"Signs of Sacred Things"

Sermon Transcript for March 4, 2001

By Rev. Mike Beck

Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:19-20, I Corinthians 11:23-26 

Dan was talking about feeling a little off today. I’m just thankful that I serve a God that knows I’m going to have a lot of off days, I’m going to have times in which I don’t do it like I want to, and God says to us anyway, "I love you just as much on those days as I do the day you think you’re getting it all right." In the United Methodist Church, as in most Protestant denominations, we observe two sacraments: Holy Communion and Baptism. That is the theme for this week in the Christian Believer series and what we would like to look at for just a few brief moments as we prepare to observe the sacrament of Holy Communion.

The Greek word for "sacrament" is the word "mysterion". And that understanding is helpful to us for in a very real sense, the sacraments are the physical expressions of things that lie in the realm of mystery, lie beyond our ability to fully comprehend what is taking place. But I think we learn something of the nature of God in the fact that the symbols for the sacraments we observe are such very common, ordinary things--water, bread, and wine.

Now in terms of the sacraments, how grieved God’s heart must be at the way in which churches and denominations have turned these beautiful symbols in to sources for argument and division. We argue about whether baptism ought to be a sprinkling or whether you’ve got to go all the way under the water. And when we get to heaven, I don’t think it’s going to make a single bit of difference. We argue about whether baptism of children is acceptable or whether baptism ought to be only for believers. In some churches today, if you would go and worship with them, even if you are a believer in Jesus Christ if they were observing communion, you would not be able to go to the Lord’s table for some denominations practice closed communion. That unless you are a member of their fellowship, you are not able to come to the Lord’s supper. And how grieved God’s heart must be over these beautiful symbols that he has given to us and the way we have turned them into sources for argument and division.

And when it comes to sacraments of Baptism and Communion, I’m awfully proud to be a United Methodist. For when it comes to Baptism, we are happy to baptize infants as a symbol of God’s prevenient grace. We are happy to baptize persons by sprinkling, by pouring. Of course, some adults in this church know that when it comes to baptism of adults, if they choose sprinkling and Reverend Mike does the baptism, it will be more of a pouring. Or by immersion. And if you are not a member of Grace Church but you are worshiping with us today and your faith is in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are welcome at the Lord’s table for communion.

We are going to observe the sacrament of Holy Communion today, so there is not time in this message to go into great detail. Allow me simply to make these short, and hopefully instructive, comments. First of all I’d like to say four brief things about the sacrament in general.

1. There’s nothing magical taking place when we observe the sacraments, but our understanding of the sacraments is that when we are observing them they are the outward symbols of what God is doing within our hearts and lives. They are an outward symbol of an inward reality.

2. The sacraments are a way in which we remember the saving acts of God in history.

3. And this is one that’s very meaningful for me, the sacraments are a bridge connecting Christians down through the centuries. The forms of our worship will always be changing as the culture around us changes. We will talk more about that next week when we look at the matter of worship. So if a second century Christian happened to come back to this earth and walk in to our sanctuary, many of the things we do in our worship would be very foreign to the way in which they worshiped. But yet, if we observe the sacrament of baptism or the sacrament of Holy Communion, they would immediately understand what is taking place. And I hope as you come this morning for Holy Communion that you would be reminded that you are doing what Christians for the past 2,000 years have done in taking the bread and taking the cup in remembrance of Christ’s death.

4. The sacraments are always to be approached with a sense of holy reverence. I will never forget a young man in our church who was one of the most committed Christians that I knew. And we observed Holy Communion, and Clay did not come forward for communion. And I thought that was somewhat strange; and I asked him afterwards about it. And Clay said, "I’m having a major problem with a friend of mine, my heart is not in right relationship with that person. I felt I shouldn’t come this morning for communion because the scripture says, ‘If you’re out of relationship with your brother, go make things right and then come to the Lord’s table.’" And Clay was certainly approaching the sacraments with holy reverence.

Let’s look briefly at baptism. I’d like to say two things here.

1. In baptism I think we are reminded that God has adopted us into His family. And when we celebrate infant baptism we are clearly reminded of that. That our place in God’s family is not on the basis of our knowledge, not on the basis of our actions, but God in His Grace and love, has adopted us into the family of faith.

2. In baptism, the water reminds us that through faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross, we are cleansed from our sins. In the same way that when we take a bath or a shower, we hopefully come out of the tub or out of the shower clean. Baptism reminds us that in God’s eyes we are holy. In God’s eyes we are clean. The words of the hymn we sang this morning, one of the verses said, "Know condemnation, though I dread." If my salvation is based on what I’ve done, I’ve got all kind of reasons to fear. Baptism reminds us that through faith in what Christ did for us on the cross, we are forgiven, we are cleansed before a Holy God.

And then in Holy Communion we are reminded of the great sacrifice of His own life and blood that Jesus made so that our sins could be forgiven. Our salvation came at a great price and when we take the bread we are to be reminded that His body was broken, the nails were driven through His hands and through His feet, that a spear was thrust into His side. And when we take of the cup and we look at the dark colored juice we are to be reminded Christ gave His life’s blood so that we might know salvation.

And then as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I believe within most Protestant Churches, communion becomes a special time for us to make confession of our sin before a Holy but a Loving God. And this is why I think many people like to come and to either stand or kneel before the communion rail. As an act of pertinence. As an act of confession.

The challenge then for us in observing sacraments is to avoid making Baptisms and Holy Communion routine or simply going through the motions. And in that regard, let me say these three things.

1. How sad it is when persons stay away if they learn in advance that communion is going to be observed. Think about that for a moment. The Lord’s table in which we are invited to in love, that we would stay away. But friends, you’ll notice usually I don’t announce communion. Because preachers know that if you announce it’s communion Sunday, attendance will be down ten percent from a normal Sunday. How said that is.

2. How sad it is when clergy rush through a baptism so they won’t have to cut short their precious sermon. I find that so sad for observing the sacrament of baptism. But the attitude of some clergy is, "How quickly can I get this over with so I don’t have to cut in to my sermon."

3. Or how sad it is when persons see baptism or holy communion as some kind of magic ticket to heaven. A couple has a new baby. We haven’t seen them in church in the last five years, but all of the sudden your phone rings and they want to bring their child for baptism. And you work with them and talk about the importance that they bring their child for baptism and then it’s five years later before you see them again. They’re looking at what happens as some kind of magic ticket that in engaging in the sacraments somehow is going to get me to heaven. The sacraments were never designed for that.

So that is why we try to structure worship when the sacraments are observed so that we approach them with variety so they do not become routine and so hopefully we do not feel a sense of hurry or rush. I close with these two illustrations. On my finger is my wedding ring. Mickey did not have to give me a ring in order for us to be married. But almost every couple when they are married exchange rings. And when I look at this ring there is nothing magical there. But the ring reminds me of a special day, of a special love, of a special commitment that I share with my wife for over thirty years. And such it is with the sacraments. And I remember a time in which as a part of an Emmaus worship service, in the outdoor tabernacle camp, Indi-Co-So, I was serving holy communion. A little boy of about six years old came up with his mom and dad to receive holy communion. And here again is another reason I appreciate being a United Methodist. We let parents determine for themselves if their children want to come with them. And we were taking communion by intinction. The little boy took his bread and dipped it down into the cup and then went to partake it. And the grape juice just poured out all over the back of his hand. And I’m convinced these words were not of my own wisdom. They were words of the Holy Spirit given to me in that moment. And I simply said to that little boy and to his parents. "Yes, and Jesus had it all over his hand as well. Except it wasn’t grape juice. It was His own life’s blood being poured out because He loved you and me."

Let us prepare our hearts to receive the sacrament of communion.