Speaker 0 00:04 Hi and welcome to. That makes total sense. The podcast where we talk about faith, finance and everyday life in a way that makes total sense. I'm your host Alexis BU city. On this podcast, you'll hear the personal stories of friends I'll be interviewing who are doing familiar things in new and innovative ways. We'll answer questions specifically about money and our relationship with it and we'll explore faith and Bible teaching together in all of these. It's not about changing our convictions as much as it is about messing with our methods. We'll have a lot of moments here together where we pause and say, that makes total sense.
Speaker 0 00:44 Hi, I'm Alexis <inaudible> and this is, that makes total sense. Thank you so much for joining us again today. I've got a really great topic that I want to talk about and if this is your first time a special welcome to you, I hope you will leave this conversation feeling edified and encouraged to go on and do what God has called you to do. So today I want to talk about communion, but I want to talk about it in a little different context than we, or at least I normally think about it. I wanna talk about it a little differently than I usually feel about communion. Or then I usually experience communion. And that's because I actually want to start in the old Testament with Psalms. Now we're really used to talking about communion in the context of Jesus and the Passover, which we will totally get to.
Speaker 0 01:39 Or even when Paul talks about it in some of his epistles and he gives teaching about it. But right now, like I said, I want to talk in the Psalms and I want to start with the maybe the most famous song out there, which is Psalm 23 this was written by David, the shepherd boy who turned to King. And it's all about God being our shepherd. So we know the song well, I'm sure, but I want to read it in its entirety just for reference and to give us some context for this study. So Psalm 23 starts like this. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.
Speaker 0 02:34 Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So this is so good. And like I said, it's probably the most famous Psalm, but I think it's probably one of the most famous chapters in all of scripture. Unbelievers know it. Believers know it. Churched people know it. Unchurched people know it. We quoted to our kids when they become afraid, it's like cross-stitch do you know? And the baby nursery is hanging up on the walls and we remind ourselves and our friends of it. When those dark times in life come, the Lord is my shepherd. I know this may seem a little far from what I said I was going to talk about, which is convenient, but stay with me because I want to take you where I felt the Holy spirit was leading me as I was pondering this passage.
Speaker 0 03:36 So Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd. Our youngest son is adopted. We have four kids and our youngest, our fourth is a sweet little boy and he's adopted from Africa. And because of a miracle that happened on the day that we picked him up, and I don't really have time to go into the whole thing right now, maybe another episode for another day. But because of a miracle that happened on the day, we picked him up from the airport to bring him home. This som has a really special place in mine and my husband's heart, God was with us on that day and he was so gracious to actually use this very chapter to speak to my husband and me and our little boy about his presence being with us that day. So whenever I tuck him in, my sweet little boy, I quote most of this passage to him.
Speaker 0 04:29 Granted, it's usually out of order and a little bit paraphrased because I don't have it memorized to the T. um, but it's super special for us. The Lord is my shepherd and while the chapter is definitely encouraging and edifying, it reminds us that God cares for us. But there's also some really hard passages inside of that chapter. So I don't know about you, but the whole like walking through the Valley of the shadow of death thing, uh, yeah, it's like a little bit scary. Um, for me, there's also this one though, you prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies that would actually feel scary to me and hard. Um, I mean, I understand, okay. God's love isn't earned. Uh, it's not based on merit. There's nothing I can do to gain his lover his favor, but to fully accept that idea that he has prepared a table for me to eat while my enemies look at me.
Speaker 0 05:30 It's a little uncomfortable. And there's something that has been initially unsettling for me about that word picture. The Lord is my shepherd that makes me feel good. It's really sweet and it's comforting. But you prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies that makes me feel self conscious. I just have to be honest. I S you know, in my head I start to wonder, is that even fair? Are my enemies looking at me? Wait, wait a second. Do I have enemies? Like I have wrestled with this. As you can tell, I have had a lot of feels about this passage and um, and I have wrestled with it quite a bit. So a couple of weeks ago I was having some personal worship time with the Lord playing my favorite instrument, which is the YouTube autoplay button. And, um, a series of songs came up that I've heard and sung in worship a dozen times.
Speaker 0 06:22 So I actually want to pause here for a second and say, I just want to make a pitch for personal individual worship time with the Lord, just you and him. If this isn't something that's a part of your regular time with God, I just want to really encourage you to start incorporating that in some way into your relationship with him. I mean, it could be singing in the shower or playing a real instrument, like if you play guitar or keyboard or something like that, or when instrument, I'm writing him poems or even reciting the songs like we're talking about, but there is just something so special and sacred about private worship. Now, don't get me wrong, there is about corporate worship too. I think we need both, but I just want to say, here's a little plug for private worship time with the Lord. Okay, sorry.
Speaker 0 07:08 So back on track. So I was having some personal private time with the Lord, some worship time with my YouTube autoplay and I was singing at the top of my lungs. And then here comes the upper room version of the song surrounded. So we know that song. This is how, this is how I find my battles surrounded. And in the upper room version, the vocalist begins at version with this line, there is a table you've prepared for me in the presence of my enemies. It's your body and blood that shed for me. This is how I fight my battles. So again, I've sung this like dozens of times, but something this time resonated with me about those lyrics and I sense the Holy spirit speaking to me. So I set myself to try and listen and sure enough, even though this line is stray from Psalm 23 and I recognized it, you know, cause that's the one that kind of makes me feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 0 08:04 But I was brought right back to the Passover with that next line. It's your body and blood that's shed for me. This is how I find my battles. So obviously there is a Passover dinner where Jesus famously celebrated with his disciples on the night he was betrayed. Now we celebrate it more often as communion. And like I said, our promise, we're going to get there. But first I want to take you where I sense the Holy spirit was taking me, which is all the way back to the very first Passover in Egypt. So you probably remember this story, Joseph, way back in the day was in voluntarily moved to Egypt as a slave because his brothers sold him, if you remember, and then they faked his death. Um, and I'm, I'm skimming over that, but if you haven't read it in a while, it's, it's, it's a great intent story.
Speaker 0 08:53 So Joseph gets moved to Egypt as a slave, and then he actually Rose up the ranks over a number of years to power through God's favor. Um, during that time at, uh, when he was in power, he brought his family from Canaan to live with him inside of Egypt. And that was their protection from God and using Joseph to protect them during a time of devastating famine. Um, they got to live there together. They were reunited. It was a beautiful miracle. And then years later, um, after Joseph had died, his descendants were still living there and a new Pharaoh came to rise in power in Egypt. Who didn't know who Joseph was. He didn't remember how famous he was. He didn't remember all of the good things. And he saw the Israelites as a threat. And so because he was afraid of them, he decided to overpower them and make them into a nation of slaves for himself.
Speaker 0 09:49 So this period of slavery lasted hundreds of years until God miraculously raised up another prophet, Moses and his brother Aaron from among the Israelite people inside of Egypt. And their job was going to be to partner with God and help him supernaturally release the Israelites from their slavery. So now you've got Moses and his brother Aaron, under the Lord's divine instruction. They tried to do things like the quote right way, and they were going to go earn Israel's deliverance from slavery in a diplomatically, right? So they go in, they're going to meet with the Pharaoh, and they just requested like, Hey, um, can we have like all of, you know, like several million of your slaves. We want to go out into the wilderness to worship. And so can we just, we're just all going to go? Is that going to be okay? Farewell was like, yeah. All right.
Speaker 0 10:48 Um, so anyway, you can imagine, you can go back and read this story. This did not go over well. So Pharaoh basically thought Moses, who was his adoptive relative, actually formerly of his own household, he thought Moses and his biological brother Aaron, were pretty much, they'd lost their minds. So Moses and Aaron though they kept going, right? They're trying to do this the diplomatic way. They're being instructed by the Lord. And they gave Pharaoh chance after chance, after chance to change his mind. God gave Pharaoh and the entire nations warnings. Um, he wanted him to change his mind and gave him warnings in the form of plagues that actually personally and individually attacked Egypt's gods. First, there were nine harsh plagues, but Pharaoh stood stubborn. And eventually God gave Pharaoh over to his own hard heart. And then the unthinkable 10th plague happened. That was the death of every firstborn in Egypt.
Speaker 0 11:49 Exodus 11 four through 10 so said, thus says the Lord. About midnight, I will go out into the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on the throne, even to the first born of the slave girl who is behind the hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there never has been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against the people of Israel, either man or beast that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. And all of these, your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying, get out you and all the people who follow you. And after that I will go out.
Speaker 0 12:43 And he went out from Pharaoh and hot anger. Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. And he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land, so in the same timeframe that this is happening, God is commanding the children of Israel to kill what, what would be thousands and thousands of lambs and drain their blood. You see, each household was to sacrifice a lamb and smear the blood of that lamb on the doorpost of their homes and then roast the lamb and eat it that very night. That was the night that God was sending the angel of death to come and kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt, but Moses told the people that the blood would be the evidence of the distinction God talked about between Israel and Egypt.
Speaker 0 13:42 I cannot fathom how incredibly scary this must have been for the Israelites. Nothing like this had ever happened in their nation's history, and honestly, the miracle that Moses was predicting, I'm sure it seemed really farfetched, but still, they were commanded to eat the lamb along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread standing. They were supposed to do this. Standing <inaudible> with some of the old language in the in the scripture says with their loins girded so they were standing ready with their staffs in their hands, sandals on their feet around their tables because they had to literally be ready to move whenever they received the word, they were already packed up and they had to be ready to go at a moment's notice. Now I want you to think about this story of the first Passover. All of this in the context of Psalm 23 in the very first Passover, God was preparing a table, hundreds of thousands of tables actually for his people in the very literal presence of their enemies.
Speaker 0 14:47 They were eating with their sandals on their feet, packed up, waiting for the word to move out by the Egyptians were dying and mourning. They're dead in their very midst. The table was the setting for a very real miracle of redemption. This was a type of communion and what I bring, bring to our attention is that God was with them at the table. He knew, they were afraid, he knew they were going to be frightened. He knew they had never been where he was taking them. And so he began the whole journey with this communion table of Holy fellowship with him. This was about communion for him and for them. It's so beautiful. So let's fast forward to David the Psalmist who actually wrote the famous lyrics of Psalm 23 of God preparing a table for him in the presence of his enemies. So this is, um, you know, hundreds of years.
Speaker 0 15:46 I don't know the exact dates after, you know this, this first Passover and, and David is here. He is, he is in Israel and he experiences communion with God too. But in the instance that I want to talk about here, it looked different than the first Passover, but, but there were some similarities. So for example, one of the similar things is David was about to be on the run for his life too, just like the Israelites leaving Egypt. But this time, their enemy, his enemy, David's enemy wasn't a slave master. His enemy was actually a King. He was actually a friend who had turned into a foe. So David's father-in-law, who is the current King of Israel. At that time, Saul was chasing David with his army and trying to kill him. Now the scripture has a lot to say about this time in history.
Speaker 0 16:44 It has a lot to say about Saul and David. One thing it says is that, um, saw was spurred onto this chase, this, this want to kill wanting to kill David. He was, he was very jealous of him. Um, I think there was probably some mental illness going on with Saul. Uh, but whatever the case saw was determined to find David and kill him and he was using his army. Now David had his own group of men who were running with him. They were trying to protect him, but they were a Motley crew and especially compared with saws men, this was just not a fair fight in the natural. So at the beginning of David's time as a fugitive, when he was running from the King, he came upon the tabernacle, which at that time was at a place called NAHB about 12 miles outside of Jerusalem.
Speaker 0 17:33 The priest on duty was Abimelech, whose name means the father is King. So like capital F father like ABI, like the same place we get ABA. So Abimelech was on duty and David and his men were famished. David told the priest a lie about his mission. When the priest asked David what he was out doing and then David asked for some food and first Samuel 21 starting verse three David says, now, then what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever's here. And the priest answered, David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is Holy bread. If the young man have kept themselves from women, and David answered the priest. Truly women have been kept from us. As always, when I go on an expedition, the vessels of this, of the young men are Holy, even when it's an ordinary journey.
Speaker 0 18:27 How much more today will their vessels be? Holy. Um, cause remember he had told him he was out on this like special mission mission for the King, which was, which was not true. Um, verse six, uh, so the priest gave him the Holy bread for, there was no bread there, but the bread of the presence which is removed from the for the Lord to be placed replaced by hot bread on the day it's taken away. So he gives him the Holy bread, the bread of the presence. And then after that David asks Abimelek for a sword and he's kind of continuing with this lie that he's on business for the King and he had to, he had to move so quickly. I'm just also familiar how to move so quickly, um, that, that he even forgot his sword. And so ABI Melik actually gives him, this gives David the sword that David had used to cut Goliath head off all those years ago cause it was kind of there as a, as a tribute.
Speaker 0 19:18 It was the only one there. And so David took the bread, he took the sword remembering and saying there's not another one like it. And he went on his way. And so really as I was going through this, I was like, Oh my goodness, there's actually so much richness in this passage that I wish we could look at right now, especially when you look forward to Jesus and his night of Passover and communion with his disciples, um, on the night that he was handed over to the authorities. So we hit here, we have a man anointed as King, but he's not going to take his throne right now. We have this common, this sacred bread. Um, which, you know, Jesus said he's the bread of life. We have, we have a sword brought out when it's not time. Um, anyway, I feel like there's so much there.
Speaker 0 20:01 I feel like I could preach a whole nother sermon on that. But anyway, we're going to go back to the matter subject matter at hand. We're going to go back to David and his men and the priest. So the, the bread that the priest brought out for David is the showbread or the bread of the presence as it was also called. And it was like super special bread. So the Torah or the law required that it be placed, this bread be placed on a gold table in the tabernacle and only the priest were to eat it ever. And David and the priest Abimelek, they both knew this, but it didn't stop either of them from letting David and his men habit. So when I was doing some reading and research on the showbread, I found out that it actually wasn't unusual for other pagan nations to offer their gods bread or have bread or food there for sacrifice.
Speaker 0 20:57 And as I got to thinking about it even more, I thought, we see this even now. Um, especially in some Eastern cultures, um, you may have seen it, you go into a restaurant, um, or something like that and they, they have like fruit or something on an incense altar and that's intended to be like a meal for their deceased relatives even, or some other gods. And, um, so this wasn't unusual for the culture at that time among these pagan nations that Israel was surrounded by. But I love what RC sprawl has to say about this concept. He says, um, the one true God, the God of Israel, he had quote no need to sustain himself, which is so great. So like all these pagan nations are offering these breads. They have their own temples, are offering these breads to their gods, but our God has no need to sustain himself.
Speaker 0 21:49 So he actually gives the bread back is what RCS sprawl says to Aaron and his sons, the priests, and they were to eat it in his Holy presence, the bread of the presence or the showbread. So we see communion in both of these stories and both of these stories. We see God at the table with his people as they journey together in both of these stories, they're afraid, but we see him continuing to sustain his people in the presence of their enemies with his Holy bread. It's all about communion. It's all about being together. So next, Jesus. Oh my goodness. I just love it. It's getting so good. So I told you we were going to get to the Passover meal that Jesus celebrated with his disciples the night before he was crucified. And this is where we get our model for communion. So here we are.
Speaker 0 22:44 So let's think about this meal not long before the holiday. If you go back and John, it's a really good place to see it. Jesus actually freaked out a lot of his followers because he was teaching them that in order to belong to him, they were going to have to eat his flesh and drink his blood. So this, this happens near the end of chapter six in the gospel of John. And we actually don't have time to go there right now, but I encourage you to take a look at the whole chapter of John chapter six because it's all about bread. Um, first we see Jesus feeding the 5,000 by multiplying the bread. Then he tells his followers that he is actually the manna, the bread from heaven. And then he drops this bomb that I just talked about that we as his followers are going to have to eat his flesh if we're going to have any part of him, and we see people split.
Speaker 0 23:42 They are like, I am done with that. So not too long after all of this teaching on the bread and the night of the Passover, he begins the night of communion with his disciples by washing their feet and preparing them to all eat together at dinner. The hard stuffed continues. He continues telling them a lot of hard things they're not ready to hear, but he's trying to prepare them for his death, burial, and resurrection, and then he drops the bomb. There's a traitor in their midst, so pay attention to this in the context of the bigger story. He has literally prepared a table for them to share in the presence of their enemy. Satan himself inters this picture of communion through Judas when he moves in him to turn Jesus over to the authorities and be put to death. This is huge, but Jesus predicts exactly what's going to happen.
Speaker 0 24:43 His kingdom is not for now on the earth. They're going to be on the run. They're going to be scattered. But he tells them not to be afraid. They just need to trust him. And again, what's the whole context of this? It's a meal prepared by Jesus, just for them, with them, with him in the very presence of their enemy. So most of us know how the events over the next few days played out. Jesus was betrayed and a sign hung on the cross where he died, stating that he was King of the Jews even though his kingdom wasn't and didn't look like what anyone had expected. His body was taken to a new tomb after he died where it laid for three days until his spirit reentered it and he was resurrected. His body was glorified. And after that he appeared so many times to his disciples and hundreds of other people saw him in the land.
Speaker 0 25:42 And the days after this communion meal that we just talked about, they changed all of history. And then there was Peter. I love Peter, don't you just absolutely love Peter. I mean, he's up. He's down. He's excited, he's mortified, he's zealous, he's impulsive, and he is absolutely in love with Jesus. Before dinner, that one we just talked about, that communion, that Passover meal that Jesus prepared in the presence of their enemy. Before dinner, Peter tried to get Jesus to give him baffled like right there at the table, just a little spit bath and I pictured Jesus kind of smiling and chuckling and he tells him, look, it's just your feet and that that's all you need. You're going to be good. But then Jesus tells Peter that he's prayed for him because the enemy has asked for him and Peter tells him, I'm good. If anybody is going to deny you, it is not going to be me.
Speaker 0 26:42 Peter's a little again, but I like it. But that very night before Jesus even finished his trial, Peter says he doesn't know him three times. He even cusses at the accusation that he had been seen with Jesus even so after everything's over, I mean Peter is stubborn and he ends up all in again. He races to the tomb after the resurrection, he's heard that it's empty. He later jumps out of his fishing. But when he gets wind that Jesus is at the shore and it's in that scene that I want to pick back up with this story of communion. So like I said, Jesus had made himself known to the disciples of a few times since his resurrection and in this scene he's doing or they're doing rather what they had been doing when he called them, many of them they were fishing, they were on the Lake.
Speaker 0 27:37 Cause remember they were professional fishermen before they entered the ministry with Jesus. But on this day, these pros, they haven't been able to catch a thing, literally not one single solitary fish. So before they realize it's him, they see this guy on the shore and he's kind of asking them how it's going. They tell him it's not going great. They admit they haven't caught anything and he tells them to cast their nets again on the other side of the boat. And after following his command, they caught so many fish they were barely able to haul it in and it clicks with all of them. Peter realizes it's Jesus who's been yelling to them so he jumps out of that boat and swims to the shore to meet him. I can't even stand it. This is one of my favorite, favorite passages of all time in the Bible.
Speaker 0 28:22 So when they see Jesus at the shore, when they get there, everyone else came in on the boat, right? Peter. Peter is the only one who swam but they see Jesus and he is actually cooking for them. He's cooking breakfast for them right there on the shore. He had fish and he had bread on a fire and it was waiting for them when they came in from the water. John's gospel says this is the third time Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples after his resurrection. So we know Peter had seen him already. But I am telling you if I'm Peter, I am still feeling a little self conscious at this moment. When I think back to those betrayals that had just happened, we just said that on the night Jesus was betrayed. Peter denied even knowing one of his very best friends three times just like Jesus had predicted.
Speaker 0 29:16 But here in this scene on this shore, over this meal, Jesus asked him again three times to say just how much he loves him. I'm sure much to Peter's relief. Jesus heard Peter's heart in this moment, and then Jesus gave him instructions to take care of his very own followers of Jesus' sheep. You see, in this moment, Jesus was commissioning Peter to be a shepherd in his own right, and all of this happened over breakfast, over a meal, over a communion of sorts, at a table that Jesus had prepared. But wait, there don't seem to be any enemies inside this time. But then Jesus makes another prediction about Peter, and here's where we see the enemies reenter. At least at least the vision of them, Jesus prophesized to Peter about his own future and about the kind of debt that Peter will face because of their relationship.
Speaker 0 30:24 Peter, will we come a martyr because the enemy can't stand to see the Lord's plan fulfilled, a spreading the good news of Christ all over the world. But this time in this conversation, I believe Peter's internal response was different. He has no doubt Jesus will be right there with him when he chooses crucifixion over denial that final time to come. And I believe Peter gained that kind of confidence over the many times that he had shared a meal with Jesus, including this last time when they commune together, when he shared a table prepared for him by the ultimate good shepherd in the presence of their enemies. So thank you again so much for listening. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss an episode. Share the link with your friends. You can visit
[email protected] and until next time, this is Alexis B SETI, remembering to do well for ourselves so we can do good for others.
Speaker 1 31:33 <inaudible>.
