We have looked @ communion in many different ways. We have studied the elements & their
symbolism. We have considered some of
the prophetic elements. We have considered our role in communion.
Shortly I will invite you forward to partake
of the communion elements. I will not
minister to you because according to 1 Peter 2:9 “… you are a chosen people. You are royal
priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show
others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his
wonderful light.”
So each of you is a priest
~ & we are priests according to the order of Melchizedek, just as Jesus
is. As priests we need to understand
what our role is, which according to Paul in 2nd Corinthians 5:17~21: … means that anyone who belongs to Christ has
become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back
to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people
to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world
to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this
wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are
Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ
when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ,
who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made
right with God through Christ.
John explains in John
3:17 God
sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world
through him.
The word rendered task or
ministry is diakonia & literally means
*our service*. Our service is to minister reconciliation.
What is this reconciliation?
In this, as in all else, we
are to be followers of Christ . The
first thing is to bring people near to God. Ephesians 2:13 ~But now you have been
united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have
been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
That is a very
wonderful thing. We spoke last week about being a peculiar people: something
different, unique, rare & precious because Christ lives in us. Thus
wherever we go, to whomever we speak, whatever we do we bear the Christ~light
& thus bring people near to the presence of God, through Christ in us ~
& that is a grave responsibility because all people may have ever known of
Christ is what they know of us.
We offer hope ~Romans
5:1
Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by
faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done
for us…
In the midst of a world
gone mad ~ & the world has always been more than a little mad ~ we can have
serenity of Spirit because we know the Truth: we were sinners who have been
saved by Grace. We are a new
creation. The past cannot hold us in
bondage. Everything for which we could not forgive ourselves has been forgiven
by the blood of Christ.
In the story of Heidi’s Children the child, Marta, is
listening to 2 old men talking. Heidi
likens their conversation to carpenters who have hammered in bent nails & are now taking them out to
drive them in straight & true. That is what the blood of Christ does for
us. It takes all the bent, crooked,
twisted things in our lives & makes them straight again. If you have ever tried to remove a bent nail
you know that is not always an easy process.
Some nails can be very stubborn. Our testimony is that you do not have
to be trapped by your past. The weight
of guilt & sin & shame do not have to continually weigh you down. That is the message of the cross.
Furthermore For if while we were enemies we were
reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life..Romans
5:10
God is no longer some far
off disinterested deity who must be appeased by good works & adherence to
the Law. He has poured his very life into us, declaring us righteous by His
blood & enabling us, by His Spirit to live our lives in ways that please
Him.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is only one God and one
Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity~the man Christ Jesus.
We have unprecedented
access to God. Under the old covenant
only the High Priest could enter the Holy Of Holies & speak with God. Only the Levites could minister to the Lord. Only Israelite men could enter the inner
court. Everyone else was confined to the
outer court. Yet Hebrew 4:16 says: So let
us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his
mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians
3:16 Don't you realize that all of you
together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
Both individually &
corporately we are now God’s temple. This has certain ramifications when we
speak about the ministry of reconciliation because we minister as priests.
We have our outer court,
our flesh; we are to crucify our flesh.
We have our inner court; our will, our mind, our emotions; we are to
renew our minds. And we have our holy of
Holies ~ our inner man, our spirit, wherein the Holy Spirit of God indwells in
us. Our carnal flesh & our carnal minds are to be sacrificed. That is our priestly duty:
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need
it most. Hebrews 4:16
Now as I was restudying
this, I discovered something fascinating & it is pertinent to our study
here. Originally the three temple courts
were not called the outer court, the inner court & the Holy of Holies. The Outer Court was known as the Way; the
Inner Court was known as the Truth & the Holy of Holies was known as The
Life because the life of God dwelt there.
When Jesus said: I am the way,
the truth & the life He was claiming to be the very temple of God ~ an idea
that makes much better sense of Jesus claim in John 2:19: All right," Jesus replied. "Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up…
If you are the temple of
God then you carry this idea within you:
You know the Way [Jesus]; you know the Truth [Jesus] & you have His
Life
In the Holy of Holies we
find The Mercy Seat formed by the Ark of the Covenant & the cherubim. It is here we can find the heart of God &
petition Him for all our needs. When we
speak of the ministry of reconciliation we may have all sorts of things on our
hearts: friends, relatives, children, parents, spouses, neighbours, communities
~ all of whom need to know Christ. All of
whom will perish without Him.
Our example is
Christ. It was on the cross …God in all his fullness was pleased to live
in Christ,
We looked @ this last
week. Christ sought forgiveness for His enemies. He took care of the material
needs of His dependents. He glorified God.
We may manage the first 2
without great difficulties but when you have a rebellious child sheer terror
can overwhelm us. It can feel helpless
& hopeless but let’s be clear: That’s where God does His best work.
Fifteen years ago 4 of our
5 children entered their teen years & only 1 out of 5 was walking with the
Lord. I had been faithful to teach them according to the Light I had @ that
time but satan got his claws into them & one by one I saw our children fall
into his clutches. There seemed to be
nothing I could do & my prayers grew rather desperate. I’m sure I’m not the
only one who knows this feeling.
Then one day the Lord took
me to Isaiah 54:13 which in the KJV reads:
*According to Strong's
Concordance 7965 Shalom means
completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility,
prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or
discord. Shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full.* Shalom is a blessing. The Lord has pronounced a blessing over our
children. So I pray prayers of thankfulness & rejoicing.
Prayer is part of the
ministry of reconciliation. Prayer is
where we enter the throne room boldly & petition our God for all our
needs. That includes all our needs for reconciliation
ministry.
Take a moment to meditate on
Jesus ministry of reconciliation on the cross & consider the deep meaning
of His words as He prepared to reconcile the world to God:
He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he
broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying,
As I invite you to come
forward & give thanks to the Lord [for His mercy endures forever] ask Him
to reveal how you are to minister His reconciliation to others.
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