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00:01 You know, the uh average person's understanding of a good
00:07 sermon is one that goes over your head and hits your neighbor.
00:12 If you go by that average, I hope that my sermon this morning is very, very bad.
00:20 A church had a unusual ritual every Sunday morning. And so before the church
00:26 sang the doxology, they would all stand up and everyone turned right facing a
00:32 blank wall, a white wall, and they sang the doxology. Every Sunday without fail,
00:38 they did this. And so a newcomer to the church was confused by this and asked,
00:43 "Well, why do you do this?" No one really knew. And the only answer that people could come up with was, "Well,
00:50 we've always done it this way." But the answer did not satisfy the newcomer.
00:55 Other people were asked the same question. Finally, an elderly man who had been in the church for a very very
01:02 long time remembered the reason. It seems that at
01:07 one time they didn't have himnels or hymn books and the words to the song
01:12 were painted on a large white wall. So everyone stood up, turned to the right facing the wall and sang the doxology.
01:20 And so over the years the words faded on the wall and the wall was repainted
01:26 numerous times over the year and no one really remembered the significance of
01:33 standing and turning and staring at the white wall. My friends, we do a lot of
01:39 things in life and seldom stop to ask why. We develop habits and traditions
01:45 and if we're not careful, we can forget why we do certain things. Right?
01:52 Just nod when I ask you something. It makes me feel good. The danger of familiar traditions is that they will
01:59 become over time routine and will lose their intended power. You see my
02:06 friends, there is this recognized principle at least amongst most of us
02:11 that what we wear needs to fit the occasion that we wear it to. Am I right?
02:19 So for example, you don't wear a tuxedo to go swimming at the beach. And when
02:24 you go to a funeral, you don't dress up like a clown. And when you go grocery shopping, you don't go grocery shopping
02:31 in your pajamas. But when it came to the Lord's supper,
02:36 the Corinthians found themselves wearing the wrong clothes. Now, I don't mean
02:41 that they were literally wearing the wrong clothes, but using the idea of clothing as a metaphor, their practice
02:48 of the Lord's supper did not match the meaning of the Lord's supper. And that was then. But today, here at FBC, we can
02:57 easily find ourselves wearing the wrong clothes. We can lose
03:03 sight of the true meaning of the Lord's supper and consequently we can practice
03:08 it inappropriately. Well, to battle against his tendency very briefly this morning. My sermons are 30 minutes or
03:15 less. If the Lord instructs us to go over two hours, but we'll see. I want to draw out
03:21 three principles very simply. Three principles from the text. Number one, if you're taking notes, I encourage you to
03:27 do so. The first point is disunityity in the Lord's supper. Look with me at verse
03:33 17 to 22. But in the following instructions, I do not commend you because when you come together, it is
03:39 not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there
03:45 are divisions among you. And in I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those
03:52 who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat.
03:57 For in eating each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What do you not have houses
04:05 to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those
04:10 who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I
04:16 will not. Well, what were they doing wrong? What was Paul trying to to
04:21 correct? Well, unlike the common practice today in the Lord's supper where we only eat a rather small amount
04:27 of bread or wine or I guess in this case grape juice, correct? Yeah. The early
04:32 church seemed to practice the Lord's supper in the context of a larger community meal. This was often known as
04:39 a love feast or an agapee meal. Furthermore, the homes in which the
04:44 churches met back then had a large living room which could fit roughly around 10 people and everyone else had
04:51 to sit outside in the larger courtyard. Now, interestingly enough, please pay
04:57 attention, the hosts in this culture were notorious for giving more food, for
05:04 giving the best food, and the seat in the actual house for people, pay
05:10 attention, of a higher social class, forcing everyone of a lower social class
05:17 to go and eat outside. And so the poor folk who had to work all day in the
05:23 field had to come and eat the leftovers after the earlier folk had had their
05:28 fill. This created natural inequalities in the Corinthian community. The
05:34 Corinthians rather than living such social class distinctions
05:39 brought those distinctions into the Lord's supper. And so this disunityity
05:46 in the practice of the Lord's supper was in conflict with the very thing the Lord's supper proclaims. Well, what is
05:53 that? Their unity, their shared salvation. The fact that all believers
05:58 alike come to the supper with empty hands as guests of God's salvation in
06:05 Jesus Christ. Any distinctions that we do have are seen as
06:13 nothing in light of our commonality in Christ. Therefore, to maintain such
06:19 social class distinction in a meal that screams the unity of believers
06:25 is horrifically and terribly flawed. My dear friends,
06:30 look with me at verse 17. But in the following instructions, I do not commend
06:35 you because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the
06:41 worse. How many of you know who that is? I'll tell you. It's Mary Poppins.
06:46 And she had a very famous quote. It goes something like this. Pay attention.
06:51 Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. If you find yourself
06:56 correcting someone's behavior, you would do well to heed Mary Poppins advice. But
07:02 clearly in this passage, the Apostle Paul didn't really know Mary Poppins. Neither did he follow his advice or her
07:08 advice. You see, my friends, the Apostle Paul is what I like to call a realist. How many of you are brave enough to
07:14 share with everyone in the church if you're a realist? How many of you consider yourself a realist? That's
07:19 okay. You don't have to be honest. It's okay. It's totally fine. A realist is
07:25 somebody who just calls it like it is. Paul is one of those guys. He calls it
07:31 like he sees it. Paul understands and even expected there to be some division.
07:38 He says that in verse 19, if you look there, Paul says that there must be divisions or differences amongst us. And
07:44 these differences don't split the church, my friends, but they make evident who are truly genuine in their
07:51 faith. That's what it does. Look at verse 18 and 19.
07:57 For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe
08:03 it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. In
08:11 other words, divisions in a church serve as a test to prove who are genuine and
08:18 who are just namesake followers of Christ. That's what a division does. Rather we seek to remove
08:26 divisions and become unified as a church. He Paul is not saying well since
08:32 you think this and we'll since you think that why don't both of you go and plant
08:37 churches in do in two different parts of the town. No my friends he is not saying
08:42 that. Paul is calling them to unity. Look at verse 20 to 22. Look ahead in
08:48 your Bible. What does it say? When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each
08:56 one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. Paul
09:01 says to the re, well, Paul says to the rich here, if you want to have such feasts, do it elsewhere. Such meals are
09:09 not appropriate when the church gathers in unity to celebrate the Lord's supper.
09:15 My friends, the Lord's supper is a celebration of the gospel.
09:20 It reles and celebrates the incomprehensible sacrifice of the son of God for a world
09:27 of lost sinners. Totally insensitive to God. Totally helpless, incapable of
09:34 helping themselves. The Corinthians behavior, my friends, betrays the very
09:40 nature of the supper. It destroys the witness of the gospel and it
09:45 demonstrates to the world that the gospel is useless. It makes no difference to the way that we live. The
09:53 rich are still alienated from the poor. The barriers that were broken down by the love of Christ have now been erected
09:59 up again. And not in the common marketplace, but in the sacred space of the Lord's
10:06 supper, the heart of the gospel. That's what has happened here. And that brings us to our second point this morning. The
10:12 unity that we find in the Lord's supper. Look with me at verse 27 to 29.
10:18 Whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty
10:23 concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the
10:30 cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and
10:35 drinks judgment on himself. Now in one sense the church is already unified
10:42 through our spiritual union in Christ. Now that's already happened, right? And so you can think of a Christian family
10:49 or you can think of FBC, the First Baptist Church, Sububang Jaya, as one ethnicity made up of people from
10:56 different natural ethnicities who have been reconciled to God through the
11:01 cross. And in another sense, we have yet to experience the fullness of this unity
11:09 inside the church. So what does Paul what does the apostle Paul tell us? We
11:14 must do everything to maintain the unity of the
11:21 spirit in the bond of peace. You know my friends, unity is something that you
11:27 have to fight for. Unity does not just happen. Unity is not the natural trajectory for a group of people. It's
11:35 easy for us in this room right now. Look ahead. Go look to your neighbor. Right? Look at them. Right? Tell them how
11:41 beautiful they are. Right? It's easy for us to find differences with people and
11:47 then to divide ourselves based on those differences. Isn't that right? It's easy for us to do that. There was a pastor by
11:53 the name of Larry Osborne and he said this about unity. Unity is the one thing
11:59 that cannot be left to chance. Unity doesn't just happen. You have to work at
12:04 it day after day because if you don't, it quickly slips away. And once it does,
12:10 it won't matter how clear your vision is or how gifted your team is. When the
12:15 foundation rots, it is not long until the whole house collapses.
12:25 In 2016, it was time to appoint the new president of the Southern Baptist
12:30 Convention. One of the men running for the role is actually right here in Malaysia. How many of you know who that
12:36 is? His name is JD Greer. And after voting, nobody had the
12:43 majority vote. So everyone had to vote again for just the two candidates, the
12:48 top two candidates. So one was JD Greer, another one was Pastor Steve Gaines. Right. And here they are. Oh, there they
12:54 are. Right. So the next day, people went back to vote for a third time, and
12:60 something incredible happened. JD Greer and Pastor Steve Gaines actually met
13:05 privately the night before and they prayed together and after this JD Greer withdrew his
13:12 name from the candidacy. Isn't that amazing? People ask why. Well, he did it for the sake of unity. Here's what he
13:20 said. Through this whole process, I've been praying for unity. I know that Pastor
13:26 Steve has as well. But if we go to a third vote and one of us wins by one
13:31 half or 1%, it doesn't matter which which of us it is. It's hard to see how
13:36 that makes us a united body. We exist as a convention of churches because we
13:42 believe that we can do more together than we can do apart. What keeps us from
13:48 splitting into a thousand different directions is one thing, our unity in the gospel of Jesus. We stand together
13:56 because God saved us and we want to see him save others. Whether that's in our
14:01 neighborhoods or on the other side of the world. Essentially, these candidates
14:07 came to this decision because unity in Christ, my friends, was worth more than
14:12 winning the ballot. Unity was more important for the sake of the gospel
14:19 moving forward. The Lord's Supper was a time for the church family to come together as one.
14:25 Paul says that they were not eating the Lord's supper because there was no fellowship amongst them. The Lord's
14:33 supper was a time for the church family to come together. Now, go ahead and close your eyes. We're
14:40 not going to pray. I'm not done yet. I know some of you are like, "Oh, man." But it's okay.
14:46 I want you to imagine yourself as a moderately welloff ancient Corinthian of
14:52 some means. Go ahead, just imagine. Now, if you're a typical Corinthian,
14:59 what you were used to before you became a Christian was going to public feasts or parties at the local temple. This is
15:07 what you would think of when you thought of a public meal, a religious ceremony or feast. But now as a Christian, the
15:14 only religious feast that you would attend is the Lord's supper, which has
15:20 very little to do with indulgence and decadence. Very little. So some higher
15:26 class church members of a higher class would approach communion this way, not
15:31 from Paul's perspective where he understood that communion's predecessor
15:37 was the Hebrew Passover meal. Am I right?
15:42 which was a holy meal, but it was also a meager meal. It was intended to be eaten
15:49 remembering the Exodus as though you were eating fast so you can get out
15:55 before judgment comes. My friends, you can tell me if I'm right or wrong here,
16:01 but isn't it at dinner time when families kind of regroup after a long day? Whether you had a good day or a bad
16:07 day, whether you had a lousy day or a or a joyful day, whatever day it is, we come together as a family and we share
16:14 reports with one another. Am I right? Right. Sometimes there is an element of disciplining that takes place at the
16:20 table as well. Well, my friends, the Lord's supper and the Passover meal are
16:26 both family meals where God's people get together and remember the redeeming acts
16:32 by which God has adopted his sons and his daughters into his family,
16:40 into his household, right there, present at the table, eating directly from his hand. Communion, my friends, is a call
16:48 to sacrificial unity. It's not just a time for you to close your or cross your
16:54 hands and and and have a time of individual reflection. It's not simply a call for you for you and me to privately
17:02 confess our sins before a holy God and to think about what we've done wrong this past week. It's not just about
17:08 that. Although Paul did say in verse 28, please look there in your Bibles. What does it say in verse 28? Everyone ought
17:15 to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink of the cup. And you
17:21 may ask me, well, Shahan, what are we examining? Thanks for asking. Look at verse 29. For anyone who eats and drinks
17:27 without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. Now, how many of you see that phrase discerning
17:34 the body? You know, in some English translations like the NIV, it's rather
17:39 unfortunate. uh it doesn't really kind of communicate what Paul is trying to say there. But as one scholar puts it,
17:46 Paul is not talking about the body on the table representing Jesus's broken
17:52 body and shed blood, right? So our grape juice and wafer. He's not talking about that, right? Paul is talking about the
17:60 body at the table, meaning you meaning me, right? It's a It's a we
18:09 concept, not a me concept. It's a we concept. That's what Paul is talking about here. By neglecting this body,
18:17 look around you again. Go ahead. Look around you. Right. By neglecting this body, Paul says that we are eating and
18:25 drinking judgment onto ourselves. That's what it means. My friends, by all
18:31 means, we ought to examine ourselves personally before we partake of the
18:37 Lord's table, our life, our thoughts, where we are spiritually. By all means,
18:42 when the next time, I'm not sure, next week maybe, or the week after, I'm not sure. You should two weeks. Okay?
18:50 We ought to do that. and take encouragement knowing that Christ's sacrifice was to wash you clean of your
18:56 rebellious record before a holy God. But as much and even more, examine your
19:03 relationships with one another. Right? I mean, come on, right? I mean, do you
19:09 love everyone in this room? Actually, don't answer that question.
19:15 It's okay. I'm sure you do. I'm sure all of you do. Yeah. What does Paul go on to say? Verse 33.
19:22 Look at verse 33. So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. You see that
19:29 word wait, right? The original meaning here means to do more than just wait. It
19:35 means to embrace people. It means to wait. It means to receive one another.
19:41 So the next time you find yourself standing in a buffet line, turn to the person behind you and give
19:47 him a hug. No matter how weird it out they are,
19:52 that's okay. Just give them a hug and then say, "I'm supposed to wait for you." And then just look away.
19:59 That's what it means here. It means to embrace people. It means to receive one
20:04 another. Now look at verse 33, 34, sorry. If
20:10 anyone is hungry, let him eat at home. So that when you come together, it will not be for judgment about the other
20:16 things. I will give directions when I come. Now, this is important. Verse 34. Paul never denied them their personal
20:24 rights, neither their personal property. My friends, if I can say one thing to you, and I hope you take this with you.
20:30 Christianity does not deprive you of your personal liberty. Right?
20:36 It does not deprive you of your customs, your culture or traditions. Now, of course, provided they are honorable. Of
20:43 course, they have to be honorable. But when we gather together as Christ's body, we don't make those things the
20:50 centerpiece, pun intended, on the table.
20:55 We don't do that. We put them aside and in perspective and if necessary, we
21:00 leave those traditions at home. That's what we do. But we don't have to deny them.
21:07 Why do I say this? Well, look at Psalm 113:78. Don't turn there. It'll take a while, right? But listen to these words.
21:14 Psalm 113:7 to8. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the
21:19 ash heap to make them sit with princes with the princes of his people. My friends, those who are marginalized
21:26 amongst us, those who are prosperous amongst us, my friends, no matter who you are, we all
21:32 come together and we eat at the same table. That's what we do. There are no distinctions here as brothers and
21:40 sisters. Amen. No distinctions. None at all. Now, if you still can't picture yourself
21:46 as an ancient Corinthian sitting at the table, it's okay. Think of it this way. This might be a bit more applicable. How
21:52 many of you have traveled by plane at at least some point in your life? If you haven't tried, it's pretty cool. It gets
21:58 you to places faster. For those of us in our society who are
22:04 of different classes, whether first class, business class, or economy, no
22:09 matter which class you sit in on a plane, everyone has their own personal section on the plane. So, you get the
22:15 first class option where you get those really wide, comfy seats with extra recline, a bigger screen, a better
22:22 smell, and a wider option of meals. I said that very passionately,
22:28 but and then you have economy class. Now, obviously, I have never been to
22:33 first class. I have walked by first class to get to my seat. And uh
22:41 and then I said in economy, and come on, guys. I mean, economy is where the party's at, right? Come on, let's go.
22:48 Come on. Yeah. All right. This is where you need to sit, right? Because in economy, you get those crying babies.
22:56 You get those uh people sitting next to you that take off their shoes. That's
23:02 okay. But then they proceed to take off their socks and that's not okay. Right? So this happens in economy class.
23:11 But what if Paul told us to hold a worship service on the plane mid-flight?
23:16 Think of think of it like that. What if he told us to do that?
23:22 Would the first class believers stick to their corner enjoying their first class amenities while the rest of the people
23:27 looked on? Would the service be divided to just first class part, first class members and the economy class members
23:33 would kind of do their part? No, my friends, we are called to remember each other in
23:40 the context of Christian community, in the context of ministry, in the context
23:45 of service. That's what we are supposed to do. We're not told that there'll be different sections on a plane with
23:51 different prices, but we are told to put those things aside
23:57 and remember one another and their needs and embrace each other across social
24:02 class distinctions that the world makes, not what the church makes. And so in
24:08 examining ourselves corporately, we must identify who we are forgetting. Okay?
24:14 When we examine ourselves, not personally, corporately, we must identify who we are forgetting. Leonardo
24:21 da Vinci, that's him, needs a shave. He was a great artist. And at the age of
24:28 42, the Duke of Milan said to Leonardo these words. I quote, "I want you to
24:34 paint for me a portrait of the Last Supper." And Leonardo da Vinci painted that marvelous portrait of the Last
24:41 Supper. I'm not sure if you've seen it. And when he had finished, he felt that it was a masterpiece and he was grateful
24:46 for it. And he asked a friend, "Hey, I would like for you to look at this painting and I would like you to give me
24:52 your honest evaluation." The friend looked at it for a while and then he kept looking at it and he said, "It's
24:58 magnificent. I believe the most magnificent part of the painting is the cup, the chalice. I
25:06 can't take my eyes from it. It's incredibly captivating." And when he said those words, Leonardo da Vinci
25:12 quickly grabbed his paintbrush and he drew across it. You know what he said?
25:18 Nothing in this picture will detract from the face of my savior.
25:25 Amazing, right? Think about it. Think about it, my friends. It's not the cup. It's not the
25:32 bread. We need to look past the symbol to the Savior.
25:38 To the Savior. In a community like this, hopefully
25:44 centered around the gospel which declares that we are all in desperate need for salvation and that we all
25:50 receive the sal we receive salvation the same way. Not by worldly standards but
25:55 by grace through faith. Such distinctions are not only irrelevant but
26:01 they're totally inappropriate. Don't have any distinctions among people
26:07 in this church. Don't do it because it's irrelevant. Finally, this morning,
26:15 the Lord's supper is the ultimate proclamation of the gospel. Look at verse 26 with me. One verse. For as
26:23 often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim, underline that
26:29 word if you write in your Bible, the Lord's death until he comes. You know my friends, memorials are very important
26:37 part of every culture. Don't you agree? Memorials they allow people to remember
26:42 a lost loved one or an important public figure. Memorials have existed in every
26:48 culture for over a thousand years. And according to psychologists, this is interesting. Memorials help survivors of
26:56 a particular tragedy come out of that emotional shock in a fruitful manner. I
27:01 thought that was very interesting. Dealing with death, dealing with loss, dealing with grief can be difficult for
27:09 any person. A memorial made in honor of some person also serves as an
27:14 everlasting tribute to a life well-lived and a life worth remembering. It's a
27:22 representation of how that person lived. It's like a final gift. Now, why do we
27:28 memorialize people? Think about it for yourself. Think think of it. Why do we memorialize people? Well, number one, to
27:35 empathize with the families of the lost loved one. Number two, to always be reminded that the ones who died and
27:42 never forget. Number three, never forget the people who gave of themselves
27:48 sacrificially to save others. I want to share with you something that
27:53 happened in my country about two months ago. How many of you have seen this picture before?
27:59 Little over two months ago, one of the deadliest terrorist attacks hit Sri Lanka. It was all over the news. And I'm
28:06 sure for my wife and I, this would be etched in our memory for the rest of our lives. It was one of the scariest days,
28:13 I think, cuz we were just unsure of when the bomb or where the bomb the next bomb would go off. The Easter Sunday attacks
28:20 in Sri Lanka happened on the 21st of April this year at around 8:45 a.m. at
28:26 least 15 minutes after every Easter Sunday service started in Colbo. So people were already in their seats
28:32 listening to the preacher. Three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in Colbo were targeted in a
28:40 series of coordinated terrorist suicide bombings.
28:45 258 people were killed. Over 500 people were left injured.
28:52 The family of one victim who died in the bomb blasts says that his actions
28:58 actually helped to save many lives. His name was Romesh Raju. I think a few of you, it was all over BBC. His name was
29:05 Romesh Raju and he actually stopped a man with a large backpack from entering his church which was the Zion church in
29:12 Batclau which is in eastern Sri Lanka. In fact, uh on the 13th of June, uh July, after we get back, we're going
29:18 there to meet some of the families. So, it'll be a very interesting time. People asked us, "You're going to bless those
29:25 people?" I said, "No, they're going to bless us. They're going to put life in perspective for us."
29:30 Incredible what they have been through. And so, he stopped this man with a
29:36 backpack. And people say that if the attacker had gotten inside the church and detonated the bomb inside the
29:42 church, it's very likely that everyone would have died. But unfortunately,
29:48 because he was stopped at the door, he detonated himself just outside the entrance and the Sunday school class had
29:53 been dismissed and all the children died in the lawn. 26 children
29:59 died on that day. And I don't say coincidentally because we don't believe in those things. We believe in God's
30:05 plan. But the Sunday school lesson for that day was, "Which one of you in this class would be willing to die for your
30:12 Lord?" And no one knew what was going to happen 15 minutes after that.
30:19 You know what? I think this video will explain the situation. I got a video for you. So, we can go ahead and play that.
30:30 In the town of Baticla, they're grieving. At almost every corner, pictures hang in
30:37 memory of the young lives that were lost. For Yerishan, who just turned 13.
30:44 For John, who loved basketball. For Amsa, who was two. For the other
30:51 children killed at church. They'd been attending Sunday school.
30:56 This footage was filmed 20 minutes before the bomber struck. After class, some of them went outside for snacks
31:03 before Easter service. 12-year-old Nuraban was one of the children who stayed inside.
31:11 Suddenly, we heard loud noises, he told me. We looked out and saw glass and
31:16 motorbikes flying around and heard screams and shouts.
31:23 At least 25 people died in the blast here at Zion Church. 13 were children.
31:31 Nuraban's mother, Krishanti, was one of the Sunday school teachers. Her husband, Romesh, was at the church, which was
31:38 packed with worshippers, when he spotted a stranger with a backpack.
31:43 The man told my husband he was carrying a camera and wanted to film inside, she
31:48 told me. My husband said he couldn't enter and forced him to leave. As I went
31:53 into the church, the bomb exploded. Ramsh died, but his actions saved lives.
32:02 Nurban and his sister now have to live theirs without a father.
32:07 I love my Jesus only. I love my Jesus only.
32:12 And for Kashanti, now a widow, the pain is all too familiar. Her parents were
32:18 brutally murdered in Sri Lanka's civil war. Her aunt died in the tsunami.
32:25 In this small Christian community, entire families have been wiped out.
32:31 Sunduri lost her son, her daughter-in-law, and her 18-month-old grandson, Javez.
32:39 Just around the corner, we found corner. We found another memorial poster of two
32:45 smiling children. Yesterday, brother and sister Sharon and
32:50 Sarah were buried side by side. They were just 11 and 12. Both love to study.
32:58 Still on the wall in their house, their homework calendar.
33:05 I'll never see them again. Their mom, Vimul, told me since they've been gone,
33:11 all I can remember are their smiles and laughter. They won't come back again.
33:16 That's the reality. 10 years after the Civil War ended, this
33:22 community is once again burying its dead. These graves have barely been dug. Just
33:28 like the lives lost had barely been lived. Brini Vadian, BBC News, Batlo.
33:36 You know, nothing will ever bring back Romesh, but his heroic actions
33:43 which spared pain for so many other families will at least in some way comfort his wife, knowing of his bravery
33:50 and love for others, putting other people before himself, giving his life
33:56 sacrificially. Unimaginable pain and loss is being experienced just like that family by countless families across Sri
34:04 Lanka. Even now, I'm talking like it's happened a year ago. No, it's just been 2 months. That pain is fresh. It's like
34:10 a wound. It's a fresh wound. And I apologize. It wasn't 26 children. It was 13 as the video said.
34:16 But before I get to that, I want to make another point and then we'll close this morning. Friends, do you know the
34:24 difference between a memorial to what the world describes a memorial and how the Bible describes what a memorial is?
34:31 You know, in biblical Hebrew, which is what the Old Testament was written in, there are roughly 4,000 words in the
34:37 Hebrew language compared to the 400,000 words in the English language. And
34:42 because of the relatively smaller vocabulary in Hebrew, some Hebrew words carry multiple meanings and a range of
34:50 ideas. One of those, for instance, is when the Bible says that God remembered. Okay?
34:57 When God remembered. So for an example in Psalm 105:42 the word for remember is zakar. Zakar
35:05 yes means to remember. But you know what it also means? It means to act on behalf
35:10 of the person you are remembering. It means to act on behalf of the person
35:16 that you are remembering. So the Bible's idea of a memorial always includes
35:22 acting on behalf of the person that you are remembering. Remembering is always
35:28 followed by a call to action. My friends, if you don't get anything I said this morning, take this with you.
35:36 It's very important to understand that the Sri Lankan terrorist attacks that happened 2 months ago and the 911
35:44 attacks that happened 18 years ago
35:49 is just an outward symbol. It is just a symptom of a larger problem of an
35:56 underlying disunityity, emnity and alienation that exists between person to person and
36:04 people of different races, different ethnicities and different religions. My
36:10 friends, the gospel is the solution. Amen. The gospel is the solution to all
36:18 this disunityity. Jesus Christ is the answer, my friends. Being in him, Christ dissolves discord
36:26 and disunityity. In Ephesians, if you've ever studied Ephesians before, Paul
36:31 reminds his Gentile readers that at the cross,
36:37 Jesus made in his flesh one new man out of Jew and Gentiles by abolishing the
36:43 dividing wall of the law. While at the cross is where hostility between God and
36:50 man seizes, Paul goes on to say that it also puts to death hostility between man
36:57 and man or person and person who are part of the body. That's what it
37:04 does. Christ's kingdom brings belonging. Christ's kingdom brings communion.
37:09 Christ's kingdom brings common purpose. Christ's kingdom brings familial bonds.
37:16 That's what it does. That's the beauty of the Lord's supper, my friends. That's the beauty of it. It's not just to stand
37:23 and eat of the bread and drink of the grape juice. That's great. You should do that. It's to spend time remembering
37:30 Jesus's finished work on the cross, but it's more than that. It's a call to be a witness to the gospel. If you have
37:36 genuinely been transformed by the gospel, can you keep it to yourself?
37:42 Desire that for the person next to you? That's what the Lord's Supper is about.
37:48 It's a witness for the gospel. It's a call to go out. In closing, there's an
37:54 amazing story of a statue of a lamb that stands in a courtyard of a little church
37:59 in Germany and a group of men were walking on the church's roof when unfortunately one of the workers tripped
38:06 and fell to the ground. The other men quickly climbed down the ladder to uh get to their colleague who thought who
38:12 they thought was severely injured or worse dead. And when they got to him, they actually
38:19 were pleased to know that he was obviously shaken, but he was uninjured. You see, my friends, there was a lamb
38:26 grazing next to the church. And so when he fell, instead of hitting the floor, he fell on the lamb.
38:33 Unfortunately for the lamb, it was crushed and that was killed. Grateful for the lamb's intervention,
38:39 the man had a statue of a lamb erected in the place where he fell. And on the plaque underneath it read, "Memorial to
38:46 the crushed lamb." In essence, this is what the Lord's supper is about.
38:51 It's a memorial to the crushed lamb and to remember how he was crushed for
38:58 our sin so that we can live with him for eternity. Amen. That's the memorial.
39:03 That's the call to action, my friends. Jesus consumed the meal of God's wrath
39:09 which was intended for indulgent, selfish, individualistic
39:15 human beings like the Corinthians then and like people like us today.
39:22 Jesus ate the meal of God's wrath so that we could eat the meal of God's forgiveness.
39:29 So the meal itself reminds us of him who remembered us, who did not neglect us,
39:34 who though we were poor and he was rich, he became poor to meet our need of forgiveness through his finished work on
39:41 the cross. Now examine yourselves so that you are not neglectful of your
39:46 brothers and sisters in this room and in your community. Let's pray.
39:56 Father, we are thankful for the gift of redemption. Thank you, Father, for the
40:03 for the joy that we have in the cross. Thank you for this time that we had. I pray that as the gospel goes out that um
40:11 that we would be a witness to our community, that we would love people, that we would share the gospel boldly,
40:17 and if we have been truly born again, if we have been truly transformed by this work, I pray that we would not keep it
40:24 to ourselves, but that we will be an ambassador of this great message.
40:30 And I pray for anyone in this room who is yet to bow their knee before you and
40:35 profess with their tongue that you are Lord and Savior. I pray that they would do so before it is too late. For we know
40:41 too well that this life is so short and our tomorrows are never guaranteed. So I
40:47 pray that in this moment I pray that we will repent of our sin and turn to you in faith. Thank you for Jesus and thank
40:56 you for his finished work on the cross. And not that we just remember it, but
41:01 that we would be called to action. That we would not just have to share it
41:06 with our mouths, but how we live by loving our co-workers, by loving our
41:12 parents, by loving our children, by loving our spouses, and even the people in this church. I pray that we would
41:20 reflect your glory because your glory and your praise
41:27 is worth more than anything. I pray that with our lives we will glorify you and bring you honor and
41:33 praise with our dying breath. I pray for Sri Lanka. I pray for the many families
41:41 um who are going through so much right now. people still in hospital, families still trying to figure out life after
41:47 they've lost their parents and children. I pray for all the pain that's in our country. I pray that you would bring
41:53 peace and comfort. For in you we have comfort, in you we have peace that the world can never
41:59 offer. I pray for the First Baptist Church of Sububanga. I pray if there is any discord, disunityity or unrest, I
42:06 pray that that would be nailed to the cross because in the cross and through the cross, we are reconciled to you and
42:12 we are reconciled to each other. So we thank you for this time. Use these words for the advancement of your kingdom in
42:19 Jesus' name. Amen.
