Communion Message
(The door is open)
April 21-22, 2001
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me." After the same manner also He took the cup and when He had supped, saying, "This cup is the new testament in My blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

Years ago in a distant city a pastor stood on Sunday morning to lead his congregation in communion and this is what he said to them. Ah, come with me to the altar of God on Calvary Hill. Step softly for we approach holy ground. Yonder in the distance stands the cross, the moral magnet of the universe. Calvary -- scene of suffering, hill of horror, delight of demons. Calvary -- the pinnacle of divine love standing at the crossroads of time and eternity. Calvary -- God's mount of mercy and altar of atonement. Calvary -- man's demonstration of degradation for the cross reveals how far fallen man had fallen. It portrays the determination of a holy God to save sinners. But we must begin at the beginning, and in the beginning was God. So our journey to Calvary must begin in the council chambers of eternity before the foundations of the world were established. Paul says that according as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

You see, the shadow of the cross fell upon the earth while it was yet without form and void. For Calvary was in the mind of God and in the heart of Jesus before light streamed across the earth or sin plunged it into darkness all over again. Calvary was not an emergency measure thrust upon the triune God to save man. This was God's decision for man's dilemma. God's answer to man's problem given and sealed by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit before the dilemma arose and the problem was born. Before Adam was, God had provided a way of escape for His creation. You see, the shadow of the cross is seen even in the Garden of Eden. For at the very place where man fell, God gave hope that he would rise again. For the cross would bridge that yawning chasm that separated man from his God, and so on that cross Jesus paid the penalty for all of our sins.

Paul tells the Corinthian church for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It was on that cross that Jesus died in the place as our substitute. The old prophet Isaiah said for He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. On that cross Jesus opened the door of reconciliation for all of us so that we again might establish fellowship with God. Paul tells the Corinthians, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight. On the cross He shed His blood to save us.

Paul tells the Roman Christians, much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him. So today on this beautiful day of worship we come once again, Paul says to the Corinthian church, each time that you participate in communion you're telling again the story of the cross. And what we're doing today in our communion is letting the world know that deep within us is that faith and that acceptance of the fact that 2000 years ago Jesus died on the cross in our stead. You see, the wages of sin is death. God had told early man that if he sinned he would die, so sin has its penalty and that's death. And what happened at the cross, Jesus took our death for sin and died in our stead. That's why we call Him our substitute. And so when we partake of communion we're simply saying in a very profound and wonderful way, Jesus, I believe that 2000 years ago You died in my stead. You took my sin so I could live eternally with You, and we tell again this story of the cross. Let's kneel together, shall we?

Jesus, it's really hard for us with our human minds so limited to try to grasp the eternal truths of our redemption. We sit in these padded pews 2000 years removed from a cruel cross on a hill of shame and a mob filled with violence. We're here, but we want You to know dear Jesus that with all of our heart our trust is in You as our Savior because we believe that on that tree, on that cross, You took our sins, my sins, and You paid the ultimate penalty with Your life. You died so that we might live eternally. You died so that You could forgive us. So on our knees in this beautiful moment we ask You, Lord Jesus, to forgive us. There's not a one of us who kneel here today that would ever claim any degree of perfection. We've thought things we should not have thought as Christians. We've said words that we should never have said, and we've done things that were not Christ like. We're sinners, but You promised that if we confess our sins You would be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and You would cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we ask You to forgive us dear Jesus, and these simple elements of a wafer of bread and a cup filled with the fruit of the vine tell us that's exactly what You want to do. This is our reminder of Your love.

Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. Maybe dear Jesus this entire week has gone by and we were thoughtless in our relationship with You and we didn't tell You that we love You, so we want to do that now. We love You dear Jesus and we are very grateful that You love us, and everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?