TigerGlide's Transient Thoughts

While reading Mark Chapter 2 today, I was struck by the beautiful words of Jesus:

_Mark 2:27-28_

_And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”_

Too often, Christians view worship on Sunday as something we do for our Lord not something our Lord does for us. Certainly, we give him praise in our hymns and music and we give him thanks in our prayers...but is Church an act of obedience or a means by which we receive His gifts? Well, what do the Scriptures say?

Obviously, Jesus frames the discussion with His quote in Mark 2, but what does He mean by that?

_Exodus 23:12_

_“Six days you shall do your work, *but on the seventh day you shall rest*; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, *may be refreshed*._

_Deuteronomy 5:14_

_Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant *may rest as well as you.*_

_Colossians 2:16-19_

_Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. *These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ*. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not *holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together* through its joints and ligaments, *grows with a growth that is from God.*_

Phillip Melanchthon (16th century Reformation Theologian) wrote in the Augsburg Confession (with the counsel of Martin Luther and many other Theologians) that Church is:

_...the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered._ _-Article VII; Of the Church_

So, if Jesus says the Sabbath is for Man, the Scriptures speak of resting and nourishing and the Church is defined as Preaching the Gospel and Administering of the Sacraments...what then are we to expect on Sunday morning? I think it can be defined in one word...Grace.

Paul says "...faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). With the assaults on our faith we endure from the outside world, our faith must be continually nourished through hearing the Gospel of Christ preached. This is a means of Christ's Grace.God's Word is effective...it effects our sanctification through the Holy Spirit.

_Hebrews 4:12_

_*For the word of God is living and active*, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and *discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart*._

That is basically the definition of Sanctification, a gift we receive from the Holy Spirit by Grace through our Faith. It's a means by which God nourishes our Faith.

When God's Word is attached to a substance...specifically water, bread and wine...we receive that Grace through physical means of Baptism and Holy Communion.

_Titus 3:5_

_But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, *he saved us*, not because of works done by us in righteousness, *but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit*,_

So, when a Baptism occurs in Church it is the gift of the Holy Spirit descending on that person and granting them all of the promises of Christ's Salvation. It is God's work...we are simply the recipients of that awesome gift.

Likewise, Holy Communion is a gift of Grace effected by God's Word.

_1 Corinthians 10:6_

_The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?_

_Matthew 26:26-28_

_Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, *“Take, eat; this is my body.*” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, *“Drink of it, all of you, for  this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.*_

_1 Corinthians 11:23-26_

_*For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you*, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,  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 also he took the cup, after supper, saying, *“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.* Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes._

This is a "new covenant" a new promise from God delivered through Christ in the Sacrament. It's truly wonderful and tangible gift in which we receive "often".

So in prayerful preparation for Church on Sunday, do not overlook the wonderful gifts God delivers to us in Worship by Word and Sacrament...then let our voices shout out thanks and praise for His unending and definitely undeserved love that he continually pours out to us in his gifts.