Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from 1 Corinthians 10. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- There is great mystery announced by Jesus on the night of His betrayal in regard to the new meal of fellowship to be celebrated and shared among His disciples – often, and in remembrance of Him.
- We do not like mysteries. We like explanations. Mysteries bring about a degree of uncertainty in our minds, and to affirm them feels to us as though we are capitulating to superstition. Nonetheless, there is a great deal of mystery that we live with to this day – even in the most important and consequential areas of human events, in medicine and in our courts of law and even in the subjects of higher education.
- Much of the “mystery” that plagues us within the church and faith is in consequence of the fact that God does not consist of the natural material of the cosmos, the creation. He existed before He created all these things – therefore He is above, beyond, and outside of nature. That is not to say that He is not present everywhere, but that He must be distinguished from nature. We will find evidences of His existence and of His marvelous work in creation, but we will not find Him.
- However, the predominant epistemology of the modern world is empiricism – that exercise of gaining knowledge by studying matter and energy, the basic components of the created world. We are trained to demand a plausible natural explanation in order for a thing to be “known,” and to have certainty regarding that thing. In this way we have literally determined not to know anything about God, Who is above, beyond, and outside of nature.
- This also makes it impossible for us to “know,” in this modern sense of knowing, any of the mysteries of Christian faith and reality – like the Trinity, the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also what Jesus asserts in regard to the bread and wine used in His meal of “koinonia” or fellowship and participation.
- So we tend to judge the meal, and other things in the life of the church, in accord with the manner of “knowing” that we are trained in. Thus our approach to the meal is predictably flat and superficial – we expect to get only what we can see and observe, which appears to be no big deal.
- But just as the cross of Christ contains enormous mysteries – the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, Jesus forsaken of the Father, reconciling God to us in spite of our ongoing sin, providing us with justification and eternal life – so also the meal in which these blessings are distributed and bestowed upon us also contains great mystery.
- But the blessedness promised and described and asserted in Holy Scripture is real – and this is the import of our text for this evening. First, that:
I. Partaking The Sacrament Is A Vertical Fellowship With God And With The Lord Jesus Christ
A. This Fellowship, Or “Koinonia” With God – A Joining Together With Him – Is By Means Of Participating In The Eating Of The Bread And Drinking Of The Wine
Text: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”
B. This Fellowship With God In The Bread And The Wine Is “Fellowship” With Or “Participation” In The Very Body And Blood Of Christ, The Eternal Son of God – He In Us And We In Him
Text: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”
Statement: Many of us have issues with “intimacy,” not really wanting others to get too close to us, or to become too familiar with us. We would prefer to have a bit of “mystery” in regard to who we are. The same is true when it comes to our relationship with God – and often this has to do with the sin that remains in us, including aspects of our being, thinking, and behaving that we really don’t want to share as part of our relationship with Him. We don’t want to repent, to acknowledge guilt, and we really don’t want to change.
But in the Sacrament there is intimacy, especially with God. Yes, it also involves mystery – being joined to the body and blood of Christ and becoming part of His body, the church. But it is intended to bless us, and surely is a blessing to us – of forgiveness, cleansing, sanctification, purifying, peace and joy in God, in His blessed presence. And really, we can’t get away from God or hide anything from Him anyway! He is intimate with us already!
Application: No, there is no empirical verification of these things – these are realities that do not consist of “matter and energy” as it exists in the natural world, nor is there any rational explanation as to how these things can be or how they can bring God’s blessings to us. There are not even any theological necessities as to why things must be this way – only God’s choice of gifts and rich blessings, that by means of participation in this meal we receive all of the wondrous blessings procured for us in Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. So we are invited to something far deeper, far more impactful than anything we can experience and learn with our mere senses and logic. For our “seeing” and “smelling” and “tasting” and “thinking” and “knowing” will all pass away in our physical death – but the bonds created and cemented in Holy Communion are eternal.
Transition: And there is another immense blessing that we receive in “THE MYSTERIOUS FELLOWSHIP,” for:
II. We Are Never Alone In This Vertical Fellowship With God And Christ; We Also Become One Body With All Those Who Are Thus Sacramentally Joined To Christ – In A Horizontal Fellowship With One Another In Christ
Text: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
Statement: Now this is also something that we may be somewhat uncomfortable with – and this discomfort also has to do with our sinful nature. We spend a good deal of our lives distinguishing ourselves from others, and often above others – but if we are to be joined together with others in “one body,” the body of Jesus, then we can no longer make these distinctions. We are compelled to care for and honor others as much or even more so than we care for and take pride in ourselves. Likewise, we can no longer hold on to the many animosities, dislikes, disgust, and even malice that we hold toward others – especially those who harbor malice against us and try to harm us or even destroy us with their wicked plots. Those who continue animosity toward others in the church and try to harm them are in fact trying to destroy the very body of Christ – and they will never succeed.
Application: Sin separates, but love joins us together, and this Sacramental fellowship is pure love – God’s love for us which compels us to love one another. It may take us some time to get accustomed to it – such close and intimate fellowship with God and with other Christians, but surely we would agree that love is far superior to sin. And so our incorporation into the body of Christ in this vertical and horizontal fellowship not only saves us but also renews us inwardly in the ways of true and genuine love – a real miracle given the strong reality of our sinful nature!
And though because of our sinful nature we can still observe what appear to be cracks, disease, disharmony, and ill-health in the body of Christ, the reality is that we receive His body and blood “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” and His blood “cleanses us from all sin.” So what is seen is not real, but what is not seen is real. Blessed are those who know and believe these things; endangered are those who reject them in unbelief, or who in impenitence still insist upon participating in this blessed communion but with no desire to receive the blessings offered and conveyed in it or to be renewed in a life of genuine love. It would be far better for them to stay away – for God is real, and what He says is real, created and guaranteed by His own powerful and loving Word. And those who disregard His Word are in danger of coming under His wrath.
Conclusion: It is not so hard to live with mysteries if we know that they bring great blessings to us. We do not become superstitious at all – and taking God at His Word and joyously receiving what He promises has nothing to do with superstition! Rather, in the matter of “THE MYSTERIOUS FELLOWSHIP” of Christ’s Sacramental meal, we are bound to God and all of the blessings of His salvation – drawn into relationships that defy sin and free us to love.
This is the purpose of this blessed gift of the Lord Jesus, to bind His body to Himself and to bind us to one another in love. No doubt this strengthened Him in what He endured on the next day in His crucifixion, and there is no doubt of His joy each time a group of His dear children participate in His body and blood and receive His blessings. May He grant us strength of faith and the same joy. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.