HER FAITHFUL EXAMPLE

           Its Mother's Day, 2016.  As Mother’s Day approached I thought of my mother.  Partly because it was Mother’s Day but also because it was just two years ago this Tuesday she died after almost reaching 105 years of age.  When I learned that I would do communion on this Mother’s day I thought of her example.  She taught Sunday School, played the piano, cooked, cleaned and more throughout a life of faithful service.  Dad was an elder and I have memories of seeing him at the Lord’s Table and her at the piano at the same time

             We lived in Milwaukie, just south of Portland, long before it all became one big city.  My grandparents, her parents, lived in Forest Grove and we would visit them occasionally on a Sunday.  There were no freeways.  We had to go through Sellwood, Tigard, Beaverton, and Hillsboro and it took a while so we needed to get away as early as possible.  Mom and Dad had responsibilities during Sunday School so we had to wait until church time to leave.  But we never left before communion.  We had an outstanding preacher and they hated to miss his sermons, but they did.  However, they would not leave before taking communion.

             They never explained to us kids why they did this.  It was years later as I studied the significance of the Lord’s Supper that this memory surfaced and I began to understand their action.  As a child I did not understand a lot of it but their actions impressed upon me the idea that there was something very important about the Lord’s Supper.  They could miss a good sermon, but they would not miss taking communion.

             My mother and father’s action demonstrated a faith in keeping with those of the earliest disciples that we read about in Acts 2:42, “they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers.”  And also the words of Heb 10: “Having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh, … let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering … And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

             I am thankful for her, and my father’s, faithful example.

REMEMBER THE BENEFITS

             It can be self-serving but in most cases it is quite natural to ask “What’s in it for me?” when someone asks us to do something.  Why should I?  How will it benefit me?  Or, if we look for a new job, we want one that not only pays a decent wage but also has benefits.  More than ever before in this economy, benefits are important to us.

             In a similar way it is natural for us to ask why should I be a follower of Christ?  Why should I believe in God?  How does it benefit me?  The Psalmist has an answer for us in Psalm 103.  In the first five verses he lists five specific benefits.  He lived long before Jesus died on the cross on our behalf but what he says is a great summary of the benefits that we have in Christ.  Here is what he says:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

             and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

             And do not forget all his benefits—

Who forgives all your iniquity,

Who heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from the Pit,

Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

Who satisfies you with good as long as you live,

             So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

             Can you think of any greater benefits than those? 

·         ** Forgiveness for all sin.

·      ** Healing.

·      **Redemption from the pit of destruction.

·      **Being crowned, or as one version puts it, being surrounded by steadfast love and mercy.

·       **And being satisfied with good all of our lives, or as another version puts it, “who satisfies your years with good things.”

             Sounds like a good deal to me.  I like those benefits, and all of them are available by faith in Jesus Christ who loved us and gave his life for us.  Let us think of his great benefits as we remember him who said, “this bread is my body, given for you; this cup is the blood of the new covenant shed for the remission of sins.  Do this in remembrance of me.”