Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends.
If you’re about 30 years old or older, you remember the shock the world was in 22 years ago today, the 12 of September, right? Smoke was billowing up from New York City as both gigantic towers of the World Trade center had collapsed after being hit by two different commercial airplanes which had been hijacked. Thousands of people were dead, the global economic markets were in ‘free fall’, and a new word, “terrorist”, was suddenly being heard on every news broadcast around the world. Also, names of places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, which most people of the world knew little about, were front page headline countries. Everything was changing so fast even 24-hour news organizations could not keep pace and feed the world accurate, fresh news. I wonder where you were when you first heard the news. What emotions did you feel? What thoughts did you have? How did it affect you that week, 22 years ago?
Yesterday I invited us to consider the similarity of world impact which resulted from the Passover/Easter weekend, almost exactly 2000 years ago, when Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday and rose from the dead Sunday morning! I reminded us yesterday that the apostle Paul, in writing his first letter to the Christians in Corinth, gave some strong instructions to these Corinthian Christians who evidently were not taking seriously the significance of the Communion celebration which memorializes the atonement death of Jesus Christ. It causes us to ask ourselves, how seriously do we take that experience, wherever you live in the world?
Yesterday we drew attention to the fact that while memorial celebrations and monuments have been established all around the world in honor of September 11, 2001, AFTER that tragic week; for Jesus He inaugurated the Communion Memorial observance BEFORE He went to the cross and gave His life! In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he writes this: “I pass on to you what I received from the Lord Jesus. On the night He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said ‘This is My body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of Me.’ We discussed the significance of that statement yesterday. Paul continued: “In the same way, after supper Jesus took the cup saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of Me.’ Then Paul made this commentary about the significance of this memorial: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.“ (1 Cor. 11:23-26)
Oh my, what a powerful statement! The only reason we can proclaim and celebrate the death of Jesus is this great fact: Jesus is NOT Dead! He died a sacrificial death, but Jesus did not remain dead! His victorious resurrection is equally as significant as His atonement death, for in His resurrection, Jesus defeated Death and Sin and Satan! Jesus reigns alive and victorious and yes Jesus will come again to earth as He promised! (Acts 1:11) So whenever we participate in the Communion memorial meal, it is a great celebration of ALL Jesus accomplished in BOTH His sacrificial death and His victorious resurrection!!
You noticed, I’m sure, that Jesus gave a radical explanation of the significance of the cup which symbolizes His blood. In the Passover meal it is called the ‘Cup of Redemption’ which celebrates what was accomplished for Moses and the Hebrew slaves when they sacrificed the lamb and put the blood on the door frames of their homes in full faith that God would protect them from death as the angel of death passed through Egypt. The innocent lamb had given its life so its blood could be splashed on the door frame in full trust of God’s promise! The death angel passed OVER every house which had the blood of faith splashed on its door frame!
The same is true for the unique blood of Jesus. He gave His blood so ANYONE, living ANYWHERE in the world, of ANY GENERATION, can be spared the eternal judgment of PERISH by placing their full trust in God and His promise that HE will accept Jesus’ blood as payment in full for our sin!
And there’s more! Did you notice Jesus said His blood is the blood of the “new covenant”? That refers to a new relationship possible with Almighty, Holy God through Jesus Christ so that we are reconciled to God from whom we’ve been estranged because of our sin! (Col. 1:19-22) And there’s more! We are adopted by God into His family as His sons or His daughters. He is our heavenly, Holy Father and we have an eternal inheritance awaiting us in heaven with Him! (Rom. 8:14-17) And there’s more!
This ‘new covenant’ relationship with God means that His heavenly throne room is open all the time, 24×7 to any of His children. (Hebrews 4:14-16; 10:19-23) We don’t need an appointment to have an audience with God, we don’t need to pay any amount of money, we don’t need any advocate other than Jesus Himself (1 Tim. 2:3-6)
As I consider the chaos which was happening all around the world, but especially in America 22 years ago today, what a contrast with our response to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ which brings calm, peace, contentment in life, forgiveness from sin, hope and certainty of eternal life and a new relationship with God for all those who fully trust the risen Jesus Christ to be their Savior and Lord! Now my friends, let’s pause right here and consider some closing questions:
1. How has what happened 22 years ago, September 11 & 12, affected your world, your life and your family?
2. How has what happened that Passover/Easter weekend 2000 years ago affected your world, your life and your family?
3. Looking forward to the remainder of your life, no matter how much longer you have to live, which event has more significance in the rest of your life, September 11, 2001, or the weekend Jesus died and rose again? Why?
Often, I look for a special song to end our time together which will really galvanize our discussion. Today I think I’ve found a really special song. 1300 prison inmates, some of them knowing they may never see another day of freedom outside of prison, joined together for a worship service inside the prison, and they celebrate that while incarcerated for crimes they have committed, they have found a new life in the person and power of Jesus. Let’s join them in worship, my friends…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Cor. 11:23-26.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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