Dismembered; remembered

Communion Exhortation - 3/8/09

Rev 7:9-17

We proclaim the Lord’s death at this meal. Death brings division. Individually, body and soul are divided. Corporately, as the church, the body is divided between the church triumphant which we just read about, and the church militant, as we are on earth. Death divides. We soberly remember the punishment for our sin: separation from God. We gratefully remember that Jesus took it for us. He was the scapegoat, exiled from God’s presence. But the result of that exile was more life.

The result of Christ’s death is reunion, reconciliation. He has made the two into one new man, breaking down the separation at the cross. He was DIS-membered [cut off from fellowship, and forsaken by His Father], so we could get RE-membered into the body of Christ. Ultimately, we will see Him face to face without sad tears or fears, finally home. Countless thousands of us are there already. This table comes from that new world, to feed and nourish your faith, your sure hope that you will be there, too, still offering faithful, pure worship to Him, wherever you are.