Partaking of Word and Action

When Jesus broke bread with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, something happened.  Jesus had spent much time explaining to them from the Scriptures why it was that the Son of Man had to come and die and on the third day be raised from the dead.  Jesus was giving, I’m sure, the perfect Bible study – but after the study, they still did not realize fully Who it was Who was teaching them. 

And then, following the Word, He gave thanks and broke the bread – and then and there they understood it was the Lord who was with them.

Word and Table.  Word and Sacrament.  Word and Action.  These are the two proofs that go together.  These are the means the Holy Spirit uses to impart faith and to strengthen that faith.  You have declared “Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed.”  Now come and taste and see how good that resurrection is.  Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

Easter and the End of Death

(HT – Toby Sumpter) – When John saw Jesus on the Island of Patmos and fell at his feet as though dead, Jesus laid His right hand on him, and said, “Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last.  I am He who lives and was dead, and Behold I am alive forevermore.  And I have the keys of Hades and Death.”  Who holds the power of death?  Who is the Lord of Death?  The One who holds the keys holds the power.  Who holds the keys?  It is Jesus, our Jesus.

There once was a Grim Reaper, Satan the Accuser, the Dragon of Old, the Devil, who held all men in the power of death, through the fear of death.  But Jesus has suffered for our sin and now Satan has nothing – death has been exhausted.  Now, when the Great Accuser looks down at his list, every sin, every fault, every failure, every betrayal, every evil deed, every lustful thought, every backbiting word, every abusive act, every accusation has been blotted out with the precious blood of Jesus – and Satan has nothing on you.

And so, there is a reason that graveyards comfortably grew up around churches.  Christians are comfortable around the dead.  Because Christians are no longer afraid of death.  Jesus holds the keys of Hades and Death in His hand; our Savior has crushed the head of the Serpent on the Cross.  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Deep Thankfulness

I love our tradition of reading through the Passion of Christ and involving many members, and even the whole congregation, in this reading.  Pausing through the passages and singing many psalms and hymns that accentuate the themes of the Passion help us to all pause and reflect over the sober events that led to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

But often a question comes up – as we pause and reflect – what are we to do?  Should this be a time of great remorse, of quiet introspection over one’s sins for which Christ had to go through such terrible suffering?  Should we re-enact the questioning, the ignorance, the fear and depression that the disciples felt as they watched the One they believed to be the Messiah actually die and be buried in a tomb?

Many traditions encourage this kind of honest reflection, even encouraging a season of penance to be sorry for all you did to cause this dark day to happen.  But we tend to not do so and, I believe for good reason.

Philippians 2:5-8 says   “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

When Paul writes this, He is commanding the church at Philippi to have the same mentality that Christ had when treating others – especially those who cause you trouble in life – and especially those who are in the covenant of grace with you – those who are your brothers and sisters in Christ – those who are your fellow church members – and most likely those who are your family members as well.  He said that we are to have the same lowliness of mind, that we are to esteem others better than ourselves – that we are to esteem other’s lives and well being as more important than our own – and that we are to consider the interests of others as important, even more important, than our own.

We are to do this looking at Christ – considering what He did for us.  And so these verses remind us of what Christ did for us, of the attitude of love He had in doing so.  We are to recall His death not to feel guilty for His death, but to marvel at His love and sacrifice for us in that love by His death.

If Paul’s point was to make us feel bad for what Jesus had to go through for us, he would have continued by saying – “and so, you owe Him big time.  You should feel really bad and guilty for what He did for you.  You are worthless and yet Christ died for you.  I want you to meditate on that…” –

Instead, he follows up in vv9-11 with this –

⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In other words, what should we remember as we remember Good Friday?  We should remember all that Good Friday, all that His crucifixion and death and burial accomplished.  The emphasis becomes not on our sin, but on Christ’s victory – not on God’s wrath, but on the propitiation of that wrath by Christ, not simply on the atonement for our sin, but for the reconciliation that atonement accomplished for us in Christ.

Simply stated, every biblical meditation over the death of Jesus Christ must lead us to thankfulness – deep thankfulness – deep and profound thankfulness that spills over into unspeakable joy and a peace that passes understanding.  We practice this every time we participate together in the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s Day.  That is a celebration based on the remembrance of what took place yesterday, what is called Maundy Thursday – the night of the Last Supper.

When Jesus had that meal, knowing it was His last meal with his disciples before the betrayal, the arrest, and the coming sufferings on the cross – Jesus said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”  Listen to that closely again – “with fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

When He takes bread – the bread He will declare to be His body given for us – He does two things.  He gives thanks and He breaks the bread.  He gives thanks that His body is going to be broken.  He gives thanks that He is going to suffer and die – and He does so before the very ones that He is going to suffer and die for.

Hear the good news!  Jesus Christ is your Savior; He is the Savior of the World – and He loves being the Savior of the world.  Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world – and He loves being the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.  When we remember the death of Christ rightly, we are to join with Him in Eucharist – in Thanksgiving – in Joyful, overwhelming thankfulness.

Yes – the cost was terrible, enormous, dark – and yes, the One Who knew no sin took on sin for us – Yes Jesus Christ had to die to pay for our sins.  And Yes – Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured it all – and cried out “It is Finished” before He died.  What we just remembered was the greatest act of love the world has ever known.  What we are left with – is to receive this as a gift and to do so with great awe and with deep thankfulness.

The last two verses of Isaac Watts hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” bears out what is being said here.

Verse three reminds us of the great suffering Jesus experienced that day on the Cross.

See from His head, His hands, His feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Which is followed by the Hymnist’s response – not a response of feeling really, really bad for what Christ had to go through.  Rather, overwhelmed at the great love of God and of our Savior, Jesus, he writes,

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were a present far too small

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

A service of worship on Good Friday is not to be a re-enactment of the sorrow which the disciples experienced that day because of their lack of understanding of the coming resurrection on first day of the week.  Nor is it to be used to make everyone feel bad that Jesus had to die for their sins.  It is to draw attention to the Passion of Christ, to the great and terrible price He paid out of His great and immeasurable love for us – for you.  And it is to create in us, recreate in us, and renew in us, great and deep thankfulness over what is ours, what is fully accomplished, and what is freely given without any constraints to feel guilty.  God so loved the world – and so welcome to life in Jesus Christ.

Adam's Boasting

"So if Adam had passed his test successfully, he would not have boasted as if he had done it all on his own.  He would have praised God for his unmerited favor.  The term covenant of works, therefore, may mislead us by suggesting that Adam possessed an autonomy that no other creature has ever possessed.  Best to regard this covenant, like the others, as a sovereign blessing of God, calling Adam and Eve to respond in obedient faith." - Frame, ST, p65.

Obedient faith.  Sola Fide excludes any works for any basis of salvation.  But faith without works is a dead faith.  Life-giving faith always brings forth works.

God Would Have Been the Source of Adam's Obedience

"Certainly the focus of the Edenic covenant (Frame's term for "covenant of works" or "covenant of creation") is on what Adam does rather than on God's action as the ground of Adam's blessing or curse.  And certainly whatever blessing Adam received would have been appropriate to his obedience:  he would have deserved the blessing.  But it would be wrong to claim...that had Adam successfully resisted temptation, God would have had nothing to do with it." - Frame, ST, p65.

And this teaches us quite a bit about the work of progressive sanctification and the obedience of the believer today.  We are certainly told to obey, and we are promised discipline and blessings according to our works.  At the same time, we are not to obey outside of Spirit-filled lives.  We are to bear the fruit of the Spirit by means of our indwelling by the Spirit and our participation in that mutual indwelling.

Calvin on Faith and Confidence

Faith produces confidence, which again, in its turn, produces boldness. There are three stages in our progress. First, we believe the promises of God; next, by relying on them, we obtain that confidence, which is accompanied by holiness and peace of mind; and, last of all, comes boldness, which enables us to banish fear, and to come with firmness and steadiness into the presence of God.
To separate faith from confidence would be an attempt to take away heat and light from the sun. I acknowledge, indeed, that, in proportion to the measure of faith, confidence is small in some and greater in others; but faith will never be found unaccompanied by these effects or fruits. A trembling, hesitating, doubting conscience, will always be a sure evidence of unbelief; but a firm, steady faith, will prove to be invincible against the gates of hell. To trust in Christ as Mediator, and to entertain a firm conviction of our heavenly Father’s love, — to venture boldly to promise to ourselves eternal life, and not to tremble at death or hell, — is, to use a common phrase, a holy presumption. (Commentary on Ephesians 3:12) 

To the Fearful Hearted

We focused on Isaiah 35:5-6 and now as we come to the Table, hear the verses just preceding it.  “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who are fearful hearted, “Be strong, do not fear!  Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.”

That is what we celebrate at the Table.  This is not a morose time of introspection.  It is a time to say, “God saved me.  Jesus loves me.  I am a part of the family of God because He came with a vengeance and freed me.”  It is a precious time for all who are in Christ, marked by their baptism, to come and sing with joy using lips that never would have enjoyed such giving of praise – to do so at the Table of Grace, the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, the Body and Blood of the Son of God.  Let Him come again, anew, to you, to us, and strengthen weak hands, firm feeble knees, and calm the fearful hearted.  He has saved you.  Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.