Introduction
I. This morning we are going to celebrate “communion”
II. Communion; my dictionary gives these definitions for the word,
A. The sharing of intimate thoughts and feelings.
B. The service of Christian worship at which bead and wine are consecrated and share, the Eucharist
C. An allied group of Christian Churches or communities.
III. Communion, or “The Lord’s Supper” was mandated by none other than Jesus Christ himself, during the so called “last supper.”
A. Matthew relates these words of Jesus in the 26th chapter - “...Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. 29 “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
B. And of course Paul states that Jesus also said, “do this in remembrance of me.”
IV. The basic idea that I want to stress this morning is that in participating in “communion” we are not only celebrating the fact that we are in fellowship with Jesus Christ, but also that we are in fellowship with one another.
A. By virtue of our coming to faith in Jesus Christ, we are at once placed in a relationship with every other person that has ever accepted the gift of Christ, and with every other person that ever will.
B. Communion then is a pretty overwhelming point to consider.
V. Communion, when coupled with the idea that Paul was presenting in 1st Corinthians 12 has some staggering implications.
A. Every person coming to faith in Jesus Christ is an indispensable component of the body of Christ, the church.
B. Every person, though unique in gifts, passion and calling is an indespensible part of the “Recipe For The Church.”
1. No one person is ultimately more important than any other person.
2. No one person is in any way less important than any other person.
C. The “Recipe for the Church”
1. Is that every one of us has a role to play in making the church of Jesus Christ great,
2. Every one of us must “give” within the context of how God has equipped us for the church to be reflect the glory of God to the “powers and authorities in the heavenlies.”
3. You cannot do without me, and I cannot do without you.
VI. This morning, I plan to successfully mix this Devil’s Food Cake.
A. In order for this cake to successfully bake, and to taste the way it is designed to taste, every component must be added
B. If any one part, no matter how large or how small is left out, the cake will not be what it was designed to be.
VII. With that in mind, I ask, “So what is the recipe for the church of Jesus Christ”? Plenty of Vision
I. The first component of this cake is “Plenty of Vision”
A. You say, “What”
1. This cake is supposed to be a “Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake.”
a. Not vanilla,
b. Not strawberry,
c. Not cheesecake
d. It is supposed to be chocolate.
2. The fact that this is to be a chocolate cake is exceedingly important.
B. Knowing what this cake is supposed to be determined what ingredients I gathered and measured.
C. Perhaps if it was some other type of cake, most of the ingredients would have been the same, but knowing that it was to be chocolate, I knew that I must have chocolate on my shopping list.
II. The recipe for a church of Jesus Christ must also have vision, God’s vision to be sure, but vision no less.
A. Proverbs 29, verse 18 says this in part, - “Where there is no vision, the people perish...”
1. The word perish means “naked” or “exposed.”
2. Without God’s vision to direct it, the people are left exposed to the pulling of our world system.
3. In fact the latter part of verse 18 says, “but he that keepeth the law; happy is he.”
III. God has a vision for what the church of Christ is supposed to look like.
A. Listen to Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
B. See that; “prepared beforehand” that is vision.
IV. In our passage from 1st Corinthians, Paul states that there are many members, and every member has it’s own gift, talent or ability that God has given it.
1. You and I are made unique by the very hand of God.
a. Among the implications are these,
(1) You cannot be me,
(2) I cannot be you,
(3) You cannot do what I do, in the way God designed for me to do it.
(4) I cannot do what you do, in the way that God designed for you to do it.
V. The first component of God’s church is vision.
A. Newtown Community Church was not called to look like Trinity Church, or Crossing Community Church, or New Life Baptist Church.
B. We are designed by God, and called by God to be the fellowship of Newtown Community Church, and that is just fine.
VI. “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” does that not also imply, “Where there is vision, the people can thrive.”
VII. The first component for a chocolate cake is the vision that it must include chocolate.
VIII. The first component for God’s church is that is must include God’s vision for it’s workmanship.
Various Ingredients
I. My recipe for this chocolate cake calls for ________ ingredients, in varying amounts.
II. Now when I originally envisioned doing this bake show this morning, I thought about baking several cakes, leaving out one ingredient from each cake.
A. The result of such an endeavor, would have probably been interesting, to say the least.
1. You might not notice if salt were left out, BUT
a. How can you have a cake without flour?
b. How can you have a chocolate cake without chocolate?
c. Is it really possible to make a chocolate Devil’s Food cake without eggs?
d. And last but not least, you must apply the proper amount of heat, for the proper amount of time, or you end up with a bowl full of funny looking stuff that you probably would not want to earth.
B. When all the proper ingredients are properly mixed, and the proper amount of heat for the proper amount of time is applied, what you end up with is a chocolate cake.
III. In our passage this morning, the vision is for one final product, the body of Christ. (Vs. 12)
A. However, this one final product consists of various ingredients.
1. Jews, Greeks, Slaves Free men
2. All coming together to form one body.
3. Many backgrounds, but one purpose; to make the body of Christ.
B. In verse 28, Paul gives a partial list of other ingredients for the church.
1. Apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healings, helps, administrations, tongues, and the list could go on and on, but the ultimate goal is to complete the vision of the church.
IV. The question for us is; what ingredient are each of us in the recipe of the church.
Respect For Ingredients
I. The recipe for my chocolate cake calls for a proportionally large amount of flour, and what seems like a large number of eggs, but a proportionally small amount of various other ingredients.
A. I wonder what this cake would look like; and taste like if I said,
1. “You know what, I don’t need the salt, or the baking soda.”
2. “I think I will make my cake using only flour, eggs and milk.”
B. I doubt it would turn out very well, and it certainly would not turn out to be a chocolate cake.
II. In verse 14 to 17 Paul makes essentially the same application of service in the body of Christ.
A. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,..”
B. If the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,...”
C. If the whole body were and eye, where would the hearing b e?
D. If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
III. And most importantly, verse 18, “But now GOD has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, JUST AS HE PLEASED.”
IV. What is the point,
A. Every ingredient is important
B. No ingredient is dispensable
C. Each ingredient was envisioned by God.
V. Regardless of the seeming importance, or seeming lack of importance of your particular gift, RESPECT and BE PROUD of how God has designed you.
VI. I heard it some a while back that the only ministry that we have at Newtown Community Church is the Café.
A. I take great exception to such a sentiment.
B. The Café is important, and it is one component of the vision of our church.
C. I have placed in your bulletin this morning a list of current and future ministry opportunities.
D. If someone were to ask me, “Pastor, what is the vision that God has given you for this church it would be something like this.
VII. Newtown Community Church is a place of worship where our community can seek and serve God, in the manner in which God has equipped and called them.
A. That means that every person that worships at Newtown Community Church should respect the gifts that God has given them individually,
B. It also means every person that worships at Newtown Community Church should respect how God has gifted every other person that seeks to worship God in this body.
VIII. Communion means being aware of your own relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and being respectful of your relationship with the body in which God has place you.
IX. Respect, a indispensable ingredient in the body of Christ. Interaction of Ingredients
I. One of the vital activities of baking a good chocolate cake goes beyond the choosing of the right ingredients.
A. If I were to place all of these ingredients in the bowl, place them in the baking dish, and then put them in the oven to cook, I would imagine the results were be far less than satisfying.
B. It is only as the ingredients are mixed together that they can begin to process towards the completed vision of a chocolate cake.
II. In much the same way, a church body can be full of ingredients.
A. We can have people that are gifted in music, but if they choose to sit back and watch others something will be missing.
B. We can have a room full of teachers, but if no teaching takes place, what good are the teachers.
C. We can have craftsmen that possess the ability to transform the ordinary into something special, but if they do not make use of their talents, only the ordinary will result.
III. Paul says in verses 29 to 30 that God has chosen to place within the body those with talents, to be used in the body.
A. All are not apostles, but those that are must use their gift.
B. All are not prophets, but those that are must prophecy.
C. All are not teachers, but those that are must teach.
IV. I have heard it said by some that all that really matters in serving is that someone decides to serve.
A. I believe the bible teaches that to be a false belief.
B. Not just anyone can do anything, but those that can must.
C. The result of the interaction of the gifts that God places in His church is a beautiful thing.
V. Communion is about realizing what God has enable you to do, and then doing it.
A. The correct vision of an individual church is dependent on the particular gifts that God has placed within that body, and those that have a particular gift utilizing that gift towards accomplishing God vision.
B. Communion is about living within the relationship that we have with God, through Christ, and with each other through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
VI. If God has placed you in this church, then you have something unique to contribute to the ministry that God has for us.
A. I found a review of some 14 churches in Portland Oregon.
1. Those churches range in size from about 500 to over 4000 in attendance.
2. One of the questions that was asked was “What percentage of your congregation is involved in the ministry of the church.
a. The average answer was, 50%.
b. Fifty percent.
B. My thought was that as large as some of those churches are, and as effective as their ministries are; what if that other 50% got involved in active ministry.
VII. Most churches have plenty of observers; what we all need are more participants.
A. Communion with God involves interaction with the ministry of His church.
B. Anything less is simply a mess of worthless ingredients.
VIII. As we share communion this morning, I would like us each to consider,
A. What ingredient are you?
B. Do you respect what God has given you?
C. Are you interacting with the Body of Christ the way God recipe would desire?
