Reflect Christ in Our Relationships

So it was a hot summer day, Lake Conroe, about 25 years ago. Surrounded by 20 of my college buddies, we had descended for a weekend and I was about to make a terrible mistake. See, there we were on a Friday afternoon, hot in the summer and they're like, we need beverages. They looked to me as if I had some experience. It was in my height of my alcoholism and so we gathered up the cash, about $300, loaded into my Ford Bronco with two of my buddies. We go to the local store and as we go in to buy the beverages, I see lottery machines. The machines that hand up the scratch-offs, you feed them a dollar, they give you a scratch-off. I have the genius idea. I say to my friends, I'm like, hey, if we buy 300 consecutive lottery tickets, we're guaranteed to win. We're gonna beat the odds and we'll be helping the school education as well, you know? We can't lose here. So somebody's stand guard, we're gonna buy every consecutive ticket, we're gonna scratch 'em off, we'll take all of the earnings, feed 'em back into the machine, we're gonna run this thing down until we win big. We're gonna go back, heroes. Not only will I have the beverages, we'll come back and give them a return on their bucks.

We proceed to put all the money in, it's spitting out tickets, we're just sitting in the corner of a store scratching off tickets. I mean, it's not a good look. And there, we're like, all right, that's a winner, that's a loser, that's a loser, that's a loser, that's a loser, that's a winner, that's a loser, that's a loser, that's a winner. And we get from like 300 to 90, feed it back in, we're like, well, there's 90 more, I mean, now we're up to almost 400 tickets, loser, loser, winner, loser, loser, winner, get down to like 20, feed 'em back in, we're gonna get big, we're gonna hit one of the big ones. Totally zero out. Like now we have no money for the beverages. And I had squandered everything that these 20 friends gave me, they had entrusted something to me and they're like, we're giving this to you, we expect her to be a return. Like when you come back, you're gonna have what we desire, the intended purpose for that money. And I spent it all, it wasn't even mine. And while it's laughable, it was beer money, what I didn't realize at the time is I was doing the exact same thing with my life. God had given me a life, a good mind, good looks. What? All of these things, and I just squandered 'em. I'm like, I know you've given this to me,

but I'm gonna use my life for what I want to do with it. It wasn't mine. It had been given to me by God for specific purpose and I'm like, no, I'm gonna do what I want, when I want, with who I want, I don't answer to you, you've given it to me, so now I have autonomy. And I think what I did in my 20s, when I'm still tempted to do daily, we do. You see, I went all in on those lottery tickets, I was all in on my career and workaholism, I was all in on my folly, with alcohol and drugs, I was all in with lust, I was all in with everything, except God. And we're tempted to do the same, even still today as churchgoers, as Christians, to go all in on kids' sports. Like, man, I'm gonna leverage everything for that, in hopes that one day I'll make the big leagues. And maybe then it could help me out in retirement, I'm not even sure why. But we go all in with that, all in on day trading. Maybe it's not the lottery tickets, but it is watching the stark market and the rise and fall and your hedge and your bets, all in with your retirement, all in with hunting, and none of those things individually are inherently bad, but when we go all in on them, we have elevated them to the place of God, like made them an idol in our heart. Like, no, that's what I'm all in on.

And of course, I'm gonna give a part of me to you, God, on a Sunday, but these things I'm all in on, all in on my boyfriend or girlfriend, all in, except the one who gave all for us. Today, as you might guess, we begin this all in series, in which we're talking about going all in for God in the kingdom, that we would leverage everything we have for the Lord. We've received from Him, and now we freely give to others in a life of submission and obedience that all that we have is from Him. So it's all in with our relationships, all in with our finances, all in with our time, all in with our body, mind, possessions, that we use whatever we've been given for God in His kingdom. As 1 Corinthians 10, 31 says, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God because we are stewards. We'll be covering those topically. Today we're gonna be talking about relationships and how we're to be all in with our relationships. Foremost with God, you'll see a cross on the back behind me. Foremost in our relationship with God. We're to be all in with the Lord. And then as a result, all in in the horizontal relationships with others, both with believers and unbelievers. But this depiction of the cross as our relational all-inness for the kingdom of God. Whatever we have is from him, for him, under him,

and that we would leverage it, full-tale, full-send, all-in for God. To talk about relationships and how we steward them, we're gonna look to the author and perfecter of our faith. We're gonna be in Philippians chapter two verses one through 11. I'm gonna walk through this passage where you see Jesus all in on behalf of us and how we are to reflect him. So today we're gonna be talking about reflecting Christ in our relationships. Foremost with God and then with others. Jesus summed this up when he said, all the law and the prophets are summed up in this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And the second command is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. So it's love, God, love others reflecting Christ. And our relationships. The three points that we're gonna talk about is going all-in in your relationship with Christ. Then as a result, living all-in with others. And then third and finally, be all-in for the gospel. Go all-in with Christ, live all-in with others, and be all-in for the gospel. So let's begin. Philippians chapter two, verses one through two, you'll see it on the screen, or you can turn there in your Bibles.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love and being in full accord and of one mind. What Paul is doing right here is he's asking a rhetorical question, it's conditional in its sense. He's saying, if there's any of this, then there should be this. And he's saying, if there's any love, if there's any affection, if there's any encouragement, like those things that we have received from Christ, then let all of us be of the same mind unified and reflecting him in that. He's like, what you have received from Christ, you were to then reflect to this world. And he says, let us be of one mindset, one aim. It's like, there's not many targets here. He's like, this is the bull's eye. You've received the love, affection, encouragement, sympathy from Christ. And now you reflect it, you have that same mindset. This is like the apostles, when they were feeding the multitude, they had nothing to give. It was like a few fish and loaves. But in Jesus's hand, it became multiplied and they could not give what they first did not get. So they went to Jesus, received, and then were able to give to others. There was a filling before there was an outpouring.

And so this is to go all in with Christ. Our first point, go all in with Christ. There's this water bottle that I have here. And like, if I squeeze this, shake this, lift this. I mean, water comes out, right? And I would ask you, like, why does the water come out? The cap's off. It's a good answer, it's just wrong. (congregation laughing) You're like, no, I'm for sure right. Any other guesses? Whoa, you guys are easy to entertain. (congregation laughing) I'll do it again. (congregation laughing) We won't do that in the 11. (congregation laughing) This wasn't in my notes, and my notes are soaked. Why is the water coming out? 'Cause I squeezed it, 'cause the cap's off? Kelly's like, stop, you're wearing electronics. Because there's water inside. If I took the cap off of an empty bottle and did that, nothing comes out. If I shake an empty bottle, nothing comes out. I wish it was empty, my Bible wouldn't be soaked. But it's because there's water within. That's the sole reason. An empty bottle wouldn't do that. It's because there's water within.

It's not the bottle, it's the water. I'm literally kicking communion across the stage right now. It's like, what's under my feet? Should we start over? (congregation laughing) (congregation laughing) We have to be filled with Christ before we can offer anything to anyone on behalf of Christ. Otherwise we're empty vessels. And so this going all in, like I didn't put the water in this bottle, somebody else did. Someone else put the water in the vessel and so it is that we go all in with Christ to be filled up with Christ, not just once and for all, not like, "Yeah, I walked forward during summer camp," or "I came forward and placed my faith in Jesus," but every single day, Ephesians 5, 18, be filled with the Spirit, that there would be this filling so that it could be an outpouring. And the vessel is not, I mean, nobody's like, "Oh man, great bottle." That's an amazing bottle, but rather it's what's within that matters. And so we've got to go all in with Christ. But I think the problem is, and here's the application,

I think we tithe to Christ. We tithe our life to Christ. It's like, "Well, yeah, you can have my morning. You can have my morning quiet time. You know what? I'm even going to give you some of my Sunday. I'll even be a part of a life group. I'm going to do that too, you know? Wednesday nights, you get, you get Wednesday nights, you get some of Sunday, and I'm going to give you 10 to 15 minutes every single morning. And we like tithe to Christ, rather than going all in with Christ. We like separate our relationship from Him, and we're like, "All right. Time was you in the morning, good. I got my quiet time, and then we go about our day." And we're like, "But I'm a different person at work. I'm a grinder at work. I'm known to be kind of harsh there. I've got this intensity about me, and it's not God glorifying because that's my relationship with Christ, but this is different. And we've got to be all in with Christ, that it's every single day, every single hour, and we're reminding each other. And we're going back to the source to be filled up

that we could be poured out, because to know Christ and not share Christ is the height of selfishness. It's like spiritual narcissism, that it's all about you somehow, that we would be perpetually filled up, never pouring out. So whatever that is that you connect with the Lord, whether through worship and Bible study, to hear the Lord from His word, the podcast, the life group's thread, the prayer throughout the day, prayer before meals, prayer before bed, all the ways that we're continually staying connected to the vine in order to bear fruit, we go all in with Christ. But it doesn't end there, it continues. Let's read Philippians two, verses three through four. Do nothing. I looked at the Greek here, the nothing. What that means is nothing. Like absolutely nothing. I can't even fulfill the first part of this verse. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. Nothing? That all of our lives, nothing we're to do from selfish ambition, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. That's so easy to read and it feels impossible to live.

And it is apart from the filling of Christ. But that every single day as we're filled by Christ, it suppresses the flesh and the self-centeredness and the selfishness in order that we can count others more significant than ourselves. And we wouldn't do anything from selfish ambition. Not that it's like, all right, like today's my day, I'm gonna get mine, but instead to be like, "No dude, I live for the Lord and I live for others." Period full stop, end of statement, that's my mission. Love God, love others, the vertical and the horizontal. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. It's this not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. That it's not this self-centeredness and what are they thinking about me? And how come I didn't? Instead, to just be this other's focused instead of this vacuum pole of all the introspection that just eats you alive. The Lord gives us this instruction in order that, like him, he said, "You wanna be great? "Be the servant of all." For even son of man didn't come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom. It's like this is what it is to be fully alive, all in for Christ as you go, all in for others. You live all in for others, which is our second point, and this is believers and unbelievers. And you think about, I mean, others, who is that?

Well, that's your in-laws. It's your aging parents. It's your roommates. It's your teachers. It's teachers down to their students. It's your peers and coworkers. It's the waiter or waitress at the restaurant who's there to serve you and you've flipped the script and you're gonna serve them. How can I pray for you? How's your day going? You begin to pastor them in the midst of their work. It's the person that can't do anything for you that may be in a hierarchy chart, organizationally speaking, you're above them and now in this upside down kingdom you're like, hey, you don't even know it and I'm not even gonna say it. You're just gonna know it by the way that I interact with you. I am living all in for you that you might know the love of Christ. I'm gonna put a gospel rock in your shoe and make you think like, why is this person so kind? Why are they so loving? Why are they so generous and selfless? And you get to tell them, man, it's because of Jesus. And I want you to know the love that I've received from him. I'm simply reflecting Christ in my relationships. I've gone all in with him and now I'm going all in to love others.

You never know who you're gonna encounter or where they are on the continuum of spirituality from unbelievers, slave this in in Satan to sold out to Christ, but it doesn't matter. You're living all in for others 'cause it says do nothing out of selfish ambition and count others and everybody falls into the category of others. You and the other eight billion people on the surface, no matter how you encounter, you're like, they're more significant than me. And I am to serve them, love them, care for them, shepherd them, pray for them, encourage them, refresh them with whatever means I have, not like me with the beverage money, thinking like, I'll just do what I wanna do with what I have. Though it's been stewarded to me. Instead, God stewarded to you to reach them, live all in for others. I was in Haiti in the summer of 2008. There was a food crisis, it was horrific. Haiti's the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. But in this particular time, there wasn't enough food on the island. So there were rioting children were dying before their five year old birthday of malnourishment. It was horrific. And so me and some others went there to start a gospel malnutrition clinic where we raised enough money to give them

this medicinal peanut butter, which I have a bag of. This medicinal peanut butter that was full of crushed vitamins, oils and fats, different supplements in order to reverse the malnutrition. Now, a picture's worth a thousand words. When I say children were dying of malnutrition, I want to introduce you to a dean. When we found a dean in Pierpian Hospital, they were trying to give her food through a tube. And they said it's not working. Her body's rejecting it because she's so severely malnourished, let's just send her home to die. Make her as comfortable as possible. She's not going to live. She's going to be another casualty of the food crisis of 2008, where they literally had armed guards in front of grocery stores. It was horrible. A mother sent home, make your child comfortable. She will not make it. We asked for the child's address and went to her home and we said, hey, you've tried everything else. We have this medicinal peanut butter. We're going to give a dewormer and another medicine and then we want you to administer this because there was a 99% rate that if you gave this over an eight-week course, it would reverse malnutrition and they would never be malnourished again. After eight weeks, here's the graduation photo of a dean.

She's a... (audience applauds) She's probably 21 right now. That's a dean. Here's another mother of a graduate with her graduated son. He had finished running around playing soccer. He came to us, couldn't even lift his head. But there was one child that was brought to us continually. And every time we came in, we did the height and weight check, the kid wasn't gaining any weight and we're like, okay, we'll give it another administration of dewormer. We'll give another of medicine. We're going to give you extra packets of this medicinal peanut butter. And yet the child would come back and he was getting worse. And we're like, this doesn't factor. And so we called the company and we're like, this isn't working for this one individual boy until someone in the town told us that the mom was selling the peanut butter while her own child slowly died. And we're tempted to do the same. We have the only life saving, good news of Jesus Christ. And we do the same. We're like, I'm not going to give to you what I have. I know that you're spiritually malnourished. I know that you're spiritually, save you. In this life and eternally, it would change your relationships, your love, your toxicity,

your anger, your unforgiveness. I'm not going to give it to you like that mom selling, keeping for herself what was given to her freely, for the saving of others. And you're walking by these people every single day and we withhold it. Like, no, I'm not going to give it to you. Why? Because we don't live all in for others. Just like I say, when we tie our relationship to Christ, like I'm not going to go all in with you. You can have a part of me. We do the same with our relationships. Like, sure, I'll come to church, I'll be a part of a life group, but I'm not going to go all in. I don't want to be weird. I'm not going to talk about my faith on the golf course or with my hunting buddies or fishing buddies. I'm not going to talk about my faith in the office. That's a corporate environment. There's a place for that. And that is not it. I'm not going to talk about my faith in the classroom or on the team. I'm not going to do those things. And whether that's just with the unbelievers, let alone with life groups like John Green and Meredith Myers would tell you that the greatest amount of conflict in life groups all traces down to one singular root, selfishness. I want what I want and I don't care what you want. It's my way or no way. And there's this obstinants. There's this anti-do-nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. And we do not count each other more significant than ourselves.

And you know what? Andrew Owen would tell you from Reengage and all the lay leaders that are within selfishness and marriage. You got two people that are one with a portion of the spirit Malachi II says, and we just live these singular, selfish lives in the midst of a unified, covenantal marriage where the two have become one, selfishness instead of selflessness. We don't live all in for others. We live all in for ourselves. That's the daily temptation and we have to crucify it and put it to death. Church, ours should be one of shocking selflessness, not selfishness. It should be shocking selflessness. We're just marked by this freely we have received, freely we give for others. And that's parents to kids, kids to parents, like every relationship we have. No relationship immune to our selflessness. I'm like, man, I'm just going to like be on mission for the kingdom of God. And this isn't like a have to. It's not like, okay, I get it, I'll walk out these doors and I'll try to be more selfless. Remember, we're filled with Christ and then we reflect Christ. We receive from Him, then we give to Him. There's this in pouring and then outpouring. We give what we've received. It'll become effortless as we abide in Him. He, the Spirit, is the one that bears fruit in us. This isn't like a have to. You're just going to be it as you abide in Him. You go all in with Christ and you will live all in with others. So think about it. Like where is it that I'm most prone to selfishness in my marriage, in my impure dating, leading my significant others into sin, in my work relationships, like where is it? And then crucify it, invite the Lord into it and be like, change me, plead with Him.

Change me. And He will. So as a church, we're going to memorize Philippians 2, 3. We're going to memorize and you could probably even do it today by the time my Bible drives. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. We're going to memorize that. You're going to receive something as you walk out these door that's going to help you to that end as a little bit of a teaser. We live all in for others. St. Francis of Assisi, though, he said these words or it's attributed to him at least. So you'll be all in for Christ. You live all in for others. And St. Francis of Assisi, this like old monk dude who like sold everything, gave everything to the poor and kind of lived this like hermit life of like good works. You see it on the screen, he said, "Preach the gospel always and when necessary use words." And I've always had a fond hatred for that quote. I mean, Hindus can be kind and generous, but they're not finding out about Jesus who said, "On the way, the truth and the life." And no one comes to the Father, except through the Son. And so I would like to reframe his quote, because kindness without the gospel is simply kindness. They'll just think, "You're great." Instead of thinking like, "Oh, your God is great." So the way I'd like to reframe that quote is, "Live the gospel always and use words." It's necessary. Like you reach them, you make the gospel palatable to them by your love, by your kindness, by your generosity, by your availability, by your responsiveness, by your interruptiveness. You're like, "Hey, man, I count you more significant than myself. How can I help? How can I serve you? How can I bless you? How can I pray for you?" And then, as they're like, "Man, what is this?" You're like, "Hey, can I tell you why?" It's because Jesus saved me from X, Y, and Z. And I believe he wants you to know that he loves you so much that you also can have eternal life in this life and forever in the next. Live the gospel always and use words. It's necessary, which leads us to the third and final point about

being all in for the gospel, not just this life of others. You can be a hippie and live for others. But as a Christian, you're living for others with and tandem, inseparably, with the gospel, Philippians 2, 5 through 10. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, this is fully man, fully God, the hypostatic union, though he was in the form of God, did not account equality with God, a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. There he is, fully man, previously, fully God, in the verse, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself. Here it is, servant of all, a becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, in every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This verse is threefold. It is self-convicting. It is Christ-exalting, and it is others terrifying. Let me unpack that. It's self-convicting because he's like, "Have this mind in yourself as Christ did." And then he proceeds us to tell us, "He laid down his life all three years of that ministry, laid full sin for others in the glory of God, and then ultimately laid down his life on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and rose from the dead that we might have eternal life." For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. What was the joy set before him? The salvation of your soul. He's like, "I will go through the cross in order to reach and save them." It was a rescue mission and a ransom of God because of his love for you. He's like, "Have the same mind, and don't tithe your life to Christ. Go all in for Christ with your relationship with him, and it is an overflow, your relationship with others. I will have the same mind that I'm going to die daily," Paul says. "Take up my cross, deny myself, and follow Jesus. I'll have the same mind and lay down my life for Christ, for the sake of the gospel that others might know and be saved." That's why it's self-convicting. And it is Christ-exalting. It says that every knee will bow in every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's exalting. Now, many people died on the cross, and so why this? Why this like? Well, I mean, a lot of people died on crosses, thousands and thousands at the hands of Romans. So why even death on a cross therefore God exalted him? What about the others? Well, the others were full of sin, and they died rightful deaths, or they were persecuted and martyred, but none of them were sinless. This is God taking on flesh and dying for us,

the Creator slain by the created for the beloved. That's why that he would leave heaven, take on flesh, stricken that we might be saved. Therefore, God exalted him. What a Savior. But it's others terrifying because it says that every knee will bow in every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord and it proceeds to say in heaven, on the earth and under the earth, those in heaven, those living in this short finite amount of time in those under the earth eternally in hell, that there will be a day where every knee will bow, every tongue confess, Jesus, you are Lord. And what that should be is an impetus to us to live on fire and ablaze, to share the bread of life with those who are spiritually starved, dead in their sins, slaves to sin and Satan, that they might also be rescued. You've been saved to be sent. We're now like a mission of God to live and be all in for the gospel. JP and I were leaving a restaurant this past Wednesday. We got some pizza for light lunch, but we had to be back to a certain time. So we lit a bit of a hurry, which to my surprise, I get back in my car, I'm waiting for him to come out in five minutes go by and eight minutes go by and I'm like, dude, brothers, having some tummy trouble. Like what is up? But I was like, all right, I'll just respond to some texts and emails like I'm going to get my stuff done. And while I was doing that, he finally walked out and I was like, bro, you okay? He's like, oh, yeah, I'm good, man. I was just sharing the gospel with our waiter and the cook in the back. I was like, what? How'd that happen? And he's like, well, I was, I was walking out and this, the girl said about the guy, hey, I think this girl's dragging him on, like leading him along. Could you talk to him? Like, do you, I guess he saw a wedding ring or maybe knew he knew a little bit about dating? I don't know why. JP took that and goes, oh, so you think she's leading you on? Hey, let me ask you two questions. Do you have a faith? And just begin right into it from like a dating question. Like he just is ready to reflect Christ no matter what they ask. They could have asked him like, where did you get the shoes? Or can I ask you about dating or you guys in from out of town? But the reason why he shared Christ with them, it's not because he's an evangelist. It's not because he's a pastor of a church. It's not because he's a Christian. I guarantee you, JP shared the gospel with those two because he knows that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And he knows that it is good and right for them to do that in this life instead of in the next. He's on mission knowing that every single person is either saved or condemned. And so he's ready. He lives with that urgency like, man, I don't know.

They may be dead in their sins and bound for hell. So like, if they're going to ask me about dating, I'm going to ask them, do they know Jesus? He's just ready with a word. He's ready with a word at all times and in all things to pair up good deeds with the gospel. There's a guy here that reached out to us recently. His name's Nick Schwaydock. And he said, hey, by the way, he's not like a, he has a different job. He's not a cook by trade. And he's like, hey, if there's anybody at the church that's going through a hard time, give me their name and number. And I'm going to prepare for them a Thanksgiving meal. And I ask him, hey, can I share that? And he's like, yeah, so long as it's like for the glory of God, he's like, that's not why I'm doing it. But if it's, it's for God's glory and encourages somebody else to do something like, sure, he's preparing Thanksgiving dinners for like a lot of people that don't even yet know because they're going through a hard time here in Waco, tying that love to the gospel that they would be like, who are you people? Like, why would you do that? Thanks, give me dinner with all the fixing. You don't even know me because I know the one who has given me life. And now I reflect Christ in my relationships. In 2 Corinthians 5, it's an incredible passage. It says, all this is from God. It's talking about salvation of souls. The gospel, all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself. Listen. He is entrusted to you, the ministry of reconciliation. Those entrusted me, the money at the beginning, and I squandered it on the lottery. And trusted, he has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. You have it, whether you use it or not. You can squander it, or you can steward it. You have been given, if you were in Christ, the ministry of reconciliation, and then he's gonna explain what it is. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses, their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

The gospel, God loves you, you have sin. Jesus died for your sin, rose from the dead that you could have eternal life. Because I'm an adopted son or daughter forever with God most high. And entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. This is why I say he saved you to send you. We're ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. He's making his appeal through you. Don't be silent. We implore you on behalf of Christ. Be reconciled to God. This means to invite someone to church, to ask them their story. Like you can just take a coworker to lunch and say, "Hey, so tell me your story." And they'll share their life story. And because they're a polite person, they'll just say, "How about you out of human curiosity?" And you get to share your testimony in the gospel and say, "Do you have faith?" To ask how you can pray for them. To serve them, to encourage them. All tied to the gospel. The reason why I'm doing this and then share your faith. In summary, we reflect Christ by going all in with Christ. We live all in for others.

And then we're to be all in for the gospel until all are in Christ. This is our aim. Church, when you walked in, you received a communion cup. And this is a gift for 2,000 years. The church has been taking communion. Christ shared this at the Last Supper. (congregation laughing) When he took the bread and he said, "This is my body broken for you." You think about the apostles in that moment. And he said, "My blood shed for the forgiveness of sins, "the new covenant." You're in covenant with God because of Jesus. It's an amazing thing that you hold in your hand, this symbol of Christ's body and blood. But there's a warning in Scripture. You see, we don't take this out of religious routine. We take this as those reconciled to God through Jesus. And it would make no sense to partake of this as some religious right if you have not yet received Christ. And so if you've not yet trusted in Jesus, if you haven't placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, I would ask that you just set this aside. And instead, you can pray and receive Christ today. Say, "I'm a sinner, I need to be saved, Jesus. "I place my faith in you." Then take communion. But if you're not ready for that step,

it says that to do so, you'd be drinking judgment on yourself. It would be mocking Christ to not receive him and then partake of a symbol of him. But for those who have trusted in Jesus, this symbol and means of grace that is a mystery. But we take this anew today, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11, 23, Paul says, "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 peeled the top off. "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.'" Church, break that bread before you take it. Break it in your fingers and pray with me. Lord Jesus, you took on flesh to take on our sin, kind for kind, person for person. You took on flesh because the children share in flesh and blood as well and your body was broken for us, that we might partake in eternal life. Thank you, Lord. The body, the bread of life, of Christ. And 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. Listen to this part, church. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And he is coming again, and will he find us full of faith, reflecting Christ in our relationships?

He is coming again, and it says that as we partake of this cup, and you can peel the top off, as you partake of the cup, the very blood of Jesus, the new covenant poured out for the forgiveness of sins, it says we proclaim his death and implicit resurrection until he comes. So with all of heaven and earth and below the earth, observing the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Lord Jesus, we pray, Lord, that we would reflect you. We praise you, we worship you, and we confess freely. We aren't so far from who you are. Would you shape us by the sanctification of the spirit? Mold us, as individuals, and corporately as a church. Would you change us by the spirit, putting to death the desires of the flesh? If we reflect you, live for others and share the gospel. And share the gospel with urgency, because you're coming again. So we stand, and we worship you again and again. In Jesus' name, amen.