06-01-03 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Proverbs 4:14~19

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Each and every one of us have been (or will be) confronted at some point by people whose day isn't complete until they mess up yours. They just love it, and they get a good night's sleep if they can cause you to fall, if they can prove even in the smallest way that you're a hypocrite hiding under the banner of Christianity. It's pretty clear from this passage that these people can be avoided by staying in the Light. Why do we take communion? In the bread we eat, which represents the body of Christ, there is no guile, no malice, no hypocrisy, no wickedness, no sin. It reminds us that we are all a part of one body, one Lord, one covenant. The wine we drink reminds us of the cup of suffering Jesus endured, that His blood was poured out on our behalf, and that grace is all that spares us from the cup of wrath, the cup of violence. Communion returns us to the middle of that path where the light gets brighter and brighter, exposing the things that would cause us to stumble.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.