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Atlantis ‹the domain of the Stingray›
Our kids are learning Algebra and Calculus, are expected to memorize the periodic table and to read Shakespeare. Their marching-band routines are ever more complicated, and they are supposed to know all the plays in the playbook. But when it comes to church, we say, "Don't bother me with the details."
‹Rev. Dr. Peter J. Scaer›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
12Mar
2014
Wed
23:33
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
comments: 0
trackbacks: 0

Mid-week Lent I

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ - Lord's Supper

Mid-week Lent I 2014 Wordle
In the name of Jesus. Amen.

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26)

Tonight we have begun to read through the Passion account of Jesus, a synopsis and harmonization of the events leading up to and including the death of the Son of God drawn from the four Gospels. We begin where the Passion begins, on the night in which He was betrayed.

Of course, the Passion really begins before the beginning. As you heard just last week, the Son of God was foreordained, before the foundation of the world, to be the Savior of the world. (cf. 1 Peter 1:20) In other words, “He had in mind before He ever said one ‘Let there be,’ just how He was going to save you, rescue you, redeem you back to Himself.” If you can imagine this outside the context of time, God knew before He had done any creating that the Son would be conceived in the womb of Mary, born in a barn in Bethlehem, be given the name Jesus, be baptized, heal the sick, raise the dead, and go to the cross to die for the sins of the world—past, present, and future.

And so, the Lord’s Supper was conceived before the foundation of the world, yet instituted when Jesus was manifest among us. And in preparation for it, God saw fit to send His people into slavery in Egypt and bring them out of it. Ten plagues were sent to force the Egyptians’ hand—“Let my people go”—and the last one sought the lives of the firstborn males among all living in Egypt, of man and beast. But, there was a way out from under the touch death: a lamb without blemish would be sacrificed and it’s blood used to cover the house of those who took God at His word—His chosen people. When God, as He passed through Egypt to claim the firstborn as His own, saw the blood on the lintel and door posts, He would pass over that house and spare the people inside.

So it is, that when God sent His Lamb, His Son, Jesus, to die for the sins of the world, His blood covers those who trust in Him, such that when the end of time comes, and He sees you covered with the blood of Jesus, ultimate Death passes over you. This is what you are baptized into, for you who have been washed in the blessed flood have put on Christ (cf. Galatians 3:27); that is to say, you are covered in the blood of the Lamb. In Baptism, you have died with Christ who has already suffered that ultimate Death for you and rose again to give you newness of life. Therefore, now, when you eat the bread which is His body and drink from the cup which is His blood, this is what you proclaim: His death and everything that entails.

This is why it is so important to guard the Lord’s Supper to those who are of the same confession, to those who confess the same with regard to what the bread and wine are, who Jesus is, and what His death is. It would be perfectly good practice to admit to the table all who would walk through those doors who profess a faith in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God; Lord knows, I desire to. However, good practice must always be informed by good theology and sound doctrine.

It is not enough to profess a faith in Jesus, to walk through those doors and say, “I love Jesus, isn’t that enough?” What say you: Who is Jesus? What did Jesus do? Why did He die? “[A]s often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” If you confess anything different about Jesus than what is confessed at this altar, then you are not proclaiming His death as is done at this altar. The proclamation of His death is muddied, and the trumpet makes an uncertain sound. (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:8)

So, what is confessed of Jesus at this altar? He is the Son of God, chosen before the foundation of the world to be the propitiation for our sins. He is incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin Mary and was made man. He was given the name Jesus, which means YHWH saves. His sight was ever, from before the foundation of the world, set to Jerusalem and the cross. On the cross, Jesus died—He really died, and having said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He completed the salvation of mankind. For on the cross, Jesus died with all the sins of man, from Adam to the last—every last one of them is atoned for as Jesus—the Lamb of God and Son of God—shed His blood on the cross. His blood covers you and covers a multitude of sins—all sins, all of your sins.

“It is finished.” You proclaim His death when you eat His body and drink His blood. You proclaim what He said as he died. It is finished, completed, fully satisfied. What is completed? The justice of God is finished, exacted fully on His Son as He died on the cross. This is what God had in mind, knew and decided, foreordained, before the foundation of the world. There is nothing for you to do, nothing you could have done, and nothing more for you to do. You are completely lost apart from the grace of God, but out of His grace, He sent His Son to die for you, and in Him, covered in His blood, you are completely justified. Justice is served. This is what is confessed at this altar as you eat the bread that is the body of the Son of God and drink from the cup which is His blood.

This is the Passion of Jesus Christ for you from before the foundation of the world. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” Jesus Christ died for you, died in your place, and so you are forgiven for all of your sins.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Download media: 20140312.midweeklent1.mp3 (3.92 MiB)
audio recorded on my digital recorder
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