This Sunday night will be a little different. We will have a little mellower worship service, a short devotional message, and private reflection time. Then we will celebrate communion together (for those who wish to participate).
Our worship will be a little quieter, and we will intersperse prayers throughout the singing. Then, I am going to deliver a concise message for you. Immediately following, we are going to break up into some solo time (so bring a journal, notebook, etc or I will provide some writing accoutrements). Then we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together.
Following that, we will dismiss into free time.
Archive for January, 2010
Some things are worth doing for the heck of it. They may be fun, entertaining, mind numbing, whatever. Other things we do are meaningless, but we do them religiously. You can fill in the blank here for your mind-wasters. One of mine is Solitaire. I swear, sometimes I think I paid $500 for an electronic automated dealer. (Get it…computer purchase… solitaire. hmmm)
Anyhow, the thing I wanted to bring up was, the Church has a few things done routinely for various reasons. We all know why we do Pledge Sunday (gotta pay that Uth Pastor) and we know why we light candles in the services.
But why do we do communion?
Two big reasons.
First, we celebrate communion, or what our Catholic friends call Eucharist, because Jesus told us to. Seems like a good enough reason. In fact, its the only real reason why we do it. He did it with his disciples, then told them to keep doing it.
Second, we do it because the disciples did it. Seems like a no-brainer right considering Jesus asked them to. But we are here, 2000 years later carrying on that tradition set my the Master himself, then respectfully carried forward by the Church ever since. It’s a beautiful thing to partake in communion, we are connecting ourselves with the spiritual mothers and fathers who came before us.
But have you figured out the why behind the why? It’s enough to say, The reason why we take communion is because Jesus said to and teh church has always… But, there’s a big follow-up question. Why did Jesus ask us to.
There’s volumes written on the Lord’s Supper, and anyone wanting to do research into this sacrament would find a literal library worth of commentary to read. But I want to get real non-technical in my response to that question.
Why did Jesus tell us to do this in remembrance of him? Because he knew we could forget. Yes, we’ve got the story, we’ve got the symbolism, we’ve got the tradition. But deep down in you and I, we have this inherited ability to forget. Jesus is saying very simply, Do this and keep doing it and when you do it you will be able to keep remembering that I did it.
We’ll talk more about what communion is as the days go by, but for now, I want to thank God for His simple fatherly advice. Do this, don’t forget.
Last week, the Wynnton Youth joined a few hundred area students for Souled Out O.N.E. The concert featured Jonathan and Lisa Moore Band (Cry for Revival!!!), No Compromises (Now Sway Widdit), and evangelist David Guinn (Heaven Yes!), as well as some local worship pastors and ministers. I have to admit that the highlight of the event for me was the first sharing time by Nick Cash and solo worship led by Jay Lesley (He was the guy behind the horseshoe mustache). Nick is a dear friend, and a beloved of Father, and on this night shared his response to the simple and deep question, Who is Jesus to Me? His honest and clear response ushered the Spirit into that place. It was beautiful. Jay came up next and led us in Mighty to Save. It was right. Alright, enough of me, Nick has graciously allowed me to post this on wearefocus.us, I hope you are blessed as you read this. G&P2U! -John
Hi, my name is Nick, and I work with the Teen Advisors & Velocity programs, and I want to tell you Who Jesus is to me.
He is my INVENTOR. He thought me up. He came up with the original idea for me.
And He knows everything – He knew what my life would cost Him. He knew that by making me, He would bring great sorrow and grief to other people and to even His own heart.
He knew I would betray Him. He knew I would respond to my fellow man with selfishness and apathy.
He knew there would be pain & sorrow & death if went created my life.
And even though He KNEW all of this – He knew it would cost Him His own Son to make me, He still wanted and delighted to create me!
He is the INVENTOR and ARCHITECT of my very existence! I exist because He thought me up, and despite the pain & difficulty He knew my life would cause both Him and others – in His infinite wisdom – He still decided it would be a good idea to carry out His plans.
And like a MASTER CRAFTSMAN, He wove me together – all of the intricate and detailed fabric of my body:
- bones & skin & joints & muscle tissue & ligaments
- tiny bones in my inner ear that would vibrate together in perfect synchronization to transmit audio waves to my brain
- the meticulous inter-workings of the lens & cornea & retina in my eyes so that my brain could decipher and make sense of light & shapes & colors & depth & motion
- a perfectly engineered nervous system that could carry hot cold, pain, pressure, softness – every type of sensation to my brain
- lungs to breathe in His breathe of life
- a heart to pump oxygen
- nutrients throughout my body to keep it healthy & energized.
Like a SKILLED CARPENTER, He did ALL of that with His own hands inside my mother’s womb!
And not only did He weave together the intricate make-up of my physical body, but He also created my ETERNAL SOUL, which He would draw to His own heart – a little bit more – and little bit more – lovingly –
gracefully – with every passing moment of my life.
Jesus is my JUDGE. He sits in judgment over me. And as my Judge, He has delivered His verdict. And it is indelibly written – with His own blood as the ink. His judgment is immutable and can never be erased by anything!
He has judged me WORTHY TO BE LOVED. His verdict is pardon for sin and enduring, abundant life in His glorious & loving Presence, forever!
Furthermore, His judgment upon me is SONSHIP – ADOPTION!
Jesus is the DEFINER of my identity as a greatly beloved creation of God – as an adopted child in God’s household and family – chosen by God to receive His grace & favor.
He doesn’t just “have to love me” because I’m His natural or biological son. I was His enemy! My sin hung Him on the cross! But He CHOSE me. He adopted me. He doesn’t HAVE to love me – He chooses to love me.
Like the prodigal son, I would’ve been fortunate just to be a slave working on my heavenly Father’s property. But He welcomed me right into His very household – even into His own family!
He made me His child and as a child has promised me a share in the same inheritance as His only begotten Son: eternal life, in the wonder-filled house of Almighty God, forever!
Jesus is my Redemption.
He is my Security against Fear.
He is my Source of Joy & Peace.
He is my Deliverer from the bondage of Lust – in high school, He liberated me from the addiction of Pornography.
He is my Freedom from Anger.
Jesus is my EVERYTHING.
Jesus is not merely my “top priority” – He is the page on which all of my priorities are written. He is not just the most important part of my life – He IS my very life itself!
In Jesus, all things – including me – all things live & move & have their being in Him. Christ is my LIFE. Jesus is my EVERYTHING!
And because of all these things, I have trusted Jesus as my Lord.
He lights my path.
He directs my steps.
He moves my spirit.
He protects my heart.
He renews my mind.
He forgives my failures.
He matures my soul.
Jesus is my Lord. And because He is my Lord, He is my REWARD.
He is my PRIZE.
He is my goal.
HE is my inheritance.
He is the destiny of my life and my reward for eternity.
Jesus is my King! And even though I fail Him every day – even though I am unloyal to Him, unfaithful to His Lordship – even though I betray Him with my thoughts & words & actions & intentions – His kind love towards me is new every morning.
And because of all of this, I will adore Him!
I will ADORE Him! I will lavish upon Him praise! I will extol Him! I will exalt His Name! I will point to Him and say “Look at how beautiful He is!”
I will ADORE You, Jesus. I will spend the moments of my life – how ever many You give to me – drawing attention to Your beauty. Your graciousness. Your kind love. Your relentless loyalty to me.
Right now, all across this room, I want us to ADORE Jesus together.
During this time, I want to ask you to focus on His nature – on His character.
Not what He does, but Who He is.
Not His actions, but His being.
His personhood.
See, the truth is, if all Jesus had ever done for us was save us – if the one and only thing He ever did was give us physical life, then rescue us from our sin – if He never gave us help or encouragement or blessings or provision – if He never gave us comfort or His words, or prayer, or fellow believers, teachers, mentors. If all He did was just create us, save us, and then ignore us for the rest of our lives, He would still be worth 1000 eternities with of adoration and praise and service!
What He does is amazing. What He does for us should fill us to overflowing with gratitude and thankfulness.
But Who He is… Who He is – apart from any THING He does FOR us or gives TO us – it is Who He is that makes Him worthy of ADORATION.
Who is Jesus to you? What about Him fills you with ADORATION?
Softly, all over the room, I’d like for us to begin to ADORE Jesus together. Out loud. With our voices. Let’s lift up an audible chorus of ADORATION to Jesus right now. Who is Jesus to you? Why do you adore Him? Let’s take a couple minutes, and together, out loud, begin to tell Him what it is that we adore about Him, and after a couple minutes of adoring Jesus together, I’ll pray aloud for all of us. But right now, let’s all begin to speak prayers of adoration – out loud – to Jesus.