Communion Message
(Concern for the individual)
November 10-11, 2001
Pastor Donald 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 the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Luke records for us in his gospel a scene at Calvary that is very touching. As you know, Jesus was on a cross between two thieves, and in the early moments of the crucifixion they are both reviling Him. And then one changes his mind and turns to Jesus and asks that he might be remembered. And Jesus turned to that thief and these were His words, today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.

I find that exceedingly interesting that amidst all of the pain and the anguish of Calvary, Jesus was deeply concerned about that individual-that thief. In fact, when you journey throughout all of the New testament and follow the footsteps of Christ, He found individuals to be exceedingly important. He could mix with the crowd and the throngs would gather, but individuals fascinated Jesus. He was guest at a feast and He marked how each one in the feast handled themselves. He stands by the pool of Bethesda and His eye is fixed on one man. A man who has been ill for 38 years, and He extends to him grace and healing.

He sees a procession of mourners passing down the street as they left the little town of Nain, and He picks out the widowed mother in her grief and stops the procession and brings her son back to life. He was with the crowd, but it was the individual that really fascinated Jesus. He can touch the multitudes until they forget day and night and hunger and thirst. He can speak with disciples until their hearts burn within them, but He is at His best, I think, when face to face with the individual.

Mark Him as He speaks with such tenderness to Nicodemus, or the woman of Samaria, or the rich young ruler, or with Martha in her sorrow. How marvelous are those conversations, but if you would more fully realize how He longed for the individual -- listen to His private prayers, for there He calls upon God. You find Him when He prays His high priestly prayer in John 17. It's petition after petition revealing His supreme interest in the individual soul area

And there on that cross it wasn't the mocking crowd that got His attention, it was one individual. A man asking for mercy. We are important as individuals to Jesus. And you know sometimes I think that when we come to church we might feel like we get lost in the crowd, and we're just one of the crowd, but never forget we're individuals here. We've come from our various journeys in life this week, and each of us bring to this moment some deep feelings. Some of us have had some heartaches. Some of us have cried some tears this week. Some of us have situations that we would to God -- if only they would change life would be better, and yet, we can't change them. Only God can change them.

There are fellowships or relationships that we wish weren't that way. Oh how we pray that sometime someday that relationship will be healed. You see, when we come, we come as individuals to this moment -- not a crowd. And I don't want you to forget that when we go to our knees it's Christ interesting you as an individual. He loves us very much.

When I was a little boy we used to sing in our Sunday school class a song about when He makes up His jewels, precious jewels. I don't remember the chorus completely, but it was all about jewels. As a little boy that fascinated me to think that I was so precious to Jesus, I was just like a jewel.

Some years ago, back in the early '70s, when the shah of Iran was in charge of the nation of Iran, I preached in the city of Tehran. I was invited by one of the governmental officials to be a guest in the private treasuries of the shah. We went to a lovely building and then they took us down floor after floor, and guard after guard, down into the pits of the earth and there we came to a room. It had this large encasement of glass and you could walk around it, and here were all the jewels of the shah -- buckets, buckets of them. And I stood there and I remembered the little song I sang: we're like jewels

And I want you today, I want you to realize God really does loves us as individuals, and when we hurt He cares. Some of us brought sin today. We feel guilty about it. We feel ashamed. We wish it hadn't happened. We're sorry. It's at this table we ask Jesus to forgive us; and He does. So let's kneel together, shall we?

Lord Jesus, on this beautiful day of worship we've come to Your house and now we bow before You in this beautiful time of the communion. No longer is it the crowd. It's just You and us. To make it personal, it's just You and me-O wonderful Jesus. Because there on that cross when You uttered those words, it is finished, that veil in the temple was rent. That barrier that separated man from You, dear God, was torn in two and You made Your throne room wide-open to us. So we've come today.

Some of us hurt. Some of us have felt some pain this week as we've suffered great losses. We need You to help us, dear Jesus. All of us come here to this table knowing that we need Your mercy and grace because we're sinners. Not a one of us lived a perfect life this week. I didn't. Nobody else did. We're all sinners. You died on that cross to be our Savior. This bread tells us that in Your body You became our substitute. You died so we could live. And in this cup You shed Your precious blood so that we could have cleansing. Jesus, we all need You today, and I need You. Please forgive me. Please cleanse me. Thank you. Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?