Inland Empire: Riverside
Passover and the Lord's Table - Audio
[ Music ] So we're excited. You could turn over to Mark Chapter 14. That's where we're going to be starting here in just a minute. And before we get into it, we're going to be talking about Passover and the Lord's Table. And we skipped over a few chapters in Mark so that we could finish by the end of the month because then we're going to get into Advent and we're getting into Christmas. Can you believe we're in November? It's November already and it's nice outside and the holidays are also coming, which is kind of wild, but I'm still getting used to that. But this week, somebody asked me, what is your vision for the church, right? We're having a conversation. It kind of threw me off a bit. And so I started thinking about it and I think in so many ways my old vision for the church was to do what Jesus does, right? So what would Jesus do? That's what I want to do. And I've seen a lot of us have really grabbed on to that and that's a great vision. But I think it wasn't really doing it for me anymore. I think what was more exciting was to have the heart that Jesus has, do the things that Jesus does with this heart that Jesus has. Now that's something I can get excited about because we can do a lot of things, but without the heart does it really matter? I would say no, but with the heart because our whole goal as a Christian or as a church is to be like Christ, right? That's what why people follow, I want to be like you. That's our goal in life is to be like Christ and end up where he is. That's what we want, right? And so I started thinking about, I don't know if you remember that when we started the year, what did I say that was the goals for our church? Do you remember that? You started the year, some anybody? We started the year and we said we didn't have any goals. So if you didn't met, if we had goals, you probably would have forgot anyways. But since we didn't, you were all right, right? You're like, I have no idea what the goals were because we're trying to be led by the spirit. Right, if I get up here and I say, this is what we're going to do as a church or Jason or Justine or Daniel, and you're like, oh yeah, we're all going to get behind that. Then it's really, who's vision is it? It's mine, right? Hopefully it's the spirits too, but we're trying to recognize that the spirit works. Not just through me, he works through you, right? And so the reason we didn't have a goal is because we wanted all of us to have that vision of, hey, what is God going to do with me? What is God going to do with our church? Maybe one of you comes up with something we're all like, man, let's do that. That's amazing. And it could be any of us. If you look at the people that really understood Jesus, they weren't the people that you would think, right? Those two women, we just looked at, they were not in the 12. They weren't in the 72. They weren't in any number except Jesus's number, right? And so as you look at, I just started thinking about and I am definitely another thing that maybe even annoyed me a little bit about the question was because I don't want to be a marketer for Jesus, right? I don't want to be like, oh, look at us. Aren't we amazing as the church? Look at all the things we're doing. That is like the last thing I'm ever going to do. Right? So if you want to do that, maybe that's your job, but that's not going to, I don't want to do that, right? But I just was thinking about what is God doing and what are we learning from these things? And I just put together a few things, find food bank, we love find food bank, right? Anybody that served, you can come here and you can see they start lining up at like three in the morning. I mean, there's a huge need and when you see, when I saw that, I was like, man, this is God's work. We're doing God's work here and the cool thing about it is it's we're partnering with St. John. They're doing a lot of the work. They're probably doing most of the work and like halfway through the year, I don't even remember where they were like, hey, the guy who's doing this, he's getting kind of burnt out and then St kind of jumped in and took it over and he's partnering with all of them and but even there you say, you know what, before everything that we did, it had to be us doing it and us leading it and us championing it and now we're partnering together. Why? Because we're doing God's work, we're not doing our work. It's not about whose church is work is getting done. It's about is God's work getting done and we don't have to be the main people doing it, right? And that's something that we've learned. That's not something that I've ever done before, right? And then I just started thinking about the hands-on high ministry. You know, they came to our harvest festival. I don't even know if you guys remember, probably some of you weren't even in this conversation. There was like three years ago when we had a conversation that we're not even going to do a harvest festival. Do you remember that? We're like, man, I don't know, we're getting older, we're going to have this big, we're going to put in all this work and we're going to have like 50 people show up, right? Anybody apart of that conversation? Yeah, it was like, okay, so what do we do? So we're like, I don't know, well, let's just start talking to our friends and our partners and our neighbors and see what God does. And this year we probably had like 350 people to our harvest festival that we almost canceled a few years ago because we were getting burnt out. But now when you were there, you're like, wow, this is God's work. God's even bringing ponies and God's doing all this stuff. And it really was because we were weak, not because we were so great, right? That we started reaching out for help for our harvest festival. And the puppet ministry that was there, it's amazing. I know, you know, Justine and Hannah and Maya and Maria are a part of it. And they do it mainly at the rescue mission. And when you go there, like it is just like off the hook, as Jason would say, it is amazing. I mean, people are going crazy. And I saw that one time and I was like, man, you know what, this is God's work. It's not something that we came up with. We just kind of joined in and we're like, hey, this is God's work. Let's help. And it's pretty awesome. If you haven't gone, you probably didn't recognize that some of those little hands that we're holding the puppets was like Justine and Hannah and those everybody. And every year we do the, we're getting into that time of year, but we do the Riverside County migrant families in education where we do the backpacks and we adopt families for thanksgiving and Christmas and make their Christmas is amazing. And one year we stopped doing it because we had just done it for so long. We're just like, you know what, we're just getting burnt out on this. Like, we're tired. That's enough. You know, and they were so hurt. And they were like, oh my gosh, what happened? You know, you, they didn't say you let these families down, but it was just like so important. And we're like, wow, that must be part of God's work. Because these families are seeing God and are so grateful and and everything. So we kept, we kept going and Herman, if you have any questions, you can see Herman Hernandez on that. We're going to have that as an announcement later. But it's just amazing when you go and you visit and you deliver the presents and you see them get it and everything. It's pretty moving time. And then a couple years ago, we we had our Christmas and our Easter service at Martha's Village. And it kind of started out to be honest. We wanted to meet in the morning on Christmas and Easter, right? We need it for or we're like, we're going to have a lot of problems there with our, it's messing up our dinners, right? For Christmas and stuff. So we, let's find a place and we had done it at the rescue mission one year. And a few years ago, I started serving on the board at Martha's Village. And they heard that we did our service at the rescue mission. And they were like, what? You did your service over there? You got to come over here. And so it just kind of was like, okay, well, let's go over there. And the relationships that we're starting to build and the families that we're connecting with and meeting with them throughout the year, it's amazing, but they're hosting us, right? They're speaking, they're sharing their story, their testimony. And so why am I sharing all this just so you can be thinking about how is God working in our community? How is he working with you? It may not be. I think a lot of times when I ask people like, hey, why don't you share something about what God's doing? And you're like, well, he's not doing much with me. My life is pretty boring. I don't see anything happening. Nothing. There's no great news in my world. But there is. We just fail to see it. And we don't recognize it because wherever you go, that's where God's kingdom goes. And when you get up and you're mourning and you leave and you're like, you know what? I want to try to be like Christ today. You just give God the green light to work. And he does. And we don't often think it's all that impressive, right? But it is. And God is doing amazing things. Sometimes we don't pay attention because it's too small. Isn't that what Jesus said? The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. If you don't see it, then it doesn't do anything. No, he said it grows even if you don't pay attention to it. But sometimes we think it's too small to even be anything. And we just kind of throw it aside. But God is working among us. You know, we, as a confession, as a church for the first like eight years that we were here, we were terrible neighbors. I didn't meet the people at top stop or learning tree. We didn't even know that the St. Washington Street Apartments existed. Why? Because we are so into our little world. Right? What are we going to do? Well, how are we going to bring people? You know, we're so insular as a church sometime. I'm not saying that. Maybe I am saying that in a bad way, but all we did, we met one time at church for our staff meeting. We're like, you know what? Why don't we just go pray in the neighborhood? Remember that? Just being Jason and Danielle and I. And it was too hot. So we didn't even walk. We drove. You walk, the girls were committed and we're like, you know what? Let's let's drive. So we just drove. And in less like less than two hours, we're like, oh my gosh, there is the place right across the street. A place where retired people are and people with disabilities. And we didn't even know it was there. Much less knowing anybody there. And we were across the street for like 10 years. We weren't very good neighbors. We weren't paying attention to what God was doing even right around us. And even the homeless problem that's all right in this one area, it's huge. And now, you know, we're building friendships, relationships. They're coming to our things. We're doing stuff with them. And God is working. Why do I say all this? I'm hoping that you're going to use your imaginations to imagine where God is working in your life, right? Where you're going, God's doing things and it's time to start paying attention. Who knows where that's going to lead us next year? Because we're starting to think, well, what's going to happen next year? I have no idea. I don't know if we're going to have a goal. We're going to have a not have a goal. But I know God's still going to work. And my prayer is that He'll work through all of you. I know He's working in our marriages and our families and our lives and your jobs. The way you treat people. The way you don't treat people. The way you pray for people. The way you try to be like the way you get up and just go out and say, I'm going to try to be like Christ today, even though I totally messed it up yesterday, I'm going to try it again today. I don't know where that is going to lead us. But God does. It could be a little thing. Maybe you'll sit on the board of someplace. Maybe you'll run into somebody that no one else notices and God will work through them. Maybe God will put something in your life through a friend of yours, through a coworker, and you go, you know what? I think this is God's work. Because one of my favorite things that Jesus says to his disciples when they're wondering if they could follow Jesus, Lord, where are you going? I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Where are you going? We don't know. And He turns to them. He says, what are you talking about? You know me. You know where I'm going. You know what my kingdom looks like because you've seen it, because you've been with me for so long. So my encouragement for us as a church is just to look and see where God's kingdom is. Maybe we'll end up helping somebody else. Maybe they'll help us. It doesn't have to be. We don't have to start everything, but we do have to notice. What does God's work? What does that look like? And it's all around us. It all starts with the desire to learn from Jesus and share Him with others. That's the beginning. I just want to be like Christ, act like Christ, but be like Christ, have the heart of Christ, and share that with others. And I pray that we can do that. And that has everything to do with the sermon and also nothing. Because my prayer is that you'll see Christ in what we're about to read here. So in Mark 14 and verse 12, we could probably go home with just that. Mark 14 and verse 12. Says on the first day of the festival of unleavened bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus disciples asked Him, "What do you want us to go and make where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" So we sent two of His disciples telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, the teacher asks, "Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?" He will show you a large room upstairs furnished and ready, make preparations for us there. The disciples left and went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them, so they prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, He said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." They were saddened and one by one they said to him, "Surely you don't mean me." "It is one of the Twelve," He replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me." The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man. It would have been better for him if he had not been born. While they were eating, Jesus took bread and when they had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "Take it, this is my body." Then He took a cup and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them and they drank from it. "This is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many," He said to them. "Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God." When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, just a few more verses. You're doing good. "You will all fall away," Jesus told them. "For it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, but after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not." "Truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "today, yes, tonight, before the rooster crows twice, you yourself will disown me three times. But Peter insisted emphatically, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the others said the same. I never realized that the Passover meal, the Lord's table, was surrounded by betrayal, that Jesus started by saying, "One of you is going to betray me," and then they share this intimate meal, and then he says it again, "Now you're all going to betray me." That's a heavy meal, right? In the middle of the meal he says, "Woe to the one who betrays me because it would be better if they weren't even born." Talk about a party killer, right? That was the heavy meal. They were sitting down at the Passover to be, to remember this redemption story of Israel, right? That they were led out of Egypt, they were set free, they even understood what redemption was because the land's blood saves them. Instead of them dying, this land died. That was the first time they even knew what that was. And now Jesus has come to set them free from the present age to the kingdom of God so that they could be about the Lord's work with the Spirit in the same way that we are, that they could see God working. He sends his disciples to follow a man with a jar of water, which was very unusual in that time because kind of the way the division of labor worked, the women mostly carried the water. And so to see this man, it caught their attention, and Jesus tells them exactly what was going to happen. Even now at this point in the story, Jesus kind of shifts after this and takes more of a passive role where the rest of the gospel, he's always directing and answering questions, and even here he's telling them what's going to happen. But even though he's passive, he still knows that he's got to die. And he knows he's going to be raised. And they go to prepare that room. And it's one of the few places where he calls them his disciples. I want to have, you know, prepare the room for my disciples, for my followers, for my friends. And he ends up, you know, in another gospel we see, he watches their feet and actually calls, I don't call you servants, I call you friends. And I want to just pause for a minute and think about these are the same friends that are going to betray him. These are the same friends that are going to leave him and, you know, and that makes us think about who can be at the Lord's table, right? You would think, only the holies, the people can be at the Lord's table, but not in this case, you had a doubter there, you had someone that betrayed him, you had someone who denied him three times, even with curses. You know, that starts to open up the table to us, that the table is open to anyone. You don't have to be holy to be at the Lord's table, that's what we learn from this initial supper with the disciples, amen? The sharing of the meal is close fellowship, right? There's a bond, there's a closeness that he has with his disciples. See, in the first century and even today at times, but back then you only ate with people that were like your equals, like the rich people ate with the rich people and the poor people ate with the poor people and then Jesus comes along and he starts like eating with everybody and he starts like crossing lines and people are like, wait, you're not supposed to eat with Gentiles and you're eating with sinners and like what's going on here, Jesus? And now Jesus is eating with all these people, it wasn't just the 12, there was other people that were following him and he doesn't pull any punches and says, man, it'd be better for that person not even to be born than the one who betrays Jesus. That's pretty intense and even thinking about how much guilt would you feel if you were the one that turned Jesus in to be killed? That's a lot of guilt. I mean, we feel guilt about a lot of different things, but man, if you were the one that sold Jesus out for 20 silver coins, I mean, that's a lot of guilt to carry around. You probably would feel like it's better not to be born. And then he talks about that and then he goes in and shares this meal with them and talks about his blood that will be poured out for many and he says, I'm not going to drink it again until I drink it in the kingdom of God, like he's already there in a sense. They're just depressed, they're defensive, they're worried about who's going to betray him and Jesus is like, I'm going to be in the kingdom of God, I'm going to drink it anew at the feast with my father. He's just on a whole other level. So he opens that world to us, that's what he wants us to look forward to. As we take communion, we're not just taking it, and we're not just trying to be cleansed of our guilt or whatever we feel that he's trying to help us to think about this kingdom of God that's all around us. Think about this kingdom of God that we will get to eat this feast with God someday. Sometimes we get so caught up on our own guilt that we miss the glory of the resurrection and we miss the glory of the kingdom that's all around us. You might think about that and when next time you're praying the Lord's prayer that like your guilt is kind of towards the end of the prayer because he wants you to think about him first. It's really about him and less about us, amen? You know, they sang a hymn and they would typically sing the Psalms and I've been reading through the Psalms in like the last five months. I've been trying to read one Psalm a day and you know Jason talks a lot about the Psalms and how it's the song book and the prayer book of the church and just trying to think like man there's lamenting and there's struggling and there's joy and sometimes I read it and I'm just like man these guys are just way too happy for me. I'm not there right now or they're struggling and I'm like I don't really feel that but you know it helps me but I came across a verse here that I wanted to share that I had never remembered in Psalm 149 and it made me think about this meal that we're taking and says in Psalm 149 verse four it says for the Lord takes the light in his people he crowns the humble with victory let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds and it just made me think of wow Jesus was delighting in his disciples even as they were betraying him even as far short as they fell he was crowning them with victory and that they were able to rejoice in this honor and I think sometimes we take it for granted that Jesus wants to be with us that he wants to be at the table with you and with me that we're his friends that we can sing for joy on our beds that the Creator wants to hang out with you that he loves you that he cares for you that he would die for you sometimes we hear that so many times we forget that man this is an honor to be at the table with Jesus it's an honor to be at the table with others that also recognize Jesus no matter where they're coming from that they are recognizing Christ as Lord in their lives and Jesus continues here and saying they're all going to leave quoting Zechariah the shepherd who's going to be hit and the sheep will be all scattered Jesus is the shepherd he was going to come back and appear to them he was going to leave he's going to lead them to Galilee you know even when we turn away he still leads us he still shows up for us even when we don't deserve it he still leads us even when we lack faith and when we deny him that the realities of the Lord's table is what I want you to think about as we take communion and that it's open to anyone who wants to recognize Jesus anyone who says yes to Jesus and what he's done anyone who wants him to be a part of their life who recognizes who he is and anyone who wants to say thank you so today as you recognize Jesus and in the sense you're saying yes I want to be a part of you I want you to be a part of me I want to be a part of you and I want to say thank you and with that meal Jesus calls us out of our sinful ways right can you imagine anyone at this table after seeing Jesus die and resurrected just wanting to go rush out into sin no like man I got to get I got to get out of this I want to be with Christ I want to be a part of his blessings on this earth I want to be able to see him and and be a part of that whether I started or whether I just join in it doesn't matter but I pray that today that we can recognize the honor that it is to be at the Lord's table so let's pray and we'll take communion Father with you for this time we thank you that in a few words you can express how much you care about us how much how big your love is your grace is how it doesn't matter who we are that we get a chance to come to you and say yes I want you in my life we can come to you and say thank you for your body and your blood that you see us that you recognize us I pray even as we take communion that we can think about your table and who's sitting there and who you want to be there and the humble and the morning and the hurting God and I know in so many ways that's us thank you for this opportunity thank you for this honor it's in Jesus namely pray amen
Inland Empire Church of Christ