Hi, this is the Hymn We Proclaim podcast, The Messages of John Fawnville. You're listening to season five called Two Keys to Spiritual Growth. Here's message number one called The Greatest Drama Ever Staged. Here's Message Number three, called A Frequent Foretaste of the Life of Heaven. Acts chapter 2, verse 42.
This is what Luke is writing about the first century church. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
So let's read it one more time. They were continually devoting themselves. To the apostles' teaching into fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. What we've looked at from Luke chapter 24 is that word and sacrament have historically formed the centerpieces of Christian worship, and it is because of the structure that Jesus gives to us In Luke chapter 24, as he is interacting with the two disciples on the Emmaus Road. Jesus gives a model to his church.
For how people will come to recognize him, how he'll be made known to people. And so the model that he gives is a twofold structure of both word and sacrament. Luke tells us that as Jesus is explaining the Christ-centered meaning of the Old Testament, That the two disciples' hearts burned within them. And then he says that after the breaking of the bread. Their eyes were opened to recognize him.
And so, understanding the importance and the great benefits of this model that Jesus gives to the church. John Calvin during the Reformation urged. The more frequent observance of the Lord's Supper. Let me just give you some examples of what he said about this in his Institutes. He says that, quote, all, means all believers, all like hungry men, should.
Yeah. to such an abundant feast. I like that. He believed and taught that communion should be given at least weekly. This is what he urges in the institutes when he writes this.
He says that the Lord's table should have been spread at least once a week for the assembly of Christians. And the promises declared in it should feed us spiritually. But the problem in Calvin's day was simply this: that the city council of Geneva only allowed monthly communion 12 times per year. Later, the city council would pull that back to only four times, quarterly, four times a year. But against this restriction by the city council, Calvin.
Protested, and he insisted that communion should be served every time the Word of God is preached and prayer is offered in the church. In fact, as a protest to the city council, he would go through the entire liturgy of the word and the entire liturgy of the sacrament, and then he would end the service before he was able to give out the bread and the wine.
So, based on his argument for frequent communion, partly he based partly his argument for frequent communion on the practice of the early church, which we just read from Acts chapter 2, verse 42. This is what he says. He says, Luke relates in the Acts that this was the practice of the apostolic church when he says that believers continued in the apostles' teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Thus, it became the unvarying rule that no meeting of the church. Should take place without the word prayers partaking of the supper into almsgiving offerings.
And so, with this in mind and this two-fold structure in mind, what I'm going to do for you is: I haven't done this yet, but I'm going to do it today. I want to give you five reasons for why we should have frequent communion in church. Five reasons for why we should have it. Here's the first one. The first reason we should have frequent communion, as Calvin argued, and as you have seen that the early church did, they continually devoted themselves to this.
So that's one of the arguments. But here are five. Here's the verse. We cannot know the gift of God if we forfeit it. We cannot know the gift of God if we continually forfeit the gift of God.
Word and sacrament are Jesus' gifts that he gives to his church, and the Holy Spirit, working through the gifts of word and sacrament, sets forth the gift who is Jesus and all of his saving benefits. The Holy Spirit applies Christ and all of his saving benefits. to the believer through the gift of faith. And so, Holy Communion is first and foremost a gift of God for the people of God. And by its continual use, we are formed into worshipers who are taught and trained week after week, year after year, to receive all of life as a gift.
One of my favorite Lutheran theologians, his name is William Whedon. And he's just fantastic. Um He writes this about the Lord's Supper as gift. He says, if you think about the great gifts here shared, there will never be a need for someone to badger and hound you into going to the sacrament. You'll come running to church, begging your pastor for it.
He's exactly right. And so the first reason we should have frequent communion is because we cannot know the gift of God if we forfeit it all the time. That's the first. Here's the second. Communion strengthens and nourishes our fellowship, our communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with the tribune God.
Communion, what is holy communion? What is this? It is a graced interaction. It is a grace-in-enabled fellowship. Between the triune God and his people.
Think about, go all the way back to the Garden of Eden and think about this. The death that was threatened in the covenant of works in Genesis chapter 2, verses 15 through 17. What was that death? Because Adam and Eve, when they sinned, They died, but they were living. It was exclusion from the life-giving communion with the triune God.
That's what death is. It's exclusion from fellowship with the triune God. The life promised in the covenant of works consisted of this communion, this fellowship with God, and the joy and blessing that results from being in fellowship and in communion with this triune God. But by Adam's sin, he and all mankind whom he represented were immediately, instantly cut off from loving communion with God. And so man died.
And so, if this communion with God is to be restored, there must be a gracious intervention by God who must bridge this gap and reconcile this gap. And so this communion with God is restored through the gospel, Genesis 3.15, and then hence the unfolding story of redemption, as we have traced many times here. But not only that, but when you come to the new covenant, this communion with God is not only restored through the gospel, but it is continually nurtured and strengthened and assured in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Listen to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16. Paul writes to the Corinthian church and he asks them, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
This is not simply something that we do to remember. This is a participation in the blood of Christ. This word participation is the Greek word that is often thrown around in evangelicalism, koinonia. And everybody likes to talk about fellowship and community and communion. This is the communion.
This is the community. This is the fellowship with God that was lost in Eden and is now restored through the gospel and strengthened at this table. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation, a corninea, a communion, a fellowship in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation, a corninea, a communion, a fellowship in the body of Christ? Not in the physical elements themselves, obviously.
But through the mysterious working of the Holy Spirit, who leads us to Christ where He is in heaven for us. This participation, this communion, this fellowship. That Paul speaks of is why this sacrament is commonly referred to and referred to on our website, thanks to T. It's referred to as Holy Communion. This is a holy fellowship, a holy communion with the living God who has restored us to himself.
In this sacrament, the Holy Spirit is leading believers to commune with the risen living Christ. Again, listen to William Whedon. He's so helpful. He says salvation is communion with the Father through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. This is what we were made for.
It is what we fell from, and what Christ came to restore, and what the Holy Spirit delights to deliver to us. And he delivers this communion to us through this table. Every week. Another author writes this: He says, Holy Communion is the sweetest fellowship on earth. He says, It is rich in nourishment as together we feed on Christ by faith.
By faith we look to the historical Christ represented. As we trust in the sufficiency of his sacrifice, we are nourished. He loves me. He gave himself for me. He is the living bread who satisfies my deepest hunger and strengthens me to bear fruit for him.
That's sweet fellowship. And so perhaps you might be thinking this this morning, can eating a piece of bread and drinking a thumb full of wine or grape juice do such great things?
Well, consider very carefully what great thing happened in the Garden of Eden by eating. By Adam and Eve's eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin and death immediately came into the world, and man died and was excluded from communion with his Creator God. And so one author asks this: He says, So, is it then odd that deliverance from sin and death should also come through eating and drinking? Eve divorced eating from the Word of God, and the result was death and sin. Jesus in the Eucharist reunites eating and drinking with the Word of God, and the result is that whoever believes has has exactly what God's words say, forgiveness.
If you didn't have the words that told you why Jesus was giving you his body and blood, you would not have a treasure that you would know. how to open or how to use. He says, but when he says that it is for the forgiveness of your sins. You then know how it may be properly received. Received in faith.
With thanksgiving and praise, he gives it to you as the promise that your sins are forgiven and gone. And so through one meal. Man was excluded from life-giving communion and fellowship with God. And through one meal, man is being restored to life-giving communion and fellowship with God. Third, the reason we should have frequent communion is because communion strengthens and nourishes fellowship between believers.
Communion is also a graced interaction, a fellowship, a communion between believers. By virtue of the fall, not only was mankind cut off from loving communion with God, but he was also cut off with one another. And so, this horizontal communion with one another is being restored through the gospel. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 16, Paul follows with verse 17. And listen to what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 17.
Because there is one bread We who are many Or one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Listen carefully. The Lord's Supper is not a private, quiet time with you and Jesus. The Lord's Supper is not a private meal. Listen very carefully.
Adam's eating Was not a private meal between him and God. He was a public person representing the people whom God said he would represent. And what Adam did for his people, whom he represented, they also did. The Lord's Supper is not a private meal. It is not an individual act of religious devotion.
It is not a quiet time with you and Jesus at church. The Lord's Supper, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:17, is a communal meal. It is a shared meal participated in by the whole body. We who are many individuals. Our one body.
For we all individuals partake of the one bread. Communion is a sacrament of our unity in Christ. Christ gave this gift precisely to form us into one body. Calvin says this: that the Lord's Supper was ordained to be frequently used among all Christians in order to nourish mutual love. And among themselves give witness to this love and discerned its bond in the unity of Christ's body.
Holy Communion is a fellowship of sinners redeemed by grace who are gathered around Christ who stands at his table and is at the center of it and he is the host of this meal. And he is bringing together the whole community of faith to commune together. And this is the deepest fellowship of God's people. It is a supernatural gospel community that is created. And so, in Holy Communion, the elements that we share remind us that Christ is the common source of life that binds us together as one body.
And so you know why this is important, why that theology is important? Here's why. Because frequent observance of Holy Communion trains us to be peacemakers. You cannot partake of this sacrament while at the same time remaining out of sorts with a fellow believer, particularly your wife and your children. Let me give you a practical tip.
Here's a practical tip from Paramount Church. Get this on recording to say that Paramount Church gives out practical tips. Yeah. If you want something practical and relevant to improve the health and peace of your marriage, nothing is better or more effective than coming to church with your spouse and observing Holy Communion together. It might not cure at all right then, right?
We understand there's counseling and there's more to it than that. But it starts there. And that's what gives it life. And listen. Hope.
This is precisely why the passing of the peace falls right between the sermon and communion. The timing of this act of worship is very intentional.
So, if you did have an argument with your spouse this morning, and I call you to do the passing of the peace. I'm not singling you out because I didn't know you did that. This is just what we do. Because this is what the sacrament requires. I want you to listen again.
I've read a lot from this book, so I just encourage you to get this book and read it: The Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren. Listen to how she describes this. It's just very helpful. She says, Mm-mm. She says this, she says, the timing of passing the peace isn't an oversight or poor liturgical planning.
It isn't included to give folks a chance to stretch their legs or take a bathroom break. The passing of the peace is placed where it is in the liturgy for theological reasons. Before we come to the Eucharist, before we take the body and blood of Christ, we actively extend peace to the members of the body of Christ around us. It's a liturgical enactment of the reality that we cannot approach the table of the Prince of Peace if we are not at peace with our neighbor. The practice of passing the peace has been part of Christian worship since the dawn of the church.
And she says, Our early Christian brothers and sisters didn't settle for a handshake or an awkward side hug, they kissed each other.
Now, don't kiss today, okay? Especially in flu season. This was a totally different first century cultural practice. Yeah. A practice which emerged in part from the ancient Jewish custom of greeting guests with a kiss before a meal.
Early Christians were so intent on ensuring that the passing of the peace was a time of real reconciliation and not a mere formality that in the third century, Eastern churches had a deacon who would stand up during the passing of the peace and cry out, quote, Is there any man that keepeth aught against his fellow? End quote.
So, Phil, you're a deacon. This is your new role in the church. Early Christians took seriously Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5 that if someone is approaching the altar and remembers that their brother has something against them, they must leave and go make peace with the offended brother before offering a gift to God.
So before the meal of peace, we speak peace. Peace to those nearest us. More than once, Jonathan and her husband, Jonathan and I, have had to get up in the middle of the passing of the peace and go outside to talk through an argument we had on the way to church. End quote.
I passed the piece of my wife in the kitchen this morning at about 6:45 a.m. And had to look at her and say, Are we okay today? Because I've got to go do this. Also receive it. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
So forgive me for being a client. Classe Royal Jerk. Yeah. Right. In Revelation, John reveals that the ultimate goal of the gospel is that God's people will consist of one body of people who have been ransomed by Christ from every tribe and language and people and nation.
And in the new heaven and the new earth, all God's people will be united together with the triune God and one another perfectly. Horizontal and vertical relationships flourishing at the maximum capacity that is possible. Everyone will be submitted to God's rule and reign, and therefore enjoy perfect communion and blessing with God and one another. And John says that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be at the center of this communion. Does this sound familiar?
A foretaste. What is at the center of our communion, this table, and Christ? And John says in Revelation 22, 1 through 2, that from God's throne a river will flow from it, bringing life and blessing to everyone. Do you know where this imagery comes from? The Garden of Eden.
And John is telling you that Eden is not only restored at the end of the story, but it is now glorified and perfected. This river, the Holy Spirit, will be a river of life, bringing life and blessing. It will be healing to the nations. Eden will be restored and glorified. It will be literally heaven on earth.
This is why receiving Holy Communion frequently is, as one author describes it, a foretaste of the life. of heaven. Frequent communion each week is a foretaste of the life of heaven as every tribe and language and people and nation, rich. Poor. Right?
Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, none of that matters because we are all one body in Christ with Christ at the center, giving life, giving fruit, bearing fruit to the whole body, uniting the whole body in Him. And so this is a foretaste of the life of heaven. Here's the fourth reason we should have frequent communion. Communion is God's promise and pledge that we are His people and He is our God. Holy Communion is a sign and seal of the New Covenant.
But Lord made an ancient promise to Abraham in Genesis 17, 7. He says, I will be your God and you will be my people. And that has been fulfilled by Jesus in the new covenant. We know this from Luke 22, verse 20. As Jesus is fulfilling Passover and as he institutes the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, He assures His at that moment, He assures His half-hearted, unbelieving, self-seeking, glory-seeking, sinning disciples.
Right? He assures them this cup This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
So Jesus, through his life and especially his death, has fulfilled the demands of the old covenant law, the Mosaic covenant. He has redeemed us from his curse so that we might receive adoption as sons, speaking to the believers in Galatia. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says about this new covenant. Work of Christ. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, the old covenant, by becoming a curse for us.
For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus, listen, so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham. God's promise that he spoke to Abraham, I will be your God and you will be my people, that blessing might come to the Gentiles. You and me. He says in chapter 4, verses 4 through 5, But when the fullness of time had come, God the Father sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons, the highest privilege of the gospel. Speaking to the believers in Corinth, Paul applies this ancient promise of Abraham, Genesis 17:7, to the believers in Corinth.
And he says, To the believers in Corinth, we are the temple of the living God. Collectively, as the church, the church is the temple, the dwelling place of God on earth. We are the temple of the living God. And then he quotes, Genesis 17, 7, to confirm that. He says, as God said, I will make my dwelling among them, and walk among them, and I will be their God.
and they shall be my people. Then you fast forward again to the end of the story, Revelation 21, verses 2 through 3. And we hear the Lord's ancient promise to Abraham from Genesis 17:7, repeated again in the consummation of the new heavens and the new earth and the resurrection. And John says, I saw the holy city near Jerusalem. That's you and me.
The church. Coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, and now he quotes Genesis 17, 7. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Eden restored and glorified again. And so, through these visible signs and seals of the new covenant of bread and wine, the Holy Spirit comes in power and assures us of the Lord's covenant promise: I will be your God, and you will be my people. And so just as the preached gospel is God's new covenant promise, the Lord's Supper is his new covenant meal. Jesus himself says this to us. This cup is poured out for you as the new covenant in my blood.
And so, by this cup, by this bread, we are assured of Jesus' promise and pledge that we are his people. and that he is our God. And then fifth and finally. Why do we have frequent communion? Listen carefully to this.
Communion brings what Christ accomplished in the past. and makes it present for us now. Let me say that again. Why frequent communion? Because communion brings what Christ accomplished in the past 2,000 years ago at Golgotha on Good Friday.
brings what Christ accomplished in the past and makes that present for us.
Now. Too often, pastors talk about what Christ did then. Without connecting the whole of Christ's past-saving act to this experience of life now. And so, word and sacrament enable us to live with the sense of the present saving power of the gospel now. This past historical appearance of Christ 2,000 years ago, in his life, in his death, in his burial, and his resurrection, in his ascension.
Finds fresh relevance in the ongoing proclamation of the gospel in the church and in the ongoing administration of the sacraments in the church. These gifts of God take what happened then and give it to you now in all of its saving power. And so the Lord's Supper is a memorial of Christ's atonement. Not simply memorial of something that happened then, but bringing it present now. In the words of institution, Jesus says this.
He says this to his disciples, This is my body which is given for you. And remember, the you in that context were disciples who were denying him, going to flee from him, who wanted to have nothing to do with him, who were seeking glory in the kingdom, wanting to sit at his right hand when the glory train comes, right? They had no clue what they were talking about. They were just deeply in sin at this point. When Jesus does this, And Jesus says to them, You who are deeply in sin, this is my body, which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me. This is my memorial. This sacrament reminds us specifically of Jesus' death on the cross, not just then, but for us now. Because in forgiveness, it's not that you just get a couple of your sins forgiven in the past. You are forgiven.
Do you understand what I'm saying? You are forgiven. You. You as a person before God are forgiven. Forever.
Past, present, future, everything from now on, you as an individual are forever forgiven. All that Jesus did for you in the past is given to you now through the preaching of the gospel and now through this table. And so in this sacrament, Christ points us continually to his dying on the cross in our place, paying the penalty of our sins, and this bread and wine are the visible signs of Christ's body and blood that are for us. The broken bread signifies his broken body. The wine signifies his shed blood for the forgiveness of all your sins.
And as Jesus fulfills Pentecost and institutes the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, listen to what he says to his disciples. He says, take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. This is given to you for the forgiveness of sins. And so just as baptism is the unbloody replacement of circumcision, so the Lord's Supper is the unbloody replacement of Passover.
And remember what happened on that fateful night of Passover. The angel of death is sweeping through the land of Egypt, killing all the firstborn males of Egypt. Could you imagine that scene if you woke up in Jacksonville and all the first horn males of Jacksonville killed? By the Death Angel. But the firstborn of the Israelites were spared.
But the Bible tells us they were not spared because they were better people. In fact, the biblical account says they were worse. vetting their neighbors. But they were spared because they were sheltered under the blood of the Passover Lamb. And this sacrament signifies to us that Christ is the Passover Lamb, as Paul calls him that in 1 Corinthians.
Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed, therefore let us keep the feast. This sacrament signifies to us that Christ is the Passover Lamb who takes away our sins and keeps away the angel of death, and it's by faith in Jesus through his shed blood that we come under not judgment but grace. As the Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 9 through 10, listen. For God the Father has not destined us for wrath. What has he destined us for?
To obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, dead, listen, we might live with him. That's what we're destined for. And that's what this table tells us week after week. Each time we observe the Lord's Supper, the Holy Spirit, who we confess in the Nicene Creed, is the Lord and the Giver of life.
He brings to us what Christ accomplished in the past. And he makes it present for us now in the present. He assures us of our salvation through the cross of Christ, and he enables us to discover afresh, week after week, his saving work for us now. And so, thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit assures our troubled. Doubting hearts.
Our plagued consciences for all of our failures. And tells us through these signs and seals of the new covenant. All of the unsearchable riches of Christ and Christ Himself is for you right now. Isn't that wonderful assurance? That's why we need this frequently.
Because we need that type of assurance.
So let's pray. Father, thank you for this assurance. We thank you for your sacrament. We thank you for this ordinary meal that has extraordinary results and benefits. And so we pray that as we come to your table this morning, we would come with joyful and thankful hearts.
We would come as one body looking away from ourselves. And looking upward to Christ in faith and outward to our brothers and sisters, our husbands and wives, and friends, and children. outward to them in love. We pray all of this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thanks for listening to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast with John Fawnville. Him we proclaim as a ministry of John Fondill of Fairmount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check out his church at paramountchurch.com. We look forward to next time.
