211226 Communion: ...Until He Comes

Good morning! Merry Christmas to all of you!

As we come to our time of Communion, I want to discuss an element of Communion that is not often emphasized, and that is the fact that Christ is returning soon, which is fitting as we are closing out our survey of the Bible today with a message on Revelation.

PAUSE

Communion is often, and rightly taught, as having to do with relationship, remembrance and repentance - but there is also an eschatological, or end times element, involved as well. Christ is alive, sin and death are conquered and He is coming again.

Please turn with me to 1st Corinthians 11:25-26

PAUSE

YES, YES, Rightly, do we consider our relationship with God, remembering Christ crucified in our daily acts of repentance over sin, but if our repentance ends with Christ on the cross, and we stop there we have not preached a complete Gospel to ourselves. Christ is no longer on the cross, Christ is not bound by the grave, Christ is alive and returning soon.

We do need to preach to ourselves a complete Gospel, that Christ died to save sinners. We do need to combat our sin, killing it, putting it to death daily by remembering the incredible cost our best Friend and His Father paid at Calvary.

But our preaching of the Gospel does not end with Christ, dead on the cross. PAUSE It ends with us remembering that He is alive and coming again and that is what I specifically want to speak of today.

Pay attention to how this familiar passage ends - verse 26

SLIDE

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Christ is coming again… Christ is alive and has not forgotten His beloved.

PAUSE

As we repent daily, as we confess sin daily, as we put our sin to death daily by applying the truth of God’s Word to our lives we remember not only the Lord’s death that paid for our sins but also that He is coming again.

For the believer, His return is one we anxiously long for and which will happen just as God has said it would. BLANK SLIDE

Let us take a moment now to examine ourselves to make sure that we are coming to the table in a worthy manner and remember not only the cost of what was paid but the promise of His imminent return.

WAIT FOR ONE WHOLE MINUTE.

Close in prayer.

Invitation for Communion Ushers

If I could have the communion ushers come up, we will distribute the elements and then ask the blessing over the elements.

Dan Brown will you ask for the blessing on the bread?

(1 Co 11:23–26)

23 …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.”

Pastor Gary Taylor will you ask for the blessing on the cup?

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.”

PAUSE

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

LET’S PRAY