The Importance Of Teaching On The Sacraments

When I hear people talk about the sacraments of the church. I often hear them talk about what they are not. Very rarely do I hear someone explaining what is happening in the sacraments. We want to keep things as simply a memorial tribute to something that Jesus said to do. I believe this is why people are often confused or do not have a very high view of the sacraments. We emphasize that they are very important but never tell them why. We simply leave it at Jesus said to do it and therefore it is important. While I do not disagree with that statement I think there is more happening that we never talk about for fear of being to spiritual and not completely capable of explaining the spiritual dimension of grace being imparted through the sacraments. What I mean by sacraments specifically here is baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but my attention will be on the Lord’s Supper.

The Bible calls Christians ambassadors for Christ (II Cor. 5:20). An ambassador is someone who stands in place of the authority figure who cannot be physically present but is treated as if he is the ruler because he comes as a representative of ruler. If you disobey or disrespect the ambassador it is as if you have disobeyed the ruler himself. When we apply this to the Lord’s Supper we understand that the person leading the Church in the Lord’s Supper is representing Jesus Christ. This does not elevate the person to a special status; it just simply means that this person is standing in the place of Christ because He is not able to be present physically. He is Christ’s representative. His role is to facilitate revealing Christ as a reminder of Christ’s continuous saving grace which is being celebrated.

The one who is leading the Lord’s Supper stands before the body as a representative of the body’s faith and therefore, he represents the head of the Church which is Christ It is the binding nature of the Spirit that makes this possible. It is the Spirit that acts not as separator of the priesthood of Jesus from the priesthood of believers, but as the mediation that binds the two. In this capacity it is the representative that shows eyes of faith, the work of the Spirit that brings about the work of Christ. The facilitator is reminding the Church of the redemptive power of the Spirit which is the work of Jesus. Therefore, in remembrance of Christ’s death and continuous saving grace, it is the role of the representative to distribute the bread and wine and repeat the words of Christ. He is acting as Christ did in the upper room when He gathered the disciples and invited them to participate in the Lord’s Supper.

I believe this is how the disciples viewed the Lord’s Supper when they practiced it after Christ’s death. This was very close to home for them and they would not have simply viewed this as just a remembrance of Christ’s death. When the bread was broken, they would have had a visual stamp in their mind of when Christ had done this. As they took the bread they would not have viewed it as coming from Peter, or Paul, or whoever else might have distributed it. They would have seen it as coming from Christ through this person.

So what makes this so significant? It is because Christ is spiritually present and we fellowship with Him. John 11:56 says, “They kept looking for Jesus in the temple area and asked one another ‘What do you think? Isn’t He coming to the feast at all?” While Jesus was alive there were festivals and celebrations that He did not attend because His time had not yet come. Well friends, His time has come and He wouldn’t miss out on attending His feast for anything. While He cannot be here physically, He is here spiritually and we can be confident that He is there because the feast is His. If Christ were to be absent then the partaking of the Lord’s Supper is done in vain. Christ also promised in Matthew 18:20 that “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” If it were possible for us to see beyond the temporal I believe that we would see Jesus Christ standing next to His representative responding like the master did to the servant in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:18, when the master says “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

The Spirit also plays a key role in the Lord’s Supper. Since Christ’s death on the cross, the Spirit’s role has been modified. It is the Spirit that draws us into the sacrificial attitude of Christ. It is the Spirit of Jesus that marked His life and it is that same Spirit that marks our lives within His story. Our faith is shown by our participation in His faith which was a sacrificial faith that was characterized by His human acts of love towards God and His neighbors. As we observe the Lord’s Supper we are being molded and transformed into the likeness of Christ. This is not so much a spiritual thing as it is a free-will choice. As you grow in your relationship with God you have a choice to draw close to Him or draw away from him. Part of the sacrificial attitude that the Spirit places in us is that of self sacrifice. Just as Christ was willing to sacrifice everything for the will of God, so also we need to sacrifice our own desires to those of the Father’s. If that is not grace then I have no idea what is.

And all this is just the tip of the iceberg. All that the Lord’s Supper means cannot be conveyed in a blog post so I will leave it at this… We need to do a much better job communicating to our churches the significance of what is happening in the sacraments and quit talking about what they are not and start telling people what they mean.

Sell Out To God

If being “sold out” to God means you are all in, then being a “sell out” means that when things get a little shaky we go after what looks convenient. I think about the rich ruler in Matthew 19. He came to Jesus asking Him what “good” thing he had to do to get to heaven. A lot of times people want to know what they have to “do” to get to heaven. We like to “do” things because they are convenient and accomplishable, but this is not what secures our eternal destiny with God. You can do nothing to save yourself. Jesus told the man to sell everything he had and give it to the poor and he walked away upset because he was willing to “do” good things but not sacrifice anything. A sell out turns and runs when they are required to sacrifice things they like to follow God. This is why so many people walk away from God. They are told of things they need to “do” but when it costs them something they turn and walk away upset and mad because they don’t want their relationship with God to cost them anything.

A relationship with God is one of self sacrifice. It costs you everything you could ever want because it recognizes that submission to God and His ways are much better than anything this world has to offer. When you look at Jesus’ life He did not live a life fixed on what He wanted to do, but one of complete submission even submission to death on a cross. In the garden the night before He was hung he prayed to the Father asking if there was another way for his death to occur, but if not He would go to the cross.

What is God asking you to do that you are looking to accomplish by means other than He is asking you to? This is a tough pill to swallow even for me but we were never told that a relationship with God is easy or convenient. It costs you more than you can imagine. So are you going to be all in or a sell out when it gets tough and costs you more than you thought it would.

Sold Out To God

When it comes to being “sold out” to God there is one king who always comes to mind and inspires me and it is not David. II Kings 22 talks about a boy who is 8 years old when he became king. I can’t imagine the pressure this would put on an 8 year old when all I would be thinking about is Tom and Jerry and my play station. I can imagine the conversations going something like this “So your majesty, any edicts you want to pass today? Yeah everyday after lunch everyone has to play video games (if they had video games back then) for an hour. This is mandatory. Anyone who will not submit goes to the lions.”

In Josiah’s late 20’s he has the people go and rebuild the temple of God and in doing so the high priest Hilkiah found the Torah. When he brought it to Josiah and read it to him he was utterly dismayed. He found out how far out of bounds the nation was with God and knew that wrath was coming. Josiah had a decision to make. He could either continue in his ways knowing that wrath is inevitable or he can change and hope for God to have mercy on him. Josiah opted for the later and made a commitment to follow after God, but he didn’t stop there. Josiah recognized that everyone needed to turn back to God. This was not just for him but for everyone.

Josiah was passionately chasing after God and when someone does that they take the message of judgment to all so all can turn from their ways to God. Josiah gathered all the people together and they all made a commitment to reenter into the covenant with God. The story says that Josiah went throughout the entire kingdom and destroyed the high places of idolatry and slaughtered the priests. This is not someone who is a “ho hum” follower of God. This man is on fire and has a message of deliverance if you will turn and follow God.

So the question is this. Are you sold out to following after Christ? When you find yourself out of bounds with God do you turn to Him or just keep heading down the same path. Do you find yourself seeking to deliver a message of deliverance to all so they can avoid God’s coming judgment? Three key things I see in Josiah are 1. he was devoted to God 2. he was passionately following God. 3. he was delivered because he turned to God. Does your life look anything like Josiah? If it does then I would say you are sold out to following after Christ.

Discipling in prayer

Whenever I hear someone try and teach another how to pray I always hear things like “It’s just a conversation… don’t be wordy… keep it simple… just act like your talking to a friend… don’t use big words,” but is that how God wants us to communicate with him? I understand that this is a good place to start but do we ever go beyond this in teaching people how to talk and communicate with God? I don’t know about you but I like to engage in intellectual and deep thought with my friends and I would say that God wants us to do the same with Him. I think that this is why if you asked the average person in your church to pray in a group of people they would be hesitant to do so. Telling someone to keep it simple or to act like they are talking with a friend or just having a conversation gives them no instruction in how to talk to God. This is not how Jesus taught His disciples how to pray when they asked Him.

I think God wants more than just a simple conversation for several reasons. The first is that God is more than a friend He is our Father and as a parent wants more than just simple conversation with their children so does God. Second is that as you grow in a relationship you open up more to each other revealing more of yourself and going into deep discussions about life. The same is true with God. As you grow closer to Him you open up and your discussions are no longer simple and easy. Third is that as you become more like Christ you will begin to communicate like He did with the Father. I would venture to say that Jesus did not have simple conversations with the Father and it is evident when you look at Jesus’ interactions with the Father. Before Jesus went to the cross He was praying to the Father so intently that His sweat become blood (Luke 22:39-46). That is not a simple conversation with small words, acting like you are talking to a friend, and not being wordy. That is intense communication!

One of my favorite church fathers Augustine said “He who sings prays twice.” The idea that he is trying to get across is that words are one type of prayer and when combined with harmony/music and you have created another aspect to prayer. What Augustine is getting at is being creative and elaborate in your communication with God. While it can be simple communication it can be so much more if you want it to be and I would say that God does want it to be more. We need to be communicating to our churches that prayer begins simple but as we grow closer to God the way we talk and communicate with becomes more intense and intimate.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us for not teaching your children how to have intimate fellowship with you.

Dealing with guilt and addiction part 2

The biggest lie that Satan uses when you are trying to recover from guilt and addiction is that God walked away from you because you walked away from Him. He will not accept you back. You blew it too big this time. But when you look at scripture this is not the case. The struggle to recovery lies in two arenas. The first is that you are trying to deliver yourself from your addictions and guilt under your own power not asking and trusting God to deliver you. The second is not believing God will accept you back because you have screwed things up too bad this time.

In knowing that you can do nothing to save yourself God sent Jesus to save you. When He came he recognized that life in this world is hard. He experienced it first hand, so He extended His arms out and said “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest… For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matt. 11:28, 30).” Jesus recognized that the yoke of the law was a huge burden and not easy to carry/live up to. This is why He came so that He could offer His yoke which was to follow Him and learn from Him.

But what does this mean for the already Christ follower. It means that you can walk away from God and when you do the yoke that you are carrying will begin to way down on you. You no longer have God’s assistance in carrying it for you. You are carrying it on your own. But the same principle that applies to the non-believer of coming to Jesus for rest also applies for the already Christ follower who has walked away. You have to turn back and ask Him for assistance. When the world weighs down on you and things are out of control you must turn your eyes to the one who is in control of everything and has promised that if you come to Him you will find rest. It begins by falling on your knees and crying out to God for deliverance. The road to recovery begins by recognizing that you cannot free yourself from your addictions on your own. You must cry out to God for deliverance.

The second lie is that God will not accept you back. The only problem is that God is a jealous God and not a big fan of His children walking away. He won’t stop you, but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t want anything else to do with you when you do walk away. There is a story in Luke 15 which I am sure we all know. A very wealthy man had two sons. One son wanted nothing to do with his father and asked him for his inheritance early. Basically what this son was saying to the father is “I wish you were dead can I have what you owe me.” As if he deserved anything in my opinion. But the father accommodated the sons request and gave him half of his estate which the son went off and wasted on huge parties which probably involved lots of sex, drugs, and drunkenness. The son squelched his entire inheritance on parties until there was nothing left and he was forced to find a job feeding pigs. The son recognized his error in judgment and decided to go back to the father and work as a slave. It is interesting how the father responds. When the father saw the son in the distance “he ran to his son and embraced him.”

This is how God responds to you when you recognize your error in judgment and decide to come back to Him. God doesn’t walk away from you He is right were you left Him. He waiting and looking into the distance for you to return and when He sees you way off in the distance He runs to you and embraces you. He doesn’t bring up the past He looks ahead to what the future will become. When it comes to addictions you must cry out to God for deliverance and you cannot be afraid that He will not accept you back. Do not believe Satan’s lies. There is hope if you will “Come to Me all you are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

Dealing with guilt and addiction

So I had a friend come and talk to me about the times he has failed God. He felt guilty coming back to church. He thought people would make fun of him. He did not feel worthy to come back to church for fear of ridicule. He felt guilty. Oh how I wish I could say that I never felt that pain. I tried to tell him that these were Satan’s lies. Only he would use such things against a person. God loves you! It doesn’t matter how far you stepped out of bounds. Jesus said “Come to me all you are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Was He speaking to non-believers??? Yes! But was this principle only applicable for them? No! Jesus said for ALL to come to Him. If you are wrestling with things that are out of your control…come to Him knowing He can deliver you.... More to come on this.