Building A Life of Love V, Communion In His Presence

This is North Way tape number 426. This message, entitled Communion in His Presence, is the fifth in the series Building a Life of Love. This message was delivered by Pastor Jay Passavant of North Way Christian community on September 1, 1985. Luke 24:13. That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, what is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still and looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened here in these days? And he said to them, what things? And they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a mighty prophet indeed, and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body. And they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said. But him they did not see. Now this is Jesus speaking. And he said to them, o foolish men and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going, and he appeared to be going farther. But they constrained him, saying, stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. And so he went in to stay with them. And when he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished out of their sight. And they said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures? They rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the 11 gathered together, and those who were with them, who said, the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. We've been sharing the last several Sunday mornings on the presence of the Lord, A subject which I believe God wants us to come to terms with in our hearts because we're so unfamiliar with what it means to us in our experience. Somehow we think of the presence of the Lord only in terms of something mystical and mysterious. I had an experience like that not too long ago, Just after we moved into the building here. I was on the phone. It was about 4 o' clock in the afternoon when the sun was kind of starting to get that mellow glow to it. And I was on the phone with Dick Hatch, and he was sharing with me another vision that he had had about extended ministry. And I was listening quite intently to what he was saying. And I noticed that in the room there was a sense of something beginning to materialize. I mean, the whole room was filling with this. With the sunlight coming through, it began to be a visible substance. And I said, dick, something's happening here. I mean, I'm really getting a witness to what you're saying as a vision from God. And he kept talking, and this substance continued to mount and blow. Pretty soon I was coughing and gagging, and I realized that what was happening was that cement dust was coming through the air conditioning system. They were cutting in a window over in Scott's office, and the air conditioner was picking it up and dragging it through the building and threw the receiver down and ran out of the. That's the truth that happened. And of course, here Dick thought I was real spiritual there, and it didn't work that way. But it's true, isn't it? We don't really know in our own experience very much of what it means to abide in the presence of God. And so we're prone to get caught up with little mysterious kinds of things, beloved. And I believe that just as these two men were walking on that road and Jesus appeared to them and they didn't even recognize him. So it often happens that God comes to us in power and in life in his presence, and we don't even recognize, we're not even able to discern that it's him. Now, this story gives me three specific ingredients that I believe are very applicable to our celebration today of Holy Communion here, just on my right. I don't know if you can see it or not in the back, but the communion elements are placed here on my right. And this little Story about these disciples on the road to Emmaus tells me three things that often happen to us in reference to communion. First of all, these disciples told Jesus what they knew about the situation. Secondly, Jesus told them what they needed to know about him. And thirdly, Jesus made himself known to them in the breaking of bread. Confusion, conviction, contact. Would you say those three words, Confusion, conviction, contact? First of all, let me talk about the confusion of communion. With the possible exception of the second Coming, I don't know of any subject with which we Christians have developed more diverse understandings and convictions. The only thing about the second coming that makes it all just a little more exciting is in the end, we're all going to be there with communion. We don't have an imminent and answer coming. And so it's going to be a process of working it out. But you take a body like North Way, which comes from so many different churches, it's amazing what people think about communion. I made a little overhead. These are just four of the principal commonly held points of view of what communion is. If you don't know these words, you might want to jot them down. Many of you have come from a background that sees communion in terms of what's called transubstantiation. Can you say that word transubstantiation? That means that in literal form, the bread and the wine become the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. This became the doctrine of the Church in the medieval period, principally a little bit before that. And of course, this is what the Catholic Church today believes that the body and blood of Christ literally are formed in those elements. Now along came Martin Luther, who said, this just can't be true. It just doesn't make any sense. It's not what I find in Scripture. And so he developed a practice or a doctrine rather called consubstantiation, which means that those elements are there, bread and wine, literally, bread and wine, but also the body and blood of Christ are there. So whereas the Catholic Church was teaching that those elements literally became the body and blood, Luther would say, well, it's the body and blood woven into it, but they're still the bread and wine. So what was termed the accidents, that's what those elements were called, have not changed in form, even though Christ does permeate them. Well, that wasn't the only development that came along. A man by the name of Zwingli came and said, no, really, all of this was meant to be symbolic. And so communion is really just the spiritual remembrance of what God has done for us in Christ. And there is no changing of the elements, and there's no infusion of God himself in those elements or Christ's literal body and blood. Now, how many people have I covered so far? Go ahead, put your hand up. Most of you. That's interesting. Calvin came along and said, no, it's not really transubstantiation or consubstantiation. It's not really a remembrance. What he said was that the body and blood of Christ were really present in the elements in a spiritual way. Now, that's important because that's different than what Luther taught. The body and blood of Jesus were present, but not literally, but spiritually. And that grace. Now, listen, this is important. Grace literally is transmitted through the taking of those elements in a spiritual fashion. Jesus really touches your life through his body and blood. And that became, I might point out, the principal conviction of the Protestants, most all other Protestant denominations. Now, those are four diverse teachings on what communion is all about. And I'm looking around and I'm realizing how many of you don't really know what you believe about. Don't put your hand up. In fact, there's so much out here, there's so much confusion about all this. How many times have you found yourself taking communion and just saying, well, thank you, Lord. I don't understand, but I know it's good, right? You know, it reminds me of a time when I was in Mexico City a year ago and I went to the National Arts Theater or something there in Mexico City, and they had a play that they said all the tourists needed to come and see. And so I went and watch this play take place. And it was all course in Spanish and it was all festive and beautiful. And, you know, I had no idea what they were saying. I had no clue as to what was going on. But when people next to me laughed, you know, I laughed when people next to me kind of real silent, I was quiet. And when they cheered, I cheered. And when they cried, I even tightened up a bit. And afterwards I went back to my hotel and people said, well, how'd you like the play? And I said, it was great. I didn't know what was going on, but I really enjoyed it. Right. Well, communion is like that for some people. They don't really know what's going on, but they watch people around them and they figure, well, it's safe to be spiritual. So I'll just nod my head and say, thank you, Jesus. But beloved, I want to say to you today that God has intended for communion the Lord's Supper to be an instrument of transformation in your life. He has given us this cup and this bread to be a power in your life that you might enter into the presence of the Lord in a dynamic way and find your life changed. And I believe that today some of you are for the very first time perhaps going to experience communion in a way that brings you right before the presence of the Lord. God has no brief at all to give us some sort of a ritual that we perform with no understanding. How many of you know that ritualism kills when you just go through the motions? That's why I stopped this morning and we did the praise a little longer. It's no more pleasing to God to go and do all the charismatic praise if your heart's not in it. It's no different than singing three hymns and sitting down. It's got to be from the heart. Communion needs to be given and received from the heart. And this is why these men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus said to them, you who are slow to believe, slow of heart to believe. You know that word means sluggish. You know how you feel sometimes you're just moving in slow motion when you haven't had enough sleep. Our heart gets like that church. We don't really want to believe. We don't want to go through the requirement of bringing ourselves to know what it is that we really believe about these things. And in so doing, listen, in so doing, many times we have taken communion and missed Jesus in it. The Bible says, woe to you when your light is as darkness. You see, when light has been given and the glory of the Lord has risen and we don't understand it and don't take it with understanding, then woe to us. The Bible says. Now what happened there on the road to Emmaus, was Jesus then after these two brothers told the Lord what they knew about him, Jesus told them what they needed to know about him in this scripture. I love it. Can you imagine Jesus being your Bible teacher for a nice long afternoon and explaining to you everything that happened from Moses on up concerning him? I mean, no wonder their hearts burned, right? I mean, that was unbelievable. And so the Word comes to us. Jesus says that the Bible is one book. You see, the message of the Old Testament taught about Jesus too. Isn't it interesting? He didn't say he enlightened them in the Scriptures concerning other things, but no about him. The Bible is one book. There's one message in the Bible. People who divide it in testaments and they say, well, the Old Testament was Just it's irrelevant to today. They're missing what God has said and what God is doing. It'd be like walking into a person that's making a cake and you see them putting a flower in there, and all they've got in the. The mixing bowl is the flour and maybe an egg. And you say, well, that's something interesting. But that's not the finished product, you see, it's just a couple of ingredients. The Old Testament and New fit together to make one message. And the message is what? That God loves us and he's given his Son that we might be redeemed and brought back into communion with him. It's the history of men. Now, Jesus was telling them how those things in the Old Testament foreshadowed his life. And I've asked the folks in the overhead to put up for us how Passover and the things of the Old Testament foreshadow what happened in communion. Now, first of all, in the Passover, this is when Jesus first, of course, celebrated communion. That's why it's so significant. The first thing is that Passover was a celebration of the deliverance of the people from the bondage of Egypt in communion. That represents the celebration of our deliverance from the bondage of sin. Hallelujah. God set us free from sin. That's one thing that we celebrate. Secondly, Passover was celebrated by the sacrifice of a paschal lamb. And how many of you were part of the Easter celebration? We went through the whole Seder service. Well, remember that lamb bone that we had and so on? Well, that paschal lamb was slain, a spotless, perfect lamb. And the blood was put over the lintel doorpost so that the angel of death would pass over who became our paschal lamb, so that death would pass over us for our sins. Who? Jesus. And so he symbolized that for us in communion. Now, still, faith and obedience were required of the Jews in order to be recipients of this grace of God, to protect them and deliver them from bondage. Likewise, faith in what Jesus did has to be exercised. It isn't just some magic formula, folks. Faith is required. And then next, just as Passover was a remembrance in which participation meant that you participated in the deliverance itself from that bondage, so communion is meant to be an experience of participating and remembering. In other words, we don't just take these elements and say, well, that was nice that you did this for me. Lord, no. We enter into the sacrifice. We share in it. Now, in the Jewish tradition, all this was followed by a reaffirmation of the covenant. Of course. God gave the covenant, the old covenant, through Moses. And it says, interesting. I think it's Exodus 24, that they celebrated with a meal before the face of the Lord when they receive that covenant. Now, I want you to see that the other thing that we do when we commune together is we celebrate a new covenant. We celebrate a new promise that's been given. So do you see what's taking place when we come to communion? We are celebrating the release of bondage to sin, that Jesus is our lamb that sacrificed for us, that by faith we receive what he's done and participate in his death and sacrifice, that we might live to him. And finally, that we receive that new covenant. Now, beloved, I read something this week that I'd never heard before. This might be interesting to you. When Jesus sat down and it's recorded in the 22nd chapter of Luke, for example, he sat down to have this Passover meal. You all know that situation. There's four cups of wine that were shared at every Passover meal. Tradition has it that at that Passover place there was also a cup that was set off to the side of the meal, of the Seder meal. And that cup was placed there by the Jews as a symbol of hope that Messiah would come again and rescue the people from their bondage. All through the centuries, they'd had that extra cover, and it stood there as the fulfillment, the hope of the fulfillment of the last times. So that when Jesus sat down and had celebrated the Passover, and then at the end, the Bible says that he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Tradition has it that he picked up the cup that had been set aside for the Messiah. And you can imagine the penetration into the hearts of those disciples as they realized that what he was saying was, I am the Messiah that was long awaited. I am the one that the Father has sent to deliver. And the Lord Jesus himself fulfilled all that the Passover foreshadowed. And so you see, the communion for us is a celebration of fulfillment. It's meant to be a partaking of the total provision of God for our needs. The new covenant has been fulfilled in Jesus. And, beloved, if you don't know what that means, let me just list for you on these overheads several of the new covenant promises that God says he's going to give to us. He says, I'm going to give healing. I'm going to bring deliverance into your life and set you free from spiritual oppression. I'm going to walk with you And I don't know what the next ones are, but protection is up there. Just put them all up. I'm going to keep you from your enemies. I'm going to give you inner peace. I'm going to provide all of your needs according to my glorious resources in Christ Jesus. You see, the new covenant is all that God's promise is fulfilled in Christ. Whatever promise you need in your life, it's fulfilled in Christ. In Jesus. All promises in him are yea and amen. Hallelujah. Go ahead. That means it's available for you. And so, you see, when we come to communion, our conviction is, lord, come and fulfill in me through you those promises of your new covenant. You see, if you come with understanding to this, you're going to touch God. God. But sadly, beloved, so many of us come and we miss what God wants to do because we come and, well, it's time now to be holy or time now to be quiet. We don't realize what God wants to do for us. You see, God has put so much into these elements because of what it means in Christ that he wants us to come with full understanding to receive all that he wants to give. You know what? It's also why Paul said, watch out that you don't take unworthily. 1 Corinthians 11. That's why Paul said, he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment upon himself. Why? Because God isn't going to give us the fulfillment of the new covenant. And then just sort of, well, you know, take it or leave it or however you feel like taking it. Today, God's very serious about his commandments. How many of you believe that? You know, I have to say this so often. Because of grace, we presume on God's goodness. And I believe that God is saying, it's time to shape up a little bit, beloved. It's time for us to see that when God commands something to be done, he means it. It's not because he's unloving. It's because he wants the best for us. And that's why Paul said, don't eat and drink this unworthily because you're going to bring sickness and even death on yourself. So what does that mean? Well, it means to me that we come with understanding. We come with an open heart. We come humbly before God and say, lord, fulfill in me the full measure of your promises according to the new covenant. Now, finally, those two men on the road to Emmaus, they had confusion. Then Jesus gave them a conviction. But finally, beloved, they made contact. You know something? I know God wants to minister to needs. I know he wants to do it. Today. We conclude this teaching in a few moments. We're going to allow time for the spirit of the Lord to minister to needs. Someone said, what are you building out there, a bless me club? I mean, is it all these kind of. Are you one of those churches where all they do is come and talk about getting richer and healthier and happier and all that? You know, somehow when I read the Bible, I don't ever see Jesus turning anybody away who had a need. He always met a need. And as long as you have a need, you're welcome here. If you ever get to the point where you don't have a single need, then would you come and see me and the rest of us around here, help us. But if you have a need, you're welcome here and you bring it to Jesus. And in the new Covenant, it will be met today. Today by his grace. But there is something better than even that. I want to conclude with this this morning, beloved. You see, communion is meant to be a time of making a full entry into the provision of the New Covenant. But it's also a time when God wants to fellowship with you. Think about your marriage. Those of you who've been married, the highlight of marriage isn't the times necessarily. In fact, it's never for me when I'm doing the chores or fulfilling a particular need around the house or trying to help Carol do something that she needs to get done. The most precious times for me, beloved, are the times when she and I share every part of our lives together, body, soul and spirit. How about you? You know what I'm talking about. The times of intimacy, the times of literally communing together. Those are the most precious times. Those are the times that sustain the rest of the times, aren't they? And I believe that what God intended in communion was for us to come as his bride to our bridegroom and once we're settled, that our needs are going to be met in Jesus, that he and I would fellowship together, that he and I would express love, that he and I could touch one another, to laugh in the presence of the Lord, to weep in his presence, to be still and just know that he's there. Beloved, I know that when we take communion together, if we'll allow ourselves to set aside all the ritual to get past the simple performing of the rite and expect to meet God just like those two disciples knew him in the breaking of bread, that word to Know. Most of you know by now that word to know means to have intimate acquaintance with. It's the same word that Adam knew Eve. This is why. Well, those disciples knew him in the breaking of bread. This is what Jesus means when he says In John chapter 5, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. Hallelujah. That's what God wants in communion church, to abide in Him. It's a time entering into the covering of his presence and enjoying his life in an intimate way. You know, so often I believe that communion for us has been like a trip to Wendy's, right? Just, well, you know, sort of a fast food fellowship with God. We don't think about it, we just pop it in and there we go. And it gives you nourishment. It's food. It's spiritual food. God is still faithful, beloved. Forgive this analogy if it's difficult for some of you, but I believe that God wants to linger with us. He wants to take us to Mount Washington. He wants to commune with us in the beauty of his holiness, to be with him, to enjoy his presence. He created you to do that. You know that, don't you? Sometimes I think the frenetic energy of all of our activity just. We don't have anything left when it comes to being with God because we've been so busy being a good worker for Him. And I just pray now as we conclude that this next 15 or 20 minutes in his presence will be a time of you encountering, making contact with Jesus through the provision of his body and his blood. I want that. Do you? Amen. Let's pray together. Thank you. Oh Jesus, come and fill us now. Hallelujah. Who would make contact with. We want to see Jesus reach out and touch, kiss open heart. We want to see Jesus. When lifeless Jesus was betrayed, he took bread. When he blessed it, he broke it and said, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Beloved. If you're here today, perhaps you're a visitor today to North Way. We invite you to the Lord's table. It's our privilege to invite you, but he's the host. We have no particular requirements of sharing together. Simply that you want to be in communion with God through Jesus Christ. And so as the deacons come and they're going to just first share the bread, I want you to take your element. I want you to wait on the Lord. Wait several moments. But I want you church to wait before the Lord. And when you're ready, when you've begun to commune with him, then you go ahead and participate. I say that we love you. We want to see Jesus. Sam. Took the cup when he sunk, said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Drink ye all of it. Beloved, communion is not just a time of receiving all that Jesus is. But listen, communion is also a time of bringing to Jesus all that we are. I'm just going to extend an invitation today as you in just a moment receive your communion cup. If the Lord would prompt you to make a presentation of your life in communion back to him. I don't want you to do this with no concern at all as to who's doing it around you. But if you feel that you want to say to Jesus, lord, not only do I receive your life, but I give you mine, you come up, you make a statement of that before. Just find a place up here in the front where you can commune together. But you hold that element. You hold it. And we're all going to share together. Let's bring the elements away. Let's sing. Worthy, worthy, Worthy, worthy is the. Wor. Lord, Love you, we love you, love you ever. Jesus, jesus, jesus is the. Spirit, you are here. And Lord, in that is the full hope within our being, Lord, that all that we need, all that concerns us, all our God that we would call out for is available to us in you. Lord, we thank you that you lift us out of the limitations of our flesh, out of the limitations of our humanness, and call us to enter in with you into the abiding place, presence of your life. Lord, we thank you now that even as the word would be brought, that you would begin to minister in the inner man to all who would have ears to hear today. Father. Lord, I pray that you use me as an instrument today, God, of a mouthpiece for your word. Lord, I ask you to cover me with the blood of Jesus, Father, as well as all those who would hear today that we might hear purely and. Wholly from your word. We bless you, Father, for you are worthy of all that we are and all that we have to bring. We thank you that you are here. Our heart tells us, Lord, that you are here. Hallelujah. Jesus name Amen.