REFORMED
CHURCH BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2005: MORNING SERVICE (HOLY
COMMUNION)
Sing before
service: Psalm 31:15;
67: 1+3;
68:9
Let us commence this meeting with God by declaring openly to one
another and to God:
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Beloved
grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ, through the mighty working of god the Holy Spirit. Amen
Psalm of praise: 118:12+13
Confession of faith: Apostolic Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord who was conceived
by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hell, the
third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sits
at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there He shall come
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, a holy catholic* Church, the communion of
saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the
life everlasting.
Amen
Law
Hymn: 19-1:1
Prayer
Hymn: 12-3:1+2
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2
Text
1 Corinthians 2:5
"So
that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
1 Corinthians 2:9
"However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind
has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."
By our partaking of Holy Communion we communicate with the Lord in a
special way.
- The true believer experiences the communion with the Lord whereas
the
unbeliever or false believer does not.
- From His side the Lord uses various means to reveal Himself
continually
to the true believers so that they may truly know Him.
- One of the things the Lord reveals to them is that they may know
to
their comfort that He makes them fit for His Kingdom.
1.
Testimony through the preaching
2.
What happens to the believer during preaching
3.
How do these matters fit in with Holy Communion.
1.
Testimony through the preaching
The central point of this passage is that Paul came to proclaim the
testimony about God. Many people underestimate the benefit derived from
attending church and listening to a sermon.
- Some manuscripts say that Paul proclaimed to them God's mystery.
- That is what this passage is about:
- The Lord's world is too large and too deep for mankind to
understand.
It is also a world that les beyond human reach for we live in a
creation where everything is visible and tangible whereas God is Spirit.
- But the Lord does not let us remain in this condition. He reveals
Himself to us. When we take a quick look at all the different things
that the Lord reveals of Himself in Jesus Christ through Paul's
epistles we see the following:
- Jesus acts prophetically in word and deed.
- Jesus has absolute power over demons.
- Jesus rules over life and death and confirms this in his
resurrection.
- He is elevated to Kurios (an action – word that describes
Jesus in His Kingly mastery).
- And the Lord Jesus reveals Himself also in His glorious Second
Coming.
The single issue that encompasses the essence of all these matters
– hence, the essence of the gospel, is the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ. That is what was preached through the centuries. See how
the epistle to the Hebrews commences:
- In the past the Lord spoke through the prophets and now in the
last
days by His own Son.
- Thereafter it deals with the crucifixion and resurrection of
Jesus
Christ.
- Precisely this the Lord reveals also in the passage we read.
Why?
- Because the unique nature of the Godly rule of mercy becomes a
visible
reality in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
- Jesus descended into the depths of humiliation and pain and
through it
demonstrated His greatness as King of Mercy.
- On the cross the Lord Jesus revealed that He asks nothing for
Himself
and that He gives His life for His subjects so that they may live
eternally.
- Here the Lord Jesus became poor to make us rich. (2 Corinthians
8:9)
- The Lord Jesus Christ went through all these horrors in order to
set
his elect forever free from them.
- He did not do this secretly or in the invisible world. He did
this on
our earth before our eyes.
The Spirit of God is an almighty working Power that works in the
believers.
- He also comes from out of the Crucified.
- The mighty working of God the Holy Spirit lets the believers
hear,
understand and see these issues.
- In this way the Lord Jesus rules and teaches His church through
the
Holy Spirit.
2.
What happens to believers during preaching?
The apostle Paul preached that the Lord Jesus is God who does great
works of love for the true believers.
- He did all that was necessary on the cross but He completes it on
the
day of the Second Coming.
- He is the eternally reigning King Jesus Christ.
The one who preaches (in our case the Minister) is not the one who
effects the change in our hearts.
- The Lord does it through His Spirit and with His power. Through
the
preaching of the gospel the Lord touches the hearts of the people
listening to it.
- In 1 Thessalonians 1:5 the Lord teaches us that the gospel to us
not
simply with words but also with power and with the Holy Spirit and with
deep conviction.
- Reading this together with 1 Corinthians 2 it can be understood
only
one way – the Spirit and power are the Spirit and power of
God.
The Lord Himself seizes us with power, and this He does through the
working of the Holy Spirit. The Lord lets His revelation fall into the
depth of our soul where repentance is generated so that we can arise
from our sins into a new life.
Verse 5, our text, is the conclusion to which the Lord leads us. Our
faith does not rest on men's wisdom but on God's power.
- What is written here means that our life is continuously
nourished and
that it grows each day with the power of the Lord.
- It is a process that never ceases! God Himself intervenes in your
life
through the preaching and He changes you every day in your repentance
and in the growth of your faith. This is what happens to you when you
are in church and listen to a sermon. Is it possible to preach God's
grace any clearer?
3.
How do these matters fit in with Holy Communion?
In verse 6 it is written "We do,
however, speak a message of wisdom
among the mature".
What is meant is "those who are fit
for the end" with reference to the
Second Coming.
- Put together we see that in 1 Corinthians 2:6 the Lord speaks of
people
who the Lord considers to be fit for His Kingdom.
- Clearly there people are made suitable by Jesus Christ and that
is what
this sermon is about.
At Holy Communion great things happen that are invisible and which an
outsider also cannot see or feel. The Lord reveals them only to the
believers.
- Because the Lord reveals this to us we experience the presence of
the
Tri-une God Himself with us.
- We know that the bread and the wine are elements that open for us
a
magnificent invisible world to be seen with our spiritual eyes.
- We understand how the Lord bore the punishment for our sins
before God
the Father to reconcile us with His wrath.
- With it we understand how the Lord Jesus destroyed the powers of
hell
to free us from eternal death.
- Then we see the words of 1 Corinthians 2:9 before us and
understand
what the Lord means when He says "What
God has prepared for those who
love Him".
Brothers and sisters let us celebrate Holy Communion and again receive
confirmation of the comfort that the Lord teaches us here in 1
Corinthians 2:5: our faith does not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's
power.
- Hence we can sit at the Communion table and experience things of
which
other people do not know. As the Lord puts it "No eye has seen, no ear
has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who
love Him".
- Be deeply grateful and know that the Lord loves us and through
the
power of His Word and Spirit He renews us to live in His eternal
kingdom because in Jesus Christ He chose us for it.
- We are ruled by the eternally reigning King Jesus Christ. Come,
sit at
His table and serve Him for it with all our heart and everything we
have.
Amen
Prayer
Psalm: 73:7, 9 + 10
Formulary
Hymn 1-1; 1+3
To and from table: Psalm 118
At table: Psalm 116
Closing Psalm 128:1+4
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.
Amen
Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
27 February 2005 (morning)
Scripture NIV