God With Us - The Fellowship of Communion

Merry Christmas, and welcome to Living Faith Church. I am so excited to be able to this Candle-Light service with you. If you are a guest with us today, welcome. On behalf of My wife Stella, myself, our staff and Dream team we are honored to spend this Sunday with you.

One of the things I love about the Christmas season, is that for the most part, it’s a season where we slow down. We are given time off of work, some of us take an extended holiday, and what is all of this time for? Mostly, it is for fellowship. As a kid I remember the long days of the Christmas season. I remember waking up early, waking my parents up way before they wanted to get up; because I was ready to open presents. I remember the savory breakfasts, the time around the couch reading the Christmas story, opening the presents, the way we made a total wreck of the house, then we had to clean it up. And I remember, once it was all over, the long afternoon of playing with new toys. I felt safe, I felt loved, I felt the warmth of family. Christmas is a season where family comes together, and Christ is at the heart. Christ is not only at the heart because it surrounds His birth. Christ is at the heart because fellowship and family is a God creation.

In the book of Matthew, chapter one, and Luke chapter two, we can find the entirety of the Christmas story.

Matthew 1:18–23 (NASB95)

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

The mission of Christ, is found in His coming. He is called Emmanuel, God with us, because His mission was to restore the fellowship relationship between God and man. When you realize this, you begin to see so many things about Christ that point to family and relationship.

Beth-Lechem

His birth place was Bethlehem, meaning house of bread. Does anything say family like sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen talking to mom while she is needing a loaf of bread?

Names and Nick-Names

Do you remember when Jesus gave His disciple Simon the new name Peter in Matthew 10:2. Or in Mark 3:17 when Jesus nicknamed James and John “Sons of Thunder”. He treated these disciples not as slaves or co-workers, but as family. Giving them names, and nick-names.

The Road To Emmaus

After Jesus resurrection He encountered two disciples who were on a seven mile journey to Emmaus. When Jesus encounters these disciples, He finds them discussing the current events, they obviously had been reading the tabloids. They do not recognize at first that this is Jesus they are walking and talking with. However, at the end of this walk, once in Emmaus, in verse 32 of this Luke 24 passage it says:

Luke 24:32 (NASB95)

32 They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”

Now, some of you may know this passage, we affectionately call it the story of the “Road to Emmaus”. I share this with you because the word Emmaus comes from the same root as the name Emmanuel. Emmaus means “Stay or Remain”. Jesus was intentional after His resurrection to reveal Himself as the God With Us, in the town of “Stay”. In other words, I am not going to abandon you, I am the God With You- I will stay, I will remain, I am a fellowship God. God declared to Israel all the way back in the desert in Deuteronomy 31:8

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NASB95)

8 “The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

The Last Supper

Last but not least look at Jesus interactions with His disciples on the final night before He is crucified. He shares a special meal of wine and bread. We now call the meal “communion”, or in the Greek it is called Koinonia, meaning fellowship. It was this particular night of fellowship that the Apostle Paul references in 1 Corinthians 11 when he writes.

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 (NASB95)

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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 He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Jesus intent in this fellowship meal was that we would repeat this meal until His second coming, that as a church our fellowship together would include a remembrance of Him, His sacrifice, His love and His self-emptying for our salvation. And we are going to do that together, here tonight. Right now, the ushers are going to pass the communion elements out to each of you. As they do, look at this. One chapter earlier, the Apostle Paul talks again about this fellowship meal, He says:

1 Corinthians 10:16 (NKJV)

16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

This special meal, this bread and cup that we share together as a church, it is not a dead and lifeless ritual, it is communion, Koinonia, it is fellowship with the life of Christ; His blood and His body. Why, because even in His birth, He was and is, and always will be, The God With Us! He came to restore the fellowship relationship between God and Man. And we see this clearly in the last supper. As they shared this meal together, Jesus tells His disciples, one of you will betray me tonight. Now, from Scripture we know that this betrayers name was Judas. But look at John 13:30, the passage that records the moment when Judas chose to betray Jesus.

John 13:30 (NIV)

30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

The only thing you should take away from this short passage of Scripture is this, Jesus offered to share the fellowship meal, the bread and cup, even with the man He knew would betray Him. Which means, we are never so far away from God that His love cannot reach us. So lost that he doesn’t desire fellowship with us. We are never so sinful that He would cut off a relationship with us. No, He loves us even to the uttermost.

Acts 17:27 (NIV)

27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

Hebrews 13:5 (NASB95)

5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

Matthew 28:20 (NASB95)

20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus in His own words, in Luke 19:10 told the crowd, “I came to seek and to save the lost”. He didn’t come to leave you in your sin, to shame you in your sin, to shun you in your sin, He came to save you, in spite of your sin because Jesus loves you completely. And this fellowship meal, we are about to share together, is a reminder to each of us that Christ did not come to fellowship with the religious only, but to fellowship with all mankind, that He might restore a fellowship relationship.

Communion Response

There is nothing that more clearly represents the idea of fellowship than sharing a meal with the person you are with. Think about these two men Jesus encounters on the road to Stay, or Emmaus, and look with me at how they reflect on this God encounter.

Luke 24:35 (NASB95)

35 They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

It was the fellowship meal, the communion of Christ body and blood, just as on the night of His crucifixion that opened their eyes to see, this is God With Us!

Just maybe, there is an eye opening meal awaiting you. Maybe there is a fellowship meal that could shine a new light to reveal the nearness of God, the closeness of His presence, the God who is among, together with you, the God who is side be side in this life with you. Maybe this Christmas season you could lead your family in a communion moment before you open the gifts, and remember that in the midst of all of the celebrations and festivities, that we are first a foremost celebrating the fellowship relationship that God With Us, Immanuel, side by side God has made for us.

If you would, take the bread of communion in your hand,

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 NASB95

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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.”

You may eat the bread.

1 Corinthians 11:25 NASB95

25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

You may drink the cup. As the band leads us, let’s stand in worship together, take just a few moments to reflect on the kindness, and the love of Christ as we worship.

—Band Sings Communion

Salvation Response

So often we get tangled up in our busy schedules and forget the fellowship that Jesus died for. We take the gift, and leave the communion. It is interesting, is it not; that His name is not God For Us, God To Us, or even God In Us. Non of these prepositions adequately speak to the emotion, the heart or desire of God. He is God WITH Us, or in the Greek “Theos Meta Ego” The God among, the God Among, The God Together With, The God Side By Side. We often miss this part of our relationship with God. He is not far from us as Acts 17:27 says. Here in just a moment we are going to fellowship together with Christ in communion. But before we do this, if you have never had a relationship with Jesus, you must know- everything Jesus ever did was with you in mind. Romans 5 tells us

Romans 5:8 (NASB95)

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The reason we celebrate Jesus is not just because He was a good person, but because He is Immanuel, the one who saves us from sin, who died in our place, making us able to live free of the penalty of sin on earth while awaiting our heavenly eternity. And if you have never asked Jesus to forgive of your sins, and to be the Lord of your life- today is the best day of your life. I want to pray with you. This means, you are free of the penalty your sins demand, Jesus is now the leader of your life, which we are not great at being anyway, and your eternity is secured in Heaven. If you are here today, and want ask Christ to save you- with every eye closed and every head bowed in reverence before God - will you raise your hand so I know who I am praying for?

“Heavenly Father, I trust You to save me through Your Son, Jesus.  Forgive me for all of my sins.  Make me brand new.  Because You died for me, I want to live for You.  Fill me with Your Spirit, so I could follow You.  Jesus, You’re now my Lord and the Savior of my life.  Take my life.  It is Yours.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.”