REFORMED CHURCH
BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 21 MAY 2006: MORNING SERVICE: HOLY COMMUNION
Sing before:
Psalm: 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: Psalm: 63:1
Confession of faith: Apostolic
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.
After the reading of the
Law we confess our guilt and pray for forgiveness and a new life before
God with Psalm 32:3.
Law
Psalm: 32:3
Prayer:
- Doxology
- Worship
- Confession
of sins
- Forgiveness
- Gratitude
- Prayer
for the need of the congregation for the church, the authorities and
the sinful world and appeal to God's promises.
- General
prayer
- Enlightenment
from the Holy Spirit for the sake of the ministry of the Word.
Amen
Psalm: 40:7
Scripture:
Revelation 1
Text:
Revelation 1:17
"When I saw Him, I fell at His
feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: 'Do
not be afraid. I am the First and the Last …'"
Today we dine with Him – He who was before time or before the
earth was there. He, who sent His Spirit to us. The Spirit –
God the Holy Spirit – brought us here today.
Do you really know who is your Host today?
- He is the Eternal Almighty God.
- It is He who created earth each time the Father commanded
it.
- John, who here on the island of Patmos, falls at the feet
of Jesus as though dead, writes in his Gospel that nothing exists that
was not created by Jesus.
- Hence Jesus was first. He was before creation.
In this time before creation this same God conceived a plan.
- In this plan your name as a chosen one is embedded.
- The Word of the Lord tells us that it does not depend on
man's desire or effort but on God's purpose in election. (Romans
9:10-16)
- Ephesians 1 tells us that before the creation of the world
we were chosen in Jesus Christ to be holy and blameless in His sight.
(Ephesians 1:4-6)
- In this too He was first.
This God became man.
- The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us and we
have seen His glory. (John 1:14)
- Subsequently Jesus died on the cross. He was buried.
- These things are clearly in the apostle John's memory.
- He recalls how they were together at the initial Last
Supper.
- He recalls the words of Jesus that at the table there is
one who would betray Him.
- He remembers Judas getting up and walking away in the dark
and how he subsequently hanged himself.
Now the situation is entirely different.
- The presence of this Jesus on the cross fells John to the
ground.
- The holiness of God forces life from him so that he falls
as though dead from fear.
- The Lord Jesus Christ appears to him in kindness.
Beloved, when you sit here at the table of Holy Communion, you must
look at Him whose Supper this is.
- Consider then that we sit at the table of the Almighty God.
- Like John we should be struck down by the awful holiness of
God. We should die because of His presence.
- But we live and are lovingly invited to sit at His table.
My/your name is mentioned when He says that those terrible moments on
the cross were for us.
- It was for my/your sins that He gave up His life!
But now Jesus is no longer on the cross.
- He who invites you to sit at His table is a Judge who
decides in heaven and in hell.
- Remember this when you eat the bread and drink the wine.
- The candlestick in the Lord's hand is symbolic of me and
you and of our church.
How much light to we give? Or do we live under a bowl? (Matthew 3:14)
With what measure of honesty do we come to receive His mercy?
To John the eyes of the Lord Jesus were as flames that look into us and
consume us.
- Each one of us will see these eyes of God one day
– just as John saw them.
- Just like John each of us will know a moment when we stand
before God knowing that He has seen all our life – all our
sins and unrighteousness.
Beloved, look at the feet of this Jesus who shall feed you at His table
today.
- John sees that they are like bronze glowing in a furnace.
- It means that all who have hated and betrayed God shall be
trampled beneath those feet.
- He shall subject every enemy – nobody can
withstand Him.
Why does He then, invite us to His table today? Because He is the Last
and the Living One.
- He was the First to arise from the dead. With it He proved
that He would never die.
- He assures us with this sacrament today that all of us
– as He did – will arise from the dead.
- He shall take us out of death and rejoin our bodies and
souls.
- Thereafter we shall, as He does, live eternally.
Today you sit at His table because:
- This Almighty God, Jesus Christ, tells you that He gives
you life eternal on the new earth.
- With this Holy Communion He says that He died for your sins
in particular and that for you especially He arose from the dead.
- He wants us to look at Him, He is the Eternally Living One
who shall never die.
It is for us that He is now in heaven, to prepare a place for us so
that we can go there when through death He calls us there.
But remember that we are a candlestick in the hand of Christ.
- When we arise from His table our life must prove it.
- All the immeasurable grace that we receive from Christ must
show in our life.
- We must be living witnesses of the salvation in Jesus
Christ.
- That is also why we with the Lord Jesus Christ partake of
this sacrament – so that our faith can once again be
strengthened to know and believe all these things.
Let us become less in ourselves so that the Lord Jesus Christ can
become more. Let us become as it really is.
- We receive the Lord Jesus Christ's strength –
then live it!
- We live in the light of our Lord Jesus Christ –
then live His Light!
- We live in the safe-keeping of this Eternal God –
then never be afraid to show your faith!
Be assured that you have the life eternal, for the Lord Jesus Christ
who called us here together, guarantees it to each one of us.
The proof is that we obeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit when at His
command we came to this Holy Communion.
Amen
Prayer
Psalm: 105:2+3
Form for Holy Communion
Psalm: 23:1+3
During celebration: Psalm 116 and Psalm 118
Closing prayer
Closing Psalm: 36:2
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen
Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
21 May 2006 (morning)
Scripture NIV