Kingdom Communion (part 1)

As promised, here are the guts of what I shared with the church on Sunday (more to come):

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In 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.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

 

What is Kingdom Communion?

PASSOVER.  So often in the church “communion” can be a cracker and juice experience, kind of on the side of things.  But the bread and wine were originally part of a much bigger story.  The first “communion” meal, the “Last Supper” that Jesus shared with his disciples, was in fact a celebration of the Jewish Passover.  Jesus was a Jew, and so were His first followers. And they were doing Passover.

What they were celebrating was God’s rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt.  (Many of us know the story, but it is often not emphasized in our churches, at least in my expereince.  See Exodus 12.)  God told Pharaoh to let His people go, and Pharaoh said NO.  The final plague was coming: death to all the first born of Egypt.  But Moses told the people to slay a lamb and smear the blood on the doorposts of their houses… and when the plague came, that judgment would “pass over” them.  The end result was that the Israelites got freed from their slavery; and the rest (as they say) is history.

In the same way, what we celebrate in Communion is our rescue from the bondage of sin, and those that have the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, over them will be spared the judgment of God.  What Jesus was doing and saying in this meal was radical… provocative… and even dangerous.  He took the unleavened bread (already a part of the Feast) and broke it and said, “Hey, this is Me… and do it in remembrance of Me.  No, not in remembrance of Exodus 12 and the Passover… but in remembrance of Me.”  Seriously, Jesus?!?!

And then after supper, Jesus took the so-called “cup of redemption” (one of several cups of wine used in the feast) and said, “Hey, this is Me.  This is the new agreement (covenant) between God and humanity in MY blood… and do it in remembrance of (yep, you guessed it) ME.  Not in remembrance of that passover lamb who was killed and whose blood was poured out to smear on the door frame.  No, do it in remembrance of ME and MY blood that I am pouring out for you, and your rescue, and your forgivness.”  Seriously?!?!  This is the kind of truly off the freakin’ chain stuff that made the religious leaders of the day want to kill Jesus.  (And so they did.)

So when we take communion, remember that it’s really the Passover that you’re celebrating– drawing on all the weight and import and significance of that event– but not the old covenant Passover.  We celebate the new covenant Passover through Messiah Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Eastertide!

Did you ever wonder about what Jesus and his disciples did, what they talked about, for those 40 days between the Resurrection and the Ascension?  (Did you realize that there were 40 days that Jesus walked around on the earth in that resurrected body of his?)

I think the tendency for many of us, thanks to movies, or the creeds, or maybe the way some of the Gospels are written, is to assume and envision that Jesus rose from the dead early on Easter Sunday, showed his hands and his feet, then led the guys out to the mountain, gave them the “Great Commission,” and then ascended to heaven.  But Luke tells us something different (Acts 1:1-9):

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

No wonder those first apostles and believers could be Jesus’ witnesses.  THEY HUNG OUT WITH HIM FOR 40 DAYS!!  And what did they do??  And what did they talk about??   Love?  World peace?  The church?  Faith?  Nope.  Jesus talked with them about the KINGDOM OF GOD.  From Jesus’s first proclamation through the parables and miracles and up to the last things he shared with his followers, Jesus Christ was all about the Kingdom.

In the calendar of the church year, we call these 40 days ”Eastertide,” which means “Easter season.”  We commemorate and celebrate those amazing days when the risen Jesus walked among us.  But we also begin looking forward to mission, to empowerment… to Pentecost!  As Luke shared with us, in his teachings on the Kingdom during those days, Jesus told his followers to WAIT for the empowering baptism in the Holy Spirit that was coming “in a few days.”  Today (April 24th) marks 7 days until the Ascension, and 17 days until Pentecost when The Father and the Son poured out the awesome Holy Spirit on the church!!

My challenge to you and to me and to all the Church is this:

• Meditate on what it would be like to hang around with the risen Jesus in the flesh for 40 days… and for only one more week!
• Celebrate and meditate on the Ascension on May 1st; re-read the scriptures, live with that moment, how awesome it would have been to be standing there when it happened!
• Prepare… wait… meditate… and seek God for a fresh outpouring of Pentecost in your life, your family, the church, and the world!  “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call!” (Acts 2:39).

Alleluia!  The Lord is risen indeed!  Come– let us adore Him!!  Alleluia!!

Seek the Kingdom or Build the Church? (2)

Continuing this discussion, here are some words from Jesus to consider:

“I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again….  I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ “  (John 3:3, 5-8)

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-3)

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness….”  (Matthew 6:33)

“…the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21).

“The kingdom of God is near you” (Mark 1:15; Luke 10:9).

Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God (or heaven) is something to be seen and entered.  It is something to be sought after, something that is among us, something that is near to us.  It is not something we can build or quantify.

What is the kingdom?  It is the Reign of God.  It is the Rule of God. It is not the Church.  It is greater and broader than the Church.  It is God’s Rule manifesting in the earth, and from a seemingly small start, it will encompass the whole world.  Jesus brought it, and when he comes again, the Kingdom will be established in it’s fullness.

Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom, to enter in to it, and to pray for it to come (Matthew 6:10).

What are the implications for Church?  For our churches?  Are we seeking the kingdom?  Are we praying for it to come?  Are we trying to build something that’s already here?  What do you think?

Seek the Kingdom or Build the Church? (1)

Ever think about that?  What’s the difference anyway?

Most of the Church talks about the Church, and building the Church (even those streams that embrace the idea of the “kingdom of God” talk mostly about the Church).  Meanwhile, Jesus hardly ever talked about the Church, but talked constantly about the Kingdom of God.

I’d like to start a discussion about this, so weigh in (if you’re in to commenting on people’s blogs).  What are we supposed to be doing and focusing on?  More of my thoughts soon… what do you think?

Jesus the Politician?

What do you think?  I think Jesus and his message of the kingdom had far more political ramifications than most of us want to realize or admit. 

From the God’s Politics blog by Jim Wallis:

Last Friday I was in Santa Barbara, California, to speak at Westmont College – where even on a Friday evening, the gymnasium was packed with students. Before that event I did an interview with The Santa Barbara Independent, a local weekly newspaper, which they titled The Next Great Awakening? One of the questions the reporter asked was, “Do you think Jesus was a politician?” Here is my answer:

Of course not. But he had a vision of the Kingdom of God which was spiritual, personal, relational, social, economic, and yes, political – because it talked about allegiances and loyalties and authority, and if Jesus was Lord, Caesar was not. His confrontation that he provoked in Jerusalem was with the religious and the political leaders. They saw him as a political threat. If they saw him just as a private pietist, why would they worry? [If he was] helping people get their lives together, helping their marriages, making them better parents and make them go to less Roman orgies and drunken parties, why would that have been a threat to the ruling powers? They regarded him as a threat. I remember I was at Wheaton College once and I asked this class, “Why was Jesus killed?” and they had no idea. They just couldn’t comprehend the question. And then one young student said, “Well, to save us from our sins.” And I said, “So you think Pontius Pilate was sitting there thinking, ‘How am I going to save these American evangelicals from their sins? I’m gonna kill this guy and that will do it.’” Albeit that our theological understanding of the cross and our redemption — I’m orthodox on all those questions, but he was killed because he was seen as a threat to the rulers both religious and political. In the book I talk about how Jesus confronted the major political options of his day. All four of them were there, they’re always there: One was collaborationist, one was pietist, one was withdrawn — you know, the kind of counter culture — and one was political insurrection, or revolutionary violence. He confronted them all, he rejected them all. There was a fifth option called the Kingdom of God, and that’s our option.

How are we to live out the kingdom of God this election year?  Jesus doesn’t believe in any party platform, does not believe in left or right.  His kingdom is righteousness and justice.  Read Jim Wallis’ original article here.