I've gotten out of the habit of sending these out; I really do consider them one of the most important things I do Sunday mornings, so we'll see if I can catch up giving you all of them without overwhelming you...
Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 - Thanksgiving sermon
When the Israelite brought their first fruit of grain or wine or oil before the Lord, they presented it to Him as a sign of His keeping His Word. They confessed their need for that promise, and rejoiced in its fulfillment and blessings.
That is what we do now, with Christ as the first fruit. We present our first fruit of the harvest, Christ, to God as a sign of His keeping His Word. We confess our need for Him, proclaiming His death till He comes. And we rejoice in covenant promises fulfilled, and continual blessings given.
When Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish, He gave thanks to God and broke the loaves. When Jesus broke bread at Passover, instituting a new Passover, He also gave thanks to God before He broke the bread. Some parts of the Church call the Lord’s Supper Eucharist, which is simply Greek for “thanksgiving.” Every Sunday we have a eucharist, a thanksgiving at this table. We give thanks for Jesus Christ by remembering His death, commemorating it, and participating in it.
So let us translate into new covenant language the thanksgiving speech from our text this morning
“My father Adam fell into sin and was about to perish. Satan has bruised his heel over many generations, mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. But we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction. 8 So the Lord brought us out of our sin with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. At the cross of Christ the sun went dark, the veil was torn from the top, and many godly saints were raised and showed themselves in the city. 9 Through Christ, God has brought us to this place and has given us all that we have. We have brought the best to Him of all He has given, and we rejoice in our Provider and Savior, the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Word, Water, Bread, Wine. The Spirit and the gifts of God, for those with whom Christ sides, the people of God.
I would love it if we could record your communion exhortations along with the sermons. They often tie in and wrap up so beautifully...as you often say, "this is where the rubber meets the road."
ReplyDeleteWe thank God every day for you!
For the whole gang, Margaret