We-Florence and I, greet you and are so glad to be talking to you today. This year 2012 is special for us... and I also look back in a ministry that started in March 1957, spanning 55 years...and through trials and fruitfulness see God’s faithfulness (I can speak volumes on that); and I will be completing 80 years of age, this year... as I go on I know it is by His grace alone (you do realise this at 80!); and Florence and I will be completing 50 years of married life this November... and I promise you, He who has seen us through will see you through health, wealth, career, ministry, marriage and anything you have ever desired. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way... to be happy in Jesus...
If you are married, I ask you to put Jesus first in your life-the foundation of your marriage will be strengthened so... and the mess- in your marriage, will become a message. God is able to do anything... He can bring just one man and woman together, and let them see just one son, and yet go on and create a whole nation through them! Don’t we know the story of Abraham?
Today, I would want us to concentrate on the Communion-a divinely instituted doing of the believers. And in this land of so many religions, some consider it, a ‘prasad’ given by the church and others consider it, simply a waste of time. But people perish from lack of knowledge. We believers must know: who we are, where have we come from, where are we going and what are we doing here! And for this what better portion to choose than John 1; here we find our identity.
And these three things we must bear in mind:-
(i) We have the power in God, according to John 1:12 (KJV).
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of
God... and we are born of God (v13). Therefore, we are not just dwellers in the
kingdom of God, but rightful citizens; and not just citizens, but Royal
citizens, because God our King is our Father. And from Rev. 1:5 we know that God
Himself has washed us in His own blood, and Rev. 5: 9, 10 goes further and says
that He has made us kingdom priests unto God AND WE SHALL REIGN...
(ii) We have a position from God: Not only has he made us
kings and priests, but He has also seated us together with Christ, according to
Eph. 2:6. That is why repentance from sin and water-baptism are SO SIGNIFICANT
in a believer’s life; it is more than just dead to sins, buried with Christ and
raised again to newness of life, here on earth!
(iii) We have the provision of God, in the New Covenant- a
far better Covenant than the shadow of Old Covenant with sacrifices and
offerings; an intimate relationship in the body and blood of Jesus. A type
portrayed in the Old Covenant when Melchizedek, the king of Salem, when he offered
bread and wine to Abraham-the first Communion service in the Bible. These are
not just emblems, as the Protestant church would have us believe; nor are they
literal body and blood of Christ, as the Catholic church believes (I remember
being told by my parish priest, to use only my tongue to receive the bread, and
not to put my teeth, because blood may ooze out!)
Sacrament of the Holy Communion
The subject is dealt by Paul in 1 Cor. 11:
23-34. Paul, a latecomer to the discipleship of Christ, reveals to us that
there is so much meaning to the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the necessity for believers
to keep it. It is by revelation that Paul received these meaning,
because he was not part of those disciples when Jesus instituted the Lord’s
Supper, in that Upper Room in Jerusalem, just before Gethsemane (the night He was betrayed).
Paul compels us to ponder when he starts with a sentence like this: I am passing on to you, what I received from the Lord…Therefore it is important to each one of us, as believers, to know Jesus more and more, by keeping this sacrament, instituted by the Lord Himself.
You can know Him by the breaking of bread (read Luke 24: 30, 31). Therefore take time to know Him, when the sacraments are given to you. I remember during the starting of New Life Fellowship, some 40 years back, when we used to sit in a circle, around a table carrying these emblems of bread and wine-this really helped us to focus on the Person and Provision of God.
Paul compels us to ponder when he starts with a sentence like this: I am passing on to you, what I received from the Lord…Therefore it is important to each one of us, as believers, to know Jesus more and more, by keeping this sacrament, instituted by the Lord Himself.
You can know Him by the breaking of bread (read Luke 24: 30, 31). Therefore take time to know Him, when the sacraments are given to you. I remember during the starting of New Life Fellowship, some 40 years back, when we used to sit in a circle, around a table carrying these emblems of bread and wine-this really helped us to focus on the Person and Provision of God.
A)
What we do:
a.
We Remember a Unique Person – Jesus Christ(1 Cor.
11:24)
b. We Proclaim a wonderful death - the Lord's death (1 Cor. 11:26)
c. We Celebrate a notable victory - raised up according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:4)
d. We Express a worldwide fellowship - one body in Christ (1 Cor. 10: 16, 17)
b. We Proclaim a wonderful death - the Lord's death (1 Cor. 11:26)
c. We Celebrate a notable victory - raised up according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:4)
d. We Express a worldwide fellowship - one body in Christ (1 Cor. 10: 16, 17)
e.
We Anticipate a glorious event - until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26)
B)
Why we do what we do:
a.
Because of its Divine Institution: Luke 22: 19, 20
Remember, it is called as the
Lord’s Supper. We partake of His table in the Father’s counsel, by the Son’s
command and through the Spirit’s confirmation.
b.
Because of its Historic Inauguration – that same night
He was betrayed (1 Cor. 11:23)
c.
Because of its Apostolic Interpretation – One body in
Christ (1 Cor. 10: 16, 17 and 1 Cor. 11:26)
a.
Mental comprehension – discerning the Lord’s body (1
Cor. 11:29)
b.
Moral conformity – worthy manner (1 Cor. 11:28)
c.
Mutual consideration – wait for one another (1 Cor.
11:33)
Therefore abstain from taking part in the Holy Communion in
an unworthy manner. Paul clearly warns us, that for ‘this reason’, some of you
(believers) are sick, some are weak and others die! (1 Cor. 11: 29, 30). Do you
want to know that there is a death sentence for believers here (and here only)!
It is included in the Holy Communion. Are you surprised? Maybe yes, but it is
true… there is life in that cup and there is death. Examine yourselves. For the
Bible says, if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged! Stay away from idolatry-You
cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of
the Lord’s Table and the table of demons (1 Cor. 10: 21).
You know, in this Holy Communion, all Christian denominations merge somehow, and there is indeed a worldwide fellowship. I have participated in mass worship and ecumenical gatherings, where the Catholic priest handed out bread and the Protestant priest, the wine... We can grow to be mature believers, loving people- no matter which church they are from, and what denomination they belong to-because people are people and we must love them, just as God loves them. And as we celebrate a notable victory, we can have mutual consideration as we join in a worldwide fellowship.
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of
the body of Christ?” [1 Cor. 10:16] Therefore, let us receive the Holy Communion with full comprehension of
the better Covenant extended to us... and do it as often as you will.
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