoken to us through the worship, through the message.
And God, I pray that you would help each one of us to have the conversations with you that we need to have, just to speak with you in the way we need to speak with you, and just to receive what you've offered to us today, what you've given to us today.
And God, I pray right now as we take communion that we would pause and really reflect. This would be a genuine moment between us and you, that we would not perform or pretend that something is happening, but we would really focus on what we're being invited to do, and we would enjoy it and take everything in that is offered.
And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.
Click to upload 
on Nov 05, 2023
