Sorry that I haven't been able to write in the recent weeks. It would be great to hear some encouraging notes about what you are learning from the newsletters, what you would like me to write about, and what things are going on in your lives so that I could write better entries!
My church in Baltimore is doing a series on the question "Why?" and it's a series about really getting down to the reason we do all the things we do when we go to church on Sunday. Sometimes we do things because we've always done them, and we don't take a minute to go back to the Bible and understand why we do the things we do. We start to follow a predictable pattern and routine.
This past Sunday, my pastor talked about communion.
My church in Baltimore is doing a series on the question "Why?" and it's a series about really getting down to the reason we do all the things we do when we go to church on Sunday. Sometimes we do things because we've always done them, and we don't take a minute to go back to the Bible and understand why we do the things we do. We start to follow a predictable pattern and routine.
This past Sunday, my pastor talked about communion.
What we find in many churches (regardless of how each congregation, church, or denomination decides to practice communion) is that people are partaking in communion for themselves, when really it should be all about God. Reasons could be: they see everyone else doing it, and they don't want to feel left out; they have been baptized, and the baptism class told them that they should do communion; they really do want to come to God with their sins, but just see it as a ceremony for them to focus on all the bad things they have done; their parents told them that they have to take it or else they are not good Christians. There are many wrong reasons why people partake in communion, but at the heart of everything, we find that our self-centeredness gets in the way of truly worshipping Jesus when we do communion. This starts to happen for almost all church activities.
And the reason for this is because we are sinners. Sin is taking what God intended for one purpose, and using it for a purpose other than that. In this case, taking what Jesus intended to be an intimate and symbolic activity to remember what He did on the cross, and using it for something selfish. Avoiding the feeling of being left out is only trying to protect ourselves; doing things because of routine excludes a relationship with Christ; focusing on our personal sins instead living in the freedom that Christ has already saved us from our sins. These are all examples of how we sin when we selfishly partake in communion.
Everything we do is to glorify God, not ourselves.
Take some time this week to examine why you do all the things you do. If you find that you have been doing things selfishly, pray and repent. Ask God to remind you that He has already forgiven you and then ask Him to give you the wisdom how to change your heart so that you are doing things for His glory. Always go back to the Bible and see what Jesus has already done for you on the cross.
Until next time,
And the reason for this is because we are sinners. Sin is taking what God intended for one purpose, and using it for a purpose other than that. In this case, taking what Jesus intended to be an intimate and symbolic activity to remember what He did on the cross, and using it for something selfish. Avoiding the feeling of being left out is only trying to protect ourselves; doing things because of routine excludes a relationship with Christ; focusing on our personal sins instead living in the freedom that Christ has already saved us from our sins. These are all examples of how we sin when we selfishly partake in communion.
Everything we do is to glorify God, not ourselves.
Take some time this week to examine why you do all the things you do. If you find that you have been doing things selfishly, pray and repent. Ask God to remind you that He has already forgiven you and then ask Him to give you the wisdom how to change your heart so that you are doing things for His glory. Always go back to the Bible and see what Jesus has already done for you on the cross.
Until next time,
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