Communion - Proclaiming The Lord's Death Until He Comes

Dakota Community Church

December 21, 2008 (am)

Communion

“Proclaiming the Lord’s Death until He Comes”

I Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

What a joy it is to meditate on this truly astounding occurrence.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt amoung us… and we beheld His glory”. (John 1:14)

Wow! Just the thought of it inspires one to worship… and yet even now, as we celebrate His birth; we must pause, we must take time to remember His ultimate mission, His death on the cross for us. His birth was announced by angels; but His death shook the earth and set us free!

“…whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Cor. 11:26)

Observing the Lord’s Supper in a reverent and worshipful manner is an ongoing reminder of the incredible plan of God to save sinful humanity through the redemptive sacrifice of the sinless, spotless, pure, Lamb of God. Even at this season of His birth we need to be ever mindful of why He came; and how He accomplished our salvation.

This morning we will share communion and “Proclaim the Lord’s death” even as we celebrate and sing of His miraculous birth.

As we prepare to partake I want us to be thinking about this proclamation of death and what it signifies:

The Death of Christ reveals:

1. The seriousness of sin.

We don’t talk much about sin anymore, the world has trained us with their scoffing and eye rolling at its very mention to remain silent on this issue, but should we?

Genesis 4:6-8

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Sin desires to have us but we must master it. This is the issue from the beginning and one which never goes away because we are born in it.

When the Prophet Nathan confronted David with his sin he wrote these powerful words I am sure we can all relate to.

Psalm 51:1-5

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

We may wink at sin these days, we may try to ignore it, we may parade and celebrate it in the streets and we may claim God has made us this way. We may avoid preaching the consequences of sin but avoiding it changes nothing. Sin is a killer and Jesus went to the cross to save us from its just consequence.

Romans 7:14-20

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.