The Believer’s Cause for Celebration

Good afternoon church family -

As I’m sitting here thinking of our gathering tomorrow, it got me thinking about something I wrote in Jacksonville a couple years ago. You see, I used to have a picture on my desk of Kari and me that was taken at a restaurant there. The server gave it to us as a sort of “souvenir” of our dinner with them (ask me tomorrow about the details of the dinner…it’s actually a pretty funny story). One morning though, when reading through Isaiah 53, I remember looking up and noticing the message at the top of this picture’s frame: “Live well, and always find cause for celebration.”

Isaiah 53 

When I read this quote, I couldn’t help but think about what I was reading in Isaiah 53, 

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;

           yet we esteemed him stricken,

                       smitten by God, and afflicted.

           But he was pierced for our transgressions;

                       he was crushed for our iniquities;

            upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

                       and with his wounds we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV)

I was reminded at that moment of yet another difference between how the world thinks and how we as believers are to think. While the world is out there looking for reasons to celebrate, as believers, we need not look any further than the cross of Jesus Christ. No further than the sobering yet unbelievable reality that our sins have been forgiven. That, because of His sacrifice, the guilt of our sin has been removed from us. That we are healed of the fatal disease of sin.

Tomorrow, we will partake in the Lord’s Supper. With it being the first Sunday of the month, we take this opportunity to focus a little more intently on the crucifixion of Christ, the very fulfillment of Isaiah 53. In obedience to the the ordinance instituted by Jesus with the disciples, and followed in the church since then, we will come together and remember the Lord’s death on our behalf. This is always a sobering yet joyful time.

Celebrating as His Gathered People

The Lord’s Supper has always been intended to be enjoyed when God’s people come together (see what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34) and should be a celebration. We do not remember His death as those who are grieving, but as those who are resting in the grace of the Lord and the hope we have in His return. As a part of this, that hope should also bring us to a place of introspection, confessing sin with a heart of repentance before the Lord. With this posture before the Lord, we are able to all the more enjoy the Lord’s grace.

So, tomorrow, we will celebrate the kindness of our God, displayed in the sacrifice of His perfect Son, remembering one of the most profound truths this world has ever known:

“And the Lord laid on Him

           The iniquity of us all.” - Isaiah 53:6 (ESV)

In Christ,

Joey.