Communion Message
(God sent His Son)
July 14-15, 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 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 ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as ye 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 the 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. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

It's a joy to have with us today at worship. Here a Church of the Highlands we do something every Lord's Day and that is we honor our Christ by sharing in the supper that He provided for the church. If you're here today and maybe you're searching for God, maybe you don't know what it is way down deep that creates the hunger, but you're here and we're delighted that you're here. We have one purpose as a church and that is to help people fall in love with Jesus. That's simply our motto. And today we honor our Christ because He said as oft as you do this, that is partake of communion, you proclaim the Lord's death again; that is, we tell again the story of how God in His infinite love made it possible for you and me to have our sins forgiven.

In the ancient past, in the Old Testament, after man had sinned God made the arrangement whereby they would bring and animal to the place of worship, to the tabernacle, or temple. They would place their hand upon the animal as if to transfer their sin to the animal and then the animal was slain. You see, in the early moments of history God made it very clear that without the shedding of blood there was no forgiveness nor covering for sin. And thus, He instituted the sacrificial system that we find the record so clearly throughout all of the Old Testament. So every time someone transgressed the law of God they went to their flock, found the most perfect sacrifice, the most perfect animal, and the took that animal to the priest and to the altar and there it was sacrificed. That lamb died. It shed its blood as the substitute, because death -- it is appointed unto man once to die. The wages of sin is death.

And God took care of the problem in the Old Testament through the sacrificial system. You see, He had already told Adam and Eve that if you do this you're going to die. And He had every right in the world when He came down and found that Adam and Eve had transgressed His law and violated what He had said, and they had partaken of the tree. He had every right in the world to slay them. But here's where His mercy enters the picture: He goes out into the garden, finds a substitute in the form of an animal, and the substitute dies so that Adam and Eve could live. That whole system of worship took place throughout all of the Old Testament, then the Bible tells us that in the fullness of time God sent His Son. And Jesus Christ came to be that final substitute for all mankind. He died for you and He died for me as my substitute. He paid the penalty for my transgression and for yours. And if I will put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord, and ask Him to be my Redeemer and my God, and I commit my life to Him, He forgives us of our sins and we stand before Him, as the big theological words says -- justified, just as if we had never sinned.

That's the wonder of the cross. That's the marvel of the Christian gospel. That if we put our trust in Christ, no matter how much we've sinned, He forgives us, and cleanses us, and justifies us in God's sight. And that's why at each service we have the communion service. It gives us, as Christians, the opportunity to once again say I believe and I proclaim by my participation in this supper that Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Lord. But you know and I know that many religions, they have put a fence around the table. They have set up their qualifications and you have to meet certain criteria before you can partake of their communion. And I've often said one of the greatest thieveries of all time is when the church stole the table from the Lord. It's His table not ours, and we as churchmen have no right to set its regulations. God set His regulations, and we read them today, He said, if we partake in an unworthy manner. That means if we partake without respect, without honoring our Christ from the depths of our being, we drink to ourselves a judgment. God already set the restrictions on the table.

But there's another thing that we include in our communion, and that is, if you're here today and you're searching for God and you want very much, you don't know exactly what all this religion is about, you just know your heart is hungry and you want to open your life to God, to Jesus Christ. You can partake with us. And as we pray you just pray, Jesus, this is my first time ever doing this, but I understand that it honors You and it speaks of Your death at Calvary where You became the substitute for me. Jesus, I believe in You as my Savior, and I accept You, and by taking of these elements today I am proclaiming that in a very visual way. That's why this moment is so very precious. Because almost at every service people come and they're hungry for God and they're reaching out, and we want to just make sure that the table of His grace and His mercy is wide open to everybody. okay?

So we're going to kneel today, all of us as a congregation. And if you're here searching for God, why don't you just with your eyes closed in quietness just say, Jesus, I'm here and I've come because there's something inside me that's empty, and I'm reaching out today and I'm trying to find the answer to life. So Jesus, I came to church today and I understand that You died 2000 years ago for me. You died as my substitute. You died so I could live, and I thank you for that dear Jesus. And so today I acknowledge You and I receive You as my Savior, and I identify with You today by taking these elements of communion that bespeak of Your body given in sacrifice, and Your blood that was shed for my cleansing. Thank you Jesus. Let's take the bread together, shall we?

There's so much about You, dear God, we don't understand, and Your ways. We don't understand why You made it necessary in the Old Testament that blood must be shed to cover our sins. We don't understand that, but we do understand that Jesus, when You went to the cross and You died on our behalf, You shed Your blood; You gave Your life so we could live. And even though we don't understand it, we believe it with all our hearts, and we drink this cup today acknowledging that it's by Your precious blood we're cleansed from all of our sins. Let's take the cup together, shall we? And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?