This Is My Body (1 Cor. 11:23-26) (1/5)
This Is My Body HOPE Christian Fellowship
November 30, 2008
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Pastor Jeff Bassette
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2,14)
When God gives a gift, he wraps it _______________.
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ”This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corin 11:23-26)
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body… the body is not made up of one part but of many…Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corin. 12:13-14,27)
Jesus is God’s first gift, and __________________.
When God gives a gift, he wraps it _in a person_.
Jesus is God’s first gift, and _we are the second .
This Is My Body HOPE Christian Fellowship
November 30, 2008
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Pastor Jeff Bassette
INTRO: Did you all have a good Thanksgiving?!!
How many of you have bought at least one Christmas present in last few days?
WE were buying presents, too.
In fact, I’m kind of in the mood to give an early Christmas present to someone. Any takers?
[have JJ come up, my eldest son, take box and crush it in front of me & all, reject it]
Man, I wasn’t expecting that!!
[have Michael come up, next son, take box, receive it politely to my face but go back to seat, then be indifferent to it and sit on it, crush it, do nothing with it, reject it]
Ouch!! Well, you know, I don’t HAVE to give gifts to anyone.
I could just keep all my gifts for myself. At least that way I won’t be rejected.
I guess I’ll just keep these other gifts for myself—at least for nowJ
TRANS to Body: Today is the First Sunday in Advent.
Advent is when we celebrate the fact that God came into the world for us, in the person of Jesus
God could have come in many different ways, right?!
· Could have aligned all the stars in the sky to spell the word, “REPENT”, and sent a meteor shower to light it up!
· God could have spoken through the animals for just one day, so you walk up to your family dog, and he starts telling you about the Lord and how much he loves you.
· God could have rained down tracts from heaven, like manna, so we all woke up in the morning, and in all the languages of the earth, we’d be told about “The Four Spiritual Laws” and how the Creator God loves you and has a wonderful plan for the earth.
But when God wanted to reveal himself most fully and closely to us,
God didn’t choose any of those ways. God chose to come like one of us.
God humbled himself, came in weakness, as a human baby, w/flesh & bones just like us.
Jesus. God’s greatest gift came in a way that could be easily rejected.
Jesus, God’s great gift of love, fully revealed the Father’s heart to us.
Here’s how the apostle John describes the coming of Jesus into the world.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2,14)
One thing this passage shows us is that…
When God gives a gift, he wraps it _in a person__.
Jesus was God’s best gift ever given.
All the love and purity, all the truth and power, all the compassion and mercy of the Father
Got compressed into the person of Jesus. The Spirit of God wrapped in human flesh,
So that we could know God in a whole new way.
Jesus showed us what a human life could be like if it were completely filled with Holy Spirit,
And completely surrendered in love to doing what pleases the Father.
But more than that, Jesus’ death and resurrection makes it possible for us to live the same way!
Jesus’ death would make it possible for all our sins to be forgiven, so we could be
completely clean before God, not needing to hide from Him in any way.
Jesus’ resurrection would make it possible for same Holy Spirit that lived in him to now
live in each one of us. God’s Spirit wrapped in our human flesh.
So we could reveal God’s heart and character to others around us.
Essence of God’s character is: self-sacrificing love.
As we allow Spirit of God to live in us, that’s what will increasingly come out of us to others.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll celebrate the coming of Christ into the world,
the mystery of the incarnation, God-clothed-in-flesh.
As we do, I want to invite us to reflect on what God did, how God lived,
when he came in the person of Jesus, -- because how Jesus lived in the flesh is the fullest
expression of how we’re called to live as well.
We’ll reflect on the life of Jesus as our invitation into the same kind of lifestyle.
So the heart and values of God revealed in him might be written in our own lives, too.
We’ll remember Jesus’ life by remembering the way he died,
because his death sums up and fully expresses the values by which he lived. Bible says...
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ”This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corin 11:23-26)
This is my body, broken for you.
This is my blood, poured out for you.
Those simple words…”this is my body”…reveal so much about the heart of God. They saying...
This is my life, given away for you, sacrificed in love for you—whether you accept/reject
Over next few weeks, we’re going to take these simple final words of Jesus, “This is my body”,
& think more deeply about them—letting them invite us to remember who Jesus is/does.
TRANS: But the Bible says something fascinating about this.
What was once said about Jesus-- “This is my body”--is now said about us:
[gesture toward congregation]—“THIS is my body”
The bible describes the followers of Christ using this same terminology: “we are body of X”
The ongoing presence of Jesus on earth is now being revealed through us,
b/c same Holy Spirit that lived and moved through Him now lives/moves within us.
Listen to how apostle Paul describes this reality:
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body… the body is not made up of one part but of many…Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Co2. 12:13-14,27)
NOTE: we are not body of Christ individually but together. Each of us is only a part. It’s as we allow our lives to be knit together, to serve others together, that we are t/g the whole body.
Jesus is God’s first gift, and _we are the second_.
2 things: we need God and each other to become God’s gift of love to world around us
1. by myself I’m not much of a gift, b/c I’m not the body (just part), but t/g w/you we
can reveal God and His grace to ppl around us
2. it’s only the Holy Spirit that even makes it possible for me to become part of the body of Christ. I must receive God’s Spirit into my life, giving me a new power and desire to live for God that I otherwise don’t have. To live God’s kind of life we need God’s power. HS gives us that. “We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body”—we must have the Spirit of God w/in us.
This is great message of Christmas. Christ not only came to live among us then.
He comes to live within us now. How? By giving us the same HS that he had.
TRANS: But we must receive this gift, not reject it. Jesus is Father’s greatest gift.
Biggest question X-mas confronts us with is this: “what will we do with Jesus? Reject/accept?
Pastoral Prayer:
à Invitation prayer to receive Christ--
à May we as your body here on earth reflect your values/heart by way we pour out our
lives t/g for others. As we remember you, may we come to love you more,
and by your Spirit who lives within us, moves among us, may we find fresh joy in
giving our lives away, as Jesus did.
Invite JJ and Michael back up: à Give one more chance to receive their Father’s gift.
Dismiss congregation: This week…Receive the gift of God. Be the gift of God to others.