Ij

Instructed Eucharist Part C: Confession and Holy Communion

by The Rev. Clancy Nixon

May 21, 2006

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritanglican.org

CONFESSION Christianity is a religion of forgiveness, and the Eucharist

celebrates our forgiveness. Forgiveness is a great human need. The John Templeton

Foundation recently gave $3 million for scientific research into the health benefits of

forgiveness. They found that chronic unforgiveness causes the body to produce high

levels of the stress hormone cortisol. That damages the cardiovascular and immune

systems and can lead to a variety of problems, such as confused thinking and depression.

Science is confirming what Jesus taught 2,000 years ago: forgiveness is healing. In Luke

5:24, when the friends of a paralyzed man lowered him through the hole in the ceiling

because the crowds were so thick, Jesus proclaimed not healing, but forgiveness for the

sins of the paralyzed man, the man walked home physically healed, and praising God.

Forgiveness often brings physical as well as spiritual healing. Jesus told us in the Lord's

Prayer to forgive others as you have been forgiven. It is because of God's great mercy to

us that we can pass that same mercy along to others. When we forgive, we are released

from bitterness, and the one who sinned against us is also released to come into his

healing.

At the Men's Retreat this weekend, our speaker Clay McLean told us that he held

his alcoholic and abusive father in bondage for fifteen years through his own hardness of

heart. Even though Clay prayed daily for his father's deliverance, Clay prayed with such

a judgmental spirit towards his father that that evil spirit would not leave. He prayed mad,

he prayed with a condescending spirit, not a loving spirit. One day while driving for a

meeting with his father, Clay remembered something he had long forgotten, that fifteen

years earlier, he had spoken a vow over his dad, saying, "I swear to God that I'll never

forgive you for that!" Clay pulled over, and by the side of the road and alone, God gave

him grace to repent of his hateful and spiteful attitude towards his dad, and Clay finally

forgave his father. His father who was across town, later that day reported that at the

very same moment Clay prayed, he felt something very dark leave him, and a great fog

lifted. That day, Clay was finally able to laugh with his father for the first time, since you

can't laugh with someone you hate. Later that same month, Clay's mother finally stopped

nagging his dad about his drinking, and soon after she stopped nagging, he stopped

drinking. Forgiveness is healing, both for the forgiver and for the forgiven.

The good news is that we are forgiven our sins through the death and resurrection

of Jesus Christ. When you visit a church that lacks a sense of the weightiness, the gravity

of sin, your inner smoke detector should go off. Some churches preach a truncated

gospel, a gospel that may well love, but cannot save. If sin is never preached, then the

good news cannot reach our need for forgiveness. If sin is not man's main spiritual

problem, then Jesus need not have died on the cross. The Holy Scriptures tell us that it is

the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin. That is His job. So where there is a low view of

sin, it indicates that the Holy Spirit is being resisted, or quenched, or grieved. Where sin

is not taken seriously, neither is forgiveness taken seriously. Here at CHS, we regularly

confess our sin, as Paul said, keeping short accounts with God. We do that not because

we want to dwell on the negative, on things we do wrong, but because we want to be

fully forgiven! The Bible says, in Jeremiah 44:4, that sin is "...that abominable thing that

God hates." John Stott said, "So much of the suffering and sorrows of this life result

from sin, as do the irretrievable ruin of souls in the next life." Clay McLean also told us

that he was molested as a boy, and that trauma resulted in a path of perversion and pain

that lasted for many years, and left many others wounded and bleeding in its wake. Sin is

a big deal because sin deforms human life. Forgiveness is a big deal because forgiveness

covers sin; forgiveness cancels sin; it does away with it! The Biblical way of receiving

forgiveness is through confessing our sin. So it is a regular feature of our worship.

Anglicans pray a general confession, rather than requiring auricular confession

alone with a priest as the Romans do, for several reasons. The Roman church teaches that

a priest is given the power to forgive sins, but must hear the specific sin and examine the

conscience of the penitent first before granting it. Anglicans follow Luther on this matter

of private confession of sins to a priest: "All can; some should; none must." In other

words, private confession is available to all; for some, it really is advisable for them to

tell anther human being so they can experience release; but no one should be made to feel

that they do not have direct access to the Father. The twelve step movement has taught us

that many people have a hard time receiving forgiveness in their heart if they do not

confess their sins to another human being. You can confess your sins to a prayer partner,

a friend, a prayer minister, as well as me. The confessor does not need to be ordained.

The Reformed understanding of the priesthood of all believers is that you do not need me

or any other person as a mediator between you and God; you have direct access to the

throne of grace. Jesus is our only mediator. God absolves you of sins; the priest merely

proclaims what God has done.

HOLY COMMUNION Some people ask me, "Why do you have the Lord's

Supper every week?" Good question. Many churches don't. We do, for a few reasons.

The first reason is that the Bible models it. We are an "Acts 2 Church." In Acts 2:42,

scholars agree that the reference to devoting themselves to the breaking of bread refers to

the Lord's Supper. The believers in the first church at Jerusalem ate the Lord's Supper

together every day. In First Corinthians 11:25, Paul quotes Jesus as having said, "Do

this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread,

and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again." Proclaiming

Christ's sacrificial death on the cross for our salvation is central to the mission of the

Church, so weekly observance does not seem too much. The earliest records we have of

the primitive church indicate that the earliest worship pattern was every Sunday

Eucharist.

Another reason we do it weekly is because the Lord's Supper feeds our spirits.

Jesus promised to be with his followers. The Lord's Supper is a great opportunity for us

to be united with Christ, for communion with the Holy One, for Holy Communion.

Jesus said, "This is my body," and "This is my blood." Christ meets you as you partake

of his body and blood. I'd like to take a little poll. If you believe in the real presence of

Christ in the Eucharist, and believe that what we do here is more than a mere memorial,

please raise your hand. The Roman Church teaches the doctrine of transubstantiation,

which uses Aristotelian philosophical categories of substance and accidents to say that

the substance of the bread and wine are ontologically changed into the body and blood of

Christ, but that the accident of perception is that it still looks like bread and wine. Martin

Luther taught the Real Presence of Christ in the sacrament, but said that if you want to

believe in transubstantiation, fine, just don't make me believe it, because that doctrine

uses the philosophy of Aristotle, which the Bible does not require or even mention.

Aristotle is not the only philosophy that Christians can use and remain faithful Christians.

Some holy mysteries are better left mysteries, because we can't explain them. Lutherans

and Anglicans do not prescribe how you must think about Holy Communion, so it is o.k.

to believe that it is a mere memorial. I think that the Real Presence is the better view. For

the classic Anglican view, read the 39 Articles of Religion, which are thoroughly

Reformed. The 39 Articles say that transubstantiation cannot be proved from scripture.

If an unbeliever should partake of the wine, he does not partake of Christ; it becomes the

Real Presence for him only if he partakes in faith. If you believe, then you truly

commune with Christ's body and blood.

Is the presence of Christ in the sacrament real or symbolic? Robert Webber

teaches theology at Wheaton College, and invited his class to observe a Satanic Mass as a

learning experience. A warlock prayed that Satan would enter into the chicken that he

slaughtered in front of them. During that ceremony, Webber asked his students if any of

them would like to partake of that chicken. None did. Back in the classroom, Webber

asked them if they believed that the real presence of Satan was in that chicken. They had

no difficulty believing that. Webber asked them, "O.K., why then do so many of you

have such a hard time believing that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist?" Jesus is far

more powerful than Satan, and Jesus, being God, can be anywhere he wants to be at any

time! Jesus promised that this would be His body and His blood.

When you meet with God in Holy Communion, you should come prepared. This

means a few things. First, coming prepared for communion means that you believe in

Christ. That doesn't mean that you are certain of what you believe on every point of

doctrine, or that your faith must be sophisticated. There are many ways of knowing God.

You can know Christ in a touch of love, in a gesture of mercy, in simple faith. Little

children can believe and receive communion even though they cannot cognitively grasp

all that it means. That's okay, on many levels, Holy Communion is a mystery to me as

well. Christ told the little ones to come to him. For older ones, believing in Christ means

that you know that Christ is your Savior and your Lord. He is your Lord if you recognize

Him as the boss, the CEO, of your life.

You don't have to get rid of all the sin in your life before you can receive

communion. You are supposed to be reconciled to anyone who has anything against you,

or if you have anything against anyone, before you partake. Jesus said that if you have

something against a brother, then before you worship, you are to leave your gift at the

altar, and go to be reconciled to him. The same is true if your brother has something

against you. That is what the Passing of the Peace is for to give you time to be

reconciled to others in the congregation. You may need to make a phone call before you

receive. You may need to get in your car and go be reconciled and miss communion this

week. That's how important reconciliation is. Unforgiveness interferes with our

relationship with God. True union with God is not possible when you have not done all

you can do to be reconciled to others.

Even so, the Lord's Table is for sinners, not just for "super saints" or for "spiritual

athletes." Here is another caveat: believe before you receive. If you are a seeker, and

have not yet committed your life to Christ as the Lord of your life - then I recommend

that you not receive today. The only one who partakes in an unworthy manner is the

unregenerate one who does not believe he is still under the law of sin and death. Here at

CHS, I will not judge your faith; only the Lord can do that. If you come forward and put

out your hands, you can receive here. Believe before you receive.

Many in the Roman Church believe that Christians are obligated to go to Mass, to

have a priest repeat what they call "the sacrifice of the Mass" over and over again for the

salvation of their souls. Reformed Christians believe that it is the grace of God through

faith in the finished work of Christ, once offered on the cross that saves, not your works

in attending Masses, or auricular confession, or any other work. Paul said, at Ephesians

2:9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the

gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Thomas Cramner, in writing the

first Book of Common Prayer, put this in the consecration prayer: "Christ made there on

the cross by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient

sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world." Jesus died for all

our sins, past, present, and future. No further sacrifice could ever be necessary. God

makes us right with him through what Christ has done, not through what we do. Thanks

be to God! We don't receive Holy Communion in order that we might be justified; we

receive Communion in order that we might be sanctified. Communion does not save us;

communion feeds us, helps us to become holy.

Some of you need forgiveness today you need to confess your sins to another

human being. Others of you need to grant forgiveness to another person, but you think

you can't, because that person is now dead. You can release that person in prayer. You

can pray with one of our prayer ministers. Some of you need to be reconciled to someone

not here this morning. I implore you, go to that person. Get in your car if you have to and

drive.

If you have been taking communion and you haven't yet made Jesus Christ the

Lord of your life, you confess your sin and make him your Lord today. Let's all bow our

heads, and if this is for you, just say this prayer silently to God: Lord Jesus, I admit that I

am a sinner. Please forgive me for I ask you to save me from what separates me from

God. I believe that you died for me, rose from the dead, and still live today. Come live

inside me by your spirit, and take control of my life. Amen!