Remedial
Sermon
HOLY COMMUNION IS ...
Thirteen Communion Messages
One day three doctors were in a conversation about what they considered to be the biggest contributing factor for most people's poor health. The first one said he was convinced that the key to most people's poor health was how much food they eat. The second physician said she did not agree. In her opinion the biggest factor is not how much they eat but what they eat. Finally the third doctor injected his thoughts on the matter saying, "As important as diet is, the biggest factor in people's poor health is not how much they eat or what they eat. The biggest factor is what's eating them." And you know he's right. That is not only true for our physical health but it is also true for our spiritual health. The Great Physician, Jesus Christ, says that what's really eating us - the thing which has permeated our lives and affects all we do - is sin.
In Holy Communion, Christ, the Great Physician, comes to us offering a remedy for our sin that is eating us. In the bread and wine, he comes to heal our hearts with his gracious love. He comes to strengthen us in our weakness and release us from all that holds us in bondage. He comes to forgive our sinfulness! Therefore, whenever Holy Communion is offered at this altar we should be here. We should come regularly because our need is great. We should come eagerly because we are sick with sin and in him is healing!
Martin Luther wrote in 1529, "... anyone who does not desire to receive the Lord's Supper at least three or four times during the year, despises the Sacrament and is no Christian." (Ewald Plass; What Luther Says, Vol. II, p. 814-815) Luther was never one to mince words. He was quite emphatic about the importance of Christians receiving the Lord's Supper on a regular basis. Let's examine why we should come to the Lord's Table eagerly and regularly.
First, we come because we need to come. If you were sick with a disease which you thought was incurable and you heard of a certain doctor who was able to give you a remedy for your illness, there is very little, if anything that would prevent your going to that doctor. Well, the disease which plagues all humanity is sin. Left alone, untreated, it is terminal. "The wages of sin is death!" says Romans 6:23. But there is one, and only one, physician who has the remedy which will set us free from our sickness of sin and that is the Great Physician - Jesus Christ. He is the only giver of forgiveness. He is our only source of salvation. He is our only hope for healing. So we must not permit anything to prevent us from meeting the Great Physician at his table of grace.
When I was the pastor of Trinity Church in Georgetown, South Carolina, I noticed a curious thing. There was a lady who never came to the altar for communion. Oh, she was in worship every Sunday and was in the congregation when we celebrated the sacrament. She simply chose not to come to the altar. After several months, I asked her about it and she told me that she had been divorced several years before, and since that time she had not considered herself worthy to receive communion. In essence what she was saying was that she knew herself to be a sinner and because of that she felt unworthy. I helped her understand that all of us are sinners - Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" - therefore not one of us is worthy to partake of the Lord's presence in Holy Communion. But the recognition of our unworthiness - the knowledge of our sin - our self-confessed need of forgiveness is the very reason we should come. Since we know we are sick we need to come to the source of help and healing.
I once read the following definition of the Church: "The Church is not a museum for saints; it is a hospital for sinners!" I like that definition. We are a family of people sick with sin who come to the Great Physician for healing and strength. We are a house of unworthy servants who come to our gracious master for help. Never let anything prevent your coming to Holy Communion - especially not your feeling of unworthiness - because implicit in that feeling is an acknowlegement of your sin ... a recognition of your disease. And the proper diagnosis of a disease is the first step toward healing.
Yes, sin is what's eating all of us, and only Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, has the remedy for it. So the first reason we should come to Holy Communion is because we need to come!
Not only do we come because of our need but we also come in obedience to the command of Christ. The Great Physician has given us a prescription to provide the remedy for our sin. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, Paul wrote what Jesus said about Holy Communion, "Do this in remembrance of me!"
In the same way a doctor, who really cares about a patient, will prescribe a certain kind of medication or activity, Jesus has ordered us to come to him in Holy Communion and to do so regularly and faithfully. In Matthew 11:28 the Lord said, "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ... for your weary soul." God loves us. He does not like to see us eaten-up with guilt and burdened with cares and worries so he commands that we come to him. When we unburden our hearts to him in prayer, he gives us comfort. When we confess our sins to him, he grants us assurance of forgiveness. When we place our problems into his loving hands, he gives us rest from those struggles. Like a loving parent having to remind a child to take medicine because it's good for him, Jesus commands that we come to Holy Communion because through the bread and wine the Great Physician comes to us as the remedy for our sin. Therefore we come to communion in obedience to Christ our King.
When Leonard Woods, president of Bowdoin College, was in France, he was invited to dine with the King. When he arrived at the palace that evening, he was met by the great ruler who said courteously, "We did not know we were to have the pleasure of your company tonight. You did not answer the invitation." Dr. Woods replied, "Your Majesty, I thought the invitation of a king was to be obeyed, not answered." This morning, you and I have an invitation from the King of this universe. Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, is inviting you to bring to him what's eating you ... all your hurts ... all your struggles ... all your doubts ... all your sins, and he will give you help, hope and healing. So we come to communion in our unworthiness first because we need to and second, in obedience to his command.
If sin is eating you - and it is - come to the Great Physician for his remedy. Come in unworthiness ... come in obedience ... come expecting a miracle of healing in your soul.
In Holy Communion, Christ, the Great Physician, comes to us offering a remedy for our sin that is eating us. In the bread and wine, he comes to heal our hearts with his gracious love. He comes to strengthen us in our weakness and release us from all that holds us in bondage. He comes to forgive our sinfulness! Therefore, whenever Holy Communion is offered at this altar we should be here. We should come regularly because our need is great. We should come eagerly because we are sick with sin and in him is healing!
Martin Luther wrote in 1529, "... anyone who does not desire to receive the Lord's Supper at least three or four times during the year, despises the Sacrament and is no Christian." (Ewald Plass; What Luther Says, Vol. II, p. 814-815) Luther was never one to mince words. He was quite emphatic about the importance of Christians receiving the Lord's Supper on a regular basis. Let's examine why we should come to the Lord's Table eagerly and regularly.
First, we come because we need to come. If you were sick with a disease which you thought was incurable and you heard of a certain doctor who was able to give you a remedy for your illness, there is very little, if anything that would prevent your going to that doctor. Well, the disease which plagues all humanity is sin. Left alone, untreated, it is terminal. "The wages of sin is death!" says Romans 6:23. But there is one, and only one, physician who has the remedy which will set us free from our sickness of sin and that is the Great Physician - Jesus Christ. He is the only giver of forgiveness. He is our only source of salvation. He is our only hope for healing. So we must not permit anything to prevent us from meeting the Great Physician at his table of grace.
When I was the pastor of Trinity Church in Georgetown, South Carolina, I noticed a curious thing. There was a lady who never came to the altar for communion. Oh, she was in worship every Sunday and was in the congregation when we celebrated the sacrament. She simply chose not to come to the altar. After several months, I asked her about it and she told me that she had been divorced several years before, and since that time she had not considered herself worthy to receive communion. In essence what she was saying was that she knew herself to be a sinner and because of that she felt unworthy. I helped her understand that all of us are sinners - Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" - therefore not one of us is worthy to partake of the Lord's presence in Holy Communion. But the recognition of our unworthiness - the knowledge of our sin - our self-confessed need of forgiveness is the very reason we should come. Since we know we are sick we need to come to the source of help and healing.
I once read the following definition of the Church: "The Church is not a museum for saints; it is a hospital for sinners!" I like that definition. We are a family of people sick with sin who come to the Great Physician for healing and strength. We are a house of unworthy servants who come to our gracious master for help. Never let anything prevent your coming to Holy Communion - especially not your feeling of unworthiness - because implicit in that feeling is an acknowlegement of your sin ... a recognition of your disease. And the proper diagnosis of a disease is the first step toward healing.
Yes, sin is what's eating all of us, and only Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, has the remedy for it. So the first reason we should come to Holy Communion is because we need to come!
Not only do we come because of our need but we also come in obedience to the command of Christ. The Great Physician has given us a prescription to provide the remedy for our sin. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, Paul wrote what Jesus said about Holy Communion, "Do this in remembrance of me!"
In the same way a doctor, who really cares about a patient, will prescribe a certain kind of medication or activity, Jesus has ordered us to come to him in Holy Communion and to do so regularly and faithfully. In Matthew 11:28 the Lord said, "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ... for your weary soul." God loves us. He does not like to see us eaten-up with guilt and burdened with cares and worries so he commands that we come to him. When we unburden our hearts to him in prayer, he gives us comfort. When we confess our sins to him, he grants us assurance of forgiveness. When we place our problems into his loving hands, he gives us rest from those struggles. Like a loving parent having to remind a child to take medicine because it's good for him, Jesus commands that we come to Holy Communion because through the bread and wine the Great Physician comes to us as the remedy for our sin. Therefore we come to communion in obedience to Christ our King.
When Leonard Woods, president of Bowdoin College, was in France, he was invited to dine with the King. When he arrived at the palace that evening, he was met by the great ruler who said courteously, "We did not know we were to have the pleasure of your company tonight. You did not answer the invitation." Dr. Woods replied, "Your Majesty, I thought the invitation of a king was to be obeyed, not answered." This morning, you and I have an invitation from the King of this universe. Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, is inviting you to bring to him what's eating you ... all your hurts ... all your struggles ... all your doubts ... all your sins, and he will give you help, hope and healing. So we come to communion in our unworthiness first because we need to and second, in obedience to his command.
If sin is eating you - and it is - come to the Great Physician for his remedy. Come in unworthiness ... come in obedience ... come expecting a miracle of healing in your soul.
