Discern the Lord's Body

Dear Brethren,

Jesus Christ is the focus of Passover.  We are told that we must be "discerning the Lord's body."  This verse has much meaning.  We realize that it is a reference to the Passover symbol - "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"  (1Corinthinans 10:16)

The Lord's body," is also a direct reference to us - the people of God's Church.  "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.  Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular."  (1Corinthinans 12:12,27)

Passover emphasizes the unity of the body of Christ - the Church.  The "Lord's Body" should not be divided as it is today.  Passover is so important for us that Jesus said to Peter during the footwashing, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me."  (John 13:8)

Is it right for a minister to refuse a baptized member from taking part in the Passover, solely because the Church person is not a member of their organization?  Two new occurrences of this wrong practice have happened to Brethren in the last week.  This is an ungodly practice like unto Diotrephes - who also would not receive the Brethren.

Here is one of the examples:  "I'm the only baptized member here in our area.  There are some baptized members with another group 20 miles north of us.  I had hoped that I would be welcomed to keep the Passover with them.  I talked with my friend, and her Pastor said that I couldn't observe Passover with her unless I was a member of their church.  She and I have been friends since the days of Worldwide.  We would travel 2 hours to church services and back, every Sabbath.  There is an elderly lady with whom she will keep the Passover, but everyone else has drifted away."

Would Jesus Christ Himself, also be turned away from keeping Passover by those Pastors - unless He became a member of their organization?  Don't we know that it makes Jesus angry when a member of His body is rejected by a minister who claims to represent Him?  Jesus tells us that He takes that kind of partial treatment personally.  "Truly, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."  (Matthew 25:40)

Jesus desires to keep the Passover with all the Brethren - but does He really keep Passover with those who reject others on the basis of organizational affiliation?  "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you."  (Luke 22:15)

Brethren, Jesus Christ does not show partiality.  How can we?  It is time for us to seriously consider the meaning of this Passover season.   Our salvation is important to our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)

This simple, little verse reminds us of the very reason for which God is creating us.  We are born to be His children.  We are not there yet, but we can be.  We will be, if we continue to follow the Father and Jesus Christ.  By God's own words, the Most High Himself is our Father, and Jesus Christ is our Elder Brother, as well as our Husband-to-be.  We are not just servants; we are family - God's family.

"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."  (Romans 8:17)

As we approach the Passover season, we remember our own sins and shortcomings and our deep, personal need for Christ's sacrifice.  We examine ourselves and know that somehow God will forgive us one more time.  Sometimes the road has been a lonely one, and we find ourselves just a little weary from the journey.  We reflect often on the times we did not get it right, on the mistakes we made, the many times we fell short.

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"  (2Corinthians 13:5)

"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."  (1Corinthians 11:28-29)

We keep the Passover to commemorate Christ's sacrifice, a sacrifice made necessary by our sins.  In recent year especially, many of the sins of God's children have become more apparent and more divisive.  Many of us no longer walk together, either because of our sins or those of someone else, or both.  Even if we personally did not cause division, yet we have sinned in other areas.  We all have gotten our feet a little dirty on the dusty road of life.

So, the Passover is necessary, and the need for God's forgiveness of our sins is quite real.  We all have fallen short.  We still have problems to overcome.  We do not yet reflect the mind of Jesus Christ.  The Passover begins another year, another year of walking with God and Jesus Christ, another year of striving to overcome, and understand what God expects of us right now.

On the night before He died, bringing us into his confidence, Christ said, "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."  (John 15:15)

By Christ's own words, we too can be the Friends of God, just as Abraham was.  James 2:23 actually draws on 2 Chronicles 20:7, which reads "Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?"  The Hebrew word for friend here is ahab, which means simply "to love."

God works with us and teaches us because He loves us!  He wants to see us overcome ourselves and to become like Him.  In the Church of God, we haven't used John 3:16 enough!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

God created us to be His children.  He prepared the sacrifice of His Son so that we can be forgiven our sins - so that, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can be given eternal life.  We must overcome our sins, to be sure, but God and Jesus Christ are cheering us on, every year, beginning with Passover.

God makes it possible for us to succeed.  He is in the process of his spiritual creation.  He wants to see each of us in the Kingdom with Him and Jesus Christ. He wants us to live forever.  Each Passover, we are given another opportunity to respond positively with hope that we will come a little closer to the Kingdom of God.

"But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." (1Thessalonians 5:8-9)

Our Father is not legalistic, waiting to blast us at every opportunity.  No, just the opposite,  He wants us to learn how to live, and how to live together in peace and brotherly love and kindness.  Sometimes, He gets a little hard on us, when we need it, but it is because  He really wants us to live eternally with Him.  Even when we stumble, God is always very merciful.

"For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made." (Isaiah 57:15-16)

As we approach Passover this year, let us remember, not only Christ's sacrifice, but the life it makes possible.  We are being given the opportunity to choose to live.  With God's mercy and forgiveness, with His Holy Spirit, we can live with God eternally.

"He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." (Revelation 21:7)

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Sermon:  "Discerning the Lord's Body"