What Is In A Meaning

Matthew 26:17-30

¹⁷ Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" ¹⁸ And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples." ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. ²⁰ When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. ²¹ Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." ²² And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?" ²³ He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. ²⁴ "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." ²⁵ Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said it." ²⁶ And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." ²⁷ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ²⁹ "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." ³⁰ And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:17-30, NKJV)

Today I want us to look carefully at a meal that I think has become ritualistic and has lost some of its meaning to many sitting in pews of the church. In Exodus 12 and 13 we are told of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  To many the Feast of Unleavened Bread is called the Passover. If we remember the Passover is a remembrance of the Angel of Death passing over the houses of the people of Israel that had the Blood of the Lamb on its doorpost and lintels. This has great significance to us today because it is through the true Blood of the Lamb (Jesus Christ) that death passes us over and we have the wonderful news of eternal life that is found in Him.

     As part of Passover, the first night and the seventh night is a time of meeting between God and man. It is an intimate time of relationship between God and His chosen people!  As we gather here this morning for Holy Communion we need to understand that this is our time of intimacy with our Lord and Savior and treat this time at the table as sacred and holy.

Leaven is symbolic within the Scriptures of sin or evil. Not only was leaven left out of the Passover meal because of the hurried state that the people of Israel left Egypt; leaven was left out of the bread as a symbolic gesture of the removal of sin and evil from the lives of the people who partook of the Passover meal.  I found it amazing that a common Jewish tradition in preparing for the Feast of Unleavened Bread is to sprinkle leavened (yeast) bread crumbs throughout the house and then subsequently sweep them all up and collectively burn them outside.  Leaven is also a fermentation agent. The Lord said to His disciples "Beware of the leaven (false doctrine) of the Pharisees" (Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15). In addition, the apostle Paul warned the Church at Corinth that "a little leaven (yeast) leaveneth (ferments) the whole lump" (I Corinthians 5:6). Paul was simply saying that if sin goes unchecked, it will permeate and infect everything and everyone around them.

Unleavened bread symbolizes sanctification. In our partaking of unleavened bread or the symbol of unleavened bread it symbolizes that we are constantly in a state of sanctification; a state of being set apart to serve the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.  The Lord Christ Jesus was crucified on the cross at Golgotha on the day of Passover. He was then buried in a newly hewn tomb donated by Joseph of Arimathea. However, unlike all other corpses, the body of Jesus (Yeshua) would not decay in the grave. There would be no decomposition of His body, no, none indeed. God the Father would not "allow thine Holy One (His Son Jesus) to see corruption (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27). The Feast of Unleavened Bread proclaims that Christ's physical body would not experience the ravages of death while in the grave; for He was sanctified (set apart) by God the Father.

      In verse 19 we come to our part of the preparation for the Service of Holy Communion.  Notice it says that the disciples did as Jesus had directed them.  They knew He was the answer and Lord of their life.  They were committed to Him.  As we come to the table today we need to come to Jesus with humility. We need to humble ourselves and come with the realization and understanding that we need Jesus’ intervention in our lives in order to have salvation and eternal life; which we cannot achieve on our own.  It is through Him, the true Paschal Lamb; the true Passover Lamb whose blood was shed for us; the one who truly delivers us out of the bondage of Satan and sin; that we come to this table today.  We come to this table with a renewed commitment to follow Jesus no matter what the cost. Out of love for our Savior and what He did for us, we willingly lay down our lives at the foot of the Cross in love and gratitude for what He has done for us; ever mindful of His death for our sake.  And finally, as we come to the table we come before the Lord in a time of examining our lives before we take Holy Communion.  As we read in 1^st Corinthians 11 we are told not partake of the Holy Supper without first examining ourselves and so after today’s sermon we will take a few moments of silent reflection to examine our lives and our unworthiness to come to this table, except for the intervention of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

     Looking over at verses 26 and 27 we come to an interesting time in the meal that comes out of our time of self-reflection.  The Scripture says that Jesus took the bread and blessed it.  Have you ever thought of this and what Jesus is actually doing here?  Jesus is blessing His upcoming torture and Crucifixion.  Think about that – Jesus is blessing His upcoming scourging and death!  This amazes me because He did this for you and me.  Jesus was blessing the beating He would take on our behalf; in other words he was blessing the stripes by which we are healed.  He then goes on to bless the shedding of His blood, just like the sacrificial lambs blood would be shed for the sins of the people, so that we might be cleansed of all unrighteousness and be place back in a right relationship with God.  Yet, this sacrifice that Jesus is speaking to at the Last Supper will be the final sacrifice.  Later on when on the Cross Jesus said, “It is finished,” we need to understand that another way of translating that phrase in Greek is, “It is paid in full!”  Jesus was willing to bless His upcoming death because He knew the end result would be that He was paying in full our debt before God!  This amazed me when I saw this point this week.  Have you ever thought of Jesus blessing His death as part of the Holy Supper!  How many of us here this morning can bless the things we are called to sacrifice?

     Finally we need to understand why we have communion and what it means to us here today.  I call it a time of anxiously awaiting the return of Christ.  Jesus told his disciples to do this in remembrance of me. He was telling you and me this morning to be in remembrance of His death for our sins until He returns.  And then tucked away in verse 29 is something I don’t want us to miss.  He speaks to His resurrection and more importantly His return.  Look at this verse along with me.  He states that He will not drink of this cup again until the Father’s Kingdom.  What He is actually saying is that He will not drink of this cup again until the Father’s Kingdom is reestablished on earth.  Can you see what verse 29 is telling us this morning – this meal we are about to partake of reminds us and points us to the Return of Christ!  There is coming a day when we will all partake of that meal with Jesus Christ at the great wedding feast and become the bride of Christ.  What a day that will be and I am looking forward to it, are you?

     The final point I want to make this morning speaks to one of the crowns that will be available to us at the Day of Judgment.  Without going into too much detail, there will be five crowns we can receive when we are judged by Christ.  This Day of Judgment is for Christians only and will take place in Heaven right after the Rapture of God’s church.  This is not the Great White Throne Judgment which will happen after the 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ – that is for the unsaved only.  This crown I speak of is found in 2^nd Timothy 4:8, “Finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to only me but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  This Crown is for those believers who are ready and waiting for the Return of Jesus – all those who have Loved His Appearing. So as we come to the table we do so with that anxious expectation of the Return of Christ or as I like to say we are anxiously awaiting the Return of Christ. 

     As one can see the meal we are about to partake is not some ritual we do the first of every quarter or on special occasions.  Zwingli had it right when he wanted emphasis only on the meal and that it should be seen as a special occasion to spend quality and sacred time with the Lord.  Today, we have learned about what the Feast actually means in the context of Jesus’ time; what our preparation should be; what Jesus was really blessing and can we make that same commitment to bless our sacrifices; and finally that we are to celebrate this meal by anxiously awaiting the Return of Christ.  Jesus gave us this Remembrance Meal for a reason and let us never take it lightly.  To those who have ears let them hear the Word of God and His message…

When, If, Then, Now

2^nd Chronicles 7:13 – 16

Today we gather to celebrate July 4^th in the church. July 4^th speaks to the freedom founded in our country 236 years ago this coming Wednesday.  This week I thought back to what those men who signed the Declaration of Independence sacrificed.  They sacrificed their ties to their former country (England); they sacrificed the life of comfort and peace; they sacrificed the surety of tomorrow (for they did not know what this new life would bring); in other words they sacrificed everything to stand up for a new nation that was being created.  The early settlers came to seek religious freedom from a tyranny led government who wanted to tell them how they were to worship and to what church that would be. And through that expansion to a new world the United States of America was formed.  Religion played a big part, if the not main reason, this country was founded!

Our Scripture text for today talks about freedom as well.  Yet, in our search for freedom we must look within to start with.  We gather here this morning to worship our Lord and Savior and not a nation – we gather to look within our own lives and seek the freedom that can only be found in Jesus Christ. 

Turn with me to today’s text and if you would find your bulletin insert as we talk about what it means to seek God and have Him listen to our calling out to Him.  Read along with me the passage found at 2^nd Chronicles 7:13-16:

¹³ "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually" (NKJ).

There are 4 key words in today’s passage and they are listed as our sermon title for today.  We start in verse 13 with the word “when.”  In this case in the Hebrew vernacular it is the word “behold,” which means we are to stand up and take notice about what is about to be said.  God told Solomon, “When I do these things…”. Now some of your translations may say “if” but I believe “when” is more appropriate here because of the prayer of Solomon at the time of the dedication of the Temple which is found at 2 Chronicles 6:26-27.  Solomon prays, "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance." 

Today’s Scripture is in response to Solomon’s prayer, so as Solomon prayed with a realization of a time of struggle God responds that this will indeed become a fact.    The first thing that has to take place is for us to look realistically at our lives and see what the true condition of our lives really is.  In verse 13 we get a glimpse at that condition.  When this verse says that there is no rain, we need to understand that this means that nothing is growing and we are starting to die spiritually.  I liken this to someone who has a garden.  In order to plant a garden there must be a turning of the soil in order to get the produce to grow.  We must not become complacent in our lives as to which we are not growing stronger spiritually.  We need to continue to plow the spiritual fields in order to grow.  We should do 5 things each day of the week, not only on Sundays and they are: Worship, Pray, spend time in Solitude with the Lord, Listen for the Lord, and read the Word of God.  If we do this then we will draw closer to Christ and the days of no rain with go away or at least be lessened.

Now if we continue to stay the same and remain comfortable without growing spiritually, we will find that the locust will devour us.  This means what little is growing will be eaten up.  Satan will see this as an opening and jump to seek, devour, and destroy.  This is a critical time in our individual life and the life of the church, because if we have not taken a realistic look at ourselves we will open ourselves to the onslaught of Satan as we learn when we look at the third point made from God of a person or church not growing in Christ.

God teaches us in verse 13 that when we are not growing and are under attack, pestilence will come amongst us.  This means that we are so weak that we open ourselves to Satan and everything he has to throw at us.  At this point we are in dire straits and in need of some major spiritual overhaul. I want to emphasize we may be down, but we are not out – God has a plan to redeem us and pull us out of this sinful pit.

Look at verse 14 and we see the second word of today’s sermon and that is the word “if”.  It is a conditional conjunction, so this passage is saying when these things happen, “if my people” do as I say “then” this will happen to them.  So we must first look at who the people are that God is speaking to in this passage and is He talking to us today? Verse 13 is explaining the condition of Israel, but we know by Romans 9:22-26 and 2^nd Corinthians 6:16 that it explains that this is also for us to here this morning.  I leave that up to you to read at your convenience – that is Romans 9:22-26 and 2^nd Corinthians 6:16. 

The key word in verse 14 is the word “humble.”  This means that we as individuals and as a church are to take a position that is not easy nor is it in our character.  As the Scriptures say the 2^nd chapter of Philippians, “…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (10-11, NKJ).  We fall before the Lord with a realization that it is only Him who can save us and help our miserable condition.  In other words it a realistic look at who we really are when all our make-up has been removed and who we really are in the eyes of God. And we are truthful we will realize that we are sick and sinful and we need to pray, because you see a sick land, a sick church, a sick person (with sick meaning sinful) who continues to remain in their sickness or sinfulness cannot humble themselves before God and pray.  We have to come to that moment when we realize we need God and then we will truly humble ourselves and pray, “God we messed up, if it is to be fixed it is going to have to be you who fixes us!”  Brothers and sisters, when we humble ourselves it is shown by the evidence of prayer life, for the fruit of humility is prayer and humility is the fruit of prayer.

The next thing God says to the people in verse 14 is seek my face. The word “seek” means to deeply desire to get God’s attention; you seek until you get His attention; remember the woman who came to Jesus and ask for His attention even to the point of being so pushy as to ask for the scraps from the table.  She deeply desired Jesus and His attention, so should we!  This means we don’t get up from prayer until we receive an answer from God.  I am reminded of reading Billy Graham’s autobiography where Rev. Graham and his team would spend all night on their knees in prayer together in preparation of an upcoming or an ongoing revival.  Or what about Pat Robertson, when planning the start of the 700 Club, took orange juice into the church and said he would come out of the church when he had received an answer from God as to whether or not to start this ministry; and 7 days later emerged with the answer God gave to him. Now that is what this verse is talking about we seek God with that passion and commitment, and that is the same passion and commitment we have as we find in Rev. Graham and Pat Robertson because they took what Jeremiah 29:13 said to heart and that is what we should do so as well; when it says: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

But that is not all we are to do, then we are to turn from our wicked ways.  It is at this point that we have realized we are sinners, that we are off track, and we need God’s help and we drop all our attitudes, our desires, our agendas, our wants, our pride, our selfishness; and we repent.  I believe the first act of repentance is that we have to agree with God that His way and His plan is best and we need to follow Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.

The third point of today’s Scripture then takes place: when these things happen or begin to happen and if we will do these things that God has mention then He says “I will hear from heaven”.  When we have God’s attention, because He has our total attention and commitment, the word says He will hear us, that He will forgive our sin, and He will heal our land.  What God is telling us here this morning is that when we come to Him broken and open to His Will for our life, then He will forgive our sin and heal our lives from the ravages of a Satan-led existence.  When we finally realize our total need of God and truly confess and repent, instead of just lip-service; God says, “I will hear you; I will forgive you: I will heal you.”  What great news this morning.

The final point of today’s message is the 4^th word in our sermon title and that is the word “now.”  God says when this happen, and if you do this, then I will do this, and now here is our new relationship that exists between You and me, whether it is individually or corporately as a church or a nation.  My eyes are now opened; my ears are attentive to your prayers; and my name and heart will be where you are.  We will have a new and vibrant relationship with God because first we are in tune with Him and He knows we are committed to Him in a complete subjection and submission mode; we have totally surrendered to Him with every aspect of our life and we are seeking Him daily in a new and exciting way.  We can read at John 14:13 that Jesus said to us, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  This Scripture is fulfilled when we get into the right relationship with God as we have talked about today. 

So in closing when we realize our total need and reliance on God, and we humble ourselves in prayer by seeking our God with a passion that desires to hear His answer and repent of our wickedness and sinfulness; He will hear our prayers, forgive us of our sins, and heal our lives; and then a new and wonderful relationship will begin with our Lord and Savior that will be life altering and life changing. As my pastor friend said this past Tuesday as we studied this passage, “When we get serious with God, God will get serious with us!”  I think that says it all this morning.  If you truly what freedom, you must do as our early forefathers did, be willing to give up everything to follow Jesus. 

Victory is Found in Jesus Christ

Have you ever messed up?  Have you ever done something after the fact you were sorry you acted the way you did?  Have you ever said something that afterwards you wished you could take it back?  Guess what, if this describes you I want you to know something that you are not alone!  We all have done this and we have done this during our walk of faith.  Can I tell you something this morning – you are not perfect and neither am I.  When Christ comes into our life we are made new, but we also have the human sinful nature bubbling underneath that is waiting to come forth at the most proper time.  The Scriptures tell us that “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13, NKJ).  We need to understand that we are going to be under attack from satan, but we don’t have to give in to this temptation.  However, we have victory and that is found in Jesus Christ.  That is the good news for us here this morning.

Turn in your Bibles as we look at a few verses that will show us that we can have victory and how that victory is found through the love of God.  Let us look a verse that we learned as a child – John 3:16. I love the HCSB version of this verse – For God loved the world in this way. He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  From the time of Adam and Eve mankind had been messing up and yet, God still loved His creation and He made a way for that creation to be reconciled to Him.  It was through the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ that this happened and it was not because mankind was deserving, but because of God’s love for mankind.  We are told in the Scriptures, “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” (Romans 5:8, HCSB)  Think about this simple verse, God is saying although you mess up; although you upset me from time to time; even though you get angry with me sometimes; even when you turn your back on me – I STILL LOVE YOU!  No matter how far we fall or how hard we try to run away – God will always still love you and me!  That truly is good news!

Now there are a couple of things I want to touch on this morning concerning the love of God and how we can remain strong in our walk of faith.  I believe it starts and begins with LOVE!  This is a love that we receive we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  The picture of the church is that when one of us hurts we all hurt – when one of us is happy, we all are happy – when one of us needs prayer, we all gather around that person and pray.  That is what I believe 1^st Corinthians 13 tells us when it says to the church: “If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing” (1^st Corinthians 13:2, HCSB). I also love the beginning of chapter 14 of this wonderful book of Paul where he tells us to “Pursue love” (1^st Corinthians 14:1a, HCSB).  Love is the key to people knowing we are followers of Jesus Christ; it is even a command from Him when he says, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35, HCSB).  Notice in this verse it doesn’t say that we can pick and choose whom we will love or whether we are to love others, it states clearly in Greek text that you must have love for others in order to be a follower of Christ.  The phrase concerning our relationship with each other and with those we come into contact with in the world in which we live is translated in this verse as “one must prove their love.”  We need to come to the understanding that love is an attribute of God and it is to be an attribute of us as well – and let us be honest at times it has to be a sacrificial attribute of us!  I think all of us can agree that sometimes loving others is difficult and it is a sacrifice to do so, but when we realize the love that Jesus Christ has for us and the sacrifice He made for us then we should be more than willing to love each other abundantly.  Let’s be honest at the end of the day the choice is ours whether we choose to love or we choose to hate!

In addition when we love one another we will find that the love of the Lord brings about a commonality of Christ with one another, and we do not focus on our short-comings and differences; we tend to build on the issues and problems when love is absent; but when we focus on the love of Christ we will strive to build each other up!  See when we know the love of our Lord and Savior we will not feel beat up or beat down, but we will feel lifted up by the love of Jesus Christ!  We need to understand that He is pouring His love out on us so we can pour that love out on those we come into contact with in this world in which we live! Are we pouring out that love in our lives each and every day?

Secondly, how do we love like Jesus?  Turn with me to Galatians 2:19-20. I have been crucified in Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now lives in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me (HCSB). When we confessed Christ as our Lord and Savior our old self is crucified and we are resurrected into a new life with Christ as our Lord and Savior.  The Scriptures speak over and over about our old self being crucified. One of those times is the passage that says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin…if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him!” (Romans 6:6, 8)  We need to understand that when the love of Christ is in us we are a new person, a person that lives in the world, but is not addicted to the world. The Scripture tells us, “Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.” (1^st John 2:15, HCSB).  Now this may seem harsh, but we that know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior realize this is just a temporary place we are passing through on the way to our eternal home!  How can this attitude of love happen in our lives?  In the Scriptures we read, “For Christ’s love controls us” (2^nd Corinthians 5:14a, HCSB).  The measure of your love of God is manifested by the measure of love we have for each other!

When we allow Jesus to come in and take control of our life the love for Him will allow us to see this world and people in it differently; it will also make us see love in a different light.  However, I know that there will be times that I cannot love you without the help of the Holy Spirit and there will be times that you cannot love me without the help of the Holy Spirit.  Brothers and sisters the Spirit is here to teach us how to love, how to live a life that is pleasing to God as individuals and as a church.  It all begins with the love which we receive when we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior!  Then life changes as we know it and even though we mess up from time to time, we are forgiven by the love covering of Jesus Christ!  This is good news that our Lord desires for us to experience this love and share that love with others we come into contact with. This morning I desire that you receive and experience the kind of love that can only come from Jesus Christ! 


Just remember that love covers a multitude of sins!

 

 

God Desires A Real Relationship With You

This past week I was sitting on a screened in porch early on Monday morning and was reading about the times of Noah.  I went to Genesis 6 and in verse 5 and 6 we can read, "Now the LORD observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and He saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil.  So the LORD was sorry He had ever made them. It broke His heart." (NLT) In Genesis 1:31 God states that the creation was "abundantly or exceedingly good."  Yet by the time of Noah He was heartbroken by what man had turned out to be.  The translation of verse 6 in chapter 6 speaks to an emotional pain that leads to embarrassment and/or anger, which leads God to strike out in judgment against the source of His distress. As I read these three verses that morning on the porch I was elated by the joy in my heart when God said that His creation was abundantly good.  However, just a few minutes later my heart was saddened to know that mankind had become so evil in all their thoughts and desires that God was sorry He ever created them and His heart was broken. As I read  a hope and encouragement came over my soul as I remembered the forgiving power of God and His plan to reconcile us with Himself through the gift of His Son on Calvary.  Although we may be living in a time just as evil as the times of Noah, God is ever reaching out to us with forgiveness, grace and mercy.  His love is so strong that He desires to have a relationship with us that knows no bounds.  Today, that is the relationship I pray everyone will find in their lives.  May you find that true, real and meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.