Communion Message
(They forsook Him and fled)
May 15-16, 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. 

We have observed that Paul has instructed the Corinthians that every time the communion is shared in the body of the believers it's a time of proclamation of, again, the story of the cross. He said as oft as you do this you retell the story of Christ's death. So we've gone back into the writings of Matthew as he paints for us the picture of those closing hours with Jesus before the cross. And he tucks in one little sentence that says so much. In Matthew 26:56 he says, Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. In a great piece of music a composer strikes the note in his prelude, which is the reoccurring, and dominate; it's the keynote of his musical message. Thus, I believe that this grave and saddening line, Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled, is the keynote of the story of the day of the cross. It was a sign, as Jesus had foretold, that His hour had come. It was His first step down into the waters of the baptism of sorrow. It was the first drop He is to drink from that cup, and all His disciples forsook Him and fled. 

Now there are some who forsake Him and then desert Him. The names of the deserts call up the spiritual tragedies of the Scriptures. There's Esau selling his birthright. Balaam making common cause with the degraded Moabites. There're the men who went back from Christ and walked no more with Him, like chaff blown away by the winnowing fan of His austere and spiritual demands. Then there's Judas, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. And then Paul had a friend named Demas, and he writes for us in some of his closing lines in 2 Timothy these words, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. These are the deserters, but there is a way in forsaking Christ in times of trial when at a supreme moment of opportunity we fail Him, we forsake Him. It is the disloyalty of the fearful and the over-tempted. It's the sin of the day of discouragement and despair. All Christians, all of us, have yielded in those times, and it's true that Jesus has always been the forsaken Christ. 

And I thought this week, why, why, why would those disciples at a moment when they needed Jesus most, why would they run away and hide? I came to the conclusion, there were many reasons, but one that was very prominent and that is because of fear. You see, they were simple Galileean fishermen and strangers in this large city of Jerusalem. They were surprised at night in the depths of an olive garden. The sudden Roman faces with Judas at their head, the flashing lamps and the gleaming spears, the rough and insolent soldiers, that's the scene. There's the fear, and they forsook Him and they fled. Now we do not stand beside Christ in the simmering moonlight falling through the trees of an olive garden somewhere outside of Jerusalem, but we do stand beside Him facing the world's scorn and its censure and power to rob us of what so often makes life sweet. And we, when for the sake of our profit, or our ease, or our worldly security and comfort, or for the countenance and approval of others, we forsake what is true and what is pure and what is unselfish. 

We too forsake Christ. You see, there are some losses we will not suffer. There are some prospects we will not sacrifice. There are some friendships we will not relinquish. There are loyalties and obediences we will not give. And there are times we could have stood up for Christ, even this week, and said a good word for Him, but we sat in silence and let the opportunity flee and so we forsook Him. Why? Because we're just like the disciples. We fear men too. Not their spears and their swords, but we fear what man might say and think, and because of that fear we diminish, if not completely close off, our Christian testimony. And after we do that, it's Sunday. It's time to go to church, and we walk into the doors of this sanctuary and the first thing we see are the communion elements, and we know we're going to be confronted with our own spirituality. And oft times we're fearful even to be a participant because the guilt and the shame of our failures are upon us, and we would like to, even if possible, shun the table. But that table stands here Sunday after Sunday and it simply says, come, come. If you want to know the heart of God your heavenly Father this morning as He relates to your times of failures, and mine, just think of the story Jesus told of the prodigal boy. I'd rather give emphasis to the father instead of the son because really it's the heart of the father that's so beautiful. The boy has gone out dissipated, squandered his resources, shamed his family and disgraced his God. When he comes to his senses, he decides to go home. He's hungry. He said, why am I out here in the pigpen? Even the servants have a good meal three times a day, and I'm hungry. I'm going home. You know the amazing thing to me is when that dirty, stinking, because he'd been in the pigpen, boy walked through the gates his dad didn't start judging him or condemning him or telling him of all of his wrongs. His dad walked up and hugged him, embraced him with all of his wrongs. He said; come Son, let's have dinner. And I want you to think of your heavenly Father today. 

We come from our pathways of disloyalty and our times when we have walked away from Jesus. We feel bad about it. I've done that. None of us here can claim any degree of perfection, but when I walk into this sanctuary and I see the table and I hear my heavenly Father saying, come, let's have fellowship. Let's enjoy one another. Let's eat together. And somehow amidst all of that love and forgiveness, I now feel at home one more time at the table. And the table to you today, if you've wandered far from God, the door is open, Father's hands are out, and He says come let's fellowship. And if you're not a part of the family of God, here's a glorious moment just as we all bow our knees to say, Jesus, I really need Your forgiveness and I'm a sinner and I want to be a part of Your family so I can share in the dinnertime. Please become my Savior. And this will become the time when you become a part of the heavenly family.

Let's kneel together shall we. Father in heaven, there's none of us who kneel here today who claim any degree of perfection. In fact, some of us have come to moments of golden opportunity where we could have stood up for You. We could have hallowed Your name in the marketplace or with our neighbors, but we let that moment slip. We forsook that golden opportunity, and in so doing, we forsook You dear Jesus. I'm just as guilty as everyone else here today, and for that I ask for Your forgiveness. We really do love You dear God. We are so weak at times. We are so frail. We're so cowardly. Please forgive us. Please cleanse us and please wash us, and these elements that we hold today tell us that that's exactly what You want to do for us. Thank you. We're sorry. We ask You to forgive us and to cleanse us dear Jesus. Let's take the bread together, shall we? Father, it's so good to be back at Your table and to know that You love us deeply. That we are the apple of Your eye. We are Your cherished possession. We are Your treasure in Christ. Thank you. Let's drink the cup together, shall we? And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?