A gracEmail subscriber requests some discussion here about "revolutionary" people, power and purpose, the titles of my classes at the March 2009 Tulsa International Soul-Winning Workshop. * * * As God's agents, believers are called to live seriously and reverently in this world, making decisions and carrying them out in the energy that God supplies. As they do this, both individually and as a community of faith, their unselfish and well-ordered lives become attractively obedient -- to God and to their fellow earthlings. Knowing that they are agents of God and not independent contractors, … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2012
LITURGICAL WORSHIP
I once described my home congregation here in Houston, Texas as "tilted toward the liturgical," and a reader asked what that meant. * * * I really wasn't trying to be fancy. Liturgical, in this context, just means using words that have been thought through and written out in advance, rather than made up on the spur of the moment. Now a generation removed from the hang-loose 60's and spontaneous weddings in cow pastures, most preachers and couples choose a liturgical wedding service, for example (which usually comes, whether folks know it or not, from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, an … [Read more...]
LEAVENED COMMUNION BREAD
A gracEmail subscriber asks: "I'm so accustomed to unleavened bread as the 'correct' element of the Lord's Supper. Can you explain the introduction of leavened bread at the communion table?" * * * When God rescued the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, he ordained the Passover meal as an annual reminder of the event. The short notice given for their exit did not allow time for bread to rise, so God commanded that Passover bread be unleavened (Ex. 12:8, 11). Whether Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper during a Passover meal or on the preceding evening, he would have used unleavened … [Read more...]
THE LORD’S SUPPER — ORDER
An Advent Christian brother asks, "Is the 'form' or 'order' of the Lord's Supper -- Bread first, then the Wine, or Bread and Wine together -- important because of the order in the Gospels and in I Corinthians, or is it important for some other reason?" * * * Matthew, Mark and Paul (by revelation) all report that Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took and blessed and gave his disciples bread and wine -- investing these most basic elements of a common meal with perpetual significance of his impending Passion (Matt. 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; 1 Cor. 11:23-25). In Luke's account, Jesus … [Read more...]
THE LORD’S SUPPER — FREQUENCYS
A Church of Christ brother inquires, "I was taught to partake of the Lord's Supper only on Sundays, and only in the morning service, unless I was absent that morning. Are there biblical reasons not to partake of Communion on any day other than Sunday, or limiting it to Sunday morning?" * * * Although Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper on Thursday night before Easter, some today insist that Sunday is the only day on which it may be appropriately observed by Christians. Jesus did not specify either a certain day or a frequency for us to eat the bread and drink the wine, but simply said that … [Read more...]
CHRIST’S PRESENCE IN COMMUNION
"Is the Lord present when we participate in the Communion?" someone asks. "If so, is he 'really' present or only symbolically? Why do many churches not call the bread and wine what Jesus and Paul called them, namely, the body and blood of Christ?" * * * Can't we leave some room here for sheer mystery? Why do we think we have to be able to explain everything? I fear that many of us have focused so narrowly on the "Sola Fide" ("faith alone") of the Reformation that we neglect or even despise the physical elements by which Christ promises to encounter his believing people, whether the water of … [Read more...]
THE LORD’S SUPPER IN THREE TENSES
An overseas Advent Christian minister asks, "Is the Lord's Supper a celebration only of the past event of 'the body which was given' and the 'blood of the new covenant?' Or does it also have present and future meaning?" * * * One way to answer this (though certainly not the only way) is to reflect on Paul's warning that we rightly discern the Lord's body (1 Cor. 11:29). I think of the Lord's "body" in three tenses -- past, present and future. These utilize three graces -- faith, hope and love. And they emphasize three names for this feast -- Eucharist, Lord's Supper and Communion. Looking … [Read more...]
SUMMING IT UP
A gracEmail reader writes, "Yes, Jesus paid it all, and salvation cannot be earned. But there still remains the question of how one 'appropriates' salvation. We talk in circles about this. I'm still seeking a biblical theology that makes sense, is faithful to the text, gives God all the glory for our salvation, yet calls us to holy living and unquestioning obedience." * * * Perhaps we will never answer all the questions, or provide a scheme or formula that explains everything. Remember, we are discussing an interpersonal relationship, not a theory or a program. But we can speak truthfully … [Read more...]
LET ME MAKE IT VERY CLEAR
Someone writes: "You seem to take the approach that people were initiated in different ways into the church, suggesting that Acts 2 is a pattern for the conversion of Jews and Acts 10 is a pattern for the conversion of Gentiles." * * * I am sorry if I left that impression. I am not suggesting a separate "pattern" for Jews and Gentiles -- or even one pattern (in the traditional sense of a formula, or of stating "man's part" in some do-it-yourself salvation scheme) for all of them. I am saying that Acts 2 is an account of the first gospel sermon to Jews who personally helped crucify Jesus, and … [Read more...]
‘BORN OF WATER AND SPIRIT’ (2)
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "Jesus says that 'no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit' (John 3:5). I have heard for many years that this means that unless you are baptized, you cannot be saved. Is this a reference to baptism in water?" * * * Every human is born "of water" or "of flesh" into this world, and has a nature that "is flesh." Only those "born from above" are born "of Spirit" and have a regenerated nature that "is spirit." Every one of us needs spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Receiving Christ by faith is a sure … [Read more...]
