I Am Thankful For ... Holy Communion

Scripture: Isaiah 53:4-5; Luke 22:14 – 23

Theme: Thanksgiving

Title: I am Thankful for …. Holy Communion

INTRO:

Grace and peace this morning from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

This month we have been focusing on things in which we need to be thankful. We have been looking at different things that we need to give God both praise and thanksgiving.

We first looked at God’s Grace

+ God’s Grace is Unmerited

+God’s Grace is Unearned

+God’s Grace is Limitless

+God’s Grace is Transformative

Then we looked at being thankful for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit:

+Thankful that we receive the Holy Spirit when we are Born Again (John 3) and are called to a deeper baptism in and with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2)

+Thankful that the LORD wants to live in our Temple; that is to say in our Bodies, Our Minds and in Our Spirits - The LORD desires to be One with Us – John 14-17

+Thankful that the LORD wants US to be His Resource Center; we are to be living water to all those around us (John 7) through the Baptism of His Holy Spirit. We are to copartner with God in transforming our geography.

Wow! That is a lot to receive, to experience and to be thankful for this morning.

But, let’s go on. Let’s take some time to look at another one of God’s amazing gifts to be thankful for this morning – it is Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist. In our tribe we normally call it Communion or the Lord’s Supper but in other traditions it is called Eucharist – the Meal of Thanksgiving.

The title Eucharist comes from a reading of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth:

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks (e??a??st?sa? - eucharistesas), he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me". (1 Corinthians 11:23–24)

Eucharist (Thanksgiving) was the term used by many in the Early Church including some of its prominent leaders like Ignatius of Antioch (who died around 100 AD and therefore was a contemporary of St. John) and Justin Martyr (who was known for his Christian writings in the middle of the 2nd Century).

In our tribe we commonly use the terms, The Lord’s Supper, The Last Supper, Holy Communion or just the word Communion. And we normally take communion using a piece of unleavened bread or wafer and a small cup of grape juice. Around 100 years ago our leaders decided to part ways with using real wine and chose instead to go with grape juice.

This morning before we partake of the Lord’s Supper/Communion, I thought it would be a good thing for us to remind ourselves of some of the amazing graces surrounding this beautiful sacrament.

Let’s see how Communion goes with such words as Remember, Identity and Activity or Active.

I. The Bible tells us that the words Remember and Communion Go Together

We all live in a world of forgetfulness. It’s not because we are all suffering from some type of mental illness or dementia, but, it is because as soon as we wake up we are bombarded by a thousand things competing for our attention. It is easy for us to forget what we were planning to do and what we should do.

Before our feet even hit the floors, it is possible for us to be able to read news reports, weather reports and sports reports from all over the globe. It is possible for us scroll through pictures and posts from Instagram and Facebook. It is possible for us to listen to some music from YouTube, Pandora or Apple Music. It is even possible for us to send and receive a number of texts and emails and we still haven’t gotten out from underneath the covers.

By the time we get dressed and have a bite to eat with all that is hitting us from the radio, the TV, from Alexa, Google or other Social Media venues it is possible that we have forgotten what we did last night much less remember what we need to do today.

I know and I am sure that you know people who spend the majority of their day glued to seeing what new posts are put up on Facebook, Twitter or looking at pictures on Snap Chat or Instragram and forget that they either need to be working or doing something more productive.

Our morning lives are literally battlefields for our hearts, minds and souls. Our mornings can be a battlefield for our space; that is to say our time. How much time do we dedicate to social media, news etc… How much time do we dedicated to housework, office work, taking care of those in our families and making a living? How much time do we dedicate to God’s Word, Prayer and our own Spiritual Maturity?