Reconciled

The Bible says that Jesus has reconciled us in His body of flesh by His death. What does that mean? It can only mean that his dead body was the means by which you were reconciled to God.

         Reconciled for what? You were alienated and hostile in your minds, doing evil deeds. Of course, he was talking to Gentiles who had previously been idolaters. But this alienation from God and hostility towards God is not limited to pagan idolaters. 

         We, too, have this war of the flesh in us, alienation, hostility, evil deeds.  This is part of our fallen nature. That is why Jesus had to lay down His life to satisfy the wrath of God toward us and our sins; the perfect for the imperfect, the righteous for the unrighteous, the holy for the unholy.

         Our reconciliation with God is a cause of great joy and all that we can do is look to our Father in Christ Jesus and say thank you, Lord.

See Jesus

We have seen a picture of Jesus. Are we beginning to understand who He is and what that means to us? Of course, we can spend a lifetime studying Jesus. We can spend eternity studying Jesus. And we should. If we look to Him, we should begin to see Him as He is and this glorious vision of Jesus Christ should change us to the uttermost.

         In this meal we see Him as our sacrifice, the righteous substitute for the unrighteous. And He is our elder brother. He is the exact representation of the Father. He is our advocate. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

         Keep studying Jesus. Keep seeing Jesus. See Him and believe. Believe Him and see.

Fully Pleasing

The apostle calls upon the Colossians to lead lives fully pleasing to the Lord. We can hardly imagine such a thing. We are more likely to think that we are barely pleasing to the Lord. He just tolerates us. But that is not the case. The Father is fully pleased with His Son and we are in the Son.

         If we can understand how the Father looks at us, it will enable us to grow in our gratitude and love towards Him which will also inspire us to love and serve Him more fully. His pleasure in us is always in Christ. He sees us in that kind of perfection. So, let us think about, respond to Him in gratitude and seek to walk in a manner worthy of the Father’s love.

How to Rule the World

This meal is a testament to many things but we will focus on just two today. One, the Lord Jesus is Lord. He is the One that through death and resurrection entered into eternal life at the right hand of the Father. His Ascension means that He is ruler of everything. That is the chief thing to know about Jesus.

Two, that we are invited to eat with Jesus. It is His desire that we be with Him where He is, co-heirs with Christ over all things. It seems too wonderful to be true but is in, in fact, the case. 

We rule by braking bread in this house and from house to house to make our brothers and sisters in Christ strong in the Lord. This is how we rule the world with Jesus.

Prayer for Strength

All glory be to You, Almighty God, our Heavenly Father. You gave Your only Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption-the perfect, full and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Our Savior instituted this memorial meal as a means of proclaiming His death until He comes again. As we eat and drink, strengthen us by Your Holy Spirit, that same Spirit which raised Christ from the dead, that we might bear fruit to Your honor and glory. Amen.

Jesus's Obedience

He was obedient even to death on a cross.

         When we think of being obedient to the Lord, we can wrap our heads around the big things, going to church, obeying the Ten Commandments, growing in sanctification. And it is true, we can grow in the Lord and learn obedience by obeying the Holy Spirit.

         But the harder we try to be obedient, the more we realize that we are still fallen creatures in fallen bodies. Unless the Lord reckons our faith as righteousness, then our obedience is a only a failure at an attempt at perfection. But not only is Jesus’s death applied to us, His passive obedience, but also His perfect sinless life, His active obedience. For those walking faithfully in Christ, the Father looks at us as His obedient children, and He is pleased.

Lingering with the Lord

When you are in a group setting and you need to talk with someone, the thing to do is to linger until you can catch them alone. We eat and drink with the Lord as a group. This is good. This is a public meal and we should do so publicly.

         But this meal should also be one in which we linger to talk with the Lord. We have Abraham’s example to know that the Lord will not despise such lingering. And at the Last Supper, the disciples got John to catch the Lord Jesus in a private conversation. The Lord speaks to us corporately and He also is glad to speak to us one on one.

         So, these precious elements of bread and wine are for God’s people, all of you. And they are for every one of you, each individual person. Make sure as you commune with God’s people in this meal, you also linger to speak to the Lord and to be spoken to by the Lord.

Table Prayer

Our Father, like Abraham, we believe You when You speak to us. We believe that Jesus died for our sins. We believe that He rose again for our justification. We believe that Your Holy Spirit dwells with us until the end of the age. We believe that You delight in us, and as a kind Father, gladly serve us at this great Table. We thank You that You account our belief as righteousness and that we can come to You boldly without fear to delight in Your presence with us. Amen.

Thanks

O Lord God, we know that You have made promises to us, promises of forgiveness, promises to provide for our needs, promises to bless us as we serve You, promises to never leave us or forsake us. We believe Your promises, knowing that You are our provision and that we have everything we need through Christ, our Savior Amen.

Forgiveness Failure

One of the important things that we need to confess is the failure to fully forgive others, especially those close to us. And, of course, then fully forgive others, those near and far.

         You think it would be easy for us to forgive. If we think about it for more than two seconds, the Lord Jesus is perfect, the Father is Almighty, the Holy Spirit is holy. And we have wronged God in His perfections, creating a reason for Him to hold our sins against us. But He does not do so. In Christ Jesus, we are forgiven and justified.

         But towards others, we do not justify them, we often justify ourselves. We think they deserve to have this hanging over them because of how much it hurt me. That is not Christ-like. Let it go. Forgive that you might be forgiven.

Hiding or Exposed?

Our minds are tricky. Although we have been made alive in Christ and brought into the light, we still have the ability to hide in the shadows. Or, to at least think we are hiding in the shadows. In fact, we are not. Christ’s light shines everywhere. Our lives under the sun give us the false impression of shifting shadows. But to Jesus, who reigns over all, He sees things perfectly well as if they were shining brightly in the full day’s sun. 

What does this have to do with confessing sins? Just this, learn the facts of who Jesus is, where He is, what He is doing there? We are always in His immediate presence. That fact will be a deterrent from sin. Furthermore, if you have deluded yourself that there are some things Jesus doesn’t see or know about you, confess that, too. He is slow to anger and quick to forgive.

Praise

O Lord our God, we come before You to worship in the beauty of holiness that is found in our savior Jesus Christ.  Great are you O Lord and greatly to be praised. You made the heavens and You alone are worthy to be praised as creator. Glory and honor are in Your presence; strength and gladness are in Your place. We give thanks to You, O Lord for You are good, Your mercy endures forever. Amen.

David Cooper wrote this prayer.

Wresting Control

We are a people passionately independent. We want to control our environment to the uttermost. I think we protestants, we reformed folk, we CREC types, we Christian schoolers, we homeschoolers, are all prone to this desire to be in control. And, of course, there is some truth in it. Self-control is, in fact, a fruit of the Spirit.

         But we run afoul of God when we insist upon controlling every situation, every outcome, every person and that is a real temptation for people like us, for people like you. 

Do you believe that the Lord Jesus is ruling over all things and that He is, indeed, in control? Do you submit to His Holy will or chafe against it? Stop wresting control from Jesus. It is good to be His servant and do His will.

Praise

O, Lord God in Heaven, maker of Heaven and Earth, Your ways are not our ways and they are past finding out. Though we gird our loins for battle, we cannot contend with You. You know our every thought before we speak it. We cannot answer back to You, the Almighty and everlasting God, and so we lay our hands on our mouths in silence. We come before You in humility, seeking Your grace and mercy through our Savior, Jesus. We glorify Your name, who will not despise the lowly and contrite heart. Hear from Heaven and answer us, O Lord of our salvation, for unto You is all glory and power and praise, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

God Listens

Dear Saints, the Lord listened when Abraham pleaded with Him about Sodom. God saw sense in Abraham’s desire to save the city for the sake of even ten righteous who lived there. Sadly, there was only one righteous man in the entire city and it was utterly destroyed.

         The point is that our God is a good, kind, concerned, Father who listens to His children. When men, women and children repent of their sins, He hears them and is quick to forgive and invite them to free fellowship with Him.

If Indeed

The Bible puts conditions on God’s blessings to us. It says that Jesus died to reconcile us to God. He did so to present us holy and blameless before the Lord. That is Good News!

But he adds this condition, If Indeed, you continue in the faith. 

God’s blessings are held out to us, forgiveness, joy in the holy ghost, a holy and blameless life. In order to receive all these blessings we must continue in the faith. We can read that, we must continue to have faith in Jesus, His death for our sins, His Resurrection to defeat death, His Ascension to wrench away the usurpation of the devil. So, let us turn away from every form of unbelief and continue in faith, indeed.