Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "To Know Peace." I read from Romans 5:1-5 (NIV). All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) and are used with permission.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
I am grateful for the Scriptures; they are the oracles of God; His own words. Because of them, I came to know what I did not know about my relationship with God. I found out that God was at war with me, and not only me, but "…against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness." I found out that war with God is not a good place to be as I was on the losing side. From this realization, I wanted an immediate cessation of hostilities and peace between us; however, I also learned there was nothing I could do through my own human effort to make amends. O woe is me! As I read, the revelations continued. Guess who wanted the same thing? God. He was just as unhappy as I was that we were enemies. He did what I could not do. He asked His Son to die and pay the penalty for my sins, and all others who seek Him in truth. Through faith in His Son, Jesus, I gained access to God's grace, His state of favor towards me and you, and with it came peace and hope and the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whom God poured into the empty cup of our hearts. As I wait for the revealing of the glory of God, I will have the strength to endure my sufferings and grow stronger through them—just as gold is refined by fire to a higher state of purity. All of this is as Paul tells the Christians in Rome, "through Jesus Christ." As we partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we pay tribute to Jesus by remembering how He rescued us from our sins and gave us peace—peace with God, peace within ourselves, and peace with our circumstances. 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, thank-you for asking Your Son, Jesus, to offer His own blood to pay the penalty for our sins. Through faith in Your Son, we have access to Your grace, an imperishable hope, and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We are blessed beyond measure. As we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup, we remember Him. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26:26-28 (NIV).
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, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you 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!
