Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Daisies and Tulips

As we’ve been saying all morning, our lives do not consist of watching for and taking care of sin. We were bought with a price—the death of Jesus, the Son of the living God. But Jesus didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead and as we died in him because of sin, we live in him because he lives.

Consequently, when we come to this table, we come as people who live. We live in Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we exult in him. We are people who look forward to what he has in store for us in the adventure we call life. Sins come, but we don’t wallow in them. We confess them and we go on with life—with life!

To use the image we used in this morning’s exhortation we are gardeners. Our focus, however, is not on the weeds but on plants: flowers (roses, daisies, lilies, tulips), vegetables (broccoli, eggplant, carrots), designs (those fancy British gardens with the mazes), and animals that visit (deer, opossums, raccoons), etc.

Take a look around this room. What do you see? You see other individual people, but the Bible tells us to look past that to realize that you are also looking at the body of Christ. There is a sense in which when we look around we see not David, Steve, and Jay but Jesus the righteous one. We see one another and we remember what Christ has done for us and we rejoice in this gift.

With this in mind we come to the table ready to eat and drink Christ, with Christ, as Christ. And as we do, God the Spirit does a work in us making us more like Christ—making us more holy, more set apart, and more sanctified.

If you have been baptized and are in good standing with the church of Christ, we offer this meal to you with joy and rejoice with you in eating it. If you are living in rebellion against God and refuse to submit yourself to his authority, we ask that you not partake with us.

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