Communion Meditation

Christ Church Downtown

Ty Knight – June 10, 2018

In many of the Ten Commandments, you are told not to do things––you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. We react, “Why all the negativity?” The negative command should be heard the same way a recently freed Israelite hears the command, “Do not return to Egypt.” Don’t go back there because God is leading you to the Promise Land. You have been set free to live free.

And so, in the Sixth Commandment, God says, “You shall not murder.” Short and simple––you shall not murder. Even if we’ve failed at the first five commandments, we feel good that we haven’t broken this one––“I’m pretty sure I haven’t murdered anyone.” But Jesus does not limit this command to the bloody corpse on the ground. He inquires, “Have you been angry? Have you screamed at your husband? Have you talon-scratched your brother in frustration? Have you cursed your roommate behind his back? Have you kicked the equipment because of your employee or boss? Have you hated your brother?” Then Jesus says you have broken the sixth commandment.

God forbids murder because his aim is the flourishing of human life. As the church, we must be the people that love and cultivate the flourishing of life. Christians ought to be on the forefront to research cures for diseases, to support those with disabilities, to encourage parents adopting or fostering kids, to visit the elderly lady next door.

Christians must support life from the cradle to the grave. But even this phrase––cradle to the grave, is no longer enough. Millions of humans do not even survive long enough to make it to a cradle. Their first and final resting place in the world is a dumpster behind Planned Parenthood. This murder is evil. And with doctor-assisted suicide, the grave is now able to be scheduled like a oil change. This self-murder is evil.

Our God is the living God who gives and celebrates life. But as a culture we have turned from God, and so we snip up and vacuum out life, we silence life with a syringe. We will continue to murder with our hands, our votes, our words, our hearts, until we repent and turn to the Author of Life, the Crucified Christ.

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Communion Meditation

Christ Church Downtown

Ty Knight

“And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments'” (Exodus 20:1-6).

The first commandment forbids you from worshipping any false gods. The second commandment forbids worshipping the true God with idols, and also any false gods with idols.

We are given a helpful story in Exodus 32 of what NOT to do with Aaron and the Golden Calf. Moses has been up on Mount Sinai from chapter 20 until chapter 31 receiving the law from the LORD God. But Israel is growing restless and starts clamoring to Aaron for gods to lead them because “who knows what happened to this Moses guy?” And so Aaron gathers all the gold earrings and castes an image of a baby cow. Aaron proclaims, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” and he declares the next day as a feast to the LORD, to Yahweh (Ex. 32:4-6). Aaron attributes the power of deliverance to this freshly minted calf made from the gold which, until recently, had been nestled among ears and noses of the worshippers.

You got to ask, “How much stupider can you get, people of Israel? You’ve just witnessed the Lord lay the smack-down on all the gods of Egypt. Yahweh has delivered millions of people all at once from 400 years of slavery. You are daily provided with miracle water, miracle bread, miracle meat. And you want gods to deliver you and to go before you?” In the presence of all that God is and all that God has done, what kind of people would give their worship to a golden calf? The answer is…us kind of people.

It’s easy to see this Old Testament stupidity of God’s people and scoff at their dumb calf. But we are often just like them with our own golden calves. Some of you drove here in your golden calf, or slept last night inside your golden calf. Some of you work 40, 50, 60 hours on your golden calf. Some of you ate your non-GMO, organic golden calf. Some of you are sitting next to your golden calf, or wishing you were. Some of you are raising golden calves. We are extraordinary craftsmen of our golden calves.

But have you not heard? The LORD your God is a jealous God.

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Communion Meditation

Christ Church Downtown

Ty Knight – June 3, 2018

Our God is the God of surprises. Peter, James, and John expected an afternoon hike and prayer retreat with Jesus on the mountain. This turned into being blinded by Christ’s radiance, observing two dead heroes of the faith, and beholding the Trinity’s glory. Surprising, to say the least. But God often transforms the ordinary, everyday, even mundane to reveal his great power and glory. This was true on the Mount of Transfiguration and also true on the Mount of Crucifixion.

Jesus’ death appeared as the awful and yet not uncommon execution of another criminal. But God is the God of surprises. On the cross, Jesus seemed to dash the hope of the Christ for his disciples, but really he was fulfilling the work of their Christ. He submitted to the torture of the Romans, and so became the Lord of the Romans and of every other government. He truly died, and by his death he ensured the future resurrection for all his people. All glorious surprises.

There will be the day when we will see fully revealed the promises of Christ, his Lordship over all creation, and the final resurrection of the dead. But that which comes at the end, God gives us a glimpse of now. As Peter glimpsed the coming power and glory of Jesus, so we experience Christ’s promises now, spiritual resurrection from the death of sin now, and even a taste of the heavenly feast now.

We have set before us ordinary bread and everyday wine. We come in obedience to Jesus. We pray, we sing, we eat and drink, we proclaim the Lord’s death, just like he told us to. We do all of this in faith knowing that God has the power to transform death into resurrection, weakness into power, a few loaves into a feast. We come knowing he is the God of surprises. So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.

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