April 2, 2000
OUR COMMUNION CONFIDENCE (Eph
2:8-l0)
FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED
THROUGH FAITH, AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE
GIFT OF GOD…NOT THE RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE
MAY BOAST. FOR WE ARE WHAT HE HAS MADE US, CREATED IN
CHRIST.
The popular writer, Maxie
Dunham, tells a story about three men who were talking
about what status means. The first said, "Real status is
being invited to the White House for a personal
conversation with the President." The second said, "No,
that's not it. Real status is having a conversation with
the President and when the hotline rings, the President
ignores it and continues talking to you." The third man
said, "No, you're both wrong. Real status is having a
conversation with the President and when the Hotline
rings, the President says: 'It's for you.""
This is for you. When we come to
communion, we enjoy the highest, best status of all:
Communion is for us! God is the host at communion for
his son, Jesus Christ, instituted communion and issued an
always current invitation: "You all come to my table, you
are my guests. You are welcomed."
As guests, we want to be polite.
Guests freshen up for the party; they try to arrive on
time; and guests often bring a gift for the hosts. So at
communion we bring the bread and the drink for the table
of Jesus. Also we present our material offerings as well.
But then we ask God to receive our gifts to him because
God is our host, and through the Holy Spirit, to use
them: to use our material gifts for the work of his
Kingdom; to use our bread and wine to make them spiritual
nourishment for our souls.
In Christian understanding, real
status is received in baptism and celebrated by being
present at Christ's table to receive all the gifts which
God intends for us to have: forgiveness and
reconciliation, love and mercy, justice and compassion,
righteousness and purity, and obedience and empowerment
to do good works.
Communion offers us the unique
status to celebrate that we are the sons and daughters of
God, the friends of Jesus. Iln truth we can take great
joy at communion and for some sometimes it may even
convey spiritual ecstasy.
But the result of communion must
not be that we depart filled with pride and arrogance for
our text from Ephesians reminds us that it is God who
makes possible all good works and not we ourselves. As
guests at the table of Jesus we are called to obedience.
If we are good guests who appreciate all that God gives
us, but we commit to work for the Kingdom of God: we will
walk the second mile in discipleship, we will respond to
moral imperatives by serving the least and the lost; we
will strive to be good stewards of that which God has
placed in our care for a while; and we will aim to be
good members of the body of Christ.
If not, our joy and ecstasy at
communion can become lost in some form of idolatry and
self-indugence.
The promise of Communion is not
that we are welcomed because we are worthy, but because
we are at communion we become worthy to do the good
works which God intends for us.
The promise of Communion is in
the words of David, the Shepherd, that God has prepared
his table for us and from it goodness and mercy shall
follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in
the house of the Lord for ever.
So welcome, you princes and
princesses of Maine, you kings and queens of the
universe, you children of God, to God's table which is
your feast.
Pastor Gene
Preston
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