Thoughts
on Devotions – LD28 (Part 1)
Q.
75
How does the Holy Supper remind and assure you that you share in
Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits? Q.
76
What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink
his poured-out blood? Q.
77
Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with his
body and blood as surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this
cup?
Monday: Christians practice communion in obedience to Jesus' command.
But participation also embodies a promise. Jesus said that it signified a
new covenant in his blood. In the OT a new and better covenant was
promised. Jesus brought the new covenant through his death and
resurrection, and we remember that covenant (the promise that God
would be our God and we would be his people) when we celebrate Lord's
Supper.
Luke
22:14-20
Now when the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table and the
apostles joined him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired
to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will
not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then
he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and
divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will
not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it
to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this
in remembrance of me.” And in the same way he took the cup after
they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the
new covenant in my blood.
Tuesday:
God
makes provision for our limited understanding and faith through the
use of physical things to help us understand and experience his
spiritual promises. Baptism uses water in this way and Communion uses
bread and wine.
Genesis
9:11, 13
I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be
wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy
the earth...” I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will
become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth.
Genesis
17:7, 11
I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and
you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their
generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after
you...You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a
reminder of the covenant between me and you.
Wednesday:
We
do not doubt that the bread being passed out in the communion service
is real or that the cups or juice or wine are real. It is just as
real and sure that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for me, and
that because of his death God is no longer angry with his people.
This is what we should remember when we take communion.
Romans
5:6-9
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for
the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person,
though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)
But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been
declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from
Godʼs wrath.
Thursday:
When
we put the communion bread in our mouth and chew it, and when we
drink the communion juice and swallow it we do not doubt whether we
have done it or not. It is just as sure that Christ nourishes and
refreshes my soul for eternal life. We are reminded that Christ's
crucified body and shed blood opens our way to eternal life.
John
6:31-33
Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written,
ʻHe gave them bread from heaven to eat.ʼ” Then Jesus told them,
“I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the
bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from
heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”
Friday:
Communion,
as compared to baptism, is received multiple times during a
believer's life. It is a form of spiritual nourishment. This along
with the reading of the Word and prayer nourishes, strengthens and
refreshes us.
John
6:48-51
I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the
wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that has come down
from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die. I am
the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this
bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life
of the world is my flesh.”
Saturday:
Receiving
the sacrament of Communion is a time for solemn reflection. That is
why many churches do not allow children to participate until they are
old enough to understand what it is about. It is a sad time because
we remember that it is our guilt that put Christ to death, but we can
be glad in the fact that because Jesus fulfilled God's law and died
on the cross, I am forgiven and able to be adopted into God's family.
Isaiah
53:3-6
He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and
was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was
despised, and we considered him insignificant. But he lifted up our
illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being
punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done.
He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of
our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his
wounds we have been healed. All of us had wandered off like sheep;
each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the
sin of all of us to attack him.
Reading between the lines...
What
do you think of “a cross to bear”? In common parlance it usually
refers to a difficult circumstance that we have to deal with. Or in a
religious context we think of it as having greater determination to
“live for Jesus” - doing certain things that are seen as pious.
But Jesus, in calling us to bear a cross, calls us to die to self.
There are 3 aspects to this: 1) identifying with Jesus and walking
the path with Jesus, 2) abandoning our old life and committing to
living for Jesus, and 3) finally, being freed from our old life.
Jesus has paid of our debts in full and we are now free to live for
God. We have nothing to bring to the deal except death – we are
dead in our trespasses – but Jesus “can work with that” – he
is an expert at bringing the dead to life. Jesus does not want us to
try harder or be more determined – he wants us dead, Surrendered to
him. Realizing that we have nothing to bring and turning to Jesus
results in new life.
Luke
14:27-33
Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple. For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesnʼt sit
down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to
complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able
to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him.
They will say, ʻThis man began to build and was not able to finish!ʼ
Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not
sit down first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to
oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot
succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a
long way off and ask for terms of peace. In the same way therefore
not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own
possessions.
“Lost
sheep” is the image that the Bible uses for people. There is a
similarity in being free – free to do what we want – and being
lost. We talk about “finding ourselves”, but how does a lost
person find themselves? If you are lost, what do you need to do? You
need to find home. The good news is that someone from home has come
to find you – the good shepherd has come to find lost sheep. Once
we are home we do not need to “find ourselves”, we can just be
ourselves. Sheep are dumb – do we think of ourselves as brave
explorers, masters of our own destiny? The Bible's picture of
humanity is of sheep who do not even know enough to respond to their
Master and follow him. We should stop struggling to find ourselves
and call out to Jesus to rescue us – he will carry us home.
Isaiah
53:6
All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on
his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him.
Luke
15:4-7
“Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them,
would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for
the one that is lost until he finds it? Then when he has found it,
he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Returning home, he calls
together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ʻRejoice with me,
because I have found my sheep that was lost.ʼ I tell you, in the
same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
The
world is divided into 2 camps – sinners and slaves. Sinners love
freedom; the slaves love respect. Sinners opt out of the system to
discover themselves; slaves opt into the system to prove themselves.
Each group thinks the other is the real problem with the world. And
they respond very differently to the grace of Christ. This is seen in
the parable of the prodigal son. The prodigal is a sinner, the
brother is a slave. But in the parable the “hero” is the father
(the one who welcomes sinners and eats with them). The father
represents Jesus – as he is in all of the parables. In the 3
parables of this section he makes the same point - “I've come to
find the lost.”
Luke
15:1-2
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him. But
the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This
man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luke
15:28-32
But the older son became angry and refused to go in. His father came
out and appealed to him, but he answered his father, ʻLook! These
many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed
your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could
celebrate with my friends! But when this son of yours came back, who
has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fattened
calf for him!ʼ Then the father said to him, ʻSon, you are always
with me, and everything that belongs to me is yours. It was
appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and
is alive; he was lost and is found.ʼ”
Who
is easier to get into heaven, a good person or a bad person. A bad
person! The two sons in the parable of the prodigal son are an
example. Who is welcomed and forgiven? The bad son. Who is left
outside? The good son. We react to this – this surely cannot be
right! Sinners and slave = unrighteous and self-righteous. Jesus
welcomes and eats with sinners, but the self-righteous become angry.
Our default mode is the same as the younger son – we want God's
stuff, but we don't want anything to do with him. We don't need to
become bad, we need to realize that we are bad. Neither sinners nor
slaves want the Lord – they just want to use the Lord to get things
out of him. The sinners take their share and run to the far country,
while the slaves take theirs and build their reputation. The father is
generous and gives the children what they each want. The far country
is a mirage, the pigsty is the reality. True liberation is found at
home with the love of the man who welcomes sinners.
Luke
15:13-16
After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and
left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his
wealth with a wild lifestyle. Then after he had spent everything,
a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in
need. So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that
country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He was longing
to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him
anything.
We
often read the parable of the prodigal son as though the point is
that the prodigal changes his mind, repents and straightens out his
life. He finally comes “to himself” - the son's response to the
father is actually a quotation of what Pharaoh said in Exodus. The
prodigal's plan is not to repent and return to be a son, but as
someone seeking employment from the father – he resolves to become
a slave. This is the result of preaching “pigsty repentance.” – to leave the pigsty to enter the slaves' quarters – but this is not
what the father wants. When he sees the son, before the son can say a
word, he takes action to welcome him. He cuts the son off; before he
can make his job application the father begins the extravagant
welcome. This is what brings the son home – the father's action is
what reconciles the son. The father publicly invites the son back
into the family. The prodigal finally finds true freedom and change
in the father's embrace. True change is found in the arms of Christ.
Luke
15:17-19
But when he came to his senses he said, ʻHow many of my fatherʼs
hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from
hunger! I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father,
I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer
worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired
workers.”ʼ
Exodus
10:16
Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have
sinned against the Lord your God and against you!
Luke
15:20-24
So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long
way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he
ran and hugged his son and kissed him. Then his son said to him,
ʻFather, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no
longer worthy to be called your son.ʼ But the father said to his
slaves, ʻHurry! Bring the best robe, and put it on him! Put a ring
on his finger and sandals on his feet! Bring the fattened calf and
kill it! Let us eat and celebrate, because this son of mine was
dead, and is alive again - he was lost and is found!ʼ So they began
to celebrate.
The
day the prodigal returned home was an incredible day for the father –
he received his son back! – and for the son – he expected only
punishment but he was celebrated by the father. The village
experienced an incredible party! The older son, however, was
furious. The servants were more in tune with the father's plans than
the older brother was, and the village witnesses a angry rift between
the older son and the father. It seems that the father has the two
worst sons in Israel – one shames the father in the pigsty and one
shames the family in the backyard. But the father again will bear the
shame of the sinful children. He reconciles with the younger son, and
now he goes out to the older son and begs him to come to the party.
The father would have all if they would only come. The older brother,
instead, relates to the father as a slave, an obedient slave, yet a
slave. The father says, “Everything I have is yours,” but the
older brother never asks. He would rather be a good slave than a
beloved son. Each son in his own way uses the father, but does not
want a relationship with the father. The father refuses to deal with
either son on the basis of their moral record – Jesus summons
younger brothers and elder brothers and asks that they “join the
joy”.
Luke
15:28 But the older son became angry and refused to go in. His
father came out and appealed to him,
John
Newton, in Amazing
Grace,
identifies with the younger son of the story. But the older brother,
too, needs amazing grace. Most people recognize that the younger son has done wrong. But the older brother is also far from the father's
heart – he is lost and needs finding. It is important to
realize why the older brother is shut out of the feast – he is not
out of the feast because of his badness, he is out because of his
goodness and high morals. He is not out of the feast because his father is too cruel,
he is out of the feast because his father is too kind. He despises
the one who welcomes sinners and eats with them. This is the end of
the parable, with the bad son in the feast and the good son outside.
What happens next? While the parable ends here, we know how the story
ends between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders. The religious
leaders hated Jesus and the grace he offered so much that they murdered him. Christ was not killed by a mob, he was killed by
moralists like the older brother. Whether we are the younger brother or the older
brother, we need to be reconciled and welcomed by Jesus.
Luke
15:31-32
Then the father said to him, ʻSon, you are always with me, and
everything that belongs to me is yours. It was appropriate to
celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and is alive; he
was lost and is found.ʼ”
