The Early Church: Sacramental
Notes
Transcript
Wouldn’t it be a bummer to hang out with someone all day, only to find out at the moment they left that it was Jesus?
Wouldn’t it be a bummer to hang out with someone all day, only to find out at the moment they left that it was Jesus?
Like, if you had known it was Jesus you might have appreciated it more? Asked him questions? Basked in his presence?
It was Easter Sunday, and two disciples are joined by Jesus on the road to Emmaus, but don’t recognize him.
They’re dejected because they had hoped Jesus was the Christ, but he had died and they aren’t sure they believe the rumors that he rose from the dead.
Jesus, who they still don’t recognize, shows them in the Old Testament how he really was the Christ and that he was supposed to rise from the dead.
In Emmaus, Jesus breaks bread with them (which is the New Testament’s nickname for Communion) and it’s only at that moment when God opens their hearts to see Jesus.
But as soon as they recognize him, he disappears!
What a bummer! They missed the opportunity to learn from Jesus and connect with him while he was in their presence! Or did they?
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Jesus teaches the disciples that they have him in their presence in Communion and in the Word just as much as they did when he was standing there with them.
Jesus instituted the Sacraments as means of grace for all Christians to experience the presence of Jesus throughout all time and space.
We just started a sermon series on what the early church was all about at its core.
Today we see that the Sacraments of Communion and Baptism are as central in the church as Easter itself.
The Sacraments were instituted by Jesus to begin the New Creation
The Sacraments were instituted by Jesus to begin the New Creation
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth by his Word as the Spirit hovered over the waters.
And in that ancient, perfect creation, Adam and Eve were sustained for eternal life in the garden by the fruit of the Tree of Life.
Sin corrupted all of that. Institutions of evil rose up to deprive the weak, praise the wicked, exalt death, and worship the almighty dollar.
But in Christ, God became part of his creation and died and rose to restore creation to its original perfection.
Jesus instituted Baptism and Communion to begin that restored, New Creation
The Sacraments are so connected to Easter that you could say that Easter reverberates through the church whenever baptism and Communion take place.
Jesus doesn’t create the church as an institution of buildings, boards, and budgets; no, the resurrected Jesus institutes Word and Sacrament as true church
Just as the Spirit hovered over waters at creation, Jesus makes us new creatures by Spirit-filled waters at Baptism
Just as Adam & Eve were sustained by the fruit of the Tree of Life, in the Lord’s Supper we are sustained by the body & blood of the cross as the new Tree of Life
The church is God’s new creation by baptism that he sustains to eternity in the Lord’s Supper while still living in the Old Creation
If we as the church are the New Creation and the Sacraments are institutions of the New Creation as Jesus’ gifts to the church, then...
Jesus instituted the Sacraments as the Christian way of Life
Jesus instituted the Sacraments as the Christian way of Life
By breaking bread for the disciples in Emmaus, the risen Jesus shows them that Christians are to keep on doing the Lord’s Supper.
In Acts, Peter preaches baptism as the way of being Christian:
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What does Peter say? Repent and be baptized.
Instead of “Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed Alleluia!” Peter’s Easter refrain is “Alleluia, repent and be baptized! Repent and be baptized indeed, Alleluia!”
To repent and be baptized means that we put our lives into new perspective: Easter is the most important event in history, and baptism connects us to it.
Baptism is the entrance into a life of remembering who you are in Christ, that because he is risen, you will rise also.
Repentance is a pattern of turning back to the risen Jesus as the only source of life to depend on.
The Sacraments are how Christians live a life of repentance, turning away from everything else we depend on to define us and save us.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Word and Sacrament are not just activities that Christians add to their schedules. Word and Sacrament aren’t just extra-curriculars.
Word and Sacrament are literally how to live as a Christian. It’s the pattern we follow, it’s our new identity, it’s how we live and it’s how we thrive.
But while the Sacraments are the way of life for every Christian, it’s not something that we do alone.
Jesus instituted the Sacraments for the Church Community
Jesus instituted the Sacraments for the Church Community
All throughout the book of Acts, the early church is constantly growing by baptizing people and keeping them sustained in the Lord’s Supper.
But the early church made an important distinction: the Sacraments were not the source of forgiveness & eternal life, but the means to receiving forgiveness & eternal life
The source of forgiveness and eternal life is only Jesus’s cross & empty tomb
But Jesus institutes the Sacraments as a way of connecting sinners to his cross and resurrection.
That’s why the church has never made a habit of practicing the Sacraments outside of the church community.
If you get your baby baptized but never bring them to church, you’re treating baptism as the source of forgiveness & eternal life and replacing Jesus as savior with baptism.
If you take Communion but never bother growing in the faith and Jesus’ teaching, you’re treating his body and blood as the source of life rather than Jesus.
Look how Peter connects Baptism as a means to the true source of life:
1 Peter 1:23-25 - You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And what the disciples said after Jesus broke bread with them:
Luke 24:32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
The early church always taught that Baptism and Communion bring the gifts of Jesus’ forgiveness and eternal life, but only because they connect you to Jesus and his Word.
Jesus made the church the institution of his Word, that by being connected to the community of his church you might be connected to his Word.
At times, Christians are willing to go without Communion because we know Jesus and his Word is the true source,
but also why Christians have risked their lives to receive Communion because they know that it is the means to the true source.
It’s why a Christian soldier can survive for months without receiving Communion
But that’s also why Christians risked taking Communion even though they knew Roman soldiers could identify and kill them if they had wine on their breath,
why they were slandered for being cannibals,
and why they were accused of infanticide for baptizing babies in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Ever since the first Sunday in the life of the church, Jesus has continued to reveal himself to us in his Word and has been present with us in his Sacraments.
Ever since the first Sunday in the life of the church, Jesus has continued to reveal himself to us in his Word and has been present with us in his Sacraments.
In Emmaus, what did the two disciples do after they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread?
They ran straight back to Jerusalem that very night to gather with the church, where they knew Jesus was revealed and present with his people.
Friends, right now we are like the two disciples running back to Jerusalem to be with the church where Jesus is.
Just as they ran back to Jerusalem from Emmaus filled with hope, we look forward to gathering together with Jesus again, too!
We may be going through an awkward time when we’re not physically gathering around his body and blood, but it doesn’t mean this is permanent!
Even at a time like this, we have no reason for despair, but every reason for joy and hope. Christ is still risen! He is still present with us!
We are still the baptized people of the risen Jesus, we still see Jesus in his Word, and we will be in his presence when we gather around his Supper again.
Keep running friends! We will be together with Jesus again! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!