Communion Meditation No. 8_sacrifice, Not Self-Preservation (John 12:23-28) Series

Compiled by: Herman Abrahams (Pastor), Cornerstone Faith Ministries, P.O. Box 740, Westridge 7802, Rep. of South Africa.

E-Mail: Mentorship2003@yahoo.co.uk

Note to the reader:

If you have been blessed with this sermon compilation, I would be honoured to receive an e-mail from you simply stating where in the world you are based; I do not need any other information. This is merely so that I can have the pleasure of giving thanks to Almighty God that all over the globe, the ministry which he has entrusted to me, is blessing the body of Christ and helping to extend the Kingdom of God.

Thank you.

Herman Abrahams,

Cape Town, South Africa.

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COMMUNION MEDITATION 8_Sacrifice, Not Self-Preservation

(1 Cor. 11:26; John 12:23-28)

1Co 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Read John 12:23-28

Jn 12:27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Jn 12:28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

‘Every year at Christmas, James Baxter watches people rip apart his company’s product and throw it away. All the hours of creative design and careful manufacturing are gone in a flash. And he has no regrets. As president of the nation’s largest maker of Christmas gift-wrap, Mr Baxter says, “What we don’t want is our product sitting in somebody’s closet.”’ (OUR DAILY BREAD December 27, 1999).

When we consider gift-wrap, it gives us an interesting perspective on the real meaning of Christmas. When God gave us the gift of His son, He gave Him to be put to death and to be sacrificed for the sins of mankind. God did not intend to give us a pretty package to gaze upon.

1. Jesus willingly left his glory in heaven and came to earth as a man, with the full knowledge that His

purpose was to die for our sins.

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When thinking about His death on the cross, Jesus said, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (John 12:27).

2. The Saviour knew that he had to die and why he had

to die.

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1 John 3:8 tells us that “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work”, and

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

3. Jesus understood that his mission involved

SACRIFICE and not SELF-PRESERVATION.

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This he accomplished to the glory of God the Father (John 12:28).

Ponder the lesson of the wrapping paper. Consider how it is torn to reveal a gift, let it remind you of how the Saviour’s Body was torn for you and I so that we could receive the priceless gift of God – eternal life in Jesus Christ Our Lord.

JESUS WAS BORN

THAT WE MIGHT BE BORN AGAIN

(Adapted from Our Daily Bread, December 27, 1999)