His Kindness

Welcome to the Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast. The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the New Testament, Luke 6: 27-36. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission

As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "His Kindness." I read from Luke 6: 27-36. All quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.

27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

In the beginning, we human beings had such great potential. As we read in Genesis 1: 26, Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us." Given our collective experience with human beings, it is hard to imagine that we were created in the image of God, to be like God! How very far off the mark we are as it is contrary to human nature to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who hurt us, turn the other cheek when someone slaps us, offer our shirt to someone who takes our coat, give to someone without an expectation of receiving in return, or treat others like we would like to be treated. Sin wrecked everyone and everything! As Jesus tells His audience, God's nature is not like human nature; He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. When we love our enemies, do good to them, and lend without expecting to be repaid, we are living the life God intended for us to live as His children. In these moments, we are now imitating the Most High, our Father; we are showing compassion. God's greatest act of compassion to those who are unthankful and wicked, essentially the entire human race, was to send His Son, Jesus, to die in our place. Through His shed blood, the human race can have forgiveness of our sins. Further, we can receive power from on high, the indwelling Holy Spirit, to help us live properly as compassionate children of God. When we partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we are remembering Jesus and His undeserved kindness to us. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father, we are certainly ashamed of our former lives. We were acting in accordance with our human nature, not Your nature. Thank-you, Abba, Father, that we can have the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus' sacrifice for us and receive power from on high to help us to be more like You in our daily lives. Thank-you Abba, Father, for Your kindness to us. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!