Missio Communion Meditation (May 2025)

Brothers and sisters, as we prepare our hearts this morning for communion, I’ll be sharing from Psalm 25:11-14

The text will be up on the screen so you can follow along as I read – Psalm 25:11–14

“For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.

The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.

Three words for reflection in this passage this morning:

Forgive

Fear

Friendship

Forgive

Psalm 25:11 “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.”

In this Psalm, we see David praying that God would teach him and lead him. In your Bibles you might see a heading above this Psalm that says ‘Teach Me Your Paths’ — David is pleading for guidance and protection.

But before David or any of us can follow God, we must acknowledge our sin and repent. We need to recognize that any path other than God’s path leads to brokenness, emptiness, and ultimately to death. We need forgiveness, but praise God forgiveness is offered thru Jesus, our great High Priest who went alone to the cross. He walked that path to death for us, served as the bridge between us and God, paid the price for our guilt, and now praise be to God it. is. finished. Jesus paid it all. Every sin past, present, or future of all who will believe in Jesus was paid for at the cross of Christ. We can be forgiven by receiving this good gift and putting our trust and our faith in Him.

But we don’t just ask for forgiveness once and move on — if we have changed hearts that desire Him, we no longer WANT to sin. We hate our sin — and Communion is an opportunity for us to humbly come to God and cry out, “Pardon my guilt, for it is great.”

We do this because as God’s people we are to fear the Lord— and that’s our 2nd word

Fear

again from verses 12-13

Psalm 25:12–13 “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.”

This word ‘fear’ carries with it both terror and reverence— and they go hand in hand — the things that terrify you are usually the things that cause you to pay the most attention — if something can invoke terror within you, you don’t ignore it — and that’s what we are doing here during Communion, we are remembering our neediness and Jesus sacrifice. When confronted with our sin, our brokenness and rebellion and God’s perfection, it ought to move us. It should cause a reaction within us. It is terrifying to think that it was our sins — MY sin — that hung Jesus there on that cross. It is humbling to think about all the many ways this week I’ve reflected Jesus poorly in my relationships with others. It should cause us to tremble when we read in Scripture that every thought and deed that we ever do will be judged in eternity, and it is good and right for us to humble ourselves and be teachable this morning so that we might not sin against this holy and awesome God.

The greatest news is that when we are forgiven and fearing God – we get to live with Him, receive His steadfast love, and become His friends – and that’s the 3rd word this morning — Friendship

Friendship

again from verse 14

Psalm 25:14 “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”

So for those that are fearing the Lord, not only are they instructed and taught how to walk and live in His ways, but they are invited to friendship with God Himself and to enter into His covenant. And this word here for friendship means a tight, intimate relationship — this means that those that are forgiven by God, and fearing God, are those that are in his closest circle of friends. There is a weight to this type of friendship — this is an inseparable union with the Almighty in Heaven that has been paid for by blood. Brothers and sisters — it should blow us away this morning that we are called His friends because of Jesus.

In John 15:15 Jesus says “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends”

We are no longer His enemies, no longer separated from Him, but thanks to Jesus we are now friends.

—

Communion is a time for Christians to remember His sacrifice on the cross — the bread symbolizes his body, the juice his blood. We eat and drink these symbols — they enter into us — as a picture of the inward change that the Spirit has worked and is working within our hearts and minds.

If this seems strange to you or you’re not sure if you’re ready to take communion today, it’s ok to not participate, but we’d love to talk with you more about what this means after the service.

Let's now pause and Go to God fearfully and quietly in our hearts - confess our sins, remember His death and thank Him for calling us friends, and then we will take communion together.

(silence)

Mark 14:22–25

[22] And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”

[23] And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. [24] And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. [25] Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (ESV)

Let’s pray