[Passage]

[John 6:53-55]
"So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. [54] "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink."

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

When those who are believers in Jesus Christ die on this earth, we don't say they are "dead", but "asleep".
It's because they will resurrect as if they woke up from a sleep when the Lord comes back in the air.
Even though their bodies decay and return to dust, they will have the imperishable, spiritual body at the resurrection.
Those who receive the Lord while still living will also put on a spiritual body in an instant and be caught up into the air.
The reason why we can have this hope of resurrection is because Jesus broke the authority of death and resurrected about 2,000 years ago.
Those who are united with the Lord by faith will be set free from the authority of death and can enjoy the glory of resurrection.
I hope you will enjoy in the depth of your heart the joy of this day commemorating the Lord's resurrection.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be united with the Lord by true faith and participate in the resurrection.

[Main]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the title of this message is 'The Reason Why We have Holy Communion".
Holy Communion was established by Jesus Himself, and He told us to keep it until He comes back again.
While breaking the bread and giving the wine, Jesus said that it was the flesh and blood of the Son of Man.
Today's reading passage John 6:54 says, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
In other words, if we do not eat the flesh and if we do not drink the blood of the Son of Man, we do not have life in us nor the hope of resurrection.
Now, why is Holy Communion so important and what is the reason why we have it?
The first reason is for the believers to lead a life in faith well until they reach the kingdom of Heaven.
The meaning of the Holy Communion is not just to eat the bread and drink the wine.
We have to understand the spiritual meanings contained in the bread and wine so that we can eat and drink the flesh and blood of the Son of Man spiritually.
To eat the flesh of the Son of Man in spiritual sense is to learn and understand the word of God.
John 1:1 says, 'the Word was God.'
John 1:14 says that God, the Word came down to this earth in flesh, and that Word was Jesus.
Therefore, to eat the flesh of the Son of Man means we eat the word of God.
To eat the word of God does not mean we just know the Bible as knowledge.
We have to change our hearts with that word.
We have to cast away evil from our heart and instead fill it with goodness and love.
In order for us to eat the flesh of the Son of Man like this, we have to drink the blood of the Son of Man together with it.
This means, as well as learning the Word of God, we have to have the obedience to the Word of God to put the Word into action.
It's like, when people eat food, they have to consume liquid as well.
Without liquid, if they just keep on eating dry food, they won't be able to digest the food very well.
Our body also can absorb the nutrients and eliminate the body waste only when liquid is supplied.
In the same way, once we learn the word of God as the truth, we have to try to practice what we learned.
We have to obey the commands that tell us to do, not do, keep, or cast away certain things.
Only then the word of God we learned will really become our life and strength in us.
The untruths that were in our heart will go away and the truth will replace them.
Hatred will go out and it will be filled with love.
Arrogance will go away and it will be filled with humbleness, and the anger goes away, and meekness replaces it.
In 1 John 1:7, we can understand we have life in us not just when we eat the flesh but when we also drink the blood of the Son of Man.
The scripture says, "...but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Here, to walk in the Light means to obey and practice the word of God.
Jesus forgave us of our sins by shedding His precious blood. But in order for us to be forgiven through His blood, we have to walk in the light.
Jesus took the cross for sinners and gave all His flesh and blood for us.
But after receiving this grace, people easily forget such grace.
That is why we have this Holy Communion to remember the cross of Jesus once again.
We remember the sufferings and love of Jesus and engrave in our heart again the grace we received.
Then, God gives us new power and strength.
He gives us grace so that we can stay away from sins of the world and live in the truth.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the second reason why we have Holy Communion is for us to live a life that is set apart.

Holy Communion is a holy ritual to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man.
If we truly confess that the bread and wine are flesh and blood of the Son of Man, how do you think we have to prepare ourselves to participate in taking it?
1 Corinthians 11:27-29 says, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. [28] But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly."
As written, when we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, we must first repent of our sins.
If we just participate in the Holy Communion without repenting of our sins, it means we are not really thinking about the sufferings of Jesus.
So, I believe you have prepared for this Holy Communion trying to have a pure heart, repenting of the things you needed to repent during the last week.
But we shouldn't repent and be on alert only around the time when we have the Holy Communion!
As the faith of the believers increase, they always remember the love of the cross and depart from sins.
You have been forgiven of your sins and saved, and now you are part of a royal priesthood.
You are citizens of the heavenly kingdom who can participate in the Holy Communion on this earth and will go into holy banquet in Heaven.
I hope you will remember this fact and live a life that is set apart from the world.
I urge you in the name of the Lord that you will live a holy and pure life having the pride as a citizen of heavenly kingdom.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there is one more thing I want to mention about Holy Communion. It is about our respect for God.
1 Samuel 2:30 says, '... for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.'
God is our Father who gives us limitless love.
But we cannot lightly esteem Him or act rudely before Him.
In the Old Testament, we see that when the sons of Aaron, the high priest, were giving another fire which was not the fire commanded by God, the fire consumed them.
A person called Uzza touched the Ark of Covenant and died because it was in violation of the Law of God.
The Law also talks about the method to make the incense given to God.
And God warned the people that if anybody made the same kind of incense for himself, he would be cut off from the people.
Just in physical world, too, in the families that have traditions and manners, family members would not use their father's belongings as they want.
They have utensils and silverware set apart for the father, and they serve him with separate dishes for meals.
Now, how much more respect should we have when we stand before God?
Therefore, we have to have holy and pure heart when we participate in the Holy Communion. We must not have any inappropriateness of mind.
Also, we should be careful when we handle the bread and wine used for Holy Communion.
All those holy things including the cups must not be used for any personal reason. Even when we dispose of it, we should still handle it with care.
Just because they are worn out and not usable, we cannot take them home and use them. We must not dispose of them just anywhere.
If anything like that is allowed, people's hearts will become insensitive, and they will not regard God's things holy any more.
And because of that, they may show even greater rudeness and acts that are evil.
It was the case with two sons of the priest Eli.
The priests can eat a part of the offering given to God by the people.
But these evil sons took the offerings from the people even before they were given to God.
They didn't want to eat meat boiled in water. So, they took the meat the night before it was given so that they could roast it.
They were supposed to eat the offering meat with thanks and in holiness, but they just thought of it as their food. It means they despised the sacrifice made to God.
It was to despise God Himself, and they died by the curse of God.
When the workers make the bread and wine for the Holy Communion, they have to watch their words and actions.
They have to prepare them with holy hearts for they are making food that will be used for a holy ritual.
The bread and wine that was on the altar and prayed over is set apart, and thus we cannot eat or drink the left over personally.
We have to dig the ground in the east of the sanctuary and bury them there.
If the wine is not prayed on yet, we can use it for the next Holy Communion.
In case of the bread that is not prayed on and left over, it is OK for those who have faith to eat it.
Likewise, not just in the Holy Communion itself, but I urge you to consider all things that belong to God holy.

[Conclusion]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, I talked about the reason why we have the Holy Communion.
The first reason is for us to understand the spiritual meaning of the Holy Communion so that we can lead a life in faith better.
Second is for the believers to live a holy life that is set apart from the world.
Along with that, we should love God and have reverent fear of Him.
I hope you will keep this meaning of the Holy Communion deep inside your heart when we share the bread and wine soon.
I urge you to live a holy life by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of Man until the Lord comes back again.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be able to participate in the table of the Lord and eat and drink with Him in the kingdom of Heaven.

[Amen]