Pastor
1 Corinthians 11:23-33
23 For I received from the
Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was
betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
"This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the
same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new
covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of
me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim
the Lord's death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the
body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of
the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without
recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak
and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep 31 But if we judged
ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord,
we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. 33 So
then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. (NIV)
Isaiah
53:1-7 Page 523
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the
arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and
like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to
him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised
and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one
from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows, yet we
considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and
afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his
mouth. 8 By
oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his
descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the
transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was
any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD's
will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a
guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of
the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will
see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant
will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give
him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors. (NIV)
The
story of blood runs all through the Bible beginning in Genesis with the first
human sins. In that first instance in
the Garden of Eden, the emphasis is not upon shedding of blood for sin but the
results of the shed blood which was clothing for Adam and Even. Innocence was lost. God’s remedy was expressed in Gen 3:21 “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam
and his wife and clothed them.”
At
the time of the Exodus there were two dimensions. The first was the institution of blood
sacrifices for sin. The whole animal
sacrifice system was a teaching system to show us the significance of what
Jesus did on the cross. The second was
the Passover event. In preparation for
the Passover, a lamb was to be killed.
The blood went on the outside doorposts.
The meat was to be roasted and eaten. Every home that had the blood of
the lamb upon the doorposts of the house was passed over by the death
angel. Otherwise, the firstborn of the
human and animal family died in one night.
The food they ate strengthened them for their journey out of
When
we come to Isaiah, we have a forecast of a change in how things will work. Isaiah’s prophesied change is summarized in
verses 4-6. “Surely he took
up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken
by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought
us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like
sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity
of us all.” The one who will come will be
a lamb for the entire world. All our
iniquity (another name for sin) will be laid on him as well as all our
infirmities, sorrows, transgressions.
The
rest of the Bible (the New Testament) is the story of the crucifixion of Jesus
and its application to people like us.
In
the Corinthian passage, Paul is looking back on the crucifixion and applying it
to the Corinthian Christians. Communion
remembers what Jesus did. It notes there
are two dimensions. There is his body
and his blood. Just as the Passover lamb
had two functions, so the death of Jesus has two functions. Our sins are covered and we are healed and
strengthened for the journey.
Paul
is critical of the Corinthians because of their bad behavior at the Lord’s
Supper. Some overeat while others have
nothing to eat. Others drink of the cup
until they are drunk. This is the way
they are remembering what Jesus did on the cross. Paul says they are not understanding what
Jesus did for them. As a result, because
they don’t show any understanding of Jesus they do not receive healing. So, some are weak, sick, and some have even
died. “But if we judged ourselves, we
would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being
disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. 33 So then, my
brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other”
No person at
Could
it be that some of you are not forgiven today because you do not truly
understand what Jesus’ blood means?
Could it be that some of you are sick in body today because you don’t
understand what the wounds of Jesus mean to you?
Last
night at the prayer meeting I shared the theme for today. After the prayer time a man came up and told
me of his recent experience. He had hurt
his back. In prayer, he felt he should
receive the Holy Communion every day and claim the Lord’s provision of
healing. After 38 days, he was
healed. He continues to receive daily
communion as a symbol of his trust in Christ for divine health. The daily communion is a good thing but not
the main thing. The main thing is that
he trusted in Christ and laid hold of the body of Christ. He understood what was provided for in the
death of Jesus and continually asked for it for himself.
In
ancient times Jesus was a healer. He is
still a healer today. Tertullian noted that, as a healer, Jesus fulfilled the
prophesies of Isaiah. “In short, He did
himself touch others, upon whom He laid His hands… and conferred the blessings
of healing…. He was therefore the very Christ of Isaiah, the healer of our
sicknesses.”[1]
In the Bible, sin and sickness are linked, but not
necessarily in the way some might suspect.
What
we read in Isaiah certainly connects the two.
So does James 5:14-16. “Is any one of you sick? He should call the
elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of
the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in
faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has
sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and
pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is
powerful and effective.”
Here are the key things you
need to know about sickness and sin:
·
Since the world fell into sin, there has been sickness and disorder.
·
But this is not necessarily the result of personal sin. John 9:2-3
“His disciples asked him,
“Rabbi”, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said
Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his
life.”
·
God heals sickness by the wounds on the body of Jesus.
·
Medicine in one way that God heals as it was in the case of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah
prayed for and received a healing from the Lord, yet he called for a fig
poultice as part of the healing. (2 Kings 20:5-7) "Go
back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the
God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your
tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the
temple of the LORD. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver
you and this city from the hand of the king of
Ecclesiasticus 38:1-15, NAB
“Hold the physician in honor,
for he is essential to you, and God it was who established his profession. God makes the earth yield healing herbs which
the prudent man should not neglect...(God) endows men with the knowledge to
glory in his mighty works, through which the doctor eases pain and the druggist
prepares his medicines... Then give the doctor his place lest he leave; for you
need him too. There are times that give
him an advantage, and he too beseeches God that his diagnosis may be correct
and his treatment bring about a cure. He
who is a sinner toward his Maker will be defiant toward the doctor.”[2]
·
Yet, King Asa was criticized for seeking only medical help instead of
the Lord.
In the thirty-ninth year of
his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his
feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help
from the LORD, but only from the physicians. 2 Chr. 16:12
[1]Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., “Tertullian Against Marcion,” Ante-Nicene Fathers; Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian; vol 3 (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994) 354 & 407.
[2]Cited from Quenching the Spirit, p 108. In the New English Bible it reads: “Honor the doctor for his services, for the Lord created him. His skill comes from the Most High, and he is rewarded by kings. The doctor’s knowledge gives him high standing and wins him the admiration of the great. The Lord has created medicines from the earth, and a sensible man will not disparage them. Was it not a tree that sweetened water and so disclosed its properties? The Lord has imparted knowledge to men, that by their use of his marvels he may win praise; by using them the doctor relieves pain and from them the pharmacist makes up his mixture. There is no end to the works of the Lord, who spreads health over the whole world. My son, if you have an illness, do not neglect it, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. Renounce your faults, amend your ways, and cleanse your heart from all sin. Bring a savory offering and bring flour for a token and pour oil on the sacrifice; be as generous as you can. Then call in the doctor, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him. There may come a time when your recovery is in their hands; then they too will pray to the Lord to give them success in relieving pain and finding a cure to save their patient’s life. When a man has sinned against his maker, let him put himself in the doctor’s hands.”