Communion Message
(Is there physical healing in the atonement?)
January 23-24, 1999
Pastor Don Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or  drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

In the life of our congregation in ministering to the flock day after day, there come times as your pastors we are sensitive that there are a great number of people in our congregation who need a physical healing. Of recent weeks this has really come to my attention, and I think what drew my heart to call for our healing service today is a lovely lady who attended our church just recently, moved here from the east coast; a very beautiful young lady. After the service she came up and she said I need your prayer. She said I have tumor of the brain. And we prayed and my heart went out to that person, and yet I also know that there are a large number of people in our congregation who have physical illnesses, and I cannot think of a more appropriate place for a healing service than in a communion service. And I'll tell you why. One of the great controversies in theology over the centuries has been the question as to whether God included physical healing in the atonement. That is, was there more accomplished at Calvary than just the saving of a soul? Was there also included in the act of Christ dying on Calvary was there also included the possibility of physical healing? And the theologians have wrestled over this for centuries. I don't know why? To me the Bible seems very, very clear. Isaiah writes for us, surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed Him stricken smitten by God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by his stripes we are healed. And so the theologian says that just simply is an inclusion phrase that goes along with all of the other explanations as to what He did at Calvary, and thus, it only includes spiritual healing. But it's interesting to me that Matthew as he begins to record the activities of Jesus in the early days of His ministry as Jesus began to heal in Matthew chapter 8. And of course, the Sermon on the Mount covers 5 through 7 so we immediately understand that the healing must have been an early time within the ministry of Christ, His public ministry. And after a beautiful healing had taken place, Matthew says and this was fulfilled as spoken by the prophet Isaiah. And so Matthew aligns physical healing with the prophesy of Isaiah of the Old Testament. Then we come to the writings of Peter, and Peter says that with His stripes we are healed. This I do know. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And He does heal, and we've experienced wonderful healings here at this altar as we have prayed together as a church family. Now there are some areas of physical healing with regards to the doctrine of healing that we do not associate with as a church. We do not believe that you can demand God to heal you, and we believe that it is heresy to teach that if you're not healed there's something wrong with your faith. That's heretical. We believe that God is a sovereign God and that we are His children, and sometimes in His sovereign plan for us pain and times of difficult trials are part of His plan, and maybe even an illness that incapacitates us. Some of the most spiritual people I have ever met are people who were deficient in their physical abilities, but loved Jesus Christ supremely. So we believe that when we come to Christ we just simply say, Lord Jesus, I believe that You're the same yesterday, today, and forever and I believe that You have the power to heal and I present my need to You and in simple trust and faith I ask You to touch me. Now another reason why I feel that the healing service so beautifully blends with the communion, it's this. And again it's the observation of theologians. At the communion table there are two elements. There's the cup and there's the bread. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin and thus it would seem more than sufficient simply to take the element of the cup when it comes to thanking Christ for our salvation, but He also included the bread and He said, this is my body which is broken for you. The bread. It was in His body that He bore the stripes for our healing. And thus, would it not be reasonable for us to conclude that the cup represents the spiritual healing available through the work of Christ and the bread represents the physical healing that is a part of His atonement. It seems so clear to me. Now we're going to do this morning what Pastor James did 2000 years ago. He was the pastor of the first Christian church in Jerusalem, and he writes in his letter to us, is any among you, is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven. And in times past, we just simply ask you to bring your elements with you. If you have a physical need, an emotional need, or a spiritual need. We're not going to ask you what it is. That's between you and God. But you want Christ to do something for you today and you have faith that His power and His presence is available and that He hasn't changed. I want you to come stand around the altar with your elements in quietness. Now we don't believe in a lot of demonstrations. We're not going to ask you to stand here so we can push you over. I won't do that. I think in most cases that is exceedingly disgraceful to the holiness of almighty God. We're not here to draw attention to man. We're here to lift our hearts to our wonderful God. Amen. And our elders will anoint you with oil then we're going to have a simple prayer, and we're going to have communion together. Whatever your need is, please come now.

If you didn't get anointed, would you just simply raise your hand so our pastors can get to you please? Just raise your hand if you've not been anointed. Lord Jesus, we stand here in simple trust in faith. We belong to Your family. You're our wonderful Lord and our healer. And it's our deep and sincere conviction that Jesus, You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. You healed 2000 years ago. You can heal today. You are our eternal God. And so as we stand here in Your presence each of us has a different need. Some of us have physical needs. Some of us have emotional needs. Some of us hurt very deeply. Some of us have spiritual needs. Some of us feel so far from you dear God. Here we stand. We ask you to touch us today. Let's take our bread and raise it heavenward. Would you do that? Just raise it with me. Lord Jesus I just pray that now as we partake of the bread in faith Your precious power, Your infinite glory, Your majesty, and Your wonder shall flood our beings. Thank you Jesus. Let's take the bread together. And Lord Jesus, we hold the cup. We don't claim to understand the eternal dimensions of its wonder. We just know that it represents Your precious blood and we know it's Your precious blood that cleanses us from all sin, and we have claimed that cleansing Lord Jesus today. Let's take the cup together, shall we? Now I'm going to ask you to do something. Let's just raise our hands heavenward shall we? And repeat with me. Lord Jesus, I love You. I have presented my need to You today and by faith I receive Your healing. Thank you dear Jesus. Amen. Amen. Greet the folks that have come to worship with you today.