City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

6 ^1-3 So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!

^3-5 That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.

Romans 6:1-5 MSG

²³ For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread ²⁴ and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” ²⁶ For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. ²⁷ So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.

1 Corinthians 11:23-28

Reflection

To quote the fine folks at the Bible Project: “the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus.” Every instruction of communal worship revealed by God in Scripture before Jesus pointed forward to and found its ultimate meaning in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Likewise, post-resurrection the two sacraments (from Latin sacramentum, “solemn oath”) instituted by Jesus for the Church — Baptism (Matthew 28:19) and Communion (Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20) — point back and find their meaning in His life, death, and resurrection.

But why have sacraments at all?

Because we are prone to forget and prone to become too familiar. They are public confessions, reminders, and celebrations by the Church, and mark the reality of what it cost Jesus to make us children of God (John 1:12-13; John 3:16).

“Buried with Christ; Risen with Christ.”

“Do this in remembrance of me.”

These sacraments are weighty and should be given our reverence not just while we observe them, but also in the way we live (Romans 6:1-3; 1 Corinthians 11:27-29). We show reverence not because the sacraments save us, but because we are saved and get to participate in them.

Application

If we have trusted and are trusting Jesus to save us, the truth about our salvation and our new life is a cause for humble and reverent celebration. We get to celebrate the reality of our new lives in Jesus here and now with God’s family in Baptism and Communion, publicly acknowledging that God’s promise to redeem humanity (Genesis 3:14-15) has been fulfilled for us in Jesus.

If you haven’t yet trusted Jesus, would you consider this an opportunity to do so? He is God’s only Son who sacrificially died for us all, taking on God’s just judgment for our sin and was raised to life again for us so we can live His resurrected life right now.

If you just chose to trust Jesus, welcome to the family. Please reach out, we’d love to celebrate with you.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times that I have forgotten and not shown reverence for Your sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus. Please, help me to repent and please give me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit in me and restore to me the joy of Your salvation, in Jesus’ name, amen.