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.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
II Peter 2:1-10
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
Sin is a dark and desperate reality; a dismal condition in which all of humanity is trapped and beyond help.
Sin is the willful breaking of God’s law which is holy and just and truthful.
Sin is the endless pursuit of whatever self desires regardless of what it will do to anyone else.
It is sin that causes this planet to groan and long for deliverance.
It is sin that is the source of all pain and suffering.
It is sin that fills all the jails and hospitals and graveyards.
It is sin that nailed Jesus to the cross!
It is for our sin that He died.
The Death of Christ reveals:
2. The holiness and justice of God.
I am not sure what you think of God. Many of us have come to know Him as a loving Father; His mercy toward us may at times be so overwhelming that we are tempted to think He is like a foolish old grandfather who turns a blind eye to injustice.
Because God is merciful does not mean that He is blind.
God is merciful, but He is also holy, and He is definitely just.
The death of Jesus on the cross is proof that God does not ignore sin or treat it with an indulgent attitude.
Many people will never find justice in this life for horrible things done to them by oppressive agents of evil, a just God will not leave these scales unbalanced.
II Peter 3:7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Those who through faith stand before God on that day “hidden in Christ” have their sins paid for on the cross, those who do not will be banished from His presence. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
II Corinthians 5:20-21
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
I Peter 3:18
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
The Death of Christ reveals:
3. The grace of God.
The death of Christ reveals the grace of God. The love of God is more than we can fully grasp. His forgiveness is beyond price.
I Peter 1:17-21
Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
This is the grace of God – we were redeemed not with perishable things but with the precious blood of Christ.
This graceful forgiveness is complete!
Hebrews 10:10-14
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
This graceful forgiveness is free!
Ephesians 2:1-9
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
This graceful forgiveness is eternal!
Isaiah 43:25
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
As we partake of the elements of the Lord’s Supper, let us be reminded of the awful nature of our sins that made it necessary for Jesus to die as a substitute in our place. Let us be overwhelmed with the gracious wonder of God’s loving forgiveness.
Powerpoint available on request free of charge - dcormie@mts.net
