Communion Message
Are You Helping God?
January 23, 2005
Pastor Leighton Sheley

In the words that we just sung we sang this verse, which said, let this blest assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, my helpless condition, and hath shed His own blood for my soul. How helpless were we?

Well, Ephesians chapter 2 begins with these words: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins... Now something that is dead is something that's nonresponsive. Something that's dead doesn't know it's in need. It doesn't know if it's hot. It doesn't know if it's cold. Doesn't know if it's hungry. Doesn't know if it's clean or dirty or comfortable or anything like that - nonresponsive. And we were spiritually nonresponsive. We were dead.

And that verse continues on and says that we've been made alive in Christ. We become spiritually alive, and when that took place we realized that we were in spiritual trouble. We had a spiritual need. We needed salvation, and we came to the understanding that we couldn't save our self. We looked to God and we found His salvation in Jesus Christ.

When we accepted Jesus Christ, God's Holy Spirit came in and made us a temple, a place where He abides and where He works daily to transform us into the image of His Son ever so patiently, ever so faithfully.

Now the Scriptures say He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. He is the one who began the good work in us. He is the one who works in us. He is the one who will be faithful to complete the good work in us. He is the beginning, the middle, the end - He is everything.

Pastor's message this day is on Christ's all sufficiency. He is the beginning, the middle, the end; He is everything.

Now we've been getting ready for mom and dad's 50th anniversary and I've been going through lots of photos and slides, (chuckles) lots of photos and slides, trying to pick the ones that I think that will be significant to people who come and share that day with us. And there is a picture that always stays in my mind...it's a picture of when I was about six or less, could have been five, could have been seven, somewhere in there. We are out on the front lawn over on Village Lane in Colma, and it's dad and I out on a sunny day and we got a mower, a lawn mower, out there.

Now this was in the last millennium and this lawnmower was not gas or electric. It was one of those old push mowers. You remember the kind? They have the wheels on the side with the gears and then those blades that (swish) like that and cut. You know when I was 13 or 14 I decided to make a little money and I started a lawn mowing business. And that thing...it was hard to push. In fact, it was so hard to get that thing started as a 13 or 14-year-old that I went out and spend some of my profits and bought a gas mower. That was hard to push as a 13 or 14-year-old.

Well this picture has dad pushing the lawnmower and so he's holding on to the top bar and down about half way is another bar, and I'm holding on to that bar and I think I'm helping my dad.

How many of us think we're helping God? Accomplish what He's already intended to accomplish? God doesn't need your help, but fortunately for us He enjoys our company. In fact, He enjoys our company so much that He went to Calvary's cross to pay the wages of our sin so that we could stand in the presence of a righteous and holy God and address Him as Father. Because that's the kind of relationship He wants with us.

He wants that relationship walking in the cool of the day together. He wants relationship with us. That's why Christ went to Calvary's cross, to pay the wages of our sin, to reconcile us, to restore a relationship to God our heavenly Father.

Now the Scriptures say at times like this we should examine our self, and so I'd like to invite you, if you are physically able, to join with me now as we kneel in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

Lord we are so thankful that You love us so much that You did something for us we could not do for ourselves, that You went to Calvary's cross and paid the wages of our sin so that we might have abundant and eternal life. Lord we as a people were not able to keep the Ten Commandments; we couldn't even keep just the one that preceded the Ten. And Lord we are also thankful that we can come to You and ask forgiveness, and ask for cleansing, and Your word says You are faithful and just and will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Forgive us and cleanse us this day we pray as we now partake of these elements in remembrance of You. Let's partake of the bread, and also the cup.

Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. You are everything. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray and all God's people said, amen.