Easter Sunday—A New and Living Way
A New and Living Way
Hebrews 10:19-22: Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 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.
· This is the incredibly good news of the resurrection of our Lord. We can now come before Him in a “new and living way.”
· The veil has been torn; we can draw near in total reconciliation.
· You don’t have to let your “conscience” keep you away. The blood has cleansed you, baptism has washed you. You can now come!
Ø It’s a new way, it’s a living way. It’s not the Old way with the blood of bulls and goats and priests. It’s a new way because we have a new High Priest, Jesus! And the more we come to Him in this new and living way, the more abundant life we share with Him!
· We are new creations and we can tell others, “Our God wants to have ‘fellowship’ with us.” We are to be His ambassadors telling others to come and enjoy His Presence. The way is open, the work is finished, the price has been paid! We can point the way!
Revelation 3:19-21: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
· Jesus wants to join us in communion or fellowship. It’s the new living way!
· We don’t have to come in some special way; He wants us to come just as we are.
· We don’t have to come to Him at a special time; we can come to Him anytime.
· We can dine with Him on the mountain tops or in the valleys.
Ø We are His children and He wants us to know Him in the same way that He knows us. When we come in fellowship we are not bothering Him, He delights for us to know Him even as we are known by Him.
· He has broken down every wall that separates us so that daily or even hourly…communion with Him could not be easier.
· Deep spiritual connection isn’t for some spiritual elite; He calls us to be His friends… day in and day out.
· In the days of Jesus, it was an honor to have a meal with someone. It was a way of enjoying one of the most intimate ways of fellowship.
· Opening your home to someone and sitting at the same table and eating the same meal and conversation was a demonstration of trust and unity. The meal wasn’t shared with just anyone. It created bonds of friendship.
· Therefore when Jesus invites you and me to open the door of our heart to Him he is asking for us to have deep fellowship with Him…as good friends.
· He wants to enter in as more than just an honored guest.
· He wants to be our Lord, our Brother and friend. He wants oneness with us, where we begin to “abide” together. We abide with Him… and He with us. We make our home together.
The Practice of the Presence of God by Nicolas Herman of Lorraine, France aka Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
· Nicolas Herman had been a soldier in the Thirty Years War in Europe in the 1600’s and had his conversion on the battlefield at 16 years old by looking at a tree in mid-winter thinking about the change that would happen to the tree when spring came. He was wounded in the war and was lame for the rest of his life.
· From that time on, he vowed to walk, “in His Presence.”
· At the age of 26, Nicolas consecrated his life and joined a monastery as a Carmelite Monk in Paris and lived until the age of eighty. He changed his name to Lawrence of the Resurrection.
· Brother Lawrence was to have said, “There is no greater experience in the world than living in the continuous Presence of God.”
· His primary job as a lay person in the monastery was to peel potatoes, and wash dishes. He embraced his lowly position and humbled himself before his God.
· His humble nature attracted many others to seek him for his spiritual guidance and his profound peace.
· The wisdom he passed on to them in his conversations and letters became the basis for his book, “The Practice of the Presence of God.”
· He was an ordinary man with an extraordinary God. The fruit in his life was evident from the time he spent in the presence of God.
· He had soaked in the love of God through the Holy Spirit… and it flowed from him. It was more than Bible knowledge, it was the experience of the ongoing friendship with the Lord.
· We are all ordinary humans with an extraordinary God. And we can also experience the level of intimacy with our God just as brother Lawrence did.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
· Brother Lawrence did not just spend his time doing nothing but seeking God, in fact he was a busy man with many chores and duties. He had learned to experience the Presence of the Lord while peeling potatoes or cleaning in the kitchen.
· He said, “The noise of busyness and others’ voices is not different from the time of prayer. It’s as if I am still on my knees in prayer.”
Ø Brother Lawrence when asked about how to experience the Lord’s Presence simply said, “I just ask Him for His Presence to be with me all day when I begin my day. I keep my attitude of rejoicing and thankfulness as I speak with Him throughout the day.”
John 4:21-24: Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
· This Samaritan woman thought there were rules and regulations, and rituals were required to worship the Lord.
· But Jesus was telling her that a new time was coming, a new day that is already here where we can come to the Lord anywhere, at any time, in anyway. The walls have been broken down.
· There was a time when religion dictated worship and praise, but Jesus says those days are over, now we can come to Him with our hearts open in the new living way.
· There’s a seeking that is required.
· Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened to you! Just come!
· We can worship Him and have communion with Him at any time and any place! What grace he has given us!
Ø Everything Brother Lawrence did he did it in a manner as though he was doing it FOR God. It was an offering to God.
Ø He will receive everything we do as an offering if we will do it with a sincere heart.
Ø Brother Lawrence asked God to be with Him each day, and then talked to Him as though He was there. He was keeping his mind on those things that were above. And then he did everything as a though unto God.
· This honors Him and glorifies Him by our lives. We can be completely open and transparent with Him, and open our hearts to Him… in constant and open communion and conversation.
· We will have this in eternity, but He wants to have this with us now in this life.
John 6:48-51: I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
· There was manna that the Jews ate in the wilderness, but they died. Jesus says there is “another bread” that we may eat and we will not die. Jesus says, “I am this Bread.” If anyone eats this Bread, he will live forever.
· This Bread is my flesh he said. The bread in the temple was called “showbread” or the Bread of the Presence! We abide with Him in His Presence. As we eat the Bread of Life as we experience His Presence in a transforming way.
John 6:53-56: Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
· Jesus says that if we will, eat His flesh and drink His blood, we will abide with Him! The Father has given life to Him, and as we partake of His flesh and blood He gives life to us.
· This was very mysterious to the listeners then, and it takes the Holy Spirit to illuminate this truth for us today. He desires for us to eat and drink from His life and love. That means we may receive His nourishment continually.
Ø Notice he didn’t say that He was steak and lobster, or cake and caviar. His flesh wasn’t for just special occasions, no He wants to be our daily bread. Bread is an ordinary food, common to every culture. He wants us to commune with him and fellowship with Him many times each day.
· If we eat three meals each day with many snacks in between, shouldn’t we eat the Bread of Life as much or more?
· Just as we cannot go without food, so we should partake of the life and love of Jesus regularly.
· We shouldn’t spend our lives chasing food or other things that spoil and rot. We must seek the “bread of the Presence.” He will give us true nourishment, we just need to open the door when we hear Him knock and he will commune and dine with us as many times in the day as we remember or desire.
· Our ears must become more attentive to his voice and His knock.
Matthew 4:2-4: 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
· Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, but Jesus tells the Tempter that we don’t live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
· We can open God’s word and feast on our daily bread, we can experience Him in the volume of the book!
· Jesus is so accessible to us, we can open up our hearts to Him every hour of the day wherever we are and commune with Him.
· Whether we are sweeping the floors or doing the dishes we can commune with him.
· It will take a little discipline to put away some of the distractions, but it is not impossible! Nothing is impossible with God, and you will have His very present help.
· He longs for this sweet communion with you even more than you do, far more! And the experiences of Brother Lawrence show us that this communion with Jesus is for the common man, the ordinary man. If Brother Lawrence did it so can we.
· The Spirit of God dwells within us and we are One with Him.
· He will make His Presence tangible to us and will remind us that he is waiting for us, standing at the door, waiting for communion.
1 John 1:1-3: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
· The way is open, He is waiting for you with arms open wide. You can have fellowship with him so that your joy may be made full. Come with rejoicing, and thankfulness, and expectation!
· Come to Him in this new and living way, anytime you want! The more you come to Him, the easier it becomes. He’s knocking at your door.
· Let Him in.