Well, hey everybody, I'm Adam Schell, the pastor of Melbourne Heights, and welcome to our sermon podcast. And I just want to start out by thanking you for spending part of your day with us. And if you're blessed during our time together today, let me invite you to come and worship with us live on Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m. Eastern Time.
You can worship with us live on our church website at mhbclouisville.com slash live, or if you're in the Louisville, Kentucky area, we would love to have you come and join us in person. With that, let's get right into this episode's sermon. So if you're paying attention to that little video that just played, then you realize we are starting a new sermon series today called At the Table. And I want to start off the series by asking you a question that's probably going to sound kind of silly.
The question that I want to ask you to start the series is, what is a table? Like I said, it sounds pretty silly, right? What is a table? And I know what you're thinking right now, probably.
Some of you are thinking, what do you mean, what is a table? A table is just a table. A table is where I put down my morning coffee cart, where I prop up my feet when I want to scroll on my cell phone. A table is the place where I drop my keys off and empty out my pockets when I get home at the end of a long day.
A table is where my kids, maybe my grandkids, sit down to work on their homework. A table is where I put together a puzzle or I play a board game with my family. A table is where I eat my oatmeal. It's where I do my taxes.
There's nothing fancy about a table. As a matter of fact, tables are about as ordinary as it comes. So a table is just a table. But if you stop and you think about it for a minute, I think you'll realize that there have been plenty of moments in your life where a table has been more than just a table.
I mean, I know that's been the case in my life, because that's how I felt about 15 years ago when I slid a folding metal chair up underneath a table in the fellowship hall in the first church I ever pastored, the first Baptist church in Carlisle here in Kentucky. And as I sat down at that table and took my styrofoam plate that was filled with things like fried chicken and mashed potatoes and mac and cheese and seven-layer salad and more side items than I could remember and plopped it down on that table, it looked like any other ordinary table. But for the hour or so that I sat at that table that day, it became so much more than just another piece of furniture. That table became a place where family and friends were able to reconnect after a shocking loss.
That table became a place where we were able to share stories and share memories about a man that we all knew and loved who had unexpectedly passed away. And everything that happened at that table that day reminded us of that man. And that's because about 10 days earlier, I sat down with that particular man whose name is Ron to talk about his funeral service. You see, Ron was getting ready to go in for a major heart surgery, and he didn't want his wife to have to worry about planning his funeral service if he didn't make it.
Well, unfortunately, he did pass away, but we spent our time together talking about what he wanted his funeral to look like. And before we got together and sat around another table where we planned out his service, Ron had grabbed a sheet of paper to write out some notes on his thoughts for what the funeral should be like. And in the top corner of that paper, about the size of a post-it note, Ron wrote down the hymns he wanted sung during his service. He wrote down the scripture that he wanted read during the service.
And he wrote down the most important thing that he wanted me as his pastor and the one who would be officiating his funeral to remember. And that was to keep the whole thing as short as possible. But then in true Baptist form, Ron took the rest of that piece of paper, and he wrote down all of the food that he wanted to have served at his funeral meal. And he wrote out the person that he wanted to bring each dish to his funeral.
So as we sat around the table that day with our plates piled high with Ron's favorite foods, we couldn't help but think about that man. And, of course, all of the food that we ate that day helped fill our empty bellies. But it was the time that we spent around those tables that helped fill our empty souls that day. And, yeah, if you were to visit that little town and that little church and make your way down into the fellowship hall in your basement, you could probably still find that exact same table sitting there.
But on that day, that table was so much more than just four legs and a top. On that day, that table became a place where all of Ron's family, all of his friends, could find a little bit of comfort in the midst of our grief. And a table wasn't just a table. Another time I was getting ready to sit down, I played a food on a freshly polished table in a dining room.
In a state park that's about 100 miles from here. And that day as I sat down and I got ready to dig into a freshly prepared side salad and mashed potatoes with gravy and some of the finest catfish that I have ever eaten, you saw that table that would have looked like any other table. But I knew that day, as I sat down at that table with my wife sitting beside me, surrounded by a half a dozen of our closest friends, the meal that we were about to share was anything but ordinary. And, yeah, the table looked completely ordinary.
It looked like the kind of table that you could find in any restaurant around. But for the time that we spent there that day, it became so much more than just another piece of furniture. During the time we spent together that day around that table, the table became a place where we were able to reminisce and able to recall what it had been like to share life together over the previous four and a half years. That table became a place where we were able to express our appreciation and also to feel appreciated by the people we were sitting with.
That table became a place where we were going to say goodbye to some incredible friendships that we had formed. And all of it had started about four and a half years earlier when I had sat down around another table. But as I was sitting around that table, I wasn't sitting down to share a meal with church folks after a worship service had come to an end. No, on that particular day, I was sitting down with a search committee who was trying to figure out if God was calling them, if God wanted them to call me to be the next pastor of their church.
And as I sat down with that search committee that day, I had no idea what the next four and a half years of my life would be like. I had no idea how many friendships would form and how many goodbyes would have to be said over the next four and a half years. I had no idea how much laughter and how many tears would be said over the next four and a half years. And I had absolutely no idea how hard it was going to be four and a half years later to say goodbye to people who had become almost like family to me and my wife.
So as I sat at the table in that state park that day, I ate a little bit slower than I usually do. It wasn't because I was trying to savor all of the delicious food that we were eating that day. I ate a little bit slower because I was trying to savor the last few moments I was going to have with these people before our relationships changed forever. So when the time came for dessert to be served and I got to taste the sweet flavor of that blackberry cobbler that had been topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that was just starting to melt, even the sweetness of that dessert couldn't cover up the bitter sweetness of that moment.
Because everyone sitting around the table knew that when that meal came to an end, our relationships would never be the same again. But we could hold on to the sweetness of all of the memories that we had formed over the previous four and a half years. And a table wasn't just a table when I draped my coat over another metal folding chair and pulled it up underneath the table inside of the banquet hall in our old church building. On that day, even as I briefly sat down long enough just to take a deep breath before getting up to walk through a potluck line, I knew that that was more than just another piece of furniture.
As I looked around the room, it was filled with people who were basically strangers to me who were all anxiously waiting their chance to talk with me that day. I knew that we were having more than just an ordinary meal. I'm not sure if that table looks like a pretty ordinary table when you saw it that day. But on that day, that table became a place.
It became a place where I was able to experience hearty handshakes and warm words of welcome. It became a place where I was able to start to get to know you and you were able to start to get to know me. It became a place where relationships started to form. And everything that happened around the table that day gave me a brief glimpse of what the future might just hold for me.
I've got to be honest with you, that was a day where everyone wanted to know what the future might hold for me. Because it was happening at the end of what had been a long trial weekend here at Melbourne Heights. I spent the previous few days sitting around different tables with different people from the church. I had met with the staff at the time.
I had met with some of the leaders in the church. I had met with our deacons. I had spent some time leading a Bible study where all of you were sitting around tables. And the whole time that all of these meetings and Bible studies and worship service and everything else was happening that weekend, I kept asking myself the same two questions over and over again.
Do these people truly love God? And can these people actually love me? So by the time that trial weekend was coming to an end, when we were sitting around in our old bank with all getting ready to have a potluck meal, that potluck table was a pretty welcome sight for me. Because I was pretty tired and I was also pretty hungry.
I was ready to sit down and have some food. But it's more of what happened when I was sitting around the table that day than I always remember the most. Because it was those handshakes and hugs and hellos that made me feel welcome in this place. So even though we still pull out those round tables that I sat around that day when we have meals inside of our church today, on that particular day, that table was so much more than just four legs with a top.
On that day, that table became a place where I was able to find peace about one of the hardest decisions I was facing, a decision that would change my life and my family's life forever. So I know that it sounded a little bit silly at the beginning of the sermon to ask you a question like, what is a table? Because we all know what a table is. But I also want you to understand that sometimes tables are so much more than just regular pieces of furniture.
Sometimes they become so much more than just four legs at a top. Sometimes tables become extraordinary places that change us, that shape us. And that's because tables don't just hold our food. Tables also hold our stories.
Tables don't just hold our food. They also hold our stories. They hold the stories that make us and shape us into who we are. So ordinary tables can play extraordinary roles in our lives.
And that's definitely the case for this table, the communion table. And what happens around this communion table is so extraordinary that I want us to spend our time together over the next few weeks talking about what exactly happens at this table. Because as Jesus and his disciples gathered around this table, they weren't just sharing another meal. As Jesus gathered with his disciples for that first communion, he was establishing something that would challenge all of us to constantly become more like him, more like the Jesus who willingly laid down his life for all of us.
So let's talk about what happened around that communion table. If you've got your Bible close by, your Bible app on your phone, I encourage you to open it to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22, and as you're finding, I want to tell you a little bit more about what's happening in this passage. So in this passage, Jesus is getting ready to sit down and have a meal with his closest friends, his closest followers.
And this meal is going to take place about a day before Jesus is crucified. So Jesus knows this is going to be his last meal with his disciples. So they get together in a room they borrowed in the city of Jerusalem. And as the sun set on the day, they got ready to celebrate and share this meal together.
And as they gathered for this meal, they found themselves lounging around tables that probably look a whole lot like the other tables I've talked about during the sermon. Ordinary tables, four legs with a top, just a regular piece of furniture. But what happened as they gathered around that table becomes anything but ordinary. So let's look at what happens.
We're going to start reading Luke 22, verse 18. This is what Luke tells us. Luke writes, When the time came, Jesus took his place at the table, and the apostles joined him. He said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
I tell you, I won't eat it until it is fulfilled in God's kingdom. And after taking a cup and giving thanks, he said, Take this and share it among yourselves. I tell you that from now on, I won't eat, I won't drink from the fruit of the vine until God's kingdom has come. And after taking the bread and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way, he took the cup after the meal, and he said, This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you. So you hear what was happening around that table. As Jesus and his disciples gathered around that table, Jesus took two of the most common things that you could find around the table in those days.
A loaf of bread and a cup of wine. And he turned them into symbols that would shape us, his followers, and change us, and challenge us to become more like him forever. So when we come together at this table, we don't just remember what happened that night 2,000 years ago when Jesus sat down and shared the first communion with his disciples. No, when we come together around this table, we somehow are still connected to this event.
We're connected to everything that happened around that table. We're connected to that time when Jesus shared the stunning news with his disciples about what was going to happen to him, the way that he would suffer and have his body broken, the way that he would die for them. But we're also connected to that message of hope that Jesus shared with his disciples, that a message we still need to hear today. That although his body would be broken, although he would die on that cross, Jesus will come back.
And when he does, he will bring God's kingdom with him. When we gather around this table, we are connected. It's at that time when Jesus took that loaf of bread, and broke it into pieces, and shared it with his disciples, telling them that this is his body, a symbol of his body, that has been broken and beaten for them. We're connected to that time when Jesus picked up that cup of wine, passed it amongst his disciples, and told them that this is a symbol of his blood that would be poured out for them.
When we gather around this communion table, we are connected to the events that took place right after the communion, that first communion came to an end. We're connected to the time when Jesus was arrested out in the Garden of Gethsemane and abandoned by his closest followers. We're connected to Jesus as he was put on trial, and he was tortured. We are connected to that time when Jesus was crucified, and would die upon the cross.
And even though we are connected to this time when Jesus experienced the worst that humanity has to offer, this abuse, this torture, this violence that he experienced, somehow we're also connected to the fact that this table shows us just how much God loves us all. God loves us so much that he was willing to enter into this world to experience the worst that we as human beings have to offer so that nothing can separate us from God. And we gather together around this communion table, we're connected to the fact that Jesus' crucifixion is not the end of the story. Rather, it's the beginning of a new story that leads to Jesus' resurrection, and that good news that we hear that Jesus is alive, something that continues to bring us unending hope today.
So this table is more than just a symbol of the violence and depravity that Jesus experienced as he died on a cross. This communion table has also become for us an endearing symbol of the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love that we find through Jesus' time on this earth and the sacrifice that he made for us. So when we come to this table, we are not just coming to an ordinary, regular table with four legs and a top. No, when we come to this table, we encounter God in this place.
We are connected to God in this place. And at this table, we are transformed. At this table, we are transformed. At this table, we are challenged to become more like Jesus, than Jesus who willingly gave up his life for us.
So this table is more than just an ordinary piece of furniture. It's more than just four legs with a top. This place is a place that challenges us and changes us forever. And if that's the case, if that's the case, if this is more than just an ordinary piece of furniture sitting in the front of our sanctuary, if this is more than just four legs with a top, if this is a place that can truly change us and challenge us to become more like Jesus, then throughout the series, I think we actually need to wrestle with some questions that are a little bit harder than the one I started this sermon with.
We need to wrestle with some questions that are a little bit harder than what is a table through the series. Through the series, we need to wrestle with questions like who belongs at this table? Who gets a seat at this table? How is it that this...
table changes us as Jesus' followers and makes our lives different than those in the world around us. And if this table does change and transform us, what do our lives actually look like when we're living out those changed lives when we walk away from this table? And over the next few weeks, those are the kind of questions that we're going to be wrestling with during the series. We're going to wrestle with the question of who belongs at this table, who gets to sit at this table, and why do we get seats here?
We're going to wrestle with the questions of how are we as followers of Jesus supposed to be different because of the time that we spend at this table? We're going to wrestle with the question of what do our lives look like when communion comes to an end and we go back into our ordinary lives. But before we get to all of that, today we want to begin the series simply by inviting you to come to this table, to experience what happens at this table, to connect with what happens at this table for yourself. Because what happens at this table is so much more than just another meal.
What happens at this table is so much more than just getting to walk away with a little cracker and a little cup of grape juice. What happens at this table is that you have the chance to meet Jesus here, to encounter him, and be challenged to become more like him. And all of you are invited to this table, not because this table belongs to us, but because this table belongs to God and God wants you to come here. That invitation is a free gift of God that is extended to all of us, not just those who are longtime members of the church, but anyone who wants to come and receive.
So just a few moments, we're going to invite you to come down our center aisle to receive the elements of communion. But as you come to the table today, realize that what happens here is different. What happens here is special. What happens here is anything but ordinary.
So come to this table with expectation. Expectation that while you are here, you are going to connect with God, that you are going to encounter Jesus, and that you are going to be challenged to become more like him. Because this table isn't an ordinary piece of furniture. It's so much more than just four legs with a top.
This table is a place where you can meet God. God, let's pray together. God, as we come to you in this time of prayer, we thank you for this table, the communion table, this sacred space inside of our church life that invites us to come and experience you and the love that we find in Jesus in a new and different way. So God, as we get ready to come to this table to receive the elements of communion, let us come with expectation that we will meet you here, that we will be challenged by you here, and that we will be changed by what we experience here.
And God, we thank you that you invite each of us to come to this table, not because we've earned our spot here, but simply because you love us and you want us to be here. So let us come to the table, O God. And as we do, let us meet you here. We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen. We pray this in Jesus' name.