MATURE CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE VICTORY IN JESUS BY SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
A recent visit to the Waffle House found me sitting at the high counter next to a gentleman of Nordic descent whose Viking ancestors no doubt fought many a battle against my Anglo-Saxon ancestors.
We remarked at how our ancient ancestors, and in some places even their descendants today, would be unhappy with us for sharing time together engaging in a normal conversation without getting into an argument about the superiority of one of us versus the other.
Common sense and especially maturity of thought on the part of Christians tells us that, in the sight of God, none of us is ancestrally superior to other human beings created in the image of God. Neither is any of us in greater need of God’s love and mercy than any other person on the face of the earth.
All have sinned and continue to fall short of the glory of God and therefore stand in need of salvation that God the Creator offers to all mankind in the person of His Son our Savior Jesus Christ.
The Bible from beginning to end points to Jesus as the Christ and, since all Scripture is God’s Word (God’s revelation of His plan and purpose for all people regardless of ancestry, national origin or DNA), Scripture is to be interpreted in the light of God’s grace and in keeping with all that is written in the Scripture about who Jesus was (is) and what He did (does) for all who accept Him.
Thus, our focus in this session is on Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus helping His disciples simply understand who He was and what He came to do, plus how He was counting on them to simply share Gospel – Luke 24:44-49 . . .
Victory in Jesus is simply too grand and glorious to keep to ourselves. Share it we must, so others may come to know Him whom to know is life eternal. There is simply nothing to be gained by remaining silent, either in word or in deed. Jesus shares His victory with all of us who believe, why not share access to His victory with those who may not yet know Him in the forgiveness of their sins?
In His last session with His disciples, Jesus sought to simply instruct them in the basics of the gospel by reducing Scripture to its lowest common denominator.
Jesus instructed His disciples to understand and to proclaim the essence of the Gospel explicitly . . . and to point to the evidence of the Gospel’s authenticity . . . and, as He earlier demonstrated, to partake of two elements for the Gospel’s perpetuity.
The Christian’s consistent observance of The Lord’s Supper serves to remind one and all of the necessity of proclaiming the Lord’s death (atoning sacrifice) until His return when “every eye shall see Him and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father!” So mode it be!
COMMUNION SERVICE
In remembrance of the LORD Jesus, who intervened in our uncomfortable sin situation, and, as the Lamb of God, offered himself as a ransom to take away our sin, we give thanks to God for his unspeakable gift of love.
Think for a few moments about what it is we “sinners saved by grace” are giving thanks for: “On the cruel cross his body was broken, from the curse to set me free; with the spilling of his innocent blood he purchased my pardon, paid the debt owed by me .” “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” – by George Beverly Shea . . .
On the night of the Lord’s Supper, in the Upper Room, Jesus took bread, blessed it, brake it, and said to his disciples:
“This bread is my body which is broken for you.”
Then he took the cup and said to his disciples:
“This is the New Covenant (your new life of living in a right relationship with God and with others) - paid for with my blood.”
On that night before he was crucified on that cruel cross, Jesus implored those who had been, were now, and forevermore would be, his disciples, to give thanks each time they remembered him by partaking of the bread and the cup.
The Apostle Paul, not present that night, but, who was converted when the risen Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road, understood the significance of the Lord’s Supper, and instructed all followers of Jesus to remember our Lord’s sacrifice by observing this ritual of communion on a regular basis.
“For, as often as you eat this bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim our Lord’s death (his atoning sacrifice) until he comes again to receive you unto himself that where he is there you may be also.”
Thus, we give thanks for our new life in Christ, plus eternal life with Christ, by ritualistically observing the Lord’s Supper, using two elements - unleavened bread, and, juice from the fruit of the vine.
As the elements are passed, you are invited to participate in remembrance of the Lord Jesus, and as an act of gratitude to God for his unspeakable gift.
Please take one each of the two elements, partake of them, then spend a few moments in personal meditation and prayer as others do likewise.
Prayer of Thanks . . . Passing of the Elements accompanied by a Medley . . . Singing of “Blest Be the Tie” . . . Benediction . . . Postlude . . . Amen.
