Those who have believed
the gospel and been baptized into Christ are God’s "workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them"--Eph.
Some in
Having come to a knowledge of the true gospel, and become part of the body
of Christ, the duty of all such is concisely stated by the Apostle Peter. He
says: "And besides all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance
patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and
to brotherly kindness love"--II. Peter 1: 5-7. This will produce wise,
virtuous, temperate, patient, godly, brotherly, kind, loving people; and of
such the apostle says, "An entrance shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ."
Now for God’s people
there is one special duty, or rather privilege, laid down, and that is to
remember their Lord’s death till he come; and for this purpose Jesus gave a
most impressive institution to be observed, one that would "stir up pure
minds by way of remembrance" of the cross as the means by which God’s
blessing of salvation has come to the fallen race; and to carry the mind
forward to the return of their departed Lord to bestow upon his faithful people
the actual blessings of salvation. What could be more beautiful than an institution
of this sort? This institution is that of breaking bread and drinking wine upon
every first day of the week.
This was instituted on
the night of our Lord’s betrayal. "And as they were eating, Jesus took
bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to
his disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my
blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine,
until that day when I drink it new in my Father’s kingdom"--Matt. 26:
26-29. Who would not heartily do this in remembrance of him who suffered so
much and died for us? How ungrateful would such an one
be! Christ is as a bridegroom gone away for a time, and he has left his
espoused a keepsake, as it were, which represents the
fact that he has died for her. In view of this pathetic fact can she neglect
this keepsake? Can she forget what he has done for her, and that he will return
to her again to take her to himself as his own? Now the espoused of Christ is a
company of people, and each one has a part to perform in order that the church
or ecclesia might be as a faithful spouse. Hence the plain duty of every child
of God is to remember the Lord’s death and look forward to his coming by means
of the institution of the breaking of bread upon every first day of the week.
It would seem that
Jesus was careful to have this institution delivered to his people who would be
taken out from among the Gentiles as well as to those from the Jews, lest,
perhaps, some may say that it was a Jewish matter only. So Paul, the apostle of
the Gentiles, says, "For I have received of the Lord that which also I
delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed
took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat;
this is my body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. For as
often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death
till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this
bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself; and so let him eat of
that bread, and drink of that cup"--
This institution
bridges over the time from the resurrection of Christ till he shall come again;
and not only is the observance of it a duty and privilege to be observed by the
household of God; but it shows that the salvation to be obtained through the
death and resurrection of Christ depends upon his return for its realization.
How fitting it is, therefore, as a means to help in a weekly special
remembrance of the past and the future in respect to the two most important
events which concern the salvation of men. It is therefore recorded that,
"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day
there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued
stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers"--Acts
When one is baptized
into Christ, he is "free from sin," in the sense that he is no longer
a servant of sin; and since all his sins are "washed away," he is
"clean through the word." But only the Lord Jesus was able to live a
life of absolute holiness. It is by virtue of his having become the
"Captain of our salvation" by a life of absolute holiness that he
becomes to us, as it were, a garment of righteousness which fits us for reconciliation
and communion with God. So that he gives us a clean start on our probation in
him. Hence the Apostle Paul says, "There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus; for the law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death"--Rom. 8: 1, 2. If
ever those who have been freed from condemnation, come
under another condemnation, they will have no one to blame but themselves. But
the question arises, how can weak mortals escape condemnation? Answer, by not
becoming sinful. There is a difference between one who is sinful and one in
whose life sin is the exception. Those who are "born of God" do not
"walk in sin;" but if they say they have no sin they deceive
themselves.
On the other hand,
those who fall away and never repent and recover themselves, "there
remaineth no more sacrifice for them;" their end is destruction at the
final judgment. Those of God’s people who will do their best and look to God
through Christ for mercy to be extended towards their weaknesses, can cherish
the sweet thought that God "will never leave them nor forsake them."
Through His Apostle John, therefore, He affectionately appeals to us, "My
little children, these things write I unto you, that
ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous"--
And now, in conclusion,
dear reader, my prayer is that the humble effort put forth in this book may be
helpful in bringing many into the path of life whom we may meet in the presence
of our Lord, returned to earth again, to receive his smiles and approbation,
which shall fill our hearts with eternal joy and thrill us with the ecstacies
of that life which shall know no sickness, sorrow, pain or death.