I. What is that message that the Church is to proclaim?
Mission is about being sent. Jesus has sent us out into this world to preach. What are we to preach?
What is the message of the Church?
If we are about mission, then we better be real sure as to what that message is that has been entrusted to us.
It all begins with Jesus. We know that Jesus is God in Flesh. He is the very Creator that spoke the world into existence in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. We know that Jesus did not write one book found in our Bible, so how do we determine what His message is for us today?
The answer to this question gravitates around the 12 men he selected as His apostles. The selecting of 12 would be significant because it would show people that the Israel was being reconstituted around him. Israel was constituted by12 tribes but now Israel was being redefined around these men.
In Luke 22: 30 Jesus even tells his twelve apostles that one day they will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
These 12 men would be the authority for the Church after Christ’s glorious return to Heaven in his resurrected body. They would carry on the mantle of authority.
As soon as the church is off of the ground in Acts 2 we see that the newest Christians looked to that apostolic authority for guidance.
Acts 2: 41 – 42
41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
It was the apostolic teaching that they were devoted to. It tells us a great deal that they wanted to go to the apostles in the very beginning for instructions.
Paul tells us in Ephesians:
Ephesians 2: 20
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,
The church would be built upon the apostles and those that had the gift of prophecy in the early church.
Corinthian Church was instructed by Paul that Timothy would faithfully convey his teaching. It was Paul’s Apostleship that made his message authoritative.
1 Corinthians 4: 17
For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
Peter solidifies this picture of authority by linking the entire Bible together.
2 Peter 3: 2
2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.
The entire revelation of God from the OT to the NT is spoken of in this passage. The Holy Prophets beforehand would refer to the OT and the NT is the words of Christ that was spoken to the apostles.
Everyone of our NT books was written by an apostle or an associate of an apostle.
Mark was written by an associate of Peter known as John Mark. Luke and Acts was written by an associate of Paul and the rest of the NT was written directly by an apostle or the brother of the Lord.
The NT has all of the words of Christ, not just the red letter sections, but all of the NT has the words of Jesus.
DEPOSIT OF FAITH GIVEN TO THE CHURCH
CHURCH WILL BE THE SAFEGUARD OF TRUTH, IT IS THE VEHICLE THAT GOD CHOSE TO USE TO PROTECT AND SHARE THIS TRUTH.
THIS IS AN EXPLOSIVE BOOK THAT THE EMPIRE WANTED TO DESTROY!
The book of Jude tells us that the faith has been once and for all delivered to the saints.
This word in Greek that Jude uses literally means a deposit. In other words God has deposited this faith into the Church.
Jude verse 3
3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6: 20 –
To Guard what has been entrusted to him.
Timothy was Paul’s understudy and Paul was his mentor in the faith. It is telling the Paul tells this young leader in the Church to guard what has been given to him. This faith is important and is not to be tampered with.
As a matter of fact, the Scripture is a living document that God uses for his purposes. In the synagogue worship the Jews had such a deep respect of the scripture that the Synagogue official would bring out the Scriptures into the assembly the people would reach out to touch the Torah scrolls. They believed that the Torah was God’s word. The scripture was something sacred and when it was read and implemented in someone’s life it became a place where Heaven and Earth intersected and overlapped.
God has revealed his word and wisdom to the Church.
Ephesians 3: 8-11
8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
God’s very wisdom that he wants to share with a lost and dying world is found in the church. The church will be the vehicle, the conduit, and the people that will proclaim the truth. Ephesians paints a cosmic picture that includes the spiritual realm.
2 Corinthians 10: 4- 5
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
The church has the mission of the spiritual warfare that includes teaching. Many people think spiritual warfare is some type of bizarre or weird thing but the Bible makes it clear that it includes teaching truth.
The Church not only safeguards the truth,
Has the truth deposited into it,
Responsible for sharing it to the cosmos (flesh and spirit)
But it is also the pillar of truth.
I Timothy 3: 14-15
14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
As the world goes crazy with popularity polls and the latest fad in worship styles the Church is not to change. It is the pillar and ground of truth. It is not tossed to and fro by the waves of the latest likes and dislikes.
THE CHURCH CHANGES CULUTRE, IT IS NOT CULTURE THAT CHANGES THE CHURCH.
IT IS TIME THAT WE START DOING SOME CULTURE CHANGING.
IT IS TIME THAT WE USE THE WEAPONS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US!
IT IS TIME WE START SHARING THIS TRUTH THAT MAKES MEN FREE AND TRANSFORMS LIVES INTO CONFORMITY WITH THE LIVING CHRIST.
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II. Motivation for mission
WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT MISSION? WE HAVE LAID OUT THE GROUNDWORK OF WHERE OUR MESSAGE MUST COME FROM SO WHY DOES IT ALL MATTER THAT MUCH.
CANT WE JUST SIT IN OUR BUILDINGS AND LIVE A COMFORTABLE LIFE?
TWO REASONS FOR AN URGENCY FOR MISSION:
1) Jesus cares about the Lost
Luke 19:10
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
In John 21 Jesus tells the disciples that as the Father has sent him, now he sends them.
In the same way that Jesus came, to the Lost of the world, he sends us.
2 Corinthians 5: 10-11
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.
Paul understands that one day there will be a reckoning, all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Knowing that, he worked in a healthy fear of the Lord to persuade men. He wanted to persuade all men to come to Jesus before it was too late.
2) The second motivation for mission is a love for your own country.
One should only read Romans 11 and see how much Paul cared for his own countryman. I believe we all feel that same about our own country. We also sense that our sense of moral compass is slipping more and more.
Our society is becoming more and more violent, angry, and hedonistic. We are drinking the drink of immorality and their will be consequences.
Will joining every activist group and marching on Washington D.C. change things in our government? Possibly, but there is a much better method to changing your country for the better and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A father wanted to read a magazine but was being bothered by His little girl, Shelby. She wanted to know what the United States looked Like.
Finally, he tore a sheet out of his new magazine on which was printed the map of the country. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it To Shelby and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this together. This will show you our whole country today."
After a few minutes, Shelby returned and handed him the map, correctly fitted and taped together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. "Oh," she said, "on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus, when I got all of Jesus back where He Belonged, then our country just came together."
America has a history of great revival in Christianity
In the early days of the Colonies that would one day become the United States Christianity started to wane and suffer decline in the early 18 century. From the years of 1730-1760 there was what was called the 1st Great Awakening of the Western World. IN that time Christianity grew quickly and church planting was very common. After this awakening, some estimate that 80 percent of colonists regularly attended Sunday Church services.
Since 1992 polls suggest vary between 40-48 percent of Americans that attend weekly religious services.
Pew research came out with a poll in 2007 that came up with the astounding results that 52% of people that claim to be Christians in the US believe that one can attain eternal life in other non-Christian world religions such as Islam and Judaism.
This poll also indicated that only 30% of these same people polled believed that your beliefs made any difference in your eternal destiny.
29% of Christians polled said that your actions made a difference in eternal life. The poll showed that many Americans that claim to follow Jesus are either muddled or confused.
Why is that so?
The message is muddled and confusing. Churches are confused about what should be preached in a world so uptight about political correctness.
The time has come to see our nation in the eyes of a missionary. We are living in a false state of mind if we continue to see our nation as a practicing Christian nation.
We have lost many of our great universities and national institutions.
Colleges that were originally built to spread the gospel like Harvard and Yale have become bastions of liberal propaganda and garbage. How did this happen? Complacency.
We must get to work and share the gospel that has been entrusted to us. God’s plan is to use the local church to accomplish this task. We will not have a godly Christian America until we have individual Christian Americans.
It all starts here in our local community. Acts lays out the groundwork that the Church began its mission in Jerusalem, then into Judea, into Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the Earth.
That is our model. WE must begin to take the Mimosa Community for Christ, Fayetteville for Christ. We have to get into a mission mindset even here at home.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Task of the Church - Celebration of Redemption
We are at a time of the year when many people will celebrate Halloween.
Originated-
The Celtic festival of Samhain is probably the source of the present-day Halloween celebration. The Celts new year began on November first. A festival that began the previous evening honored Samhain, the Celtic lord of death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness, and decay. It naturally became associated with human death. The Celts believed that Samhain allowed the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes for this evening.
The Christians in
The Jack-o-Lantern originated with an Irishman named Jack who loved to play pranks on the Devil. Legend is that he was made to wander the world carrying a lantern to show him the way, going to neither heaven nor hell. Hollowed out pumpkins with candles lighted inside were supposed to scare evil spirits away. The Irish initiated “Trick-or-treating” when farmers would go from house to house to collect food for the village. Costumes went from children dressing up like martyrs in celebration of All Saints
I said all of this to illustrate that people find all kinds of things to celebrate. Today I want to talk about a much greater Celebration.
I want to continue our study of the Church in light of this idea of celebration.
Many times we talk about the task of the church as worship, teaching, edifying but we forget that one of our tasks is one of Celebration.
Some people would liken celebration to worship and that would be true.
WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING?
People are walking around today in a fog without a sense of God’s new reality. People are living as if they are sleeping awake. Living for just the next paycheck or just going through the motions.
They have no idea that 2000 years ago history turned on a hinge never to be the same.
DO WE, AS GOD’S CHURCH, TRULY COMMUNICATE TO THE WORLD A TRUE CELEBRATION OF WHAT JESUS HAS DONE?
THE WORLD WAS HOPELESS AND NOW THINGS ARE DIFFERENT.
THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD IS ON THE DOORPOST OF THE UNIVERSE - THIS MAY SOUND LIKE A STRANGE STATEMENT BUT IT IS TRUE.
To understand how we must celebrate let us take a page out of
A NEW EXODUS!
1st Exodus –
Israelites – slaves – get up make bricks go to bed
Tomorrow do the same.
The movie Ground Hog Day – Bill Murray gets up and repeats the same day over and over again.
Some people live their lives like that now – not aware of anything but their job, busy activities and they miss the point of life. They are not truly present to their families, friends, and loved ones. They live selfishly in their own little world.
God heard the cry of the oppressed.
God intervened in History and everything changed for the Israelites. The Egyptian Empire was caught flat footed. The Empire was powerless because God was going to do something about their oppression of the Israelites. That night of the Exodus would be like no other.
That night a symbol was given to the Israelites for their revolution and freedom and that would be the lamb. They were to sacrifice a lamb and put the blood over their doorposts. This blood would save their FIRST BORN from the vengeance of the death Angel and the 10th and final plague.
This blood of the Lamb would save the first born of
This Exodus story would be a foreshadowing to a much greater work and a much more serious slavery, a slavery that would have to be dealt with.
Sin had a stranglehold over mankind and had estranged us from God. The slavery of
Paul talks about having a heart of thanksgiving
Colossians 1: 12-15
“12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
Paul has reason to be thankful. Jesus is the first born over all creation and now in this New Exodus the first born will not be spared but will Himself be the Lamb that is slain.
It is this Firstborn that will bring about redemption through His blood. It is this Firstborn that is actually the Lamb that will spill His own blood.
Isaiah 59: 1-2 tell us that our sin or iniquity has separated us from God.
When John the Baptist sees Jesus he proclaims in John 1: 29,
"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
The sin that once separated us from God is best illustrated in the architecture of the Jewish Temple.
In the
It was kept separate from the people to illustrate the point that God is Holy and they are not. Their sin has kept them from fellowship with Him.
Outside of this Holy of Holies was a court in which the Priests performed their priestly duties.
Outside of this court was one in which Jewish men that were not of the priestly class could inhabit.
Outside of that court was the Court of the Women in which the Jewish women were allowed to go.
And outside of this was the Court of the Gentiles. Separating the Court of the Jews and the Court of the Gentiles was a wall of separation.
On this wall hung a sign that explained to the Gentiles that they would be killed if they entered the Court of the Jews.
In this picture of the
God has always wanted fellowship and a familial relationship with man.
Paul takes this image of separation in the Jewish Temple and drives home a point about Jesus.
WALL OF SEPARATION
Ephesians 2: 12-19
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR ; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household
Through the fleshly body of Jesus and his sacrifice he took on the curse of the Law.
The Scripture tells us that Jesus came to uphold and fulfill the Law.
It is best understood as God’s Law being a consuming fire. Just like the burning bush.
Pioneers – Prairie fires and scorched Earth - standing on scorched ground – the fire could not consume the ground we stand on.
The Church has the task of celebrating the reality that through Jesus the wall of separation is gone.
People should live in the reality of what Jesus has done.
We can no longer go through life in a fog. True living is to wake up to the reality that the cosmos and universe has changed.
We must realize that the Blood of the firstborn of all creation is now on the door posts of the Universe.
The Body of Jesus reconciled us to God and torn down the wall of separation and to experience this reunion with God we must GET INTO the Body of Christ.
Scripture tells us that the body of Christ on Earth today is the Church.
The Church is the mediated ground. The Church is the place of union with the Creator. The Church is standing on the scorched earth where Jesus did the work.
Earlier we read a passage in Colossians 1 about Jesus being the first born over all creation and Paul talks about giving thanks.
Thanksgiving is the attitude that we should have for the gift of Jesus.
The word for Thanksgiving in the New Testament was one of the very words that the earliest Christians used for their worship and in particular for the Lord’s Supper-
Eucharist – literally means a good gift.
Church’s Task – Celebration - How do we go about this practically? What does the Bible tells us we should do in response?
1) Change how we go about things.
Go back to the original example of the original Exodus. When the Israelites entered into the Promised Land they were given commands on how to live. They would be different from the nations around them. They would have a different standard in their land.
Leviticus 19: 9-10
9 ' Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 'Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.
36 'You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the
God reminded the Israelites that they are to conduct business totally different and care for the poor by leaving the leftovers of their harvest because The Lord your God brought you out of
They are to remember God’s great act of mercy when they are dealing with their fellow man.
When God acts in mercy our thankfulness for that action changes everything. We no longer act the same.
William Temple once said that the Church is the first organization in the world to exist purely for the sake of others.
The Church is a blessing to the world. Because of Jesus saving act of love on the Cross we are to be a blessing to this world by being salt and light in a sinful generation.
We must change and be different than the world.
Paul sums up this point in Galatians:
Galatians 5: 13- 14
13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
Just as the Israelites were freed from slavery to a new land, we have been freed from sin. Paul points out that with this new found freedom we have an obligation to serve others.
Paul’s point is that true freedom is found in serving out fellow man. We are to serve others.
2) Cooperate with Jesus
This brings us to my second point of application as we consider our Celebration of Redemption in Jesus and that is that we are called to cooperate with the mission of Jesus.
Jesus was broken open and poured out. We are called to do the same.
We are called to be broken and poured for man.
This cooperation with Jesus brings to mind a sense of Sacrifice.
At Sea World this Summer we witnessed the Shamu show. At this show the loudest ovation was for the men and women that had served in the Armed Forces that attended this show. Why was this so? Why do we honor our veterans and feel a sense of patriotism when we see our young people in uniform? Because we have something deep inside of us that honors sacrifice.
In the same way, one of the most noble qualities of any Christian is a sense of self sacrifice.
2 Corinthians 4: 7-11
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Paul points out in this passage the price that he paid for being a follower of Jesus. Paul has obviously had it tough but he is not bitter. He understands that when we take up our cross and follow Jesus that this is the very time that God acts powerfully. Think about this in our own life. When has God acted most powerfully? It has been in times that we have had to sacrifice.
Because the universe changed when Jesus completed His work on the Cross and His resurrection we must be willing to follow. The way has been shown to us by Jesus and it is a way of sacrifice. If we are to truly cooperate with Jesus we must take our cross and be willing to let his power work through the weakness of our own flesh.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sermon Series - The Local Church - The Lord's Supper Part 2
I) IN REMEMBRANCE OF JESUS
Luke 22: 15-20
15 And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood”
DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME
This word for remembrance in the Greek is the word Anamnesis and has a very multifaceted meaning. It includes the idea of remembering a past event but it also carries with it an idea of brining that event forward into the present. In other words it meant becoming a participant in that event.
This word was in use in regards to the Passover during the time of Jesus.
During the Passover feast during the time of Jesus, many times one of the younger children would ask the Patriarch of the family, “Why is this night any different from any other night?”
The father of the family would answer and say something to the effect of, “Because this is the night when our God, the Holy One, blessed be He, came down and saved us from the Egyptians.”
The ceremony interjected the term ‘we’ even though they were many years removed from the actual event.
This idea illustrates the concept of REMEMBRANCE in the sense that it is used in this verse.
Just like the example of the birthday party, we are celebrating a past event but we bring that reality forward and celebrate it in the present.
When we gather around the table, not only are we taking our mind back to Calvary and remembering that historic event but we are bringing the reality of Christ’s redemption to our day.
ALTAR vs. TABLE
This can best be understood in terms of Altar vs. Table. In the past history of the Church many wanted to make the Lord’s Table an altar. In the Scripture it has always been described as a Table. This goes back to the history of sacrifices in Israel. In the sacrifices of the Israelites they would offer the sacrificial victim as an offering for their sin and then would eat the meat from that sacrifice in celebration of their atonement in the presence of the Lord. When they ate this celebratory meal it was for the reality of already being redeemed by the sacrificial victim. As a matter of fact, the eating in the presence of the Lord was one of the major parts of this sacrificial system in the Old Testament.
If we apply that to our situation it all makes sense. Jesus is the true once and for all sacrifice for sin.
Hebrews 10: 10-14
10 By this we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
The Altar is the Cross of Jesus
The Table is the fellowship of God’s people eating in the presence of God because of our Redemption.
As Christians our altar is the cross of Christ. It is not the Lord’s Table. The Lord’s Table is a place to come in celebration of our redemption. We come to literally eat in the presence of God to bring to the present this reality of our salvation. To proclaim to the world what Jesus has done for us through His cross. It is in this that we find the real significance of the idea of doing this in Remembrance of Me. We are the ones redeemed, we come to His Table, the Table of the Master, with confidence because of the once and for all sacrifice of the Cross.
II. COMMUNION
The second aspect of the Lord’s Table that I would like to discuss this morning is the idea of Communion. This brings about the idea of the present reality. The present reality is that God has called us to be in communion with him through Jesus.
The Greek word in the New Testament that we get the term communion from is the word “Koinonia” which can be translated in some passages as ‘fellowship’, ‘partake’, or ‘share’.
Since the Fall in the Garden God’s main objective is to bring man back into Fellowship with the Triune God. This idea of communion finds one of its most intimate expressions in the Lord’s Supper.
1 John 1: 3
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ
The word for fellowship used in these passages is the same word used for Communion in the Greek.
The apostle John is telling the brethren that we are to have fellowship with one another but that fellowship is bound up in our fellowship with the Father and Son. This fellowship takes on a Trinitarian shape because we are also told in 2 Corinthians about the fellowship with the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 13: 14
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
God as Father, Son, and Spirit wants us to have communion and fellowship with Him. In this we find our true fulfillment from the beginning. We were made in God’s image and the only way to repair that image that has been marred by sin is through true communion.
I Corinthians 10: 16-18
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?
Paul applies this message of fellowship, communion with God, or as he puts it sharing in Christ. This word for sharing in the Greek is the same word used for Fellowship in the prior passages and could also be translated as communion. Paul is letting us know that the Lord’s Table is a time to celebrate our communion with one another that is linked with our communion with God. He makes the point that Israel shared in the altar by eating that which was offered on the altar. We share in the gift of redemption through the cross of Christ and that celebration finds its expression in the Lord’s Supper.
We are here on Sunday and Christ is our host. He may not be visible but He is just as much or host this morning as he was in the upper room 2000 years ago. When we eat of the bread and drink the cup this morning we do so in the presence of God as we celebrate what was done for us on the cross.
This event of the Supper is a proclamation to the world of our fellowship and communion with God.
III. Future Hope
Returning to our motif of the birthday party, we always look forward to what the future has. We look at our young daughter and we dream of what God has in store for her. In the same way the Lord’s Supper has a future element to it too.
1 Corinthians 11: 26
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
Paul the Apostle tells us that there is a future element to the Lord’s Supper. When we come together on the first day of the week we proclaim to all that Jesus will return. He will come again in a visible manner.
In the Lord’s Supper we see a tension at work, a tension of ALREADY and NOT YET. Jesus is already present with his people and is the host at the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Even though we cannot see Him, He is with us and acts as the host of the Supper. One day the veil will be torn back and we will see Christ as He is in His glorified risen body. The good news is that we will also have glorified risen bodies.
The Bible gives many images of Heaven but I love the one Isaiah gives us in Isaiah 25
Isaiah 25: 6-9
6 The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, {And} refined, aged wine. 7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
The Bible describes this time as a great banquet feast. It is human nature for us to have a great time of feasting and fellowship when we celebrate events in our lives. It is, I propose, a foretaste of what that great banquet feast might be like. A fellowship meal where all mistrust is broken down, all sickness is gone, all of our loved ones that have gone home to be with the Lord are there at the table dining with us and best of all we are there with the risen Jesus.
This is the image that Isaiah proposes, an image of feasting and happiness.
Throughout the OT we find this image of the messianic age as one that will flow with wine and feasting, a time of celebration. We are to come to the Table on Sunday not just with a heart in memory for the great price that was paid but also with great joy for what is to come.
The Lord’s Supper is AN ADVANCED SIGN of that great age to come. It is a little of taste of the messianic feast that will occur when we are face to face with Jesus.
It is much like the spies in the wilderness wandering that brought back fruit from the Promised Land that the Israelites could sample before the actual conquest began. IN the same way we are on this side of the Resurrection but can, in a way, experience a little taste of what is to come. The Lord’s Supper is like that wilderness sampling of the fruits of the age of Resurrection, Restoration, and Restitution.
THIS SUPPER GRAFTS US INTO GOD’S COMPLETE STORY OF REDEMPTION:
There’s an unusual occasion in Matt 8 where Jesus runs into a Roman Centurion, a Gentile… after having healed a man of leprosy. The Centurion is so impressed he asks Jesus if he can heal his servant. Jesus offers to go home with him, but the Centurion says,
Matthew 8: 8
8 But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, `Go!' and he goes, and to another, `Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this!' and he does it."
Jesus was so impressed with this man’s response that Jesus talked about this future Kingdom Banquet.
10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11 "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
One day this unity that we find from gathering around this table on Sunday morning will come to a fulfillment in the grafting in of all kinds of people into the family of Abraham. The promise of made to Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his seed will find its final manifestation in this great Kingdom banquet where all peoples of the Earth are welcome that place their trust in Jesus.
Each Sunday this is what we proclaim to the world in this act of worship. We proclaim that the Lord will return and that this meal will find its ultimate fulfillment in the final consummation of the Kingdom when the final enemy of death is conquered.
Luke 22: 15-20
15 And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood”
DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME
This word for remembrance in the Greek is the word Anamnesis and has a very multifaceted meaning. It includes the idea of remembering a past event but it also carries with it an idea of brining that event forward into the present. In other words it meant becoming a participant in that event.
This word was in use in regards to the Passover during the time of Jesus.
During the Passover feast during the time of Jesus, many times one of the younger children would ask the Patriarch of the family, “Why is this night any different from any other night?”
The father of the family would answer and say something to the effect of, “Because this is the night when our God, the Holy One, blessed be He, came down and saved us from the Egyptians.”
The ceremony interjected the term ‘we’ even though they were many years removed from the actual event.
This idea illustrates the concept of REMEMBRANCE in the sense that it is used in this verse.
Just like the example of the birthday party, we are celebrating a past event but we bring that reality forward and celebrate it in the present.
When we gather around the table, not only are we taking our mind back to Calvary and remembering that historic event but we are bringing the reality of Christ’s redemption to our day.
ALTAR vs. TABLE
This can best be understood in terms of Altar vs. Table. In the past history of the Church many wanted to make the Lord’s Table an altar. In the Scripture it has always been described as a Table. This goes back to the history of sacrifices in Israel. In the sacrifices of the Israelites they would offer the sacrificial victim as an offering for their sin and then would eat the meat from that sacrifice in celebration of their atonement in the presence of the Lord. When they ate this celebratory meal it was for the reality of already being redeemed by the sacrificial victim. As a matter of fact, the eating in the presence of the Lord was one of the major parts of this sacrificial system in the Old Testament.
If we apply that to our situation it all makes sense. Jesus is the true once and for all sacrifice for sin.
Hebrews 10: 10-14
10 By this we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
The Altar is the Cross of Jesus
The Table is the fellowship of God’s people eating in the presence of God because of our Redemption.
As Christians our altar is the cross of Christ. It is not the Lord’s Table. The Lord’s Table is a place to come in celebration of our redemption. We come to literally eat in the presence of God to bring to the present this reality of our salvation. To proclaim to the world what Jesus has done for us through His cross. It is in this that we find the real significance of the idea of doing this in Remembrance of Me. We are the ones redeemed, we come to His Table, the Table of the Master, with confidence because of the once and for all sacrifice of the Cross.
II. COMMUNION
The second aspect of the Lord’s Table that I would like to discuss this morning is the idea of Communion. This brings about the idea of the present reality. The present reality is that God has called us to be in communion with him through Jesus.
The Greek word in the New Testament that we get the term communion from is the word “Koinonia” which can be translated in some passages as ‘fellowship’, ‘partake’, or ‘share’.
Since the Fall in the Garden God’s main objective is to bring man back into Fellowship with the Triune God. This idea of communion finds one of its most intimate expressions in the Lord’s Supper.
1 John 1: 3
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ
The word for fellowship used in these passages is the same word used for Communion in the Greek.
The apostle John is telling the brethren that we are to have fellowship with one another but that fellowship is bound up in our fellowship with the Father and Son. This fellowship takes on a Trinitarian shape because we are also told in 2 Corinthians about the fellowship with the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 13: 14
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
God as Father, Son, and Spirit wants us to have communion and fellowship with Him. In this we find our true fulfillment from the beginning. We were made in God’s image and the only way to repair that image that has been marred by sin is through true communion.
I Corinthians 10: 16-18
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?
Paul applies this message of fellowship, communion with God, or as he puts it sharing in Christ. This word for sharing in the Greek is the same word used for Fellowship in the prior passages and could also be translated as communion. Paul is letting us know that the Lord’s Table is a time to celebrate our communion with one another that is linked with our communion with God. He makes the point that Israel shared in the altar by eating that which was offered on the altar. We share in the gift of redemption through the cross of Christ and that celebration finds its expression in the Lord’s Supper.
We are here on Sunday and Christ is our host. He may not be visible but He is just as much or host this morning as he was in the upper room 2000 years ago. When we eat of the bread and drink the cup this morning we do so in the presence of God as we celebrate what was done for us on the cross.
This event of the Supper is a proclamation to the world of our fellowship and communion with God.
III. Future Hope
Returning to our motif of the birthday party, we always look forward to what the future has. We look at our young daughter and we dream of what God has in store for her. In the same way the Lord’s Supper has a future element to it too.
1 Corinthians 11: 26
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
Paul the Apostle tells us that there is a future element to the Lord’s Supper. When we come together on the first day of the week we proclaim to all that Jesus will return. He will come again in a visible manner.
In the Lord’s Supper we see a tension at work, a tension of ALREADY and NOT YET. Jesus is already present with his people and is the host at the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Even though we cannot see Him, He is with us and acts as the host of the Supper. One day the veil will be torn back and we will see Christ as He is in His glorified risen body. The good news is that we will also have glorified risen bodies.
The Bible gives many images of Heaven but I love the one Isaiah gives us in Isaiah 25
Isaiah 25: 6-9
6 The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, {And} refined, aged wine. 7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
The Bible describes this time as a great banquet feast. It is human nature for us to have a great time of feasting and fellowship when we celebrate events in our lives. It is, I propose, a foretaste of what that great banquet feast might be like. A fellowship meal where all mistrust is broken down, all sickness is gone, all of our loved ones that have gone home to be with the Lord are there at the table dining with us and best of all we are there with the risen Jesus.
This is the image that Isaiah proposes, an image of feasting and happiness.
Throughout the OT we find this image of the messianic age as one that will flow with wine and feasting, a time of celebration. We are to come to the Table on Sunday not just with a heart in memory for the great price that was paid but also with great joy for what is to come.
The Lord’s Supper is AN ADVANCED SIGN of that great age to come. It is a little of taste of the messianic feast that will occur when we are face to face with Jesus.
It is much like the spies in the wilderness wandering that brought back fruit from the Promised Land that the Israelites could sample before the actual conquest began. IN the same way we are on this side of the Resurrection but can, in a way, experience a little taste of what is to come. The Lord’s Supper is like that wilderness sampling of the fruits of the age of Resurrection, Restoration, and Restitution.
THIS SUPPER GRAFTS US INTO GOD’S COMPLETE STORY OF REDEMPTION:
There’s an unusual occasion in Matt 8 where Jesus runs into a Roman Centurion, a Gentile… after having healed a man of leprosy. The Centurion is so impressed he asks Jesus if he can heal his servant. Jesus offers to go home with him, but the Centurion says,
Matthew 8: 8
8 But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 "For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, `Go!' and he goes, and to another, `Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this!' and he does it."
Jesus was so impressed with this man’s response that Jesus talked about this future Kingdom Banquet.
10 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. 11 "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
One day this unity that we find from gathering around this table on Sunday morning will come to a fulfillment in the grafting in of all kinds of people into the family of Abraham. The promise of made to Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his seed will find its final manifestation in this great Kingdom banquet where all peoples of the Earth are welcome that place their trust in Jesus.
Each Sunday this is what we proclaim to the world in this act of worship. We proclaim that the Lord will return and that this meal will find its ultimate fulfillment in the final consummation of the Kingdom when the final enemy of death is conquered.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Sermon Series- The Local Church- The Lord's Supper
The church in many ways has forgotten the real significance of a very important command of Jesus. Last week we focused on baptism on our series of sermons about the local church and its task and this week I would like to shift gears to another thing that we may take for granted - The LORD’s TABLE.
From the history of the earliest Christians we know that one of the most important things that they would do would be to come together for the Lord’s Supper. Many earliest Christians were slaves in the Roman Empire and would have to work on Sunday. The Church would meet at dawn on Sunday to take the Lord’s Supper. If the Church was being persecuted they would meet in the catacombs which were the burial tombs under the city of Rome.
Communion was so important that the Deacons in the early Church would take communion to the sick and shut-ins of the 1st century church.
As a matter of fact, this is one of the best historically documented roles of Deacons in the early church that we find outside of the Scriptural record.
Fast forward this to the early 1800’s here in America. A group of ministers grew tired of denominationalism and started what would become the American Restoration Movement. One of the focal points of that movement would be the Lord’s Supper. As a matter of fact we might be shocked to learn how men like Alexander Campbell, David Lipscomb, and Moses Lard felt about the Lord’s Table. Alexander Campbell stated, “In the house of the Lord is always the Table of the Lord” Campbell argued that the first day of the week should be the day always set aside for this celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Campbell believed that the perfect meeting house for the church should have the Table for the celebration of the Supper as the central place of focus of any building. Moses Lard once said that if he had it his way the Lord’s Supper table would extend across the building the entire building and we would stand in reverence as we received the Lord’s Supper. In these next few sermons I want to go back to the Bible and to the backgrounds of the Lord’s Supper and just see what got these guys so excited about celebrating communion. Typically, in the Restoration Movement we have recognized four things about the Supper that many Churches have either distorted or totally thrown away. I would like to propose that if we don’t go back to the Scripture we will develop our own tradition that is counter Biblical and we will loose a part of our distinctiveness. This Biblical view of the Lord’s Table was part that made the Restoration Movement such a breath of fresh air in a very divided and opinionated religious world.
The four elements that have always been recognized since the earliest days of the Church are the following:
Four C’s
Commemoration
Confession
Communion
Covenant
This morning we will take on two of those and that is the idea of Christ establishing His New Covenant. To understand one of the central acts of the Church we must go back to the day it was instituted by Jesus. We must go back to the Scriptural narrative of the Last Supper.
Luke 22: 14 14
When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 15 And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
Jesus ate the Passover meal with His Disciples. Jesus had anticipated this meal. This was not a haphazard time but was thought out and planned by Jesus. This would be a significant milestone in the story of God’s rescue and redemption of man. Jesus ate this Passover in Jerusalem and the Passover was one of three feasts that were to be yearly celebrated in Jerusalem. The other two feasts were the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Pentecost.
The Passover was a celebration of what God had done for Israel. It was a yearly reminder that he rescued them from slavery. It was a yearly reminder of how the death angel passed over the homes that had the blood of the lamb painted over the door posts. It was a reminder that the first born would be spared because of this blood. At this Passover meal everything would be different. Now the ONLY SON OF GOD would become the true lamb that would save us. This true Lamb of God would give us his blood that God’s wrath would pass over us and cover our sin.
This Passover would be transformed into a New Covenant or a new Plan for mankind. Jesus would have celebrated this Last Supper in the HAGGADAH format for the Passover Service.
Layout of the Passover Service:
Afternoon: Slaughter of the Passover Lamb
Evening: The Meal
Preliminary Course Blessing spoken over the 1st cup of wine, dish of green herbs, bitter herbs and fruit sauce
Serving of meal and mixing of the second cup of wine
Passover Liturgy The telling of the Passover Story Singing of Psalm 113 (the little hallel) The second cup of wine
Main Meal Grace spoken over the bread Meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs Grace spoken over third cup of wined (cup of blessing)
Conclusion Singing of Psalms 114-118 (the great Hallel) Grace spoken over the fourth cup of wine
Night: the watch and remembrance
This service would have been the format that Jesus and His Disciples would have followed that night in the upper room.
I. COVENANT
Luke 22: 19-29 19
And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
This is the only time in the New Testament that Jesus uses the word Covenant and it is significant that he only uses during the institution of the Lord’s Supper. In Luke 22 verse 20 Jesus uses the Greek word ‘Ekkheho’ which means to be “poured out”. In the Greek translation of the OT this same word is used in sacrificial sense but its most important occurrence happens in Exodus 24 when Moses seals the covenant with the blood of bulls. Moses took one bull from each tribe to offer to God to seal the covenant in blood.
Exodus 24: 3-8
Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, " All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!" 4 Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put {it} in basins, and the {other} half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read {it} in the hearing of the people; and they said, " All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!" 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled {it} on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."
Same word is used in this passage of Moses pouring out the blood on the base of the Altar and the same word is used for the sprinkling of the blood on the people is the word used by Jesus in the Last Supper. God was sealing His covenant with Israel in Exodus 24 but the Israelites knew there was a time coming when God would establish a new covenant with Israel. Jeremiah the Prophet prophesied in Jeremiah 31.
Jeremiah 31: 31- 34 31
" Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, " I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
When Jesus broke off of the Haggadah script the apostles would have paid close attention. This is a service they had participated in every day of their life once per year for as long as they could remember. When Jesus uttered the phrase ‘the blood of the new covenant in my blood’, their minds surely would have remembered Moses and the Mosaic covenant ratified in Exodus 24 as well as Jeremiah’s promise that a new covenant would have been established. Jesus further describes the nature of this covenant in Matthew’s gospel. In the parallel passage found in Matthew 26, Matthew records one more detail of Jesus words that Luke leaves out.
Matthew 26: 28 28
for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
The Prophet Jeremiah foretold that this new covenant would bring about the forgiving of iniquity or the forgiveness of sin. Jesus is using this moment at the establishment of His Supper to establish His New Covenant. The significance cannot be lost on us. God is there in the flesh eating with people in His presence and He chooses this moment to establish His New Covenant with mankind. This brings so much more significance to the celebration of the Lord’s Table. It also sheds light on Paul’s teachings on the Lord’s Supper. This idea of covenant as it is connected to the Lord’s Supper makes sense of a passage in I Corinthians 11. Many have struggled to make sense of what Paul is saying but with the idea of covenant in mind it all comes together.
I Corinthians 11: 28-31 28
But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
Paul’s warnings fall in line with all of God’s covenants that he makes. When God made covenants in the OT with Israel there would be a listing of blessings as well as curses. In this passage we see this concept of covenant curses for those that come to the table in an unworthy manner. When one comes to the table of the Lord one must remember that we are reaffirming the covenant with Jesus. We are saying Yes to God once more that we desire the blood of Jesus to cover our sins. We are saying yes once again to our need of a Savoir. Most of all, we are saying yes to our host of this Supper Jesus.
CONCLUSION:
At the conclusion of the Passover if the Jews were celebrating the Passover in a town other than Jerusalem they would say, “Next Time in Jerusalem” Thinking about this I cannot think but to remember Jesus promises. Jesus promised that one day we would partake of this meal with Him in the Kingdom – now and not yet. We are in the Kingdom now but one day we will see Him face to face. It will be the great marriage banquet of the Lamb that we will take part in. Could you imagine taking the Supper again with Jesus present at the table? Could you imagine sitting their with our loved ones who have passed on before and catching up on old times in the presence of the Lord where we have nothing to be afraid of?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sermon Series - The Local Church - Baptism
In this series of sermons we will look at the life and work of the local Church in God's plan of redemption and rescue for this world.
Sunday we began this series with pointing out that God chose the Church as his vehicle for bringing the message of salvation to the world and chose to make his manifold wisdom known to the world through the Church.
The first sermon in this series focused on a topic that divides many Christians and that is the topic of baptism. An act that was meant to unify a broken and divided humanity in Christ has become a subject that has divided Christianity.
When we say that baptism puts us into the Church it becomes very confusing as to what we mean. Does it mean a local denomination that one is placed in by baptism?
Let us define what we mean by the term Church.
To understand the Church we must repudiate the reduction that many people have tried by likening it to the Classical Greek Ekklesia. The term Ekklesia is where we get the English term Church. In the Classical Greek world the ekklesia was a body of land owning men that were called to an assembly to make decisions for a particular city state. This assembly was not made open to slaves, women, or children.
This term is a bad visual picture for the church in the NT because the earliest Christian assemblies were composed by many women, slaves, and people that did not own land. The idea of the Church in the NT is more like the idea of the Assembly of God in the OT known in Hebrew as the Qahal.
The Qahal is a term used in the OT in Deut 9:10; 10:4; 18:16, et al, in regards to the Assembly of Israel. This assembly was the people of God that were gathered together to hear the reading the Law and assent to a covenant with God.
These were truly God’s people formed by Covenant.
If we understand this concept of the Qahal it makes sense of the act of baptism and what it means to be the Church.
In the Exodus story the Israelites were lead out of Egypt and the came to the Red Sea. God miraclulously parted the Red Sea and they crossed over on dry land. At that moment on the shores of the Red Sea the people made a decision to be God’s people and never look back.
Paul likens the crossing in I Corinthians 10:1-2 to baptism. Paul speaks as to how this going through the sea was like a baptism ‘INTO’ Moses.
It was at this point that God lead them to Sinai and they became God’s ‘qahal’ or the Assembly of God.
The Hebrew writer nails home this theme in Hebrews 12: 18-24 where he compares the two Mountains of Sinai and Zion. We, as Christians, are the new Assembly but now we assemble at Mount Zion. We are gathered there at this new Mount because of Jesus work on the Cross.
We are brought into this assembly of God out of the slavery of sin through baptism.
Romans 6 Paul makes it clear that this is through immersion. That by the very act of baptism we reenact the very dying and rising of Christ. Romans 6 also draws the parallel with that Exodus event by pointing out that we are now free from slavery because of our burial in baptism. Because of our baptism we are now free from the slavery of sin and are now ‘IN CHRIST’. We are identified with Christ and not the old way of slavery.
God’s kingdom is open to all that are willing to put down all personal agendas and completely rely on Him.
Out of all the themes that Jesus uses in the NT to describe His kingdom one of the most common is the theme of God’s family.
To understand this motif we must look at what Jesus said about becoming like a little child.
Jesus made it clear in His teachings that one must humble themselves and become like a child to enter the Kingdom.
Matthew 18: 1-4
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 10: 21
21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Children have an attitude of dependence and it is that attitude that Jesus hammers home to his Disciples. One must loose all of the selfish ambition and self reliance if they want to inhabit this Kingdom of God.
One way that the Scripture coveys this point is by describing baptism as a type of new birth. In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus teaches him this truth about baptism.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus and tells him that he knows that Jesus is a teacher that came from God. In this passage we see Jesus response to Nicodemus.
John 3: 1-5
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus specifically tells Nicodemus that one must be born of water and Spirit before he can enter the Kingdom. He likens this birth of the water and spirit with being ‘born again’ or more specifically in the Greek being ‘born of above’. Many say that this passage is not talking about water baptism in this passage and that He is talking about ones natural birth and then a spiritual birth. They way that the ‘water’ of the passage refers to the amnionic fluid of a birth. The only problem with this proposal is that there is no ancient records that show that people used the expression, of ‘breaking water’ in regards to natural birth. This is a modern anachronism that is propping up a bias against water baptism. The context of this passage most naturally fits water baptism because just previously we learn that John was baptizing in water in John 1 and later in chapter 3 verse 23 we witness that John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there.
The immediate context of this passage fits that Jesus conception of water in this passage would be Christian baptism.
Also, the earliest Christians interpreted this passage to refer to water baptism.
The point that Jesus is making is that one is to become like a child and enter into this kingdom through the new birth of baptism.
All human power games, status, money, and selfishness have no place in this kingdom. Baptism becomes the great equalizer in which this fractured human family is grafted and adopted into the true family of God.
The greatest example of a union of Heaven and Earth is in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the ultimate intersection of Heaven and Earth. But there are glimpses of Heaven and Earth coming together in other places. Baptism is on of those events when the veil between Heaven and Earth is rent.
At the event of Jesus Baptism we see an event that is sign post of what is to come for those that baptized into the name of Jesus.
Mark 1: 9-10
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens:
In this passage we see term in the New Testament that is used in one other place in the NT. The term used for ‘heavens opening’ literally means that the heavens were rent open. It is the same term for the tearing of the veil in the Temple that separated man from the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The message is simple, that in the work of Jesus the dividing wall of Heaven and the blessings of Heaven have been torn open by Jesus.
In our baptism we are connected with those blessings from the Heavenly realm.
Acts 2:38 calls is forgiveness of sins.
I Peter 3:21 calls is salvation.
Colossians 2: 12
12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
RAISED UP WITH CHRIST IN BAPTISM
This idea of being raised up with Christ is not emphasized much when people speak of baptism but it is a Biblical concept.
Ephesians 2: 4-7
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Paul points out in this majestic passage that we are ALREADY in a sense raised up with Christ. In the same way the Hebrew writer says that all things are subject to Christ in Hebrews chapter 2 but it doesn’t seem that way at the present. It may not seem like it now but a transaction has taken place between Heaven and Earth in our baptism. We, through the work and grace of God, have been raised up with Christ as a signpost to the world what is to come.
Sunday we began this series with pointing out that God chose the Church as his vehicle for bringing the message of salvation to the world and chose to make his manifold wisdom known to the world through the Church.
The first sermon in this series focused on a topic that divides many Christians and that is the topic of baptism. An act that was meant to unify a broken and divided humanity in Christ has become a subject that has divided Christianity.
When we say that baptism puts us into the Church it becomes very confusing as to what we mean. Does it mean a local denomination that one is placed in by baptism?
Let us define what we mean by the term Church.
To understand the Church we must repudiate the reduction that many people have tried by likening it to the Classical Greek Ekklesia. The term Ekklesia is where we get the English term Church. In the Classical Greek world the ekklesia was a body of land owning men that were called to an assembly to make decisions for a particular city state. This assembly was not made open to slaves, women, or children.
This term is a bad visual picture for the church in the NT because the earliest Christian assemblies were composed by many women, slaves, and people that did not own land. The idea of the Church in the NT is more like the idea of the Assembly of God in the OT known in Hebrew as the Qahal.
The Qahal is a term used in the OT in Deut 9:10; 10:4; 18:16, et al, in regards to the Assembly of Israel. This assembly was the people of God that were gathered together to hear the reading the Law and assent to a covenant with God.
These were truly God’s people formed by Covenant.
If we understand this concept of the Qahal it makes sense of the act of baptism and what it means to be the Church.
In the Exodus story the Israelites were lead out of Egypt and the came to the Red Sea. God miraclulously parted the Red Sea and they crossed over on dry land. At that moment on the shores of the Red Sea the people made a decision to be God’s people and never look back.
Paul likens the crossing in I Corinthians 10:1-2 to baptism. Paul speaks as to how this going through the sea was like a baptism ‘INTO’ Moses.
It was at this point that God lead them to Sinai and they became God’s ‘qahal’ or the Assembly of God.
The Hebrew writer nails home this theme in Hebrews 12: 18-24 where he compares the two Mountains of Sinai and Zion. We, as Christians, are the new Assembly but now we assemble at Mount Zion. We are gathered there at this new Mount because of Jesus work on the Cross.
We are brought into this assembly of God out of the slavery of sin through baptism.
Romans 6 Paul makes it clear that this is through immersion. That by the very act of baptism we reenact the very dying and rising of Christ. Romans 6 also draws the parallel with that Exodus event by pointing out that we are now free from slavery because of our burial in baptism. Because of our baptism we are now free from the slavery of sin and are now ‘IN CHRIST’. We are identified with Christ and not the old way of slavery.
God’s kingdom is open to all that are willing to put down all personal agendas and completely rely on Him.
Out of all the themes that Jesus uses in the NT to describe His kingdom one of the most common is the theme of God’s family.
To understand this motif we must look at what Jesus said about becoming like a little child.
Jesus made it clear in His teachings that one must humble themselves and become like a child to enter the Kingdom.
Matthew 18: 1-4
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 10: 21
21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Children have an attitude of dependence and it is that attitude that Jesus hammers home to his Disciples. One must loose all of the selfish ambition and self reliance if they want to inhabit this Kingdom of God.
One way that the Scripture coveys this point is by describing baptism as a type of new birth. In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus teaches him this truth about baptism.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus and tells him that he knows that Jesus is a teacher that came from God. In this passage we see Jesus response to Nicodemus.
John 3: 1-5
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus specifically tells Nicodemus that one must be born of water and Spirit before he can enter the Kingdom. He likens this birth of the water and spirit with being ‘born again’ or more specifically in the Greek being ‘born of above’. Many say that this passage is not talking about water baptism in this passage and that He is talking about ones natural birth and then a spiritual birth. They way that the ‘water’ of the passage refers to the amnionic fluid of a birth. The only problem with this proposal is that there is no ancient records that show that people used the expression, of ‘breaking water’ in regards to natural birth. This is a modern anachronism that is propping up a bias against water baptism. The context of this passage most naturally fits water baptism because just previously we learn that John was baptizing in water in John 1 and later in chapter 3 verse 23 we witness that John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there.
The immediate context of this passage fits that Jesus conception of water in this passage would be Christian baptism.
Also, the earliest Christians interpreted this passage to refer to water baptism.
The point that Jesus is making is that one is to become like a child and enter into this kingdom through the new birth of baptism.
All human power games, status, money, and selfishness have no place in this kingdom. Baptism becomes the great equalizer in which this fractured human family is grafted and adopted into the true family of God.
The greatest example of a union of Heaven and Earth is in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the ultimate intersection of Heaven and Earth. But there are glimpses of Heaven and Earth coming together in other places. Baptism is on of those events when the veil between Heaven and Earth is rent.
At the event of Jesus Baptism we see an event that is sign post of what is to come for those that baptized into the name of Jesus.
Mark 1: 9-10
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 and a voice came out of the heavens:
In this passage we see term in the New Testament that is used in one other place in the NT. The term used for ‘heavens opening’ literally means that the heavens were rent open. It is the same term for the tearing of the veil in the Temple that separated man from the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The message is simple, that in the work of Jesus the dividing wall of Heaven and the blessings of Heaven have been torn open by Jesus.
In our baptism we are connected with those blessings from the Heavenly realm.
Acts 2:38 calls is forgiveness of sins.
I Peter 3:21 calls is salvation.
Colossians 2: 12
12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
RAISED UP WITH CHRIST IN BAPTISM
This idea of being raised up with Christ is not emphasized much when people speak of baptism but it is a Biblical concept.
Ephesians 2: 4-7
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Paul points out in this majestic passage that we are ALREADY in a sense raised up with Christ. In the same way the Hebrew writer says that all things are subject to Christ in Hebrews chapter 2 but it doesn’t seem that way at the present. It may not seem like it now but a transaction has taken place between Heaven and Earth in our baptism. We, through the work and grace of God, have been raised up with Christ as a signpost to the world what is to come.
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