Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "The Grace of Giving." I read from 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 (NIV). All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) and are used with permission.
1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
In this passage of Scripture, we have a snapshot of first century churches in Macedonia and can observe their generosity in taking up a collection for their impoverished brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. They did not wait to be asked, they volunteered to give. So impressed by their faithfulness, the Apostle Paul uses their example of generosity to spur the Christians in Corinth to finish the collection for their gift. It is from their desire to participate that the Apostle Paul provides the well-known instruction in his first letter (1 Corinthians 16:2), "On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made." But the true test of their sincerity was to imitate the generosity of Jesus, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." This description of Jeus is so compelling and on so many levels. Jesus did not come to Earth to ensure that His disciples would have abundant material blessings. If so, there would have been no impoverished Christians in Jerusalem in the first place. Jesus came; however, to offer abundant spiritual blessings to those who would believe that He is the Son of God and put their faith in Him. No human could access these blessings on their own; they were available through Jesus Christ only! It is out of our gratitude to Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to do good things, including exceling in the grace of giving. This is our motivation—to be like Jesus. He taught us what the grace of giving really means. He volunteered to give His life for us. He offered His blood on the cross, an incalculable gift, that helpless humankind might have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in the kingdom of God. Jesus has established this time to partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup to remember what He gave to us and how much it cost Him. He now encourages us to imitate Him and excel in the grace of giving. 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. We thank you for sending Jesus to save us. We cannot imagine the splendor of heaven and the joy of fellowship He shared with You or His willingness to give it up to save us. Not only did He come to preach the gospel but to give up His own life for us. We have been given so much through our faith in the Son of God. I pray that we will never take our fellow man for granted or fail to remember what You did for us on the cross. As we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup, we remember Jesus. 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!
