Communion Message
A Passionate Love For Christ
May 15, 2005
Pastor Leigh Bishop

We go to the familiar words of the apostle Paul who writes and says, For I 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.

We are challenged to examine ourselves, and I have been challenged over the last number of weeks with the recurring thought of how God wants us to be a holy people. My one desire is to be holy; we sang that. I learned a long time ago it's easy to say words; it's far harder to put them into practice.

All of us who are here in Christ experienced what I like to call positional holiness. Where in our relationship with Jesus when God sees us He sees us through Christ and Christ's righteousness becomes ours. But God also expects from our lives a practical holiness; a life lived consistent with the teachings of Scripture.

And I am sure you are aware of as I am that in the body of Christ today we find that many Christians go to the same movies, read the same books, watch the same television shows, and listen to the same music that entertains the world, much of which, shares messages contrary to the truth of God's word. And God says be holy.

The initial response to that, of course, is well, you're talking legalism. You're going to give us a bunch of do's and don'ts and rules to live by, and that's legalistic, and you're absolutely right it is legalistic and I am not going to do that because there are those who confuse themselves into thinking that by works they can earn God's favor, and that is not true. But I am going to tell you that the only way to be holy is to fall deeply in love with Jesus.

One of the greatest issues in the body of Christ today is the lack of fervent love for Christ. Jesus was talking to the churches in Revelation and to one church He began to pay them all kinds of compliments for the works that there were doing, because Jesus notices those things. And then He paused, and said but I have one thing against you, you have left your first love. And the challenge I have on my heart, and I hope the challenge I can put on your heart, is do I love Jesus with the same passion today as I did when He saved me, or when He did something special in my life, or when I was intimately involved in seeking His face and following after Him? Or have I allowed the busyness of life, the toil of work, the little things that rob me of time to keep me from His presence and thereby cause my love to grow colder.

Not that I don't love Him, but I don't love Him passionately. You cannot live a holy life without a passionate love for Christ because that's what drives you to honor Him. As we go to our knees in a moment before Him, I want to challenge you to allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart. If your love is fervent, praise God for that. If your love is not what it ought to be, ask the Holy Spirit to renew your passion for Christ. Let's go to our knees.

As we kneel before You, Lord, we know the truth that You are our Savior and Lord. We fully affirm in our hearts that You are the one and only Savior. Lord, we want to sense Your presence and feel the passion of Your love. We want to feel Your presence in such a way that it causes us to tremble, that we can be in the presence of such glory. We hold in our hands the bread and the cup which are continual reminders of your love for us; a love that is unchanging, a love that is so real that You pray for us every day, You walk with us every day, You are involved with our lives and every intimate detail because You love us.

Forgive us Lord for allowing the things of the world to distract us, to cause us to lose our enthusiasm for Christ. Restore to us the joy of our salvation. As we take these emblems, Lord, we take them in faith and as an expression of love to You. Let's partake of the bread, and then the cup.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Lord, we declare from the depth of our heart we love You; help us to love You even more. Thank you, in Your name we pray, amen. Let's stand together take a few moments to greet your neighbor. Welcome to the church.