THE OBLATION
COMMUNION SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
FEBRUARY 27, 2005
1 JOHN 1:7-2:2
In many parts of the Christian world, communion is called the oblation. The word oblation means offering for sin or sacrifice for sin. This morning, on this communion Sunday, we focus on the subject of sin and on the sacrifice of Christ.
I have two teachings this morning, and the first is this: God takes sin seriously. God takes your sin seriously. God takes my sin seriously. Now, in the Greek world, there was a Greek word that was very important, and that word was “cheirographos.” This word was a compound Greek word from “cheir,” which means hand, and “graphos,” which means to write. The word graphos means handwriting. But the word graphos was used by the Greek world in a very special way. It was used to describe a certificate of debt or a list of grievances in the financial world. It was used to describe a list of debts in the criminal world.
It was used to describe a list of crimes in the moral or ecclesiastical world. It was used to describe a list of sins. We find this word graphos in the New Testament in the book of Colossians in the second chapter. it’s very clear there that God has a list of your sins. He has that list in heaven. He has a list of my sins in heaven. That list is very important to God. It includes sins of omission—the good things I should have done that I did not do—and sins of commission—the bad things I should not have done that I did do. It’s a list of all of my sins and all of your sins. God takes that list seriously, so seriously that God instituted what is oftentimes called the sacrificial system. To many people today, the sacrificial system seems kind of strange.
I mean, if PETA were around in biblical times, they would’ve been very upset. But of course, they were not there. You can look in the book of Exodus, the 29th chapter, and you can read verses 38 through 42. You can see how God instituted the Temple lamb offering in the morning and in the evening of every day. Every morning and every evening in the Jerusalem temple, a lamb was brought and sacrificed for the sin of the people. Every morning and every evening, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, unabated. The sacrifice for sin, the temple lambs. Of course, you can read in Leviticus chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7, and you can look at all those chapters and you can see the varying offerings that people could bring in accordance with whatever sin they had committed—sin offerings, guilt offerings. It was the sacrificial system. God instituted the sacrificial system because He wanted people to know He takes sin seriously. He wanted people to know that the penalty for sin is death, and sin requires blood atonement.
But of course, the blood of animals could not atone for the sin of mankind. The sacrificial system simply was pointing to the lamb of God, the real sacrifice that would come, The son of God who would give His life in substitutionary atonement. The whole sacrificial system pointed to Jesus Christ, who would one day come and fulfill that sacrificial system by His own blood, bringing to an end once and for all all sacrifices to God. of course, Jesus came into the world that He might die for our sin and that He might be the oblation and He might be the sacrifice for sin for this. He was born for this. “You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” When you look at the cross, you see that God takes sin very seriously. I want you to take a glimpse of the cross.
“Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” The cross of Jesus Christ is not about Roman persecution. It is not about Jewish unbelief. It’s about sin. It’s about your sin. It’s about my sin. For this Christ was born, for this He came into the world: that He might die for our sin. No one had power to take His life from Him, He laid it down. And He did it as an Oblation. It’s the beauty of the gospel that we take to the world. The truth and the beauty of the gospel is this: when you come to Christ and you embrace His atoning sacrifice and you accept His sacrifice for your sin, and then you embrace Him as your Lord and you commit to follow Him and to live for Him, in the moment you do that, your sins are forgiven you.
The slate is canceled; the certificate of debt is canceled. Of course, in the Greek world, when a certificate of debt, cheirographos, was canceled, they’d put a big “X” over it. The word canceled was the word “charisamenos.” Of course, charisamenos begins with a Greek letter Chi, which looked like an X. Charisamenos meant “to X out or to cross out,” so when a certificate of debt or when a list of sins or a list of crimes had been satisfied, it was X’ed out.
Chi, however, is not the word that is used in Colossians chapter two in conjunction with this word, graphos. There’s a more beautiful word, a more beautiful word that the Bible uses. We see it in Acts chapter three. We see it in Colossians two.
And it’s the word “exaleipsas.” Exaleipsas is more beautiful than charisamenos because exaleipsas means, “to wipe clean, to eradicate, to wipe the slate completely clean.” That’s what Christ has done for His people. He’s taken that key cheirographos, He’s taken that list of grievances against you, and He’s wiped it clean. The moment you embraced Him as Lord and Savior, He’s wiped the slate clean. Incredible. Every sin you’ve ever committed or ever will—omission or commission—if you belong to Christ, the slate’s been wiped clean.
But there’s a second teaching this morning, and it is this: we still must take sin seriously. God wants us to know that we still must take sin seriously even though the slate has been wiped clean. If you’re a follower of Christ, you’ve got to take sin seriously. There’s a scary passage in Ezekiel chapter nine. We’re told how God gathered certain angels in heaven, and His judgment was about to fall on the city of Jerusalem and on the people for their unbelief. God instructed one angel to go down to earth to the city of Jerusalem and put a spiritual mark on the forehead of every person that was weeping because of the sin of society and the sin that surrounded. Then He said to the rest of the angels to follow that angel and execute everyone in Jerusalem who had not the mark. He said, “Begin with My sanctuary. Begin with My house.”
We better take sin seriously. Some of you came from California. Perhaps you once lived there. Maybe you lived in the Bay Area. You might remember November 27th, 1978. That’s when a man named Dan White murdered the mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone. He murdered the superintendent of the city of San Francisco, a man named Harvey Milk. Dan White had once been the superintendent of San Francisco, which was an elected position, but he resigned. After he resigned, he changed his mind and he went and told the mayor. Moscone said, “Hey, it’s too late. I’ve already appointed somebody to take your place.” Dan White went ballistic. It was that day, November 27th, 1978, he murdered the mayor and the superintendent. It was a dark day in the history of the city of San Francisco.
Of course, the trial was covered in newspapers all over the nation, and people were amazed because the defense team, the attorneys for Dan White, used an unusual defense strategy. They claimed that Dan White was actually innocent. He was innocent because he was a victim. He was a victim of his own biochemistry, a biochemistry that was off because of the consumption of junk food. That was his defense. He was not responsible. He was a victim of his biochemical imbalances brought on by an excessive consumption of junk food, particularly Hostess Twinkies. of course, the nation laughed. The nation laughed, and Dan White was convicted. But it’s really not a laughing matter, because we live in a culture and a nation that doesn’t take sin very seriously anymore.
Victimization is everywhere. I mean, the Bible says that we are to avoid the sin of drunkenness, but there is no sin of drunkenness in our society. Despite the tragic events on local college campuses, there is no sin of drunkenness. I mean, we have alcoholism, but alcoholism is really caused by chemical imbalances, genetic predispositions, poor upbringings, or by alcohol itself. We’re victims.
Of course, even sexual promiscuity is excused. We’re victims. We’re victims of our upbringing. Maybe we didn’t get enough love at home; we weren’t loved by our parents enough. We’re victims of our own biochemistry. Maybe we’re kind of on warp drive. We’re victims of society and its enticements. We’re victims.
Even criminal activity involves victimization. You look in the urban corridor and amongst minority communities, and we say that kids join violent gangs because they come from broken homes and they’re trying to find a substitute for the family. They’re victims. They’re victims of their upbringing and of their broken homes and they’re victims of affluent suburban oppression.
They’re victims. We live in a society of victimization. Of course, the problem is there’s truth to a philosophy of victimization. There’s truth there. We are influenced by biochemistry. We are influenced by our upbringing and home life. We are at times influenced by oppression. I mean, there’s tragic truth in victimization. We need to be a culture and a society where there is compassion, surely. But ultimately, a philosophy of victimization destroys a society. Because there is no culpability anymore. There’s no responsibility. Therefore, there’s no repentance and there’s no transformation. Individuals do not change. We simply seek to change social structures when we as individuals need to change. If you’re a Christian, if you belong to Jesus Christ, then you let go of that philosophy of victimization and you acknowledged you were a sinner, culpable and responsible. You came to the foot of the cross and you said, “Lord, I’m sorry.” You came to the foot of the cross. You had a moment where you did that. You said, “Lord, forgive me, for I’m a sinner. Forgive me.” You found His oblation, His atoning sacrifice. In that moment, the slate was wiped clean and you were washed whiter than snow. But the problem is you still sin. The problem is I still sin. Does sin break your heart?
Sin broke David’s heart. Listen to Psalm 51: “Have mercy in me, God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out all of my transgressions; wash me thoroughly from my iniquities and blot out all of my sin. For I know my transgression is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight so that You are justified in Your decisions and blameless in Your judgments. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward being. Therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I’ll be clean; wash me, and I’ll be whiter than snow. Fill me with joy and gladness. Let these bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Created me a clean heart, oh God. Put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence. Take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners will return to You. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, oh God of my salvation. Then my tongue will sing aloud of Your deliverance. Open, on Lord, these lips and my mouth will show forth Your praise. For You take no delight in sacrifice; were I to make a burn offering You would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken heart. A broken and contrite spirit, oh God, You will not despise.”
Do you have a broken heart? Do you have a broken and contrite spirit? And if you don’t, would you ask God for that today? When you come to the table and you take the bread and the cup, will you ask God to break your heart because of sin?
As we come to the table and as we conclude this little talk, I want to mention two Roman Catholic doctrines. I know some of you by background are Catholic. Some of you still attend Catholic mass. Perhaps you go on Saturday night. Some of you by background are Protestant. It really doesn’t matter to me. I mean, it doesn’t matter whether you’re Protestant or Catholic. We just want you to love Christ and follow Christ and serve Christ. Now there is a Catholic doctrine called penance. It’s really a sacrament in the Catholic tradition. In Protestantism, generally there are only two sacraments, communion and baptism. But in orthodoxy and in Catholicism, there are seven sacraments. One of those sacraments is penance. the word penance means penalty. Penance begins with repentance. It begins with repentance for sin and confession of sin.
Depending on the sin, the sin must be confessed to the whole congregation. That’s unusual. Most sins are confessed in the confessional to a priest, and when the sin is confessed, the priest administers penance. The penalty may involve prayer or it may involve fasting. But understand, it’s not meant to atone. It’s not meant to atone because only Christ can atone. He is the oblation. You cannot be your own oblation. You cannot atone for your own sins. So Catholic theologians acknowledge this, and they point out that penance is really about breaking our hearts. I mean, the whole purpose of penance, the whole reason that people are instructed to pray or fast or do whatever, is about breaking your heart.
That’s what it’s about. It doesn’t always work though, does it? It doesn’t always break a person’s heart, even when they do penance. There’s another Catholic doctrine called purgatory. It’s very controversial. The word purgatory comes from the Latin word which means to purge. Purgatory has to do with being purged of your sin. Theologians acknowledge purgatory, again, has nothing to do with atonement. In purgatory, if there is a purgatory, people will not be atoning for their sins. All atonement was made on the cross. Jesus is the oblation. We cannot atone for our sins. But Catholic theologians acknowledge that it is necessary for sanctification. It’s not about punishment. It’s meant to be remedial. It’s meant to sanctify us, because you can’t get into heaven and live life properly in heaven if you still have a sin nature.
And so you have the doctrine of purgatory based loosely on Luke chapter 12, which is the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants. It’s based loosely on 1 Corinthians chapter three, where the Bible tells us that many will be saved, but only as through fire. Then it’s based more soundly (I mean, not more soundly, but more squarely) on 2 Maccabees, the 12th chapter, in the apocrypha. But this concept of purgatory is that as a Christian you die and you go immediately to heaven, but heaven begins with a purging. Heaven begins with a purging, and that purging has to do with the removal of your sin nature so you can live properly in heaven. The good thing about the doctrine of purgatory is at least it takes sin seriously.
It’s oftentimes said, well, Protestants don’t believe in purgatory. That’s not really true. Protestants believe in purgatory. They believe in purging. It’s just that in Protestant theology, generally the purging is done instantaneously in a moment in time. The moment you die, you set aside that old body with its sin nature and your new nature is lifted up. But you have to be purged. You have to take sin seriously. God wants us to understand that there’s a sense in which this life, when we follow Christ, is meant to be a purging experience. There’s a proper kind of purgatory in the Christian life. I mean, we’re seeking sanctification. We’re seeking holiness. We’re seeking to become like Jesus. Is that true of you? I mean, do you wake up every day and long to be like Christ? Do you wake up every day and long to be holy? Do you want to overcome sin? Do you want to have victory over sin? Are you seeking sanctification? I mean, life is meant to have that kind of purging effect on the Christian life as we follow Jesus. So remember as you come to the table today that sin breaks the heart of God and it needs to break our hearts. If it doesn’t break your heart, would you ask for that as you come to the table? Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.