Pastor and author Lloyd C. Douglas years ago told the story of a delightful conversation that was set in motion when he casually asked an elderly music teacher, “What’s the good news?” Without missing a beat, the music teacher picked up a tuning fork, struck it and held it up in the air. As the soft, constant tone rang out from the tuning fork the teacher said, “The good news is that is A. It was A yesterday. It will be A tomorrow, and it will be A a thousand years from now. The piano may be out of tune and the soprano may be off-key, but that is A.”
I love that little story because it speaks to the value of having an unwavering reference point. Those absolutely reliable and unchanging markers that we can return to in any circumstance and at any time and know that it will be exactly as it was before.
–My mother’s unshakeable love for me was one of those unwavering reference points to which I anchored my life.
–My father’s unshakeable commitment to giving your best effort to every thing you do was an unwavering reference point for me that continues, to this day, to inspire and guide me.
Those unwavering reference points to which we can return at any time and in any circumstance are incredibly important for all of us.
As I said a moment ago, in the music world, that reference point is A. No matter how badly the orchestra instruments may be out of tune just moments before the concert begins, as long as someone can provide that A, every instrument in the orchestra can be brought into tune. That’s the value of a reference point.
And as Christians our reference point is found at these tables. The Lord’s Supper is the A of the Christian faith. It always has been and it always will be.
No matter what is going on in the world…wars, economic disasters, political upheaval or peace and calm…
…and no matter what is going on in our own lives… sickness, health, prosperity, poverty, calm or struggle, whether most of our life is still ahead of us OR we’re somewhere in the middle OR the end is getting near…
…the truth is that at all times and in every circumstance…everyone of us who have anchored our lives in Christ finds that the Lord’s Supper is an unwavering reference point that provides us immediate focus and clarity.
And that’s good to know because of our natural tendency to go spiritually out of tune from time to time. Can anybody relate to that that? I think we all can. And because of that natural tendency it’s critically important for us to regularly tune our faith by the unwavering reference point we find in the Lord’s Supper. And what better time for a spiritual tuning than the very first Sunday of a brand new year?
So, that’s what we’re going to do today. Let’s tune our faith according to the unwavering tone that is heard every time we gather at this Table.
THE SERIOUSNESS OF SIN
Let’s begin by letting this Table set the tone for the way we view sin. Our goal is to be sure that our vision of sin is completely in tune with God’s vision of sin and this Table provides us an unwavering reference point to help us see exactly what God thinks about sin. And what it tells us is that the price for the forgiveness of our sins was so high that we couldn’t pay it.
The enormity of our sin…from God’s perspective…was so great that not a single one of us had any chance of deserving, earning or purchasing God’s forgiveness. It was completely beyond our reach. But God was so determined to provide a way for us to be forgiven that He allowed Jesus, His one and only Son, to pay the only price sufficient to secure the forgiveness of our sins. And the price was His life.
Listen to what the Apostle Paul says about our observance of The Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. He writes:
(23) For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, (24) 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.” (25) 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.” (26) For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
–So, we come to the Table and remember that Jesus’ body was literally broken on the cross.
–And, we come to the Table and remember that Jesus’ blood was literally poured out on the cross.
–And we come to the Table and we proclaim the Lord’s death.
And we do all of this according to Jesus’ own instruction. “Do this,” he said, “in remembrance of me. Remember that my body was broken. Remember that my blood was poured out. Remember that I died on that cross. But if that’s all you remember then it was all in vain. There’s still one more thing to remember when you come to this Table. Remember that I did it all FOR YOU.
Remember that it was not my sin that led me to the cross. It was your sin that led me to the cross.
Remember that your sin created a spiritual debt that was completely beyond your ability to pay. So I paid it for you.
And remember that the price was my life.
Come and remember the high price that I paid for the forgiveness of your sin.”
I said a little earlier that we have a natural tendency to drift out of tune spiritually. One of the places where this happens so frequently is in the way we see our own sin. While we can be incredibly quick to point out, magnify and dwell on the sins of others, we are far too often just as quick to excuse, minimize, ignore, pass over and down play the seriousness of our own particular favorite sins. But don’t bring a casual view of your own sin to this Table because this Table is an unwavering reference point that never fails to remind us that a casual view of our sin is completely out of tune with God’s view of our sin.
THE EXTENT OF GOD’S LOVE
Now, if the only thing that this Supper did was to get our vision of our sin completely in tune with God’s vision of our sin, it would be a spiritually valuable experience. As God’s children, it’s important for us to be in tune with God. But a Supper that focused only on the seriousness of our sin and the high price that Jesus paid for the forgiveness of our sin would probably not be a Supper that we would look forward to repeating regularly because each of those realities…the weight of our sin and Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin…is an emotionally heavy load for us to bear. Thankfully, this Table also serves as an unwavering reference point declaring the certainty of God’s love for us. And that’s a message that we not only need to hear but delight in hearing over and over again.
So, yes, come to the Table and remember that Jesus died for the forgiveness of your sins but also remember that He did it because He loves you.
The Good News of the Gospel is not just that in Christ, God has provided a way for our sins to be forgiven and us to be saved. The Good News of the Gospel is that in Christ, God has provided a way for our sins to be forgiven and us to be saved because He loves us! We’re not just saved by God, we’re loved by God! And, folks, being confident of God’s love for us changes everything. Let me see if I can show you what I mean by that.
John 3:16 is one of the most treasured verses in the Bible because it so clearly and succinctly expresses the heart of the Gospel. And what is the Gospel? It’s the Good News that we are saved not by anything we do, but rather by trusting in what Jesus did for us on the cross.
John 3:16 says, “God…gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Now, folks, that’s the heart of the gospel and if you believe that you will be saved. But I intentionally left out one small part of the verse to show you that if you miss this part of the verse…or you forget this part of the verse…even though you’re saved you will miss out on so much of what God desires for you.
Here’s what the whole verse says: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Now, folks, if the shortened version of the verse is sufficient to get us saved, why do you suppose God put in all of those extra words? Why wasn’t God satisfied simply to say, “I have provided for your salvation through Jesus?” Why did He add those extra words, “I have provided for your salvation through Jesus because I love you?” Why did God do that? I’ll tell you why. It’s because God doesn’t simply want His children to be secure in their salvation…God wants His children to be secure in His love.
If you come to the Table and you “get” the seriousness of your sin; and you “get” the high price Jesus paid for the forgiveness of your sin but you miss how much God loves you…you’ve missed the best part. So, don’t miss it. This Table is an unwavering declaration of God’s absolutely amazing love for us. Yes, it was our sin that led Jesus to the cross but it was God’s love for us that brought Him into the world for the very purpose of becoming our crucified Savior.
So, come and remember.
The Petaluma Valley Baptist Church Prayer Team is a ministry dedicated to intercessory prayer. A group of Prayer Team members are available to pray for requests that come either through the mail, e-mail, via the telephone. or this web site. Please submit a brief description of your request and we will bring it before the throne of grace.
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