[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 2nd of October, 2016. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch. Today's service included the observance of Holy Communion.]
In just a little while, we’ll be coming to our Lord’s table to share in His last supper on earth. As I always do, I’ll be working from the words the Apostle Paul left us in his 1st letter to the church in Corinth.
But there is part of that message that we hear less frequently, or only as a comment. It is a very important part - one we all need to be reminded of from time to time. It has to do with what we bring to that table, how we approach it. And I’m not talking about bringing a bottle of wine or a loaf of bread or a green bean casserole. It’s what we bring in our heart that matters.
Listen and follow along to the critical instructions Paul provides in 1st Corinthians chapter 11, verses 23 through 32, as read from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible…
But there is part of that message that we hear less frequently, or only as a comment. It is a very important part - one we all need to be reminded of from time to time. It has to do with what we bring to that table, how we approach it. And I’m not talking about bringing a bottle of wine or a loaf of bread or a green bean casserole. It’s what we bring in our heart that matters.
Listen and follow along to the critical instructions Paul provides in 1st Corinthians chapter 11, verses 23 through 32, as read from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible…
23 I have already told you what the Lord Jesus did on the night He was betrayed. And it came from the Lord Himself.
He took some bread in His hands. 24 Then after He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is given for you. Eat this and remember Me.”
25 After the meal, Jesus took a cup of wine in His hands and said, “This is My blood, and with it God makes His new agreement with you. Drink this and remember Me.”
26 The Lord meant that when you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you tell about His death until He comes.
27 But if you eat the bread and drink the wine in a way that isn’t worthy of the Lord, you sin against His body and blood. 28 That’s why you must examine the way you eat and drink. 29 If you fail to understand that you are the body of the Lord, you will condemn yourselves by the way you eat and drink. 30 That’s why many of you are sick and weak and why a lot of others have died. 31 If we carefully judge ourselves, we won’t be punished. 32 But when the Lord judges and punishes us, He does it to keep us from being condemned with the rest of the world.
--1 Corinthians 11:23-32 (CEV)
Let us pray… Father God, as we prepare to approach the table of our Lord Jesus, please open our hearts to Your message this morning. Help us understand the meaning and importance of sharing in our Lord. In the glorious name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
As Vice President to President Ronald Reagan, George Bush represented the United States at the funeral of the former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent expression carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.
Hope. The wife of an atheist put her hope in the love and mercy of Jesus, who died on a cross. The dictionary defines hope as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had”. As a verb, to hope is defined as “to feel that something desired may happen”. The modern concept of hope is more like wishing for or expecting, but without any certainty of fulfillment; to desire very much, but with no real assurance of getting what is desired.
But our Bible holds quite a different definition of hope. As used in Scripture, hope is a strong and confident expectation. It is more akin to confidence that what has been promised will be fulfilled, rather than what is desired. And it is that confidence and assurance of fulfillment that makes all the difference in the world.
Our hope is in the Lord Jesus. Our promise is in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. And our belief gives us confidence and assurance of that hope, that promise being fulfilled.
Our choir sang “In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song; This cornerstone, this solid ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. No guilt in life, no fear in death — This is the power of Christ in me; From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand; Till He returns or calls me home — Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”
Hope. In Christ alone.
Our scripture reading speaks of that promise, of our covenant with God that is signed and sealed by the blood of Jesus. But there’s another very important part of that passage. It informs us of the need for fulfilling our part, just as Jesus will fulfill His.
Paul warns us not to eat the bread and drink the wine, or juice, in a way that is unworthy of our Lord, lest we condemn ourselves. Let me reread part of that scripture, verses 27 through 29 of 1st Corinthians chapter 11, this time from the New King James Version…
As Vice President to President Ronald Reagan, George Bush represented the United States at the funeral of the former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent expression carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.
(Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p. 26.)
Hope. The wife of an atheist put her hope in the love and mercy of Jesus, who died on a cross. The dictionary defines hope as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had”. As a verb, to hope is defined as “to feel that something desired may happen”. The modern concept of hope is more like wishing for or expecting, but without any certainty of fulfillment; to desire very much, but with no real assurance of getting what is desired.
But our Bible holds quite a different definition of hope. As used in Scripture, hope is a strong and confident expectation. It is more akin to confidence that what has been promised will be fulfilled, rather than what is desired. And it is that confidence and assurance of fulfillment that makes all the difference in the world.
Our hope is in the Lord Jesus. Our promise is in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. And our belief gives us confidence and assurance of that hope, that promise being fulfilled.
Our choir sang “In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song; This cornerstone, this solid ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. No guilt in life, no fear in death — This is the power of Christ in me; From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand; Till He returns or calls me home — Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”
Hope. In Christ alone.
Our scripture reading speaks of that promise, of our covenant with God that is signed and sealed by the blood of Jesus. But there’s another very important part of that passage. It informs us of the need for fulfilling our part, just as Jesus will fulfill His.
Paul warns us not to eat the bread and drink the wine, or juice, in a way that is unworthy of our Lord, lest we condemn ourselves. Let me reread part of that scripture, verses 27 through 29 of 1st Corinthians chapter 11, this time from the New King James Version…
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
--1 Corinthians 11:27-29 (NKJV)
If we come to our Lord’s table and partake of His elements in an unworthy manner, we sin against His body and blood, we will be guilty of His body and blood. We will be just as guilty of our Lord’s body being broken and His blood being spilled as the Roman soldiers who performed the deeds and the Jewish leaders who caused it all to happen!!!
But what does Paul mean by taking the bread and the wine in an unworthy manner? Jesus gives a pretty good example in His Sermon on the Mount when He tells us not to approach the altar of God when we hold ill-will in our hearts for another, or when someone else holds resentment against us. We must first reconcile with that person.
It comes down to this… We must not approach our Lord’s table, or the altar of God, unless our hearts are right with God. We must not take of the body and blood of our Savior if we are not seen as righteous in the eyes of our Father God.
We need to examine our own hearts right now, before we come forward. If there is anything that keeps you from being right with God now, then take advantage of our prayer time and repent and seek His forgiveness so that you will not be coming to Jesus’ table in an unworthy manner.
Place your trust in Him and depend on His mercy, just as Mrs. Brezhnev did. Get right with God. Get right with Jesus. For our only hope is in Christ alone.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, as we come to our Lord’s table, we pause for just a moment to examine our hearts. Please, Father, may we be righteous in Your sight. We know we are sinners, Father, but we repent of our sin and seek Your mercy, for the sake of Your Son Jesus, our only hope. Father, if we are not right in Your eyes, if we need to reconcile with a brother or sister, please show us the way to reconciliation and righteousness. Help us, please Father.
Hear us now, Father, as we pray in the silence, straight from our hearts, repenting and seeking Your forgiveness and Your help…
Lord Jesus, we pray that we are worthy of coming to Your table, that we do not eat the bread nor drink the juice in an unworthy manner. We realize You are our only hope, and we don’t want to lose that hope because of something we do that could so easily be undone. Lord, if there is someone we need to reconcile with, please help us do just that. Help us, we pray, as we struggle to turn from our sinful ways and stay on the path of righteousness You blazed for us. In Your power alone, Christ, we stand.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust. Amen.
But what does Paul mean by taking the bread and the wine in an unworthy manner? Jesus gives a pretty good example in His Sermon on the Mount when He tells us not to approach the altar of God when we hold ill-will in our hearts for another, or when someone else holds resentment against us. We must first reconcile with that person.
It comes down to this… We must not approach our Lord’s table, or the altar of God, unless our hearts are right with God. We must not take of the body and blood of our Savior if we are not seen as righteous in the eyes of our Father God.
We need to examine our own hearts right now, before we come forward. If there is anything that keeps you from being right with God now, then take advantage of our prayer time and repent and seek His forgiveness so that you will not be coming to Jesus’ table in an unworthy manner.
Place your trust in Him and depend on His mercy, just as Mrs. Brezhnev did. Get right with God. Get right with Jesus. For our only hope is in Christ alone.
Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, as we come to our Lord’s table, we pause for just a moment to examine our hearts. Please, Father, may we be righteous in Your sight. We know we are sinners, Father, but we repent of our sin and seek Your mercy, for the sake of Your Son Jesus, our only hope. Father, if we are not right in Your eyes, if we need to reconcile with a brother or sister, please show us the way to reconciliation and righteousness. Help us, please Father.
Hear us now, Father, as we pray in the silence, straight from our hearts, repenting and seeking Your forgiveness and Your help…
Lord Jesus, we pray that we are worthy of coming to Your table, that we do not eat the bread nor drink the juice in an unworthy manner. We realize You are our only hope, and we don’t want to lose that hope because of something we do that could so easily be undone. Lord, if there is someone we need to reconcile with, please help us do just that. Help us, we pray, as we struggle to turn from our sinful ways and stay on the path of righteousness You blazed for us. In Your power alone, Christ, we stand.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust. Amen.
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