Sermons for Communion Preparation

During the past several communion seasons, I have been preaching through the Sufferings of Christ beginning with the his sufferings in the Upper Room. I have preached on "The Washing" from John 13, the "Korban Pesach" from Luke 22, and on Judas as a traitor in "Is it I?" in Mark 14. I commend this series to anyone who is preparing to celebrate the Lord's Supper.

The Suffering Savior

Daily Cleansing or Moldy Bread?

Simon Peter was unable to comprehend the condescension that Jesus Christ would go to for him. He was torn with emotional turmoil as Jesus stooped to wash his feet? Simon asked him, "Lord do you wash my feet?" And Jesus answered that he must and that Peter would not understand it until later.

Peter was a man who knew his own sinfulness. He was a man who understood that he was vile and hell-worthy apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ. When he answered Jesus he said the equivalent of, "Not in a million years will you wash my feet!" "No, eternally no, Lord!"

Jesus told him that if he would allow him to wash- then he had no part with Christ. Peter could not imagine life without Christ, even though later that evening he would deny him. Peter cries out, "Not my feet only, but my hands and my head!"

Peter was a man who despite his own sinfulness- was a man that would storm the throne room for grace- he would pursue Christ at all costs, even if he had to appear to be a double-minded man. Peter is an example for all of us. We are to detest the sin within us; and we are to pursue Christ with a fervent pursuit. We are to desire his cleansing daily.

Krummacher, an old German Reformed pastor, noted in 1856, "There are many Christians who know of no other nourishment for their inward life than the moldy bread of long past experience. But no true peace results from this. Inward religion does not consist in a life of morbid security, arising from the recollection of having once received the forgiveness of sins. Where a real spiritual life exists, there is also a constant activity, unceasing striving against sin, repeated humiliation before God, and renewed experience of his favor. Were it otherwise, why should the Lord put into his children's lips that daily petition 'forgive our trespasses'. He that is washed need not be again entirely washed, but only his feet, and that continually."

The Circumcision of Christ

In the Dutch Reformed tradition, New Year's Day was celebrated as the Day of the Circumcision. This day would have been the 8th day after Christ's birth and would have marked the beginning of Christ's sufferings and humiliation. According to the Law of Moses, new born boys were to be circumcised on the 8th day after their birth.

The circumcision of Christ is important to believers for this very reason- that cut would have been the first blood shed from our Savior. The first blood to flow towards the complete salvation of sinners.

We do not often think of Christ's circumcision, but it is a very important part of our redemption's accomplishment. Today Dutch Reformed Churches celebrate the New Year with a worship service- which is fine. But the redemptive nature of why they gathered on this day is lost in our current customs. On this New Year's Day, think of what Christ has done for you, if you are his. Think of blood lost.

Christ was circumcised for you. Even as an eight day old infant, Christ was actively working for the salvation of the elect.

Colossians 2:11 And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ...

Who Then Can Be Saved?

Jesus told his disciples that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples cried out, "who then can be saved?" The response is no one! No man can work to earn his salvation. But the sweet blood of Jesus Christ is more efficacious than all the work that a man can do. Thomas Watson, in his Treatise on the Holy Eucharist, comments:

If we had offered up millions of holocausts and sacrifices, if we had wept rivers of tears, this could never have appeased an angry Deity. Only Christ's blood ingratiates us into God's favor and makes Him look upon us with a smiling aspect. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was rent. This was not without a mystery, to show that through Christ's blood the veil of our sins is rent which interposed between God and us.