Preached by Pastor Mike Hess Sunday evening 01/24/2010.
Communion Reminders
Communion serves 5 purposes for us together as a church body:
1. It is an opportunity to express our unity together as a church (1 Cor. 11:18-19, 33)
2. It is a fellowship of God’s people (1 Cor. 11:20-21, 33)
3. It is a symbolic remembrance of Christ’s sinless life and atoning death on our behalf
(1 Cor. 11:24-25)
4. It is intended as a proclamation of Christ’s death, resurrection and return (1 Cor. 11:26)
5. It is an opportunity for self-examination (1 Cor. 11:28-29)
Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:17-19)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26
I. Substitution
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – everyone- to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6
“So then, the cross of Christ is the event in which God makes known his holiness and love simultaneously, in one event, in an absolute manner. The cross is the only place where the loving, forgiving, merciful God is revealed in such a way that we perceive that his holiness and love are equally infinite.” John Stott
II. Imputation
Imputation – speaks of a legal reckoning. To impute guilt to someone is to assign guilt to that person’s account.
III. Justification
“and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” Philippians 3:9
“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Romans 8:30
Practical Application
1. Understanding forgiveness theologically and biblically is going to help us understand our standing before God and what it should be with other members of the Body of Christ.
2. Meditating on the Cross and the Gospel is the only way to keep things in perspective in the Christian life.
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