Morning, brothers and sisters.
Let’s first turn to 1 Corinthians 11. Start in verse 23.
For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, This is My body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of Me.
In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till He come.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body.
Now, Acts 20—the book of Acts, chapter 20. This is where Paul is in Troas, and we’ll actually just read the first part of this one verse: Acts 20, the first part of verse 7.
And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread.
And finally, over in 1 Peter. We’ve been encouraged this morning out of 1 Peter 1, and let’s look at some verses out of 1 Peter 2—verses 4 and 5.
Unto Whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious,
ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Now verse 9:
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we are so grateful to be able to continue in Thy presence. Lord, as we come this morning, this time is a little bit different—a little bit of a message, a little bit of a summary, a little bit of a report. But, Lord, we’re every bit dependent upon You, and we offer ourselves afresh.
Lord, we’re not looking for rules or techniques. We’re looking for a very living way in which we can enter in and truly remember You at the Lord’s table. We’re thankful for the opportunity we have every week to gather in Thy presence, but Lord, we yearn for so much more.
We’re thankful, Lord, that You are speaking to us in this day and in this time. So we open our hearts, Lord, that You could continue to speak. You would teach us, Lord, and show us more and more of Your ways in this hour. But as we learn of Your ways, we would know You in a fuller measure. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, as we’ll share, the brothers have been meeting together on Sunday night for a while. Really, the desire of our time together is that we as brothers—and really the whole assembly—could be strengthened. None of us are satisfied where we are. We all desire to be in a better position in the Lord together.
As we’ve been considering various aspects of our life together, recently we’ve been considering this matter of spiritual responsibility during the Lord’s table. We’ve had several meetings on it, and the Lord has been very rich in meeting us. It was shared during that time that it would be good to share with everybody.
As I prayed, this morning is a little bit different because, in one way, I’m representing the brothers from Sunday night, kind of sharing a report. So if I mess up, I get all of them mad at me. Also, I’m trying to share some thoughts from the Lord’s heart and give a summary and a report.
We’ll be sharing some specific things, but as we fellowshipped on Sunday nights, we’re not looking to establish a book of church worship—“How do you do it?” We’re looking for the Lord’s way in this. We share some practical help and some practical ways, but above all, the essence is that our own personal relationship would be strengthened with the Lord.
As we in our daily lives are strengthened in Him, as we enter into more of the spiritual exercise we’ve heard about, and as we enter into being more of His disciples that we’ve been encouraged with lately, the overflow of that will be reflected in our time together. We’re looking and are jealous for a greater expression of the Lord’s life during our time. That’s why we’re meeting on Sunday night, and really, that’s why we’re conveying these thoughts to all of us this morning.
Today, I thought it would be good if we could look at three points:
As we consider these things, may the Lord show each and every one of us how to be spiritually responsible during this time. Before we get into that, maybe it would be good just to touch a little bit on this matter of spiritual responsibility. What is the Lord really saying to us?
Spiritual responsibility is very closely related to spiritual exercise and being made disciples, which we have heard about recently. One question we have is: Who is to be spiritually responsible?
Brothers and sisters, each and every one of us who has been born again is to be spiritually responsible during this time that we have together. Each and every one of us. It is not just left to a few. It is not just left to the brothers. It is not just left to the older ones.
It is each and every one of us whom the Lord has called into this living hope. He has called us into this place of responsibility. It is for each and every one of us to be before Him in a way that He can be speaking to our hearts—coming to our time as ones who are really desiring to meet with the Lord.
We are not to come in a passive way. We are not just coming to attend a meeting. We are to really enter in. As we read in 1 Peter, we have been made priests. I love the verses. If you look back there in 1 Peter 2:9, it says, “Ye are a royal priesthood.”
I love how the Holy Spirit speaks in the very present tense. He does not say, “I will make you a priesthood. I will make you priests.” He says, when you are born again, you are a priest. So within this room this morning, each and every one of us who is born again is a priest unto our Lord.
As those priests, as it says in verse 5, we offer those spiritual sacrifices unto Him. Praise God, brothers and sisters: in the Old Testament, there were only a few who could really approach the Lord and offer those spiritual sacrifices. But because of the new covenant and everything our Lord has done, He has brought all of us into this privileged place of ministering unto Him and remembering Him at the table.
It is not for an elite few. It is not for ones who have been believers for twenty years. When we are born again, we are made priests unto our God. We have this wonderful opportunity every day in our lives to minister unto Him. Then we have a unique privilege, as we gather together with brothers and sisters, to offer up these spiritual sacrifices to Him.
If you think of the priests in the Old Testament, they had to obtain the offering, prepare the offering, and then offer the offering. They had to participate. There was a process they went through. It was not in a careless way; it was very specifically defined for them in all that they went through in the preparation and participation that they were able to enjoy.
In the same way, while we do not have rules and regulations, the Lord has given us some guidelines and principles that we can learn in this matter of preparation and participation during our Lord’s table time. We are so thankful that we have been brought into this wonderful place.
But what is spiritual responsibility? To me, spiritual responsibility is simply having a living, personal relationship with the Lord—hearing His voice and obeying Him. There are many other ways you can define it, but to me, it simply means having that living, personal, daily relationship with Him, so that we are in a place to hear His voice and then do, or obey, what He says to us.
That is being responsible. Responsible is responding to Him—responding when He speaks to us and being obedient to what He is asking us to do. It is not complicated. There is a simplicity in responding to Him that He has called us to.
Being responsible during the Lord’s table is simply coming prepared and being willing to participate during our time together as the Holy Spirit directs us.
Maybe as we say this, we come and say, “But I don’t know how. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to be spiritual.” Praise God, you don’t know how. The problem we quite often have is that we think we know how.
We think we know how to come into the Lord’s presence and worship Him. We think we know how to do this, but in reality, we do not. Remember how the disciples, when they were with the Lord, knew they did not know how to pray? So they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
We often are in the same way: “Lord, teach us to pray.” But do we have that same teachable inquiring of the Lord in this matter of remembering Him at the table? Or do we come in and say, “Oh, I know how to do that, so I don’t need to be taught”?
No. We need to learn from the Holy Spirit, that He would really teach us in the freshness of His life how we are to remember Him at His table—how we are to be spiritually responsible during our time together. We do not come to this place as experts; we come as learners, learning of Him, that the Holy Spirit, every time we are together, can teach us something new and fresh of the wonderful way that we can remember Him.
We are thankful that over the years, as an assembly, we have had a lot of teaching on the priesthood of all believers. We have a concept of the priesthood of all believers, but we have not fully entered into the reality of all that means. We have entered in part. I am not discrediting how the Lord has worked; there is an aspect that we have entered into.
But one of the things we see in the Lord is that when you enter into some of Him, there is always so much more. On this earth, we never touch the fullness of Him. We enter into a little bit of the priesthood of all believers, but there is so much more. We enter into remembering Him at His table, and all of a sudden, we see that there is so much more—the vastness and riches of our Lord.
He is jealous that we would enter into that. One thing the brothers have been sharing, and I think we can all relate to, is that we have such a tendency to become content with the little bit. We enter in a little bit and say, “Ah, I’m satisfied,” and we settle down.
But the Lord does not want us to be satisfied with a little. He wants us to enter into the much more of His life, the much more of our time together, and to be much more responsible—however you say that. I’m not an English guy. But there is a much more in the Lord that He is calling us to enter into. Would we have that heart to enter into that?
Let’s look for a moment at the purpose of the Lord’s table. We are not going to be sharing this morning a teaching on all the meanings and everything related to the Lord’s table, because the real focus we have is the question: How can we be spiritually responsible during our times together?
We see from the Scriptures we have read, and we know from the Gospels also, that this table which we partake of was originated by the Lord. This is not man’s invention. Man did not come up and say, “How can we remember that? What can we do to honor our Lord?” No. This originated from His heart. This was so precious to Him.
It is one of the last things He did upon this earth. He gathered His disciples together. I love how it says there in 1 Corinthians 11 that, on the night He was betrayed, He was not occupied with His betrayal. He was occupied with conveying this spirit of remembering Him to His disciples.
He took that cup and that loaf, and He was calling them to remember Him: “Do this in remembrance of Me,” until He comes again. This remembering Him is a spirit of remembrance, but it is also a spirit of testifying, proclaiming, and showing forth the excellencies of Who He is and what He has done.
We saw in the book of Acts that this was such an integral part of early church life. This was not an optional part. We know from Acts 2:42, and we saw in Acts 20, that it was a normal, integral part of church life in the early days to gather together to remember the Lord, break the bread, and put our Lord in remembrance.
Quite often, to me, it has always been one of the most humbling things that the Lord would have to say, “Remember Me.” But if we look at the nation of Israel, we know how quickly they forgot. How do we think we are any different?
I am thankful for this table. It brings our Lord to remembrance. The purpose for which we gather together on Sunday morning is to remember Him. We gather together each Lord’s day around this table to remember Him, and the focus is on Him. The focus is not on us; the focus is upon Him and all that He has done.
We declare and testify of Who He is. As we gather, we proclaim it. It is not only a visible testimony, but there is an invisible testimony also. We are testifying to a spiritual reality of His life, His death, and His resurrection.
These are not merely symbols of His death, as some believe, and we are not reenacting the mass as the Catholics would do. No, we are here entering into a spiritual reality and touching that reality of all that our Lord has done. It is just as real today as it was when it was historically done two thousand years ago.
There is a reality, and it speaks to each one of our hearts. We are also testifying, as we gather around this table, that we are gathering unto Him. He is our all and in all, and we are gathering in simplicity, simply unto Him. We are not gathering unto a teaching, an experience, or a name, but unto Him—One Who has first loved us and called us unto Himself.
We are so thankful that we have this privilege, brothers and sisters, every week to remember that we are gathering unto Him. Sometimes we get lost in the simplicity. There is a simplicity in our gathering that we can lose, and the Lord wants to bring us back to that simplicity and purity of our devotion to Him.
As we gather around this table, another aspect of our testimony is testifying of the oneness of the body of Christ. As we look around upon this earth, it breaks all of our hearts. We see all the divisions. We see the condition of the Lord’s house—His people.
But we gather in the reality that we are one with every brother and sister upon this earth. There is one body. There is not a body in Richmond and a body in California. There is one body that we gather unto, and we testify of that one body.
One day, there is a hope: the body will be reunited. All the petty little things that we have allowed to divide us, that we thought were so important—one day there is that bringing together from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation, a people unto Himself.
We are remembering that. We are testifying to it, regardless of what the world says and regardless of what Christianity says of the many divisions. We are testifying that we are one with every brother and sister. There is one cup. There is one loaf. We do this in remembrance of Him Who first loved us.
One thing, as we were sharing about the purpose of the meeting, was to clarify that sometimes we can have the thought that we have two meetings. During our first hour, we have a meeting for the breaking of bread, and then we have a meeting for worship.
Well, brothers and sisters, it is one meeting. It is one meeting to gather together to remember Him at the table. It is one meeting to gather together to break bread. In that, we worship Him, because we see the cup and the loaf. It brings forth worship. It brings forth an expression of our adoration and giving Him the glory due His name.
It is one meeting and one time, and we are so thankful.
As we think about this table, there is preparation for it also. One point that was brought out is how the Lord can work within all our hearts so that, as we gather on the Lord’s day, we are not coming to attend a meeting, but are coming as participants and fellow partakers of this time.
That is why it is so important for us to prepare. If we are just going to attend a meeting as spectators, there is no need for preparation. But if the Lord can open the eyes of our hearts, showing us this matter of the priesthood of all believers and our responsibility before Him, He will change our perspective of the meeting.
He will show us that we are not coming merely to attend or be spectators. We are coming to be active participants and fellow partakers with the Lord at this time. That is why this matter of preparation for the Lord’s table is so essential and so critical.
Why are our meetings so often so weak? It is because we are unprepared. So often, when we come unprepared, we end up either being passive—we just check out—or we start relying on our soul.
Our emotion takes over. We get a song that we love. Our mind takes over, and we try to think up a prayer. We substitute our soul for that life within His Spirit. When we are not prepared, we find many ways. But the Lord is calling us to come before His table in a prepared way.
Let’s look at another verse out of 1 Corinthians, this time from chapter 14. Now, when you come to 1 Corinthians 14, the meeting talked about here is a fellowship meeting. It is not talking specifically about the Lord’s table meeting, but we can see some principles and guidelines for how we can be prepared for this time.
What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
Look at the first little phrase: “Each one hath.” It does not say, “When you come together, you will get something,” or, “Once you get there, prepare something.” As you come, each one already has something. There is a spirit of being prepared as you come to our times together.
What is the spirit of our times together? “Let all things be done unto edifying.” We will talk a little more about this later when we get into it being a corporate meeting. Everything that we do, the goal of our time together, is within the framework and environment of a corporate expression unto Him. It should be edifying. It should be building up.
When you think of edification and building, there is a relatedness to one another. It is not just a hundred or so individuals gathering, but there is a oneness—we are gathering in one accord. But I do not want to get too far ahead. The issue is: each one has. We come prepared. We have something that we are ready to allow Him to bring forth as He directs.
This principle is seen in the Old Testament also. Turn back to Deuteronomy 16. We know that in the nation of Israel, three times a year the men went to Jerusalem to make their offerings.
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty:
every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee.
Praise God, we do not have to wait three times a year. We can come every week. It is not just the males; it is the males and females. It is the brothers and sisters. All of us can come together weekly before the Lord.
As they came, they did not come empty-handed. They came with something in their hands. We have been using the term on Sunday nights, “coming with your baskets full,” because, throughout the Old Testament, we see how the priests had their baskets full of things that were going to be offered to the Lord.
Where does our offering come from? It comes according to the blessing of the Lord our God which He has given us. What do we give back to Him? What He has given us. As we have been in His presence throughout the week, He gives us things, and when we come together, we offer them back to Him.
We see in these Scriptures how the Lord desires—and we can say even expects us—to come into His presence prepared for our time together. How do we prepare? Do we cram on Saturday night? Do we get up early on Sunday morning and have a cram session like a test? No. We prepare every day.
Daily, as we have that relationship with Him; daily, as we go through spiritual exercise; daily, as we go through the school of Christ and are trained in discipleship; daily, as we abide in Him; daily, as we are in His Word; daily, as we meditate upon Him; daily, as we pray and worship—we allow Him to speak into our hearts and give us things.
Then, as we come together, our times on Sunday are really an overflow of our daily lives with Him. One reason our times can be so weak is because we have not daily been preparing and allowing Him to speak and prepare our hearts.
If our daily life is weak, our times on Sunday will be weak. As our daily life with Him is strengthened, we will come with hearts prepared, with our baskets full, and there will be an overflow of praise, worship, adoration, and remembering Him at His table.
Another aspect of preparation, as we read in 1 Corinthians 11, is coming in a worthy manner. Before the meeting—not when we come to the meeting and then try to see whether we have any unforgiven sins—we need to let the Holy Spirit examine us.
Are we right with the Lord? Do we have sins? Do we have anything that we need to confess and forsake? Do we have things between brothers and sisters that need to be settled? We come here, brothers and sisters, with a clean slate.
This is not worthiness in ourselves because of what we have done. It is worthy because He has purchased and redeemed us, and we have allowed His blood to cleanse us. His blood is our worthiness. It is not, “I have had a good week, and now I am worthy.” No, it is because we have seen what wretched people we are and have allowed that blood to cleanse us of our sins.
Then, because He is worthy, we can be together in His presence and be in that right condition—coming in that worthy manner.
There is also a specific way in which we can prepare. Each Saturday, the Scriptures are sent out regarding the opening. As the brothers meet together, they are before the Lord and consider, “Lord, what is upon Your heart for our time together?” Then, in fellowship, through prayer and consensus, there is an amen: “This is the way we should go. This is what we feel is the Lord’s direction for this Lord’s day.”
That Scripture is sent out through email. If anybody does not get the email about the Scripture, just speak to somebody, and they will make sure you get it.
But as you get it, do you just read the Scripture and say, “Oh, okay, that’s nice. I remember that”? Or do we really stop, take some time, and meditate upon the Scripture?
We stop and meditate upon the Scripture and say, “Lord, what is this Scripture speaking to my heart about Who You are? What is this Scripture speaking to my heart about why we are gathering around the table?” We allow the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts so that something else is added to our basket. The much more is added as we consider this.
As our brothers share in the opening and send these Scriptures out, there are many various aspects of our Lord for which we could remember Him. It is unsearchable. But usually, there is one aspect that the Lord wants us to consider that week.
As we heard this morning, that one aspect was living hope. Of all the aspects of our Lord, there is a living hope that He brings within our lives. We consider that and allow it to speak to us, because that Scripture ties in very much with the purpose of our gathering.
We cannot overemphasize enough this whole matter of allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us. We have lost the art of meditation. We need to learn to be still and allow the Scriptures—such as Genesis 28:15 and 1 Peter 1:3—to speak to us through the Holy Spirit.
Then, as we come, our hearts are prepared and we come in oneness, focusing upon Him to remember Him in this.
If the necessity of preparation is not touching us, all we can do is go to the Lord and say, “Lord, for some reason this is not touching me. Open the eyes of my heart. Show me, Lord, why I need to prepare.”
If we genuinely see His love for us at this table, it will provoke within us a response of preparation. We are thankful that over the last few years, we have had many young couples get married. I enjoy seeing youthful love.
You see ones when they are single and their lives go a certain way, but once they fall in love and know they are going to get married, all the priorities in life change. All of a sudden, this brother who did not really care how he looked combs his hair. This brother who did not even have a watch makes sure he is there on time.
There are changes that start taking place because there is a love. Well, how much more should the love of Christ that we see at this table capture our hearts, change us, and give us a fresh perspective on why we are gathering and why we need to come in a prepared way?
The final word I will give on preparation is this: preparation involves preparing to be at the meeting on time. Now, everybody loves this subject. But brothers and sisters, it is really dishonoring—and I do not know if you can go so far as to say insulting—to the Lord and to the brethren to habitually be late.
When we are in love with someone, we are not habitually late to be with our lover. I am using the term habitually because people can be late at times; I understand that. But part of the matter of preparation is being here on time and preparing to be here on time.
If we are not here on time, we miss the opening. We miss what our brother has shared for the direction of the whole meeting. Then we come in saying, “Well, what did they say? What is going on?” There is an element of being spiritually responsible in being here on time.
We need to allow the Lord to prepare all our hearts so that, when that brother opens, twenty or thirty do not come in afterward and disrupt everything. That is enough beating up on everybody. But in some way, without being so hard, I want to convey the seriousness of being on time. Grant me grace to do that.
As we come with a prepared heart, we can enter into this matter of participating at the Lord’s table. As He has shown us His purpose and brought us into this matter of preparation, we come to participate.
We are learning how to participate. But who is in charge of our time together? We all have to be reminded and know for certain that the Holy Spirit is in charge of our time together. He is the One Who directs our worship.
We can come with something we think is so important. We can come with a great verse, a great prayer, or a great song. It might even be from the Lord. But if we are determined that we are going to pray or say that regardless of whatever else goes on, that is not following the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, we can come already determined: “I am not going to pray. I am not going to say anything. I am just going to be passive.” That is not following His direction either.
When we come, brothers and sisters, we come with readiness, willingness, and availability to allow the Holy Spirit to direct us and bring forth however He wants this worship to be expressed—not in a passive way, but by entering in as participants within the meeting.
As we speak about participating during the meeting, we also want everyone to know that we are free to participate in whatever language we are most comfortable praying in. We know that prayer is a heart language.
We want every brother and sister to know that whatever language you are most comfortable using in your heart to lift up prayers and adoration to Him, feel free to do that, so that we can enter in. If someone can interpret—if one prays in Chinese, for example—we have other brothers who can interpret so that we can understand and join in.
We do not want any natural hindrances while we are together, but we desire that there would be a full release of worship and adoration unto Him.
We use the picture of a symphony. The Holy Spirit is the conductor. As we come with our baskets full, we might want to offer one part, but the Holy Spirit says, “No, offer that.”
It is interesting when you go to the symphony. You can have the same composer—take Tchaikovsky. He can write the 1812 Overture, and you have all the drums and cymbals going wild throughout it. Or he can write Swan Lake, which is so gentle. But it is all under the direction of the conductor and the symphonizing together.
So as we come, we are coming with ready and available hearts. As He says, “That prayer you have, offer that,” we offer it. “That song you have, offer it.” “That praise you have, offer it.” We listen to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead us, conduct us, and not be hindered.
Would we understand that we do not decide? In one way, we make a final decision, but it is really the Holy Spirit’s direction if we are going to pray. Then we have the choice: Are we going to obey or not? The Holy Spirit says, “Okay, you do that.” Are we ready?
We come with that readiness and say, “All right, Lord, here I am. You have been so wonderful this week.” We do not come and say, “Lord, I am going to do this regardless of what anybody else does. I am going to offer this.” No, that is not in the flow of the meeting.
There is a symphony; there is a flow to it. When we come together, there is a flow to our worship that the Lord calls us unto.
Another aspect of participating in the meeting is recognizing that this is a corporate time together. Praise God, brothers and sisters, when we are alone, we have our own private, individual quiet times. We are free to pray, sing, be quiet, and do whatever is upon our hearts. There is a freedom, and we do not have to be concerned with anybody else.
How rich those times are. This is actually part of our preparation, as we have our individual times with the Lord. But when we come together, we need to be aware that we are coming together in one accord.
There is a oneness that He has brought us into. We are no longer simply individuals, but we have been brought into this one body. There is a body consciousness: as the Holy Spirit is leading the worship, we are conscious of the other members of the body. We are conscious of others’ prayers.
When someone is praying, it is okay to say, “Amen.” We can join in and say, “Amen.” We do not simply wait for someone to finish praying so that we can get our prayer in. No, we are joining. We are listening to their prayers to discern the flow of the meeting, and we are conscious of that flow during the time.
We are also conscious that each and every one of us is responsible. Even if you have prayed, we are still all responsible during that time. We continue in that spirit, being conscious of one another, listening, and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct us into that beautiful symphony together.
We are not just a group of a hundred or so individuals throwing up various disassociated prayers and songs. We are lifting up one voice, one cause, one praise, and adoration unto Him under the Holy Spirit’s direction.
The Holy Spirit is not a Spirit of confusion, but of order. There is a flow to the time. As we said, the brother who opens the time brings forth that word. This morning, it was brought forth concerning the living hope. That is a direction for the time.
We are thankful to the Lord that so many various brothers open throughout the year. I love the number of brothers who open during the year. At any meeting, one person always opens. If one person always has the Scripture or song to open, that person is just a pastor. That is not a priesthood of all believers.
We are looking for many to enter in and carry their full baskets. It is wonderful when many different brothers can get up and share those thoughts. As we have meditated upon the thought of living hope and upon that Scripture, we are actively waiting for the Holy Spirit.
There is a difference between passive waiting and active waiting. Passive waiting says, “Well, I am going to wait.” But active waiting is like waiting to get in the game. You are waiting for your turn. You are saying, “Lord, I want to hear Your voice, and I am willing and available for You to really come in and touch me.”
Then, as He directs, we respond and offer up what He has given to us. As He directs someone else, we listen, join in, and support that. We saw the different aspects of hope that came out this morning—the various parts of the Scripture.
We start with one passage from 1 Peter 1:3 on living hope, but then the Lord adds the much more as ones come with their baskets full and prepared. The Lord can add the much more, and we see something of the hope that we have in Him that we had not experienced before. Praise God for that.
As we are gathering, flowing, and remembering Him, at that point—using the symphony picture, we might call it the crescendo—we break the bread. We remember Him. We come to that point of putting Him in remembrance.
You notice that after we break the bread, the cup and the empty plate are taken off, and this table is empty. It is removed. Why do we do that?
As we look at the table and see the cup and the loaf, we are remembering His death. But after the breaking of bread, do we continue remembering His death only? After we have broken the bread, are we still just remembering His death?
After the Lord’s table, we are thankful that, as we look within the Gospel of John, our Lord takes us to the Father. He says, “I want to show you My Father.” The spirit of what is being shared is that there is resurrection, there is life, and there is going into the presence of the Father to see the fullness of all that we have been brought into. There is a glory there.
Some groups, the Exclusive Brethren, have a rule that after the Lord’s table you can only worship the Father. Now, we are not setting up rules and laws. But we want to understand the Scripture: in the flow, when our Lord instituted His supper, there was remembrance of Him and of His death, but then there was a taking us to the Father—in the presence of the Father.
Again, we are not doing that mechanically, but we are aware that as the Holy Spirit prompts and leads us, we do not end the meeting by going back merely to remember how He died for us. We are remembering how He is seated in the heavenlies, the glorious resurrection life that we have in Him—Christ in us, the hope of glory. Praise God for that.
There is an overall flow to the meeting. As the Holy Spirit directs us, we can be sensitive to this and allow Him to lead us into a fuller and greater expression of worship.
As we have been expressing our worship, a brother will, toward the end, come up and pray to close the time. If I can say this, because we have shared on Sunday nights, one of our weaknesses is really the closing points during our meeting.
Oftentimes the Holy Spirit has already ended the meeting, and to fill up time, we just start singing songs. We can have a little song fest, singing songs we already had, and just start singing songs. We need to be sensitive to this.
We can just say, “Oh, this is a good song,” sing that, and go into our song fest. But actually, the Holy Spirit may have closed the meeting five or ten minutes ago. We need the Holy Spirit to touch us and teach us so that we can be sensitive to Him and know.
Closing the meeting is just as critical as opening it. We close with that testimony: He is the Amen. He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. He is the start. He is the end. We close on that note of victory and triumph in Him for all that He has done.
Blessed be that John read the Scripture even this morning to close: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus.” Blessed be the God and Father. We are closing with that blessedness to Him. Praise God for that. May He teach us how to truly remember Him.
Speaking of songs and music, we had some very precious times of fellowship around music during our times together. Again, a question we have is: Who leads the music?
Do our brethren with the instruments lead the music? No. The Holy Spirit leads the music. Do I lead the music? Am I free to choose whatever song I want to sing, whatever song feels good to me? No, you are not.
If the Holy Spirit touches you, you are free to call out that song. But we are not led by particular ones, and we are not having a free-for-all either. We are under the direction of the Holy Spirit, that He would really come in and teach us how to offer up the song and worship at the right time.
Some always have a hymn but nothing else. There is a fullness of our inner life that He wants us to offer, with our hymns, praise, worship, and expressions. Some only ever have a chorus.
Sometimes we can fall into a habit: someone prays, and at the end of their prayer certain phrases are used. We say, “Ah, that reminds me of this chorus,” and we start that chorus. It might be the Lord, but it might just be our own natural connecting. If the Holy Spirit connects it, praise God. But there is a sensitivity we need to have: Is it the Holy Spirit, or is it just us?
The Lord is such a beautiful God when He is flowing throughout our time, and we sense the flow of worship and adoration going up to Him. We have all experienced how we are flowing and worshiping Him in one direction, and then another song is called out that is like a loud clanging cymbal. We wonder, “Where did that song come from?”
Then we come back and keep going. It is simply that we could learn. Praise God, we are learners in this.
But brothers and sisters, as we fellowshipped on Sunday night, what the Lord really loves when we are gathered together is our personal prayers—our individual offerings of prayer and thanksgiving to Him.
Do not hide behind a song. Do not hide behind a chorus. Do not hide behind a hymn. He desires to hear all that we have to offer unto Him.
Oftentimes we can hide behind a chorus or hymn because we are not prepared, and it can disguise our unpreparedness. The Holy Spirit knows. He wants us to come with hearts prepared and open to Him.
Yes, we use music in worship and adoration unto Him. There is a place for music, hymns, and choruses during our time. But our primary way of expressing worship during our time together is our individual prayers—our individual prayers and thanksgiving unto Him.
Then, as we have said, at times He will bring forth a chorus or a hymn under His direction.
As we think on this matter of music, we also have to remember that the purpose of our time together is to remember Him. Some songs simply do not fit into that category. They can be beautiful songs, but they are not appropriate for our time around the Lord’s table.
They can be petitions, focusing upon us rather than upon Him. There is a beautiful song, “Give Us Vision, Lord.” Before a message, that may be an appropriate song to sing, because it is a petition. We are asking for something.
But when we are around the Lord’s table, we are not asking. We are returning with hearts of thanksgiving, giving unto Him. It is not a time for petition. It is focused on Him.
There are songs such as, “I want to know You, Lord, much more than I do.” That may be a song we sing in preparation. That is not the song we sing during the meeting. In the breaking of bread, we know Him. In the Gospel of Luke, when He broke the bread, they knew Him.
These petition songs can be very helpful during our time of preparation and our individual daily time with Him. We offer up these prayers, songs, petitions, and worship songs at that time. But during our time together, we need to be sensitive.
Again, we are not setting up rules. Nobody is going to be thrown out of the meeting if you ask for a certain hymn or song. But it is creating a sensitivity within all of us that certain songs are not appropriate for this time because they are not bringing forth praise, worship, and adoration unto Him. They may be appropriate for another time, but not this time.
What is our greatest hindrance to entering in and participating during the Lord’s table? We have already talked about preparation and being passive. But what is the greatest hindrance? The greatest hindrance is ourselves.
Self-consciousness. Fear of man. Trying to protect ourselves. Thinking, “If I pray, someone will laugh at me. If I pray, they will look down on me. They will see how unspiritual I am.” Oh, that is a lie of the enemy.
There is nothing more joyful to the Father’s heart—nothing more joyful to the hearts of brothers and sisters—than for one to open their mouth and tell the Lord how much they love Him.
There is nothing more joyful to the hearts of brothers and sisters than to hear one who has perhaps never prayed before—to hear that voice and that mouth opened. There is no condemnation. There is no looking down. There is no judging.
Some say, “Oh, my prayer is so simple. I cannot pray like others.” Praise God, brothers and sisters, I thank the Lord that the Lord loves simplicity. Our problem is not with simplicity. Our problem is with complexity.
Sometimes we try to make our prayer so complex. We pray from Genesis to Revelation, covering the whole purpose of God in one prayer. But at a time of worship, there is a focus, and the Lord is looking for simplicity of response unto Him.
Those who are a little older in the Lord may sound more advanced to you, but it is still simple to them. The Lord is looking for an honest response from our hearts. Would that we join in and really support one another.
How do we do that? As others have shared, it is simply overcoming self-life. How do we overcome? We overcome by the One Who has overcome. We are constrained by the love of Christ.
As we see His love for us at the table—His marvelous love—His love overcomes our self-love. We cannot overcome our love of ourselves, but He can. His love, the One Who has overcome, can overcome our self-love if we are willing and available.
We say, “Lord, I want to break through. Lord, I want to deny myself. I want to respond to You.” As we take these simple steps of faith, the very life within us, the overcoming life within us, that living hope that we have, will burst forth in a marvelous, wonderful way. Praise God.
Will we always be in the flow of things? Hopefully we would, but more than likely, we are not. I am not going to stand up here and say every one of my prayers over the years has always been in the flow. I have had some clunkers at times.
But as I have had those clunkers, I have allowed the Holy Spirit afterward to show me, “Why? That was not it.” The Holy Spirit can teach us. We learn by participating.
You learn by playing the game. You do not learn by sitting on the bench. You learn by getting in there and participating.
This is a marvelous thing about Peter. Peter got out there. I am glad they were not playing basketball—Peter would have fouled out so quickly. Those five fouls, and he would have been gone. He had unlimited fouls.
But he kept getting back up, and he learned from the times when he had opened his mouth and stuck his foot in his mouth. Praise God, he got back up. He saw the Lord’s love and kept going on. He kept participating.
Oftentimes, when we really mess up, we listen to the enemy, and we say, “You are disqualified. You cannot pray anymore. That was such a horrible prayer. You could never pray again.” That is a lie of the enemy.
What happens when you fall off the horse? You get back on the horse and ride again. You get back up and keep going on. We do not protect ourselves even more. Would we be willing to be fools for Christ?
Christ became a fool in the eyes of man. Are we willing to be fools for Christ during our times together so that we can learn of Him?
It is not a free-for-all in ourselves. But as we sense the Holy Spirit leading us, we enter in. So we messed up. Maybe we hit it right this time, but maybe we did not. Maybe we make fools of ourselves. I am making a fool of myself today. But we get up, go back, and continue on.
We allow the Lord to teach us and the love of the brethren to encourage us on. How we need to have that teachable heart and teachable spirit within us.
A question was asked: “How do you know if you missed the Holy Spirit?” One practical sign that came out was this: You have a prayer on your heart, and you are sitting there with this prayer. You say, “Hmm, should I pray this? I do not know.”
We wrestle back and forth, and then someone else prays that exact same prayer. It is like you have missed your opportunity. Learn from that. Again, the Lord does not condemn us, but we learn from it.
The next time we have that impression, we offer our prayer. We enter in and learn. We are all learners, brothers and sisters. There are no experts here. We are all learning together how to be spiritually responsible at the Lord’s table.
That is what has been very precious about our brothers’ times on Sunday night. We do not have the answers, but we are seeking the One Who has the answer. We can search the Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit, through His Word, to teach us and train us in all things.
Just in conclusion, I really pray that in a very fresh way, the Lord would show us the tremendous privilege that we have every Lord’s day of coming to His table. What a privilege we have. How precious it is.
Has the preciousness and privilege of this time captured us? Again, we have used this term many times: if it has not, would we be teachable? Would we have a teachability within our hearts?
As we see the preciousness of it, would He in a fresh way show us the purpose of our time—the very purpose of why we are gathering around this table: to remember Him, to remember Him until He comes again?
We are gathering in a spirit of remembrance. In that spirit of remembrance, we are also testifying and proclaiming Who He is and what He has done.
Would we learn from the Scriptures how the Lord desires, requests, and in many ways expects us to come into His presence in a prepared way, with our baskets full? May our daily lives be strengthened in such a way that, as we come together on the Lord’s day, there would be such an overflow.
Brothers and sisters, if our daily lives are strengthened and we come together prepared, our meetings would be revolutionized. There would be that overflow of life, that overflow of release unto Him.
As we come, would we come as those who are ready, willing, and available unto Him? Again, we are not trying to create a perfect meeting. We are not trying to do the right and wrong. That is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
But our desire is that, through our times together, He would be satisfied. The goal is not that we are satisfied. Praise God, we are satisfied quite often by the goodness of the Lord. But our real desire is that our wonderful Lord and Savior and His marvelous Father would be satisfied.
He would say, “Oh, that was a sweet savor. Oh, they remembered My Son so preciously. They beheld the Lamb of God, and it brings joy to My heart.” Would that our Father’s heart be satisfied with our times together.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we are thankful, Lord, that we have this marvelous privilege to gather every Lord’s day around Your table. We are so thankful, Lord, for that.
Lord, we pray that You would forgive us where we have taken it carelessly, where we have come in a passive way. Lord, we want to present ourselves unto You as those who can really learn of You, Lord, in this hour.
Lord, we want to know Your ways that we might know You, that we can know more and more of Your wonderful self. As we gather, may there be that testimony of Christ being within our midst, and that sweet savor, that fragrant aroma, being offered up unto You. In Jesus’ name.