The Great Mystery - 1 Timothy 3:14-16

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup.

The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the New Testament, 1 Timothy 3:14-16. In this passage of Scripture, the Apostle Paul likely uses a portion of an early church hymn to remind Timothy of the great mystery of our faith. Similarly, Jesus uses the bread and the cup to help us remember a central truth of the good news of the gospel, His death on the cross to save us. We remember Him when we partake of the bread and drink from the cup. 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 "The Great Mystery." I read from 1 Timothy 3:14-16. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.

14 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, 15 so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

16 Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith:

Christ was revealed in a human body

   and vindicated by the Spirit.

He was seen by angels

   and announced to the nations.

He was believed in throughout the world

   and taken to heaven in glory.

By now you must be feeling pretty important. In case you missed it, let's revisit what the Apostle Paul told Timothy. He equated the "household of God" with "the church of the living God" and "the pillar and foundation of the truth." As a member of the church, the kingdom of the God, you are part of all these important things. If you have invested in the equity market, then you have bought stock in a company; you are a shareholder; you are part of the company. Similarly, you are part of the "household of God," "the church of the living God," and "the pillar and foundation of the truth." That's really cool! The Apostle Paul goes on to restate the great mystery, now revealed, of our faith or godliness. I am not an expert in the Koine Greek language; however, some theologians believe the excerpt we read is from a hymn sung by the early church. We know the Apostle Paul was a singer. He was singing hymns with Silas in the middle of the night while a prisoner in a Philippian jail. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if these few lines were part of a hymn sung by Paul and Timothy on their missionary journeys, and he uses them to remind Timothy of his teachings and fellowship in the gospel. The hymn begins with Jesus' incarnation (becoming flesh and blood) and concludes with His resurrection and coronation. These are handy facts to have on hand if you were preachers like Paul and Timothy. As the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth in our world, we must take this responsibility very seriously. We have a duty to affirm and proclaim the truth! In the Lord's Supper, we get to do both at the same time. And like a few lines from a song that is easy to remember and sing, Jesus makes it so easy for us to do this by connecting it to bread and wine. These were everyday staples in His time and known to the Jews from Sabbath and Passover celebrations. These elements are readily available to us today. As Jesus said of the bread, "Take this and eat it, for this is my body," and of the cup of wine, "Each of you drink from it, 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." By participating in the Lord's Supper, we affirm Jesus' sacrifice to each other and to Jesus, and we proclaim this fundamental truth to world. 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, You have given us such a great responsibility—to be the pillar and foundation of the truth in our world—and we want to be faithful in our assignment. If the light of the church went dark in our world, what a catastrophic event this would be! And yet, that is one of the real concerns (Luke 18:8) of Your Son, Jesus, when He returns to the Earth to take us home to heaven. By partaking of the bread and drinking from the cup today, we want to do our part to keep the memory of Jesus' sacrifice for our sins and reason for our hope alive in this dark world. We are honored, Abba, Father, that You have added us to Your kingdom. Help us to be faithful citizens. 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!