This Do….

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

I Corinthians 11:24

Can a Christian forget Christ? Our first inclination is to say, ‘Of course not.’ Yet, if we consider it carefully, we have to frankly admit that it is a real possibility; otherwise, Christ would not have instituted the Communion Feast by repeating the phrase, ‘This do in remembrance of Me.’ The world, our flesh, and the Devil all conspire to cause us to forget Christ. The first two words of our text set forth the loving and gentle command of Christ to us His Dearly Beloved, to remember Him, in His Own Divinely Appointed Way. Think, please, of a man who, of necessity, must bid farewell for a time, to the great love of his life. He fastens about her neck a delicate necklace with a diamond pendant, that rests at the base of her throat. Just before they part, he raises her hand to the diamond, wraps her fingers around it, looks deeply into her eyes and says, ‘I want you, please, to do something for me, as long as we are apart. Every time Your hand touches this diamond, I want you to remember me.’ This is a loving, and gentle command. Would she find it difficult to obey this command? As she went about her daily activities, her hand would stray upwards to her throat, time after time. As she sat at leisure, reading a book, she would find herself fondling the diamond, and upon each occasion her thought would be, ‘Ah, My Love, I remember you.’  So Christ would have us to respond to this loving and gentle command of, ‘this do, in remembrance of me.’ Let us hasten to the place of communion. Let us eat the bread and drink the cup. Let us obey this loving and gentle command, and thereby remember Christ.

Our most Gracious Savior and our Loving Lord,
We praise You for Your powerful and loving Sacrifice.
We stand in awe, are humbled and adoring
at the sight of Your broken Body, and Your shed Blood. 
Forever, until we see You in Your Glory, we will remember You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

 

So, What If I Fail?

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

I Corinthians 10:13

As we have considered this verse for the past several days we have concluded that; we have common temptations; that Christ is faithful; and that He provides for us ways to escape sin. It is easy, therefore, to say, ‘Well then, if the escape is there, and you do not use it, then you are just a weak person.’ The answer to that is, ‘yes, I am.’ There are times when we will succeed in rising above the failure of falling to temptation. We will make use of the escape which Christ provides and we will by the grace of God, succeed admirably. Sometimes, we will not. We will fail, and succumb to temptation, and feel miserable. What then? For such occasions, and they will occur, there is the cleansing blood of Christ. ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ The way of escape is there. Christ is faithful to provide it. When we fail to use it, He is still faithful. Perhaps you have been reading this little work over the last few days. You are in the midst of what seems to be temptation after temptation. Sometimes you are taking the way of escape Christ provides. Sometimes you are failing, and sit apart in shame. The same Blood which saved You, is the same Blood which will cleanse you. Confess your sins and failures to Christ. He is Faithful and Just. He will cleanse you of all your sin. He loves you, and is ever ready to forgive.

Our Merciful and Gracious Savior,
we sin against you daily in thought, word and deed.
We need a fresh cleansing of the Blood of Christ,
hear our confession:

‘Wash us O, Lamb of God.
Wash us from sin, by Your Atoning Blood, 
O, make us clean.’

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

A Way of Escape

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

I Corinthians 10:13

As we have considered this verse for the past two days, we have come to some conclusions regarding temptation and God’s faithfulness. We face common temptations. Christ has faced the same temptations. Christ is faithful. The portion of the text we will consider today takes us a step farther, ‘God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape.’ There are several points here that are worthy of our consideration. The first is that God does not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability. Christ is in absolute control of the length and strength of our temptations. Moreover, He goes beyond to provide for us, ‘a way of escape.’ Could He remove the temptation? Yes…yes, He could; and sometimes He does. If He does not, however, He provides this ‘way of escape’ to the purpose that, ‘ we may be able to bear it.’ The way of escape is rarely the easy way out of the situation. It was not easy for the four Hebrew children to refuse the king’s defiling meat. It was not easy for the three of them to refuse to bow to the golden idol. It was not easy for Daniel to continue to pray often, for the king had forbidden it. In each case, however, the escape from the temptation was there; it just was not the easy way out. In each case, God did miraculous things to rectify their situation. Is their Christ, our Christ? Yes…yes, He is. Will He be as faithful to us as He was to them? Yes, He will. Can I see the end from the beginning? No, I cannot. I can only take the Word of God by faith, and look forward, when I am tempted, to see how He will show Himself faithful.

Our Gracious, Delivering God,
We praise Your Holy Name, and thank You continually,
that You provide for us the ways of escape,
and enable us to bear our many temptations.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice