Taking Communion Seriously | Sermon by Tony Evans

I've said before on occasion when my youngest son Jonathan was 11 or 12 years old and came to my office and said that come down to the gym in the Family Life Center I want to show you something so I went to him with the gym and where you want to show me he says I want you to see me dunk the basketball I said that's interesting so he got the basketball dribble in a few times and grabbed it ran up and 11 12 years old dunk the basketball very impressive except for one thing he got in the custodian to lower the goal in other words he lowered the standard and made a dunk I got the custodian to raise the standard to what it's positional to be and tell him okay I see what you did but the idea is to get to 10 feet not to make 10 feet 6 feet to rise and raise to the standard Israel has lowered the standard was dunking the worship ball and was excited that they were dunking at a lower standard God comes on the scene in Malachi and says I'm not impressed I'm not impressed that you can worship dunk at 60 when the goal of 10 he says in verse 11 I'm a great king I'm not you know I'm not your ordinary King I am in a class all by myself the highest office in our land of the presidency of the United States we talked about that on last time and and there's only position for one person in that office God says there's only a place for one God in this universe and you are not he I am a great king in fact I am so great that one day all the nations of the earth are going to burn incense to me and there will be comprehensive cosmic recognition I am in a class all by myself but in the meantime I've chosen you Israel the book of Malachi is real to get a head start on everybody else in recognizing my greatness the book of Malachi as we continue to unfold it is a book of questions and completes the people are complaining God is nowhere near he can't be found he's not blessing them he's not taking care of them and we still going to church we still worshipping you and you're not coming through for us we don't get it and God's complain back is the reason you're not seeing me is your dunking at a lower standard that is you're not giving me what my name calls for you just given me what you want and even that your governor wouldn't take lambs of the blind and lambs that can't walk in rhythm with cancer and you you bringing them and offering them in and you don't understand why I'm not all that excited about you showing up at church so that I can receive your leftovers I am a great king they want to know what are we doing love well in addition to the leftover worship that they were giving him he says in verse 12 something that I want to focus on today he says in verse 12 for you saying that the table of the Lord is despised the table of the Lord you I hear you I hear what you say and you say what we got to do this now let me tell you what the table of the Lord is or was back in Malachi's day it was be altered it was the altar all the altar is where they sacrifice the animals to God they would slit the throat of the Lamb of a sheep or whatever was being sacrificed drained the blood and it was like a mess of nothing but there to kill this animal and we got to do this again we got to cut the throat we got it we got to drain the blood we got an offer of sacrifice even says he goes on to say in this passage I see you sniffing at it look sure we got to smell this stuff again and then he said and you say how tiresome it is oh we got to go there again we got to do this sacrifice again we got drained his blood again again again again he says I know what you're thinking I know what you're saying and I know how you feel why why is God upset I can use that word at their complaint about the table the altar what was it about this table that they should not been complaining about in fact they should have been excited about the table but instead they were weary about the table let's talk a little see ology for a moment God is transcendent transcendent simply says that he sits outside of his creation now he has involved with his creation he did imminent but he is transcended I mean that's pretty spectacular that God is greater than the sum total of everything he's made and he's made the universe which is why when you get to heaven it will take you an eternity to learn about because there is no end to him because he was greater than everything is we've made we can't even get to the end of our galaxy more left o universe he is greater than the Sun tear told him what he's made he's a great King now at the core of his transcendence is his holiness that is his uniqueness everything about him is distinct from anything else the problem occurs is that when sent into the picture it created a blockage between the transcendent God and man because one of the things about God that is holy is his righteousness that is his separation from sin so this transcendent God could not have fellowship with sinful man going all the way back to Adam and Eve and all the way forward God's transcended righteousness could not interact in a meaningful way with simple men because that's what he does not lower the standard he can it would be against his character to lower the standard so what God did was come up with a way where sinful men could remake contact with him and the way he did it was by setting up in the Old Testament a sacrificial system and the goal of the sacrificial system was to create a substitute because sin had to be addressed but because God loved man he came up with a way to address it by creating a substitutional sacrificial system where you could offer an animal on behalf of the people and the death of the animal would serve as a temporary solution to the blockage between transcendent righteous holy God and sinful man now the reason that that sacrificial system was critic what because it's free God up to bring to people the provisions of this covenant then you guys stay with me and we going to win now I can't get into the Covenant today the company comes in next week sermon so y'all come back now you hear you'll see the word covenant in chapter 2 repeated so we will get into that but I won't just introduce it by saying this I mentioned last week Deuteronomy 2099 covenants are designed to bring blessings okay so a covenant is an arrangement through which God flows to bring you what God has planned for you that's a covenant everybody wants to be blessed but here's the problem everybody wants to be blessed without necessarily being under the Covenant alright so stay with me God made a covenant and agreement and arrangement with Israel and it was a covenant of blessing but God could not fulfill what he wanted to fulfill unless he dealt with the problem of sin because he was transcendent and holy in lashes and man was sinful so he set up a system to temporarily deal with sin I call it the Old Testament the layaway plan okay because it only provided a temporary payment it was not a permanent payment the payment had to go on all all the time the big day was the day of atonement when they would take a goat they would kill the goat and then the priest would come and lay his hands on the second goal called the scapegoat and then they would take the scapegoat out the nation to signify the sins of the nation were being removed so God would be free to operate within his covenant for Israel sometimes a scapegoat with one the back end camp so they get a little shepherd boy to take it out and push it off the cliff the Greek word for that is opposite roses pushed off never show up again alright so they had to go through this routine because of God unique relationship through the crafting of a substitute in order to free God up to do for the people what gotta promise to do the book of Malachi is that complete and you'll see it come up because they got locust problems that won't go away but their economy is in wrecked the families are in disaster you know in other words America they got all this stuff going wrong and they want to know why God not blessing them why God's not showing up for them why God's not coming through for them while they say the table of the Lord is despised I'm tired of it for what they did not understand was if it weren't for the table if it wasn't for the sacrificial system you could have no contact with God but the contact with God was tied to the table and when there was no table when there was no system operating that frees a transcendent God from interacting imminently with with with with with simple man that you would now be subject to the consequences what sense of the actions of God from your life and from your nation so when they remove themselves from the table or despise the table by lowering the standard that allows as you'll see referred to a number of times in the ball the curse to come that is the negative repercussions of sinful men having a blockage that's not linking them to God he says you're tired of something that's the source of your life you're tired of something that's keeping you in contact with me you're tired of something that's keeping the Covenant on your behalf you're tired of something that's keeping the curse away you're tired of something that is responsible for the bluffing the flow you should be excited every time you have to do this master job because if nasty job is the way you're going to be delivered he'll free that NASA job is the thing that keeps me linked to you because I can't lower my standards but I can't accept a substitute I will accept the substitute but I can't change the rules of the game that's the Covenant so here they're saying I am a great king you should be excited I know you don't like it I know it's bloody I know you know it doesn't smell good when it meets cooking on the altar I know that is inconvenient but if you could ever see what this thing could do for you if you took this table seriously you wouldn't complain you'd be hopscotching and flipping and jumping and jokin to get to that table because that table was transforming in nature now we now slip to the new testament the division in the bible is between the Old Testament and the New Testament let's put it another way between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant the Bible is divided by covenant that is by arrangements that God has he had an arrangement in the Old Testament the old covenant with Israel he has an arrangement in the New Testament the new covenant with the church both covenants have a table so what you do is you filter Old Testament principle to New Testament theology teaching so I want to use the Old Testament principle and take a trip to the New Testament table because the principle is carried forth covenant aliy that is the principle that it is the table that frees God up to move on your behalf and it is the despising of the table that remove God from being able to move on your behalf in other words some of us are benefitting from the Covenant because we have the same view as the Mount as in Malachi about the case their view of the table was I'm sick of them God view was if you only knew what that cable man you are they're complaining about the thing that's designed to solve your problem to bring you deliverance and to give you victory so let's turn our Bibles to first Corinthians chapter 10 and let's look at the table a little bit closer and then we're going to look at it a little bit closer than that first Corinthians chapter 10 the Bible says that the Old Testament was written for our example it gives us a framework now he says in first Corinthians chapter 10 these words he says beginning in verse 16 is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ he's talking about communion and he says when you break the bread you share in the body when you drink the cup you share in the blood there is a sharing of the person body and blood of the whole person you me you you you when you commune with me you're not just eating bread and drinking a cup you're sharing a life okay so yeah you got a piece of bread and you got a cup but with the bread and the cup you're actually entering into the life okay so so it's not that in Malachi stick to this I'm Kaila this ritual in Caribbeans they were tired of the same ritual because in both Testaments they lost sight of the meaning they thought well we just go on to X's okay we got to do this okay give me the bread give me cup pour and Caribbean say you two missed it you are sharing the life now why do you need to know that when you take communion you're sharing the light first Corinthians chapter 10 let's go down a few verses and let's look and see verse 21 you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons you cannot for take up watch this the table of the Lord and the table of demons oh you know we just discovered there are two tables there are two tables a table is the place where you eat he says the Lord has a table and demons have a table he's writing to Christians and he says you Christians that Corinth are trying to eat has two tables Oh something like in the Old Testament enemies you come to the Lord's table captain the table is tiring but then you go out and you mix it up with the pagans and you go to another table cuz there's two tables remember the purpose of the table is to share the life again watches them so the first thing you need to know is that in the New Testament church there were demons he says there are demons okay there's the Lord but there is this unseen powerful Cosima's you wrestle not against flesh by the principalities powers and world Force's there are demonic in nature and they actually invite you to have dinner with them why do demons invite you to have dinner with them so that they can share their life with you stick with me now the Lord has a table and we said a cup of blessing the bread the body is to share wife he says there are two tables there the Lord offers you his table now here's what you need to know many of the problems we have are not merely problems because of the problems but because of the demonization of the problem in other words the problem is made worse because demons have adopted the problem so you're not just battling the problem you're growling battling the demonization of the problem which is why the problem will go away cuz demons keep it coming back you think the problem is only the problem when the problem is that at the table you have to be sitting at the layers of the demons have joined the problem so the problem is in control by demonic influence so to fix the problem you can't just fix the problem you gotta fix the demons engagement that's the problem he says because at this table demons are involved it's not just the issue it's the sharing of the life what many Christians don't understand is that why you may eat at the Lord's table all Sundy if you switch tables you get to share the life of the demon so we're actually battling the wrong problem we're battling the things we see not the demons that it is written to the things we see so we're not battling the thing that we really need to get rid of and that's why it is a doesn't go away or it keeps coming back so if you happen to see I know you don't have this in your houses but if you happen to see a roach you stop on a roach it's gone kinda because behind the wall are nieces nephews uncles aunts and cousins unless you get the organ man who gets behind what you see to deal with what you can't see all you've done is temporarily resolve the problem that's going to return tomorrow they are demons behind the wall so just cuz you stopped on your issue today won't solve it because there's a new replacement tomorrow because you've not addressed the influence of the table because you shared the light okay it is the sharing of the life that's the issue it's not eating of the bread of the drinking of a cup he says we share his life with the bread and shared life is ago but wait a minute I thought I'm already saved if I'm already saved I'm not already sharing his life we get to know if you're married you are sharing the life of somebody and somebody is sharing your life because you are legally sharing it because you've got married but we all know you can be both married and miserable some of you know what I'm talking about you can be both married and miserable in other words you can have the legal sharing without the relational sharing now when a couple is physically intimate sexually intimate they are now sharing life at another level okay you are sharing life simply because you're married that's legal sharing but sexual intimacy is a sharing of life because you are sharing one another at a more intimate intense level now so you can be relationally connected without intimately connected a lot of Christians are relationally legally saved without being intimately connected with the sharing of Jesus's life so not to be crew here but Jesus Christ is inviting you out of the kitchen into the bedroom to share his life at another level because these people already say he's talking to but he's telling them that there's this other table and this other table wants to share their life with you too they want to share that like with you too but the problem is this other table is demons and so they want your life they want to give you their life why don't we share life together why don't we hang out together let's share life but with their life comes in so so there is a table and the table is tied to the Covenant ah turn over one page the first Corinthians 11 talk about the table verse 23 first Corinthians 11 for I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me and in the same way you took the cup and after supper said this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me and then hear the Whopper verse 26 for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes now watch this remember chapter 10 communion is the sharing of the life not just the exercise of the Act it's the sharing of life the Old Testament had a temporary plan it was the table the sacrificial system but when Jesus Christ came John the Baptist says in John chapter 1 behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world he came up with the permanent Ament when Jesus died on the cross he said to tell si the Greek word means paid in full or it is finished in other words no more payment needed on the cross all sins for all mankind was completely and permanently paid for to be realized by anyone who comes in place of their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ for their salvation and watch this when a person comes to Christ they are forgiven experientially forgiven for their sins now we got that we got that if you're saved you got that okay I've been forgiven for myself but hell is still messing with me hell is still messing with me and it messes with me in a lot of different ways it messes with me with my money it messes with me with my mind it messes with me and health issues it messes with me and tell is messy the pressure the problem is we see problems but don't see the hell attachment you see well we'll be up to our nose in debt illegitimate debt but not connected with demonic activity and money we won't connect we though we know we don't connect out with it and hell doesn't want you to connect it with it because then you might do something about as long as you can just make you stare at the problem and not see the hell connection the table that you're actually sharing the light self in the area of financial marriage relationships are an area of sexual merger or whatever if you don't see the spiritual then you're going to miss how to deal with the thing you think is the real problem he says on the cross here it is now on the cross Colossians 2:15 you know to turn there but Colossians 2:15 says that on the cross Jesus defeated the devil and put him to open shame it says publicly disgraced him in the spiritual realm on the cross not only were things were not only with sins defeated the devil is defeated okay watch this the devil is defeated you and I no longer have to sit at his table although we constantly get invitations to join in for dinner and he is defeated freeing God up to work his covenant on your behalf God is now freed up by the death of Christ for what sin but only if you're at his table so he comes up with this table called we call it communion it's the table of the Lord the Lord's Supper and here's what he says this is where all this is going this is my body verse 24 says which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me now watch this verse 23 says that when he called them together he gave thanks the women I don't get that think it may die and he given thanks what is he giving things for he says I'm giving thanks because this is broken for you the reason I'm giving thanks is because what is going to do for you if you don't do something for you that's why the communion is called the Eucharist or the giving of things because at the time you take communion you should be more thankful than any other time you should be more faithful than the sermon you hear or the song you like or the building you're in because none of that defeated Satan my sermon came to see Satan very singers came to see saying they can teach they can inspire but they have no power in and of themselves but communion for which you really ought to give thanks for is the thing that should send you through the Gazoo why because of what he says in verse 26 for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death he come proclaim his death to boo about what what about what am i proclaiming okay you give me the brands you give me the cup but it says you're doing more than taking the red cup it says you're preaching a sermon but I'm preaching a sermon to who about what here's the good news of communion chameleon is not merely taking bread and drinking cup it's sharing Christ life when you share Christ weight you get to preach a sermon to whom you get to preach a sermon to the demon because it's the demons that are your problem cuz they got this completed table around Communion you get to say to hell or to the devil what you want to say to people go to hell you literally have permission around the table to tell the demons and the devil to go to hell cuz that's the home you can tell them go back home in other words communion is the place of governmental authority you won't get it in the sermon you won't get it in the song but you will get it at the Lord's table because he says they are you get to proclaim my death what did my damned new Colossians 2:13 it puts the devil under your feet if you feed it he'll the reason he had more victory that we all have in our lives is we're not sharing Christ's life we have legal marriage without intimate relationship and he says the place you get that is that the table which is says that's why says and as often as you do it didn't tell you how much to do it here's a here is as often as you need it she does business so the devil if the devil busting you up weekly you better take it weekly the people say why I take Amelia once a month well look if he's jacking you up that's too big a gap cannot have power so so so he says as often as you do this you proclaim to hell the victory of my death we would have left victory if we spend more time at his table now we offer it every weekend we don't expect that everybody's gonna take it every week but if you need hell is telling you what to do controlling your mind your emotion your health your money your attitude your relations action he said that's because you don't take my table seriously do this and remember to me even I told my quiet organ music are you picturing across number one he not on the cross anymore what he's saying is what I did 2,000 years for you on Calvary you can bring up to today because there is not power in the juice but there's power in the blood and if you bring my life back up to you today and share my life in communion you get to tell the devil where to go he goes on the next verse and says but if anyone takes it unworthily the words the word words he doesn't mean you're sinless it means image it emit he says if anyone takes it in legitimately that is like Malachi was taking it just ritual routine let me do it because they pass in it illegitimately he makes the statement any people understand he says many a week many are sick and some are dead die before their time weakness means you being overcome by your circumstances sickness can be physical sickness emotional significance any son got early why is all this negative stuff happening when I don't take it legitimately because the demons are allowed to have their way with sin in your life and so when you have this way of sending your life you might wind up with if he has his way with through your life you might wind up having a mental breakdown if he has his way with sitting your life you might join them getting the board if he has his way with sitting your life speedway mind of living a life of misery because he's having his way it's not that God is putting all this on you it's that because you do not take his table seriously you're not getting the benefits of the table so that the devil is ever is able to have his way with you you know in 30 minutes ago 30 minutes ago 30 minutes ago again a game started 30 minutes ago right again I'm just surprised nobody got nothing left yet just just again heaven because seekers when you when you realize what the table means you game can wait that that you keep on chemo less people that but start again 30 minutes ago 30 minutes ago the game begins but watch this before the game there's a pregame meal they differ before the game is the war the game is the battle the game is a conflict the game is a competition but before the game there's a pregame meal the pregame meal is to give you the nutrition that you need before you go into the battle you're getting ready to face I've got a pregame meal I'm gonna be hell at work tomorrow I'm gonna be hell with my family I'm gonna meet hell with my circumstances god I need a pregame meal I need you to give me nurturing so that I have the energy necessary to tell the devil where to go and I know where to tell them to go I just don't tell them to go you go to hell cookie this has already visited me from heaven because I am sharing in his life don't be ashamed of what the power fourth is in the church if not the pulpit it's not the choir saying they have their place it's in the table because it's their way share his life and when you share his life that's what you share is victory cuz it's death with victory you share his victory just like a hungry cop has got to pull up to a filling station a starving Christian better come to the chameleon fiction because that's where the filling comes for the battles that you think the head a little girl was ashamed of a mother and mother she was so ashamed of my mother because the mother had a skull inside of her face she said mother mother mother I don't introduce you to my friends I don't take you to the PTA meeting because I'm sure ashamed of your scarf mother said let me explain how I got discussion you were a baby in the house the house caught on fire I was outside at the well I saw the house is on fire my baby was in trouble I ran into the house I picked up my baby on my way out the house one of the beams on fire broke slap me upside of the face as I threw you to safety so the only reason I'm looking like this is because I was delivering you the only reason I'm looking like this is I was setting you free the only reason I look like this is I was uh I was giving you the victory why we got in to see when you get to heaven man they're going to be one scarred person up in heaven you'll have a brand new face brand new hair brand new body and you let everything about you and brand new but there's gonna be one person of them with the stuff you have nail prints in his hand sorry mom and now prisoners sleep so forever you can remember the only reason I get to be up here forever it's because we got slammed on my behalf my transfer drew my neck with it the Schaffhausen of my fear was upon him but guess what hahaha [Music] I'm gonna I'm going to ask our men to come and right now I want you to meet the Lord application and at the table you bring your sin but you also bring your son something and then you right now at the table have a conversation with hell Satan see you've been messing with me in my mind and my body and my circumstances in my home I'm on the church but nothing has gotten better I hear the sermon but nothing has changed for right now I'm sticking Jesus on you because I'm sharing his life you can go to hell now because you got to deal with Jesus now not just me [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 158,775

Rating: 4.8007231 out of 5

Keywords: motivational, motivational video, tony evans, tony evans radio, dr tony evans, tony evans sermons, communion

Id: SuAUGiNVvn8

Length: 39min 18sec (2358 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 12 2017