(Prepared to go along with a sermon on Acts 24:24-26 titled “When It’s Convenient”)

Solomon wrote, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV) This year in particular I’m enjoying the change in the seasons from Winter to Spring. From my office window I can see a tree. Just the other day I noticed that it was totally covered with green leaves. How did that happen so fast? It seems the last time I looked there was nothing but bare limbs, stark against sullen, cloudy skies. Suddenly, much of the sky is blocked by leaves and sunlight shines on delicate shades of green. It’s a welcome reminder of the rhythms of nature. That things occur when the time is appropriate.

There are seasons in spiritual things as well. Something which intrigues me in the Gospel of John is the comments he makes about time. At least twice, Jesus refused to take action because, He said, that His time had not come. On at least two other occasions, those who wished to harm Jesus could not do so because His time had not yet come. But then, as Jesus came near to the end of His ministry He said more than once that the time had come.

What time? Time for what? Jesus said this to some Greeks who came to see Him, “…The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:23-25 NIV)

What Jesus was saying was that the time had come for Him to die. It was time for Him to give His life as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.

When we stop and think about it, there are two parts to salvation. Salvation not only has to be prepared and offered, it also has to be received. God is the only One who could prepare and offer it. However, He isn’t going to force us to take it. It’s a personal decision each one of us has to make for ourselves. Salvation is available for the asking – but we have to ask.

And this raises a question: Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave at the right or appropriate time to make salvation possible, but what is the appropriate time to receive it? Scripture answers the question by saying that the right or appropriate time to receive salvation is NOW. If we are not already in Christ, we should not dither or procrastinate about submitting our lives to Him. The Apostle Paul writes, “As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NIV)

In the busyness of life; in the routines of going to work or school; in the constant ups and downs of raising a family, it’s easy to forget that now is the time of God’s favor. We tell ourselves that we don’t have time to think about spiritual things. It’ll wait until tomorrow when we have a little more time. But the time of salvation isn’t tomorrow – it is now. Today is the only day we can be sure of. We can’t go back and re-live yesterday. We don’t know whether there will even be a tomorrow. And so we need to make sure of our salvation now, while we have the opportunity.

Jesus knew how forgetful we are. He knew that we would need to be reminded that today is the day of salvation. He knew that even those of us who have already become Christians would tend to take our salvation for granted. And so, He gave us a memorial. The unleavened bread we eat each Sunday reminds us that Jesus paid the price for our redemption with His own body. The juice we drink reminds us of His blood which covers our sins.

Since the last time those of us who are Christians participated in this memorial, we’ve all sinned and haven’t lived up to God’s standards as we ought. The bread and juice are a reminder that now is the time to deal with those sins. Now is the time to ask Christ to cleanse us once again.

If you haven’t yet become a Christian, then the bread and juice really aren’t for you. But please use what we’re doing as reminder that Christ died for you, too, and today is your opportunity to get right with God.

As we eat and drink, let’s make sure of our salvation. Let’s come to God with repentant hearts. Let’s commit ourselves again to live for Christ.

One of the arguments people use to say that there cannot be a God is the existence of evil. They say that if an all-powerful, good God existed, He would not permit the pain and suffering we see all around us. People who say such things fail to recognize that if God is to give us freedom, He has to allow us to do what is wrong. If we have genuine choice, it is possible that we will choose things which are against God’s will. Yes, God could prevent evil, but if He did, we would no longer be free to choose. As long as some choose to do wrong, there will be suffering.

On the other end of the scale, there are some who believe in God. They believe that He is all-powerful, that He is good and that He is love. As a consequence, they say, hell cannot exist. Or, if it does exist, it cannot be eternal. God is so good and loving that He could not tolerate seeing anyone burn forever.

What these people fail to understand is that it is precisely because God is loving and good that an eternal hell must exist. God loves us so much that He will never force His will on us. If we choose to do what is evil; if we choose to turn away from Him, He will allow us to do so. However, since God is good, He cannot bear evil. And when we choose to do evil we cannot bear to be in the presence of good because it highlights our badness. When we choose to do what is wrong, the consequence is separation between us and God. We walk away from Him. If we refuse to be with God, what alternative is left but to be where God is not – that is in, hell?

C.S. Lewis writes, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.” (C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1946, pp. 72-73.)

While God’s love and goodness makes hell inevitable, His goodness and love also compels Him to give us an alternative. If we choose to accept it, God takes the consequences of our evil and wrongdoing on Himself.

We’re all familiar with John 3:16. But what many are not so familiar with are the verses which come right after it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:16-20 NKJ)

These verses are very clear: there’s no need for anyone to go to hell, but we can choose it. God will respect our choice. If we do wind up in hell it’s because we chose to be there. It’s because we chose to keep on doing evil rather than choosing Christ.

Each week we gather to remember what God has done for us so that we can escape the consequences of our own choice to do wrong. The bread and the juice remind us that Christ died so that we can have life.

Every time we come to the Communion table, it’s an opportunity to renew our choice: have we chosen Christ? Have we chosen eternal death, or eternal life?

Every birth is special. It’s a time of wonder and amazement. I suppose that when he or she first holds a newborn, just about every parent thinks about the potential of this new life. What is this child born to do? Who will this child become? Will this child live up to its potential?

We can hope. We can dream. We can speculate, but except in very rare cases, we don’t know what lies ahead for a child. We don’t know the direction he will take. We don’t know the path that God has chosen for him. We don’t know what he was born to accomplish.

All over the world people are getting ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth. One of the things which makes Jesus’ birth unique is that his parents were told ahead of time who He was and what His purpose in life was. The angel told Mary, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:32-33 NIV)

The angel told Joseph, “…you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NIV)

The angel told the shepherds, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11 NIV)

This infant, this newborn child was born to be the Christ, the Savior – the person who would rescue mankind from their sin. What Mary and Joseph probably did not realize at the time, was that in order to become our Savior, Jesus had to die. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that Jesus’ birth only has significance because of His death. Without His death, His birth is meaningless. One of our Christmas carols is absolutely correct when it states, Jesus was “born to die.” (Ring the Bells) That was the purpose of His birth.

What did Jesus’ death accomplish? Through it, or because of it, we can be saved from our sins. But it also does something else. Through it we can reach our full potential. It is a source of hope. You see, none of us has lived up to the potential we had when we were born. We all have fallen short. We haven’t fulfilled the purpose God had for us when we were born.

However, because of Jesus’ death we can be reborn. He offers us a new birth. All of us who have been baptized into His death rise to walk in new life. As that same Christmas carol says, Jesus came “to bring mankind His love, new birth.”

In this new life we can reach our potential. We can become what God intended. As the Apostle John writes, “…when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2 NIV)

Jesus never asked us to celebrate His birth, but He did ask us to remember His death. That is why each week we eat a piece of bread which reminds us of His body which He sacrificed for us. That’s why we drink a cup of juice which represents His blood which cleanses us from sin.

When we celebrate Jesus’ birth let’s remember why He was born. That it is His death which gives His birth meaning. Today as we remember His death, let’s also remember that it is because of His death we can have new life, a second birth, another chance to become what God always intended us to be. His death gives us hope.

Peter writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you,” (1 Peter 1:4 NIV)

I don’t know what drives people to commit suicide. I’ve never been particularly tempted to take my own life. However, I imagine that the major cause of suicide is despair. Someone feels so hopeless; he feels that the situation is so beyond his ability to cope that there is no way out. Death is preferable to any other option he can see. So he chooses death as a way of escape.

This is probably why Judas hanged himself. Scripture tells us that when he realized the consequences of what he had done in betraying Jesus he was seized with remorse (Matthew 27:3). He went to the chief priests and elders and tried to undo what he’d done. When they refused to listen to him, Judas took his own life. I assume that he figured there was no way out. Death was better than facing the consequences of his actions.

The tragedy is that it didn’t have to be that way. What Judas failed to understand, even though Jesus had already told His disciples it would happen, is that Jesus was going to rise again on the third day. He didn’t realize that the very reason Christ died was so that our sins can be forgiven.

Peter also denied Jesus. The difference between Peter and Judas is that Peter allowed Jesus to forgive him. Judas never gave Jesus the chance. He took his own life before Jesus could forgive him.

As mistaken as Judas was, in another sense he was right. Dying really is the best option. Death is the only way to pay for our sin. The Apostle Paul explains it this way, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:3-8 NIV)

If we’ve died with Christ, we have a new life. As horrible as our circumstances may be, we don’t have to give way to despair. We don’t have to let our remorse over what we’ve done drive us to suicide. Christ died so we might live. Christ died so that we can be forgiven. At the last meal Jesus ate with His disciples before He died, “…he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”” (Matthew 26:27-28 NIV)

When life gets tough, we need to remember that. That’s one reason why it’s so important that we take the Communion each week. It reminds us that there is no need to despair. It reminds us of the hope we have. Yes, Christ died but He rose again. We have new life in Him.

As we eat the bread which reminds us of Jesus’ body that was crucified for us; as we drink the juice which reminds us of Jesus’ blood which He gave for our forgiveness, let’s not be like Judas who gave in to his own despair. Instead, let’s give Jesus the opportunity to forgive us as He wants to do.

In Christian circles you hear a lot about belief and faith. There is a certain body of knowledge that a person has to accept as true in order to become a Christian. When teaching – even when going verse by verse through a book of the Bible – it is easy to just concentrate on facts. For example, these are the attributes of God; the church at this or that place was having this particular problem; Jesus said such and such. However, James points out that true faith is much more than acknowledging facts. Faith is acting on what we say we believe. We must apply what we know. But faith goes much further than that. It is necessary for us to take the principles we find in the Bible and change the way we think and live according to those principles.

Today we’re going to take a look at an area which, I suspect, is very difficult for a lot of us. It’s the topic of forgiveness. This is something even Jesus’ disciples had trouble with. At least Peter did. Please turn to Mathew, chapter 18. We’re going to start reading at verse 21.

[Read Matthew 18:21-35]

From Jesus’ parable we can learn several things about forgiveness.

a) Forgiveness always takes place in the context of wrong. If nothing was amiss, there would be no need for forgiveness. The example Jesus gave was of people who owed, but could not pay.

b) Another thing we learn is that there is a cost to forgiveness. There is a price to pay. In the parable, the servants who owed might not have had to pay – but the master did. He lost the money which was due him because he chose to forgive.

c) A third thing we can learn is that true forgiveness is complete. The master didn’t offer to merely reduce the debt – he wiped it out entirely.

d) Another thing we learn is that being forgiven obligates the one who is forgiven to also forgive.

Of course, you already know the parallels. Each one of us needs forgiveness because each one of us has wronged God. We certainly haven’t lived up to His expectations.

God’s forgiveness is not cost-free. Oh, we like to talk about the free gift of salvation – and on one level it is true that salvation is free. Yet, we should never forget that there is a price, a terrible price that had to be paid for our forgiveness. Jesus paid our debt for us.

God’s forgiveness is also complete. One of my favorite promises is in 1st John 1:19, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (NIV) God wipes it all out – not just the stuff we know about, but everything.

Being forgiven by God also obligates us to forgive one another. Paul writes, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13 NIV)

You would think that we’ve been forgiven of so much that we wouldn’t have any trouble remembering our hopeless condition before, and that we would be willing to extend forgiveness to others. But, just like the unmerciful servant in the parable, we do forget. We forget the terrible price that had to be paid to cover our guilt. We forget how much we’ve been forgiven. We forget that whatever somebody owes us doesn’t even come close to what we owe God.

I think this is one reason why Jesus asks us to remember His sacrifice each week. The bread and juice we eat and drink remind us of the debt He paid so that we can be forgiven.

Have you ever had the experience of walking somewhere at night and being scared by something you saw? You saw a shadow and thought that something, or somebody, was going to jump out at you. Or, perhaps you saw what looked like eyes staring at you. Your fight or flight mechanism started to kick in. You took another step only to discover that the shadow you saw was cast by some harmless object or the eyes you thought saw were really only a harmless reflection. You feared because you couldn’t see things as they really were. Your perception was distorted.

This kind of reality distortion can affect us in spiritual things as well. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:3, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see…” (NIV)

Even as Christians it is often hard to see things as they really are. We have God’s promises but it is difficult to see how they are being fulfilled. For example, Hebrews 2:8 says, “…In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.” (NIV)

In this context, the Communion is an important corrective. It helps us see things as they really are. The bread which represents Christ’s broken body, and the juice which represents Christ’s blood, help us see the reality of our sin. They help us remember the reality that our sin has been paid for. They help us remember the reality that Jesus rose from the dead and that we have the hope of eternal life. The Apostle Peter wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:3-9 NIV)

Let’s pray.

No doubt we are all very familiar with the passage in 1st Corinthians 11: “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV)

The problem is those words are so familiar to us that we, unfortunately, sometimes pass right over them without understanding their meaning. For example, has it ever struck you as a bit odd that Jesus would command us to remember something which we did not experience? If I were to say to you, “Remember our trip to Hong Kong?” How, could you, if you were not on the trip? How can we remember Jesus when we haven’t seen Him; how can we remember the Last Supper since we weren’t there?

The key is to understand that for the Jewish people remembering meant something much more than merely recalling to mind. In his book, The Power of the Blood Covenant, Malcolm Smith describes it this way: “To remember meant to re-create the past event, bringing it into the present moment by reenacting it, employing rituals and symbols to do so. …to remember meant that the persons remembering totally identified with and participated in all the powers and effects of the original event. Every year the people of God in the Old Testament “remembered” their deliverance from Egypt in exactly this fashion, reenacting it in the Passover meal.” (Malcolm Smith, The Power of the Blood Covenant, Harrison House Publisher, Tulsa, OK, 2002, p. 163)

That is the kind of remembering Jesus wants us to do. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we are supposed to be reenacting the Passover meal Christ ate with His disciples.

Another thing we tend to skip over is that word ‘covenant.’ Jesus said that the cup is a New Covenant in His blood. But what is a covenant? We don’t have time to do the subject justice, but I will briefly mention a few of the characteristics of covenant.

Our society and culture trains us to think in terms of contracts. Contracts are based on self-interest. For example, if I offer someone a contract to paint my house, I’ll try to negotiate the best service I can get at the least cost to me.

In contrast, covenants always keep the benefit of the other person in view. For example, when we enter into a marriage covenant, it is supposed to be for the benefit of our spouse. Our culture tells us the lie that marriage is a 50/50 arrangement. In reality, it is supposed to 100%/100%. Think about the implications. If spouses would learn to always think and act in the best interests of their marriage partners, there would never be any divorce. By entering into covenant with us, Jesus pledges Himself 100% to our good and wellbeing.

Another characteristic of covenant is that it always involves a vow or a pledge. In Bible times, when people entered into covenant, they would sacrifice an animal. Then they would split the carcass down the middle and walk between the pieces. What they were saying was, “If I fail to keep this covenant, may what was done to this animal be done to me.” In others words, when you entered into covenant with someone you pledged to fulfill the terms of the covenant with your life. That’s exactly what Jesus has done for us.

Entering into covenant also involved eating a meal. They would cook the animal they had sacrificed and eat it together. This type of sharing or communion demonstrated that there was peace between the people in the covenant, and that they were united.

Another aspect of covenant is an obligation to help the other person keep the covenant. If it looked like a covenant partner was having trouble meeting the conditions or terms of the covenant, the other partner would step in and do everything he could to help him keep from defaulting on it. In the New Testament, this help in keeping covenant is called ‘grace.’ For example, Paul writes in Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,” (NIV) It is God’s grace which helps us keep our covenant relationship with Him.

Let’s bring all of this together. Jesus and His disciples ate a meal together in which they reenacted the Jewish people’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery in the Passover. During the meal Jesus instituted a New Covenant through which we are delivered from the slavery of sin. In this covenant meal He was calling His disciples into peace and unity, both with God and with one another.

He took bread, and called it His body. He broke it. And, by doing so, He was making the pledge of the covenant by metaphorically walking between the pieces. He took a cup and identified it with the covenant sacrifice.

Each Lord’s Day we reenact the covenant. As we eat the bread, we renew the covenant pledge. As we drink the cup, we accept the covenant sacrifice. It follows that if you are not in the New Covenant, this is not for you.

By eating this meal together, we are declaring that we are united and at peace with each other. If that is not true – if you are not at peace with someone in the body; if you are divided from a fellow believer in Christ – then as you partake, pledge to get the problem resolved so that the declaration of unity will be reality.

There are some who say that they are not worthy to partake of the Lord’s Supper. They’ve messed up in the previous week. They haven’t done very well in keeping the covenant. My friend, we never were worth. We’re not in the New Covenant because of our goodness, but because of God’s goodness! We haven’t kept the covenant during the last week? That’s precisely why we need grace. That’s why we need to renew the covenant pledge today.

Let’s pray.

Many people live by the philosophy that you have to look out for ‘number one.’ Number one, of course, is themselves. They justify it by another saying. “If you don’t look out for yourself, no one else will.” What it really boils down to is selfishness. We want to have our own way. We want to satisfy our own desires. We want to live for ourselves.

Jesus calls us to a radically different philosophy and lifestyle. He said, “…If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37 NIV)

Another time He said, “…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33 NIV)

What’s the purpose for giving everything up? One purpose for self-denial is to serve others. The Apostle Paul writes, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”” (Galatians 5:13-14 NIV)

Jesus’ life and ministry was the perfect expression of that kind of sacrificial love. His love motivated Him to give up so that we might have. Paul reminded the Corinthian church, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

The greatest expression of Jesus’ love is the sacrifice of His own life so we might live. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NIV)

Each week we gather to commemorate Christ’s death through which we have been given the gift of life. The bread reminds us of Christ’s broken body. The juice reminds us of His blood. I hope that as we partake today we will not only remember that Christ denied Himself for our benefit, but also that He calls us to do likewise. The emblems remind us that we also are called to deny ourselves in order to serve others.

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”” (John 20:19-21 NIV)

Let’s pray.

No one likes to go through pain and suffering. But sometimes pain and suffering is absolutely necessary in order to obtain a desired outcome. Jesus put it this way, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25 NIV)

A farmer might say to himself, “I’m not going to put my seed into the ground! That would destroy it.” Yes, it’s true that putting the seed into the ground will destroy it. But unless the farmer does put it into the ground, he’ll never reap a crop. Not only that, but by attempting to save the seed by not putting it into the ground, he’ll lose it anyway. Over time the seed will lose it’s potency. It will eventually die because it was not used for it’s intended purpose. The only way to preserve the seed is to plant it. Only then can the farmer reap a crop.

In the same way, we can try to avoid pain and trouble by running from the situations God brings into our lives to shape us and prepare us for eternal life. By running, we will not avoid the pain, but we will not reap the benefit. It is only by accepting the trouble and pain that God’s purpose for us in it will be fulfilled.

Jesus has set the example for us. “…Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”” (Matthew 26:36-39 NIV)

Jesus did not want to go through the pain and suffering He faced. He prayed that God would take it from Him. But the significant thing is that Jesus was also willing to go through it if it was God’s will. And because Jesus was willing to accept God’s will, even though it meant enduring suffering, it resulted not only in His being glorified and exalted above all, but also in our salvation. In the book of Hebrews it says, “…we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” (Hebrews 2:9-10 NIV)

Each week we remember the pain and suffering Jesus endured so we could be saved. The bread represents His broken body which was sacrificed for us. The juice represents His blood that covers our sin. Today, as we eat and drink let’s ask ourselves the question, “Am I willing to accept God’s will for my life, even though it means enduring suffering? Can I look beyond the suffering to the reward? Do I have faith in God’s promises?”

Let’s pray.

We consider ourselves a free people. But, what is freedom? Freedom really has no meaning except in contrast to its opposite. In a political context it means not being subjected to tyranny or oppression. In a social context it means not being bound by convention or peer pressure. When we speak of religious freedom we mean the ability to practice our faith and worship according to our own understanding and conscience without interference or threat.

Now, it is perfectly possible to be free in one area but not free in another. We may be free politically; we may enjoy religious freedom, yet every single one of us who is old enough to really understand the difference between good and evil has experienced the slavery of sin. We were controlled by it. We found it impossible to always do the good we knew we ought to do.

How can the power of sin be broken? There are a lot of philosophies and people out there who claim to have the answer. One means by which people try to obtain freedom from sin is through asceticism. It goes something like this: “Since the material is opposed to the spiritual, if we can only control the demands of our evil, material bodies our souls will be liberated.” The Apostle Paul’s evaluation of this system is in Colossians 2:21-23, ““Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (NIV)

Another of the world’s answers to obtaining freedom from sin is to deny that there is such a thing as sin. If sin does not exist, then we cannot be in bondage to it. The Apostle Peter writes this about the false teachers of his day: “…they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.” (2 Peter 2:18-19 NIV)

As Peter points out, it should be obvious that anyone who hasn’t figured out how to free himself from depravity, can’t free us. And that, by the way, is a very good test for all the people out there who claim that they have the solution to our problems. We only have to ask ourselves what effect their philosophy or advice has had in their own lives.

Well, if asceticism isn’t the answer, and if denying the existence of sin isn’t the answer, then how can we obtain freedom? Paul writes, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7 NIV)

The answer to sin is Jesus Christ. But freedom never comes without cost. Jesus had to die in order to release us from bondage. As Peter writes, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV)

It is that sacrifice, the price of our freedom that we remember each Lord’s Day when we partake of Communion. The bread reminds us of Christ’s body. The juice reminds us of His blood.

But though Christ paid the price for our deliverance we also have to pay a price. Did you notice what Peter said? Christ bore our sins “so that we might die to sins”. How do we do that? Paul writes, “…don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:3-8 NIV)

Today as we eat the bread and drink the juice, let’s remember the price that Jesus paid for our freedom. Let’s also ask ourselves the question whether we have died to sin. Life and freedom from sin are ours only if we have first died.

Let’s pray.