Communion Message
(Are the elements a symbol?)
June 12-13, 1999
Pastor Leighton Sheley

Reading from the familiar passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 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. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

Jesus said, this is My body, this is My blood, and you know there's been some debate down through the centuries among the believers as to what exactly Jesus meant by these words. Did He mean that the elements that we now hold literally become the body and the blood of Christ, or was He referring to a symbol? Is there room in the original language for the emblem? Yes there is in the original language room. Let me see if I can try to communicate the concept to you. I have before you here a picture of my family. And I could say to you, and everyone in this room would understand what I'm saying, this is my family. Now actually this is not my family. My family is flesh and blood. This is simply an image of my family, but to everyone present here I could say, this is my family, and you'd know exactly what it was I was trying to communicate. In the original Greek it is possible that Jesus meant, when He was referring to the elements, this is an image of My body, this is an image of My blood. You know, if God chose to, God could make the elements literally His body and His blood because God can do anything. So then, you might say, okay, well where is the official position of Church of the Highlands, our church family here, on this issue? Is it symbol or is it literally the body and the blood of the Lord? The answer is, we believe it to be a sacred mystery. We do not understand everything, every aspect of communion, but we know that it is sacred and that it's not to be handled in a trivial fashion. When believers in the church at Corinth handled the Lord's Supper in a trivial fashion, some of the were weak, some of them were sick, and some even died. When we gather around this table it's an opportunity for us to examine ourselves as we're called to do so in the Scriptures, to recognize our failures and temptation, to recognize our sin, and to call upon our Savior for His salvation.

I invite you now, if you're physically able, to join with me as we bow in the presence of our Lord and Savior. Lord, as we gather here and we hold these elements we examine ourselves as Your Scriptures tell us to. And Your spirit reveals to us the sinfulness of our way. Lord, Your word says that if we confess our sin, You are faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank you Lord that we can be forgiven. Thank you Lord that we can be cleansed. Thank you Lord for Your great mercy towards us. Thank you for Your great love towards us. Thank you for going to Calvary's cross and there paying the wages of our sin. Thank you Lord. Lord we do not trivialize this moment. This is a sacred moment. We thank you Lord for the privilege to come into Your presence. The elements we hold remind us of the great price that was paid for our sin. Thank you Lord. Let's partake of the bread and also the cup. Thank you Lord. Let's say thank you to the Lord together, shall we? Thank you Lord. Say it again. Thank you Lord. Let's say it again. Thank you Lord. We do say thank you Lord, and it's with grateful hearts that we partake and participate in this fellowship this morning. Thank you Lord, in Jesus' name we pray and together we say, amen. Let's stand and greet our neighbors, shall we?