Milk
John 1.14
Communion Sunday
June 3rd 2013
Welcome and thank you all for coming together today – let’s pray.
Communion
It’s the first Sunday of the month which means we will take some time to celebrate communion together, as instituted by Jesus when He ate with his disciples before being offered up for the sins of the world.
Knowing that He would ascend to sit on the right hand of glory after His resurrection, the Lord gave the disciples (and all of those who believe upon Him) a means by which to remember or commemorate or celebrate or memorialize His offering on our behalf – eating and drinking – something every healthy human being does almost every day of their lives.
Sitting with the eleven in an upper room Matthew 26:26-28 says:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
So let’s take these elements as He took them and give thanks to God for them as our Lord took time to do the same.
PRAYER
(of thanksgiving for the blessings of life, particularly the blessings of the bread and wine before us, as we remember His Son, who, because He so loved the world, gave to us.)
After instituting this communion, the Lord went to His death, brought on by tearing his flesh and shedding his blood . . . for us.
And so when and if you come forward to receive these elements, you so do in memory of Him and His sacrifice for the sins of the world . . . a sacrifice that occurred so many years ago but is eternally binding on all who receive Him.
(beat)
By coming forward and first taking these elements in hand, then taking them into your mouth, you join in with everyone else here who has chosen to do the same.
In a way you are professing, admitting to all here that His flesh, and His blood, are worthy of ingesting, of being consumed by your person.
Simultaneously, you are eating of the same unleavened elements, and the same wine those around you have too chosen to eat.
You don’t have too – any more than you had to receive His sacrifice or that you have to continue to follow Him – but you are invited to.
And if and when you do, you are witnessing to God (and perhaps even more dramatically to each other) that you Believe on Him whom God has sent, you believe His torn flesh and shed blood were torn and shed for you, and that by partaking of them, you are His.
(beat)
We invite any and all who are Christian to come forward while the music plays and receive the elements Jesus told us to use to remember Him by.
Taken them in hand, return to your seat, reflect and memorialize Him in your heart and mind, and eat them as so inclined.
We will take a few minutes then to pray silently before we come back and study His word.
PLAY MUSIC
COMMUNION
PRAYER by Shawn
Okay, we left off in the first chapter of the Gospel of John last week – verse 9, which speaking of Jesus says:
9 He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
So let’s stand and read through our verses for today and for next week and for the week to come.
Why do long on these verses?
Because in the end they lay out some tremendous information on why Jesus (the Light) came into the world, and took on a physical body of flesh and bone.
Are you standing and ready? Here we go as John says (in verse 10)
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Now one thing you may or may not have noticed here is John speaks of Jesus in the past tense.
Remember, he wrote this account or gospel well after Jesus ascended into heaven.
As we read along through his narrative we will discover that his writes telling a story, not a chronological event.
Because of this (and we’ve said this before) there has been some confusion about the order of how things happened in Jesus life.
Again, reading the writings of a Jew is more like watching a movie that opens with the present, flashes back to the past, inserts glimpses of the future, and then (even in the very next verse in some cases) reverts back to the present – which in the case of John and his Gospel would be after Jesus was ascended.
This is why in verse ten John says, “He was in the world,(past tense)” and then in verse 14 he says, “And the word was made flesh (present tense) and then in verse in verse 29 he writes, “the next day . . .”
So try and read through what might seems to be anarchronistic issues with Johns’s gospel – especially when compared to what we have already studied in Matthew in years prior.
Okay. So having said Jesus was the Light, in verse 9 John says in ten . . .
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Here John is speaking of the incarnation of Christ – He was in the world (again, even though he adds in verse 14 “and the Word was made flesh).
In verse 9 he tells us He was the Light and life of this world and here and ten he “t’s” off of this idea and reminds us that He was in the world – He was a real living, breathing being, he testifies (and then repeats what he said in verse three which we covered already)
“And the world was made by him.”
The fact is quite striking when we read the next line:
“and the world knew him not.”
I think this is one of the reasons honoring father and mother is one of the ten commandments and that carried the punishment of death to the child if disobeyed among the children of Israel.
We know that the fifth of the ten commandments (found in Exodus 20) is Honor thy Father and Mother, but the book of Leviticus says in 19:3:
“Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father . . .”
Why?
Well the thinking was parents were responsible for bringing a child into this world, if they ever got to the point that they believed they had made a mistake in the creation, they could reverse the decision . . . and take the child out!
Listen to what Deuteronomy 21 says beginning at verse 18:
“If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
The point of this is, when created beings do not respect what created them, the end result can be quite ugly.
For the Jews who rejected him the end result was the decimation of Jerusalem in 70 ad and the dispersion.
For all – in the end – the obliteration will be hell.
When John says
“The world knew him not,” he means the world was not approving or loving of Him.
Isn’t this remarkable?
It shows what it truly at the heart of fallen man because when Jesus came He did not take advantage of people but only loved and served them.
But see, He cracked into the powers that be power-base . . . their political control and their money.
They were envious of Him as Matthew and Mark tell us they gave Him up to death out of envy.
So no matter what good He did, no matter how much He loved, or fed masses, or healed the sick and lame, they didn’t care – because He TOOK from their influence and what they wanted.
I think in the end we could almost set before ourselves two camps and put the entire history of humanity in one or the other.
The first is the camp that wants what God wants, rejoices when God rejoices, and is happy when any success occurs for Him and His ways.
Those in this camp want what He wants. Period. And while they are tenacious for truth and zealots for God, they are sold out for Him.
In the other camp are those who serve, or seek to serve, or always are on the look out for . . . the self. Themselves. What they want, what they need, how they see things – irrespective of God.
The two camps?
Those for God and those for self.
So John says the world did not love or approve him, but rejected him and put him to death.
Paul gives us an insight that is very important to this rejection of the Messiah –
And that is “had they known who He really was, what the total divine plan was behind His life and work, they would NOT have put Him to death.
Listen to what Paul says in 1st Corinthians
2:7-8:
1st Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Certainly they put Him to death out of envy – scripture says so – but Paul adds that had they really known His identity, they would have refrained.
I enjoy this fact.
I used to errantly suggest that the Jewish leaders HAD to have known who Jesus was – I don’t think so. If they did then Paul is 1st Corinthians 2:8 was wrong.
Instead they were blinded.
I would suggest that most, if not all, of evil and sin is carried out by hands that do not understand the end-results and the long term suffering and effects of the actions taken.
I mean if a man thinking of committing adultery was able to see, and feel, and hear all the fall out from the action – from the day it occurs to the end of time and then spreading out into the eternities, I doubt he would carry the temptation out.
But being blinded and fooled by the dark one, we act without knowledge, and are lacking full disclosure.
Do we have some ideas of fallout from sin? Sure. And here is when the self overrides the needs of others. But the full and complete scope of our evil – including every single reverberation and ripple through time is not ever known.
Verse 11
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Now, the King James translation of this passage is not so hot. I don’t know what all the other versions say but the better interpretation of this (from the Greek is)
“He came to his own land and his own people received him not.”
We assume this is the better translation based on what the revised manuscripts (which were older) contain.
Two main things the Old Testament proves about the Messiah and His people are one, they have a land that is their own and two, the Messiah was to come through them – through the line of David.
Them having their own land given them by the Lord and promised to Abraham is a picture of “the land” (or space) we all look forward to inhabiting some day – heaven.
But in the physical, the Lord provided the nation of Israel a home. Listen to how the Lord describes the land He gave them as found in Isaiah 5:1
,Isa 5:1 ¶ Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry
Additionally, the Nation of Israel was promised a Messiah who would come to, as John says, “his own.”
He was a Jew they were Jews. He not only came from their line He created Himself into that line. And they were “his own.”
But “His own received him not instead they rejected him and put him to death.
You would think that a nation that was “favored of God” and had a relationship with him for centuries of time would have had some type of resonation to Him.
But by the time Light and Truth came they were so deep into the darkness they couldn’t understand Him.
And this brings us to one of the greatest buts in scripture.
You want to see a great “but” (get your minds out of the gutter, ya filthy animals) the greatest “but” (or the greatest “so,” or the greatest, “and so as a result” is the first word in verse 12:
12 But . . .
“He came into the world and His own received Him not . . . BUT”. . . He came into the world and His own received Him not, So . . . .
What would have happened had His own received Him?
We call this gathering Milk for a reason – we are trying to underscore the basics of Christianity as presented in scripture.
We notice that not much is given by way of conjecture regarding the question.
But there are some passages (assigned to Peter) where the premise is discussed.
Here’s the deal – God knew that Jesus would be rejected and killed by His own.
Romans chapters 9-11 point out Him using this to bring about salvation to all nations.
So the question is moot.
However, if we were to guess, if the Jews had received their Messiah, His millennial reign of 1000 years would have begun (which we look forward to still happening in the future) and Christ would have ruled over the house of Israel and therefore the world for that period of time.
I would suggest that had this occurred He would have taught them the higher law of Love and the world would have operated under His hand by principles of Love.
Possibly those who received His ways and rule (like Rahab of old) would have been adopted into the Kingdom.
And that is about as far as well go.
Let’s get back to reality. The reality is Jesus was rejected by His own, and so God opened the Kingdom up to all who were not on the A list – and bid them to the Kingdom.
Jesus delivered a parable in Matthew 22 that covered the reality of this well before He was put to death.
Matthew 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
So, because His own received Him not, we have been invited to the wedding party.
Paul describes the attitude we ought to all have toward the Jews who rejected their promised King, saying in Romans 11:30-31:
“For as ye (the Gentile nations) in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief (the Jews): even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.”
We are merciful to the nation who did not receive their own (out of a grateful heart) so they may discover the mercy of the Lord in the end.
God is love, isn’t He?
Okay. So, back to verse 12
His own rejected Him . . .
BUT . . . as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
This is an enormous passage. I mean gigantic. For in it we see that though God had established a land and a promised Messiah for Israel, they rejected Him – and in the face of this rejection he seemed to say,
“We’ll okay. I built them a great place and nation. I blessed them and then sent my Son to redeem them and be their King. But they didn’t. So . . .
“as many as (did, will or have) received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
There are so many things to consider relative to this.
AS MANY as received Him – does this sound limiting, like there are only a limited number of reservations available or that the call is open to any and all?
Any and all, right? AS MANY! I make mention of this because there are people who say that He only offers salvation to a select few. I don’t believe when we weigh out all of scripture this point is proven.
Then too, does this invitation sound like the onus of belief falls upon each individual to receive what is offered or that God imposes belief on the few He has elected?
I would suggest the former – that “as MANY as receive Him to them he gave the power . . .” as many WHO RECEIVED Him.
The gift of the power unto salvation through the Son is offered to all, just like the King’s servants went out to the highways and byways and invited any and all who would come so is the Good News offered to all, and as many who receive it does He give power . . .
And then, what are we receiving? What is He offering?
Adoption. The power to become His sons and daughters – sons and daughters of God.
So many people believe that we are God’s children. In a way (just a way) this is true. He is the creator and we are His creations. So in the universal nature of things, we are His creations or as some would say, his children.
But the scripture is clear – we become His family, where He is our true Father or Papa and we become the literal children and heirs of Him by and through spiritual rebirth.
We’re going to take a minute at this point and establish a foundation of biblical information to understand this premise more fully.
When God created Adam and Eve, prior to the fall, He created them and had immediate and unfettered interaction with them.
Like a loving parent, Adam and Eve were given (without price) a beautiful home in which to live. From it they had open communication with their father by and through their spirits (as they were children of the Spirit and not the flesh ).
But instead of being a despot and forcing Adam and Eve to worship Him like little mindless automatons, their Father provided for them the option or a means to follow their own will and ways instead of His. This means was something as simple and basic as not eating the fruit on just one tree in the garden. That was it.
Additionally and out of love for He is love, God warned them in the day they chose their will and ways over His they would surely die.
And while this promise included eventual physical death, it included immediate spiritual death – or separation from their father in heaven above.
Listen – eating the forbidden fruit was a matter of absolute free choice on their part.
He did NOT coerce or manipulate them toward it or away from it.
It was there, they were told not to eat it and they were left to choose. Remember this premise.
We know the result – Adam and Eve chose disobedience and by missing the simple mark God gave them as a means to choose Him, they forfeited their heritage, their heavenly citizenship, their direct relationship with their creator.
And that day they died spiritually . . . meaning they lost their direct relationship with the Father of their Spirits, which were now dead.
And every single human being who enters this fallen world are born children of the flesh rather than children of the Spirit.
Job says this so, so very well with some very simple reasoning and asks in Job 14:4:
“Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.”
Where Adam, man, was created in God’s image – pure Spirit – we read in Genesis 5:3
“And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.”
David says it well in Psalm 51:5
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
And Psalm 58:3 says
“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.”
From the fall, the notion that we are born children of God is a lie. God is not the father nor owner of sin or sinful beings.
His image is fire, light, and Spirit, not darkness and flesh and carnality.
It is human flesh – the arrogance that lives within it, the pride, the self-centered ego thriving in all of us – that whispers, “we are all God’s children. He receives me as I am.”
Not so. In fact in a few chapters Jesus will make the point clear, saying in John 3:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
There are a lot of unspoken verses that throw down on the condition and nature of all human beings.
Job 15:14 asks,
“What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?”
Psalm 14:3 says
“They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
In his letter to the church at Rome Paul reminds us:
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:20:
“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”
John the Beloved wrote in 1st John 1:8
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Isaiah always says things so well.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
So from the Fall, all men and women and children, from the womb, are sinful and separated from God as children of the flesh.
We are incapable of pleasing Him through any or all fleshly attempts (they are to Him as filthy rags) and we are alienated from His holy presence.
He is our creator, but we cannot pave or carve out some kind of path to Him from our own minds or ways any more than a person can create his own laws and expect the courts to uphold them.
Next week, we will pick up where we left off here in verse 12 – a very important verse in our understanding salvation – what it is and where it lies . . . and where it is not.
Let’s pray.
(over list too)
Stand and sing Isaiah 33:22
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