Good morning, brothers and sisters, may the grace and peace of our Lord be with you!<\/p>\n
It is only by the grace of Jesus Christ that we can become brothers and sisters.\u00a0 We were originally \u201cseparate from Christ,\u00a0excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to\u00a0the covenants of promise, having\u00a0no hope and\u00a0without God in the world.\u201d (Eph 2:12)\u00a0 We were \u201cdead\u00a0in our trespasses and sins\u201d, \u201cwalked according to the\u00a0course of\u00a0this world, according to\u00a0the prince of the power of the air\u201d, \u201cindulging the desires of the flesh and of the\u00a0mind\u201d (Eph 2:1-3).\u00a0 By God\u2019s grace, we have become new creations through the mercy of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We are saved by grace, through faith (Eph 2:8), not based on our own merits but by the grace of God.\u00a0 Jesus Christ gave up his life for us on the cross to pay the price for our redemption, in order that we may draw near to God by His blood (Eph 2:13). Moreover, He has brought us peace with each other (for He Himself is our peace), so that we can be brothers and sisters in the family of God.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For He Himself is\u00a0our peace,\u00a0who made both\u00a0groups into\u00a0one and broke down the\u00a0barrier of the dividing wall, so then you are no longer\u00a0strangers and aliens, but you are\u00a0fellow citizens with the\u00a0saints, and are of\u00a0God\u2019s household. (Eph 2:14, 19)<\/em><\/p>\n It is completely by the grace of God that we, who have no blood relations with each other, can become brothers and sisters.\u00a0 What a blessing it is to be able to walk this journey of life with family and loved ones in Christ.\u00a0 This blessing is found in Christ, and only in Christ can we become brothers and sisters.\u00a0 Without Christ, we cannot become brothers and sisters.\u00a0 Through God\u2019s family, God gives us all kinds of blessings.\u00a0 We are no longer alone, we often receive encouragement and comfort from each other, and we also help one another to better hear and understand God\u2019s word.\u00a0 The Lord Jesus established two ordinances for those who belong to God\u2019s family, so that we may be marked as disciples of Jesus and continuously receive His grace.\u00a0 These two ordinances are baptism and the Lord\u2019s supper.<\/p>\n Baptism is a sign of belonging to the Lord, a symbol of grace, and rich in spiritual meaning.\u00a0 It was ordained by the Lord himself.\u00a0 After Jesus rose from the dead, he said to his disciples:<\/p>\n Go therefore and\u00a0make disciples of\u00a0all the nations,\u00a0baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit<\/u>,\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo,\u00a0I am with you\u00a0always, even to\u00a0the end of the age. \u00a0(Mt 28:19-20)<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus gave his disciples authority to baptize in the name of the Triune God.\u00a0 What marvelous grace given to man, that God allows man to use His name in baptism, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, a declaration that the baptized has been accepted by the Triune God.\u00a0 Baptism is only a beginning.\u00a0 From that day on, the baptized believer is marked as a follower of Jesus, becomes brothers and sisters with other baptized believers, and receives God\u2019s grace in this lifelong journey.\u00a0 When one is baptized, it is a baptism \u201cinto\u201d Christ Jesus, as well as a baptism \u201cinto\u201d the body of Christ.<\/p>\n Or do you not know that all of us who have been\u00a0baptized into\u00a0Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?\u00a0Therefore we have been\u00a0buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was\u00a0raised from the dead through the\u00a0glory of the Father, so we too might walk in\u00a0newness of life. (Rom 6:3-4) Baptism has significance in both our vertical relationship with Christ and our horizontal relationships with one another.\u00a0 It is a union with Christ, and a union with the body of Christ.\u00a0 By the grace of our Lord Jesus, we are able through baptism to participate in shared\u00a0koinonia<\/em>\u00a0with Him:\u00a0 to die with Him, to be buried with Him, and to be resurrected with Him.\u00a0 Through baptism, we are also joined into the body of Christ and become brothers and sisters with those who have also died with Christ, been buried with Him, and rose together with Him.\u00a0 Being joined with Christ and with each other illustrates an important truth:\u00a0 God\u2019s desire is for us to be united in Christ and become one body.\u00a0 God\u2019s blessings are in the body of Christ, not for us to receive individually, but to receive together.\u00a0 A baptized believer is not a separate individual, but a member of the body.\u00a0 There does not exist a baptized believer who can function alone apart from the body, just as there does not exist a hand that can function alone apart from the body.<\/p>\n In baptism, there is a belonging and there is a joining together (koinonia<\/em>).\u00a0 The baptized belong to Christ, and to the body of Christ.\u00a0 The baptized are joined together with Christ, and with the body of Christ. To belong and to be joined together is a tremendous act of grace.\u00a0 Those who \u201cdo not belong\u201d and \u201care not joined with others\u201d are the most pitiful people in this world.\u00a0 Thank God for His merciful loving kindness, that by believing in Him and through baptism, we may journey through life together living in His grace.<\/p>\n On the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed, at the table of the last supper, Jesus personally established the Lord\u2019s supper:<\/p>\n For\u00a0I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that\u00a0the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;\u00a0and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,\u00a0\u201cThis is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.\u201d\u00a0In the same way\u00a0He took the cup also after supper, saying,\u00a0\u201cThis cup is the\u00a0new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink\u00a0it, in remembrance of Me.\u201d\u00a0For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord\u2019s death\u00a0until He comes. (1 Cor 11:23-26)<\/em><\/p>\n The purpose of the Lord\u2019s supper is to remember the Lord and to proclaim the Lord\u2019s death.\u00a0 Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we are displaying the Lord\u2019s death so that others may see Him.\u00a0 The Lord said the broken bread is \u201cMy body, which is for you\u201d, and the crimson cup is \u201cthe new covenant in My blood\u201d.\u00a0 The Lord Jesus loved us so much that He gave Himself on the cross, pouring out His blood for sinners, and in doing so, accomplished the work of eternal salvation.\u00a0 Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, it is as though we are once again receiving the grace of our Lord.\u00a0 Just like baptism, the Lord\u2019s supper has significance in our vertical relationship with the Lord and our horizontal relationships with each other.<\/p>\n Is not the\u00a0cup of blessing which we bless a sharing (koinonia) in the blood of Christ? Is not the\u00a0bread which we break a sharing (koinonia) in the body of Christ?\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Since there is one\u00a0bread, we\u00a0who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one\u00a0bread. (1 Cor\u00a010:16-17)<\/em><\/p>\n The sharing of the bread and cup, which represents His body and His blood, is our\u00a0koinonia<\/em>.\u00a0 You are partaking of the bread and cup not as an individual, but you are sharing in the bread and cup together with your brothers and sisters.\u00a0 There are not many breads, but only one bread; there are not many bodies, but only one body.\u00a0 We gather together at the table of the Lord and share together in the bread and the cup with thankful hearts.\u00a0 How good and how beautiful it is to be joined together with Christ and with the members of Christ\u2019s body!<\/p>\n Brothers and sisters, we see the riches of God\u2019s grace in baptism and the Lord\u2019s supper.\u00a0 It is such grace that has broken down the barrier of the dividing wall, so that \u201cwhether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free\u201d, we have been joined into one body, and each member belongs to all the others.\u00a0 The Lord wants us to observe these shared ordinances, because we have shared participation (koinonia<\/em>) with Christ.\u00a0 The Lord desires to use these outward ceremonies as expressions of the fact that we are one in Christ.\u00a0 Hallelujah, praise and thanks be to God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning, brothers and sisters, may the grace and peace of our Lord be with you! The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ It is only by the grace of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,57,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotionals","category-koinonia","category-pastor-warren-wang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1962,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions\/1962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Baptism<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n<\/em>For\u00a0by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether\u00a0Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to\u00a0drink of one Spirit. (1 Cor 12:13)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Lord\u2019s Supper<\/strong><\/h3>\n