2005-03-20 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Matthew 26:14-30

14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
15. And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
16. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
17. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
18. And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
20. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
21. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
22. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
23. And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
24. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
25. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
26. 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.
27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

Jesus said, "I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples."

If you're here to learn about Jesus because you love Him, then you are His disciple. This table is set for all who would be disciples, students of His Word, even here today. This table was even set for Judas; one who was chosen to be a disciple, but he couldn't let go. He asks the chief priests, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" Earlier in this chapter we see what may have been the last straw, the last offense for Judas, when he sees a woman pouring expensive ointment on Jesus. Judas was offended by that. Judas couldn't let go of the moneybag. It got between him and Jesus.

It's not just money that gets between me and Jesus. For many of us, we cling to our selfish ambitions for the longest time; the vision of how we want our lives to be, how we hope it will turn out. If I'm not willing, and if I don't give Him control of my ship, if I don't allow Him to take the wheel, He's not going to take it, and so, no matter how hard I try, there will be a difference between my course in life and Jesus' course for me. One life, that's all I get, but my silly fear of letting Him be my pilot gets between us.

My fear of failure gets between us. Maybe He wants me to be more bold, but I'm afraid of what others will think. The "wasteful" woman back in verse 10 received commendation from Jesus because she wasn't afraid of losing the expensive ointment; she wasn't afraid of what others might say about her. She was annointing Jesus for burial. Jesus kept saying He was about to be delivered up to die, and this one woman had more faith in His words than all the disciples put together. She was unafraid because she believed Jesus. In verse 18, Jesus says, "My time is at hand." He knew the end was near. Unless a doctor tells us the end is near, we go about our lives thinking it isn't, but I'm telling you it is. For some here today, the end may not come until 90 years or so from now, but for any one of us, the end could come today. We don't know our end, but Jesus knew His, He knows yours and mine, so why do we cling so tightly to the wheel? He knows where the reefs are, and He knows the safe passages, so why not let Him be your captain, not just today, but the rest of your life?

By sitting at this table, we remember Him, and we show forth His death, but we also show forth our own death. By sitting here in fellowship with Him, we show that we believe He has power over death, and we know that He has offered us freedom from our fear of death. We don't have to be afraid of anything but Him, and He loves us so much that He gave His life for us, so what is it today that I'm afraid to let go of? What is it, just one more thing this day that I can let go of, and let Him have control of?