Remembering Jesus Christ

Pairing for the Lord’s table.
I want to warn you in a sense. But as you come to the Lord’s
table. Well, it may seem solemn and
peaceful little celebration so common to the church. I might
apprise you, I might let you know that when you come to the
Lord’s table, you come to a right controversial little subject.
You come to a subject that has split churches. You come to a
subject that the church has wrangled about and over for nearly the
2000 year history of the church. When you come to the Lord’s table,
you come to a table where people will bicker over the most mundane
little detail. And all the while, We missed
the main point of communion. That of remembering Jesus Christ,
that is the point of the Lord’s table. And yet controversies
have surrounded this table, as I said, almost from its inception. There has been the controversy
of the frequency. In fact, even our own church has discussed
this quite passionately at times. How often should the Lord’s table
be celebrated? Should it be weekly, bimonthly,
monthly, quarterly? Every other month. The nature
of the elements also has produced controversy in the church. Are
the elements spiritual in nature? Do they literally become the
body and blood of the Lord Jesus? And what about the physical nature
of the elements? Should we use only unleavened
bread? Or is a loaf permissible? Should we, by all means, use
real wine for the element of the cup Or is grape juice permissible? Should there be a common cup,
one that is shared throughout the congregation or individual
cups? These things, all of them. Have been areas of great controversy
and difficulty in the church. What about even the sequence
of the elements? In what order should the elements
be consumed? Should it be the bread and then
the cup or the cup and then the bread should both elements be
offered to the church body or the bread only. And what about
the significance? Of the Lord’s table, is it a
sacrifice? Do we, whenever we celebrate
the Lord’s table, re-sacrifice Christ, or is it a memorial,
a mere memorial? Is there the impartation of grace
for those that partake of the Lord’s table? And. One of the
greatest controversies in the church is what about the participants
who should participate in the Lord’s table? Should it be all
interested parties, including children and the unlearned, even
the merely curious about Christ? There is a controversy that rages
in these last 15 to 20 years, particularly in reformed and
covenantal circles that says it’s all about pato communion,
that children who aren’t denied the waters of baptism should
neither be denied the elements of communion. And so as soon
as they are able to swallow. Children are encouraged and parents
are encouraged rather to imbibe their children in the elements
of communion. Should it be the members of the church only? Or
should it be all of the believers in the midst of the Lord’s table
when it is issued forth? What about? What about those
who administrate the Lord’s table? Who should celebrate, as it were,
the Lord’s table? Should it be the church only?
Is this a function of the New Testament church? Or should it
be permissible that portions of the New Testament church,
the young people, as they go away on a retreat, should they
be permitted? To celebrate the Lord’s table.
Can Christian groups outside of the context of the local church
celebrate the Lord’s table? Can individuals celebrate? Can families on their own celebrate
the Lord’s table? And finally, who should administrate
the Lord’s Supper? Should it be only the elders
of the church or should it be anyone? After all, Peter talks
about the priesthood of all believers. Should it be respectable men
in the church or respectable people in the church if we draw
the circle that much wider? I don’t know that I will answer
any or certainly not all of those questions and controversies,
but I’ve always felt it best to go to the Scriptures. And
just by God’s design, this is exactly where we fell in the
book of Luke. It just so happened in God’s
providence that was on communion Sunday. And I think that as we
look at this passage in Luke 22, we will have. Our understanding. Benefited by the study of this
simple passage, many of these questions or so-called controversies
are answered and they’re answered very clearly. If you would, I
want to go to Luke chapter 22. And we pick up there Christ in
His final moments with His followers, the disciples in the upper room. Beginning in verse 14. Luke records that when the hour
had come He that is Jesus reclined at the table and the apostles
with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly
desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For
I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled
in the kingdom of God. And when he had taken a cup and
given thanks, He said this, take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom
of God comes. And when he had taken some bread
and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,
this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance
of me. And in the same way, He took
the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured
out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the
hand of the one betraying me is with mine on the table. For
indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined. But
woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to discuss
among themselves. which one of them it might be
who was going to do this thing. There they were. Jesus and his
twelve apostles there in the upper room, perhaps some servants
nearby. But Jesus and his apostles there
to celebrate the Passover, that was the purpose. That was what
was designed, that’s what was prepared for, as we saw last
week. That’s even what is laid out here before us. That’s what
they’re there to do is to celebrate the Passover. Let me lay out
for you just the steps in the celebration of the Passover,
because we’ll have to come back and interact with these here
momentarily. Several historians chronicled
what the rabbis had had really extracted. From Exodus chapter
12, we read Exodus chapter 12, where the Passover feast was
initiated and then where it was carried out by Moses for the
first time there in verses 21 and following. The whole purpose
of celebrating the Passover was to provoke questions, particularly
of the young, what is this about? In 26 verse 26 of Chapter 12,
it says that when your children say to you, what does this right
mean to you? You shall say it is a Passover sacrifice to the
Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt
when he smote the Egyptians that spared our homes. And as I said
last week, it was an act of worship because it says in the people
bowed low and worship. This was a solemn celebration. It was a worshipful celebration.
The first act. Was quite simple. As in most
family gatherings, certainly in most family worship celebrations
and church celebrations, a prayer of Thanksgiving was given by
the head of the home. And then they would drink out
of a common cup, wine mixed with water, a very mild mixture of
diluted wine was passed around for all to enjoy. And then a
basin of water was passed around on a towel and there was symbolic
washing, a cleansing, if you will. Then the table was brought
in or better yet, the elements for the table, those elements
that we saw in detail last week, the bitter herbs, the unleavened
bread and the lamb. Next was the eating of the bitter
herbs, which was to serve as a reminder of the bitter slavery
that Israel had suffered in Egypt. First, the head would partake
and then all at the table would partake along with him. And then
the son, or perhaps the youngest in their midst, would ask a question
symbolically and yet It gave opportunity to answer the question
year after year. The child would ask, why is this
night different from all other nights? For on all other nights
we eat leavened or unleavened bread, but on this night we eat
only unleavened. On all other nights we eat any
kind of herbs, but this night we eat only bitter herbs. On
all other nights we eat meat, whether it’s roasted or stewed
or boiled. But on this night. Roasted only
and the father would reply. And the father would reply and
he would either read a narration or from rote memory, giving the
history of the Jewish people. The national history from ultimately
concluding with their deliverance from Egypt and the giving of
the law. Then they would sing. And they would sing songs, particularly
they would sing Psalm 113 and 114. Called the Hillel, and those
were songs of praise to God for all that he had accomplished.
In the redemption of Israel that was followed by a simple little
prayer. Blessed art thou, Jehovah, our
God, king of the universe who has removed, pardon me, redeemed
us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt. It was followed again
by the washing of the hands. And the sharing of the second
cup. Of wine mixed with water. Then there was the carving and
the eating of the lamb together with the unleavened bread. As
one records, the lamb was eaten in commemoration of what the
ancestors had been commanded to do in the night when the Lord
smote all the firstborn of Egypt and delivered his people. The
unleavened bread was in commemoration of the bread of haste eaten by
the ancestors. And the continuation in the meal.
As the meal drew to a close. It would follow by a sharing
of a third cup. A third cup of wine mixed with
water. And then there closed the service
with a singing of the last part of the Hallel. Psalms 115 through
118. And the Passover was concluded
And the feast of unleavened bread would begin the next day. I don’t propose to suggest to
you that all of our questions are going to be answered about
communion, especially as you consider it in light of. The
Passover, but there is a solemnity of the Passover that really needs
to be brought forward into the Lord’s table and so often is
missed. There are a lot of these so-called
controversies that can be dismissed almost immediately. How often
should the Lord’s table be celebrated? There is no prescription in Scripture. The only thing that comes close
is when Paul says, as often as you eat it, however often that
is, do this in remembrance of me. With regard to the nature
of the elements, As a former Catholic, I can tell you out
of hand, I can dismiss it immediately that these elements, the bread
and the wine, do not literally become the body and blood of
the Lord Jesus. They don’t. They are merely representative,
they are symbols of the body and the blood of Christ, as we
will see even this morning. With regard to the sequence of
the elements, There is a pattern, but there is no clear prescription
that the bread has to be taken first. I remember celebrating
communion and I don’t even recall now 20 years ago exactly what
I did, but I know that what I did. Didn’t square with the tradition
of the church. And yet so often these little
subtle differences. Get in the way of our Real purpose
in celebrating the Lord’s Supper. It is to remember Jesus Christ. We’re not supposed to be focusing
on the nature of the bread, on whether it’s leavened or whether
it’s a loaf or how come we’re using grape juice? Or how can
we go from left to right or right to left or what have you? We’re
not supposed to be caught up in those kinds of details. It’s
Jesus Christ in him only. that is supposed to be brought
to the brought to mind. You will see, even as we celebrate
the Lord’s table this morning, that we have a position on almost
every one of these. Can’t hide it now. Should the
bread or the cup only? Should the bread only or the
cup and the bread be given to the body both? That is our position
from the start. What is the significance? It
is a memorial is grace provided not by means of the bread and
the juice as some kind of magical formula. But grace is there for
the taking, just like it is every week. There is grace offered. But it’s not by way of bread
and juice. And what about the participants?
We talk about it almost every time. We admonish the children
to wait. If they have not talked to us
about the commitment that they’ve made to Christ, if they are not
yet in Christ, then they absolutely should wait. We should absolutely,
as elders and parents, sit down together and ascertain for certain,
as far as we can determine, whether that child has truly made a profession
of faith It should not be entered into lightly or flippantly. Is
the table only for members then? No. All who profess faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ are commanded to partake. If you would, I want to see if we can’t educate
ourselves as we look. Look, first of all, at the preparation
of the Lord for the Lord’s table. In Luke 22.14, It says when the
hour had come, Jesus reclined at the table, he that is Jesus
reclined at the table and the apostles with him. Mark’s gospel
makes it clear that the institution of the Lord’s Supper takes place
during Passover. It is embedded in that celebration
and therefore contextually linked to the Passover. Jesus merely
uses and reassigns several elements of the Passover meal. Namely,
bread and wine, he didn’t bring anything new to the table. As
one said, Jesus began the Lord’s Supper in the context of a meal,
not as a separate piece of religious ceremonial, he took bread, not
any special bread, but the bread they were using for the meal.
The fact that Jesus performed this action when the meal was
well underway marked it off as an unusual and significant action. The apostles who knew by rote
all of these steps of the Passover meal had to be gripped when Jesus
suddenly broke and inserted an entirely new element. It was
the perfection of the Passover, it was the completion of it.
As he introduced himself. As the lamb who would suffer.
Look at the passion, not only the preparation of Christ, but
the passion of Christ for this supper, the Passover. Verse 15 says, and he said to
them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you
before I suffer. For I say to you, I shall never
again eat it. until it is fulfilled in the
kingdom of God.” It’s an interesting Greek phenomenon there. The same
word is used back to back for the sake of intensified emphasis. It literally says, in great desire,
I have greatly desired to eat. It was an intense desire. It
is that word epithumia that so often is translated lust in Scripture. And yet, for those that aspire
to the office of overseer, it is just speaking of an intense
desire. Here it said Jesus earnestly
desired, passionately desired. He wanted nothing more than his
last celebration to be with These 12 apostles, as they sat around
the Lord, the table of the Passover and initiated what would become
known as the Lord’s Supper. Jesus Christ. Look forward with this intense
anxiety, not only to this table. But to the moment which he knew
was the climax of his ministry. This was the moment that he had
looked forward to. This is the purpose for which
he came to Earth. This is that which he had been
working for and looking to not just 33 years, but from eternity. Jesus awareness of this intensity
that was coming by way of suffering did not outweigh His intense
desire to celebrate the Passover with them as it prefigured his
own suffering. Look also at the perspective. Not only the preparation. Not
only the passion, but look at the perspective that Christ had
for the Lord’s table. Look at verse 17. And when he
had taken a cup and given thanks. He said, take this and share
it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom
of God comes. He reiterates his point. In verse
16, he says, I shall never eat it again until it is fulfilled
in the kingdom of God. And then speaking of a cup, I
will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the
kingdom of God comes. Some people have read this statement.
And suggested that Jesus is offering the communion cup here. Instituting
the Lord’s Supper here. And if so, then the order. Of the bread and the wine. Being
partaken in that order is reversed. Is that a problem? For some it
is. But it may not be necessarily
the case. It could very well be that Jesus
takes a cup, swirls it with the water placed in it. Takes the
cup, declares his desire and sets the cup down. That’s a possibility. Only to take up the cup again
and pass it around moments later. That’s a possibility. But it’s
better if you think back, there were four cups at the table.
Remember, there were four similar cups at the Passover meal that
were distributed at different portion or at different times
throughout the meal. Most have looked at this and
said that this is one of the first two cups. This is either
the start of the meal or the cup that is introduced As the
meal is being eaten. One said, it is natural to assume
that the cup mentioned here was the very first one, the one that
followed the opening prayer, perhaps. It is usual to consider
this as the first or the second of four cups. The bottom line, this doesn’t
necessarily dispel the question of what which comes first, the
bread or the cup. But even the Apostle Paul wasn’t
slavishly bound to the idea of bread first, then the wine. In First Corinthians 10, 16,
it says, is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the
blood of Christ is not the bread which we break and he reverses
the order. Later on in that same chapter,
he says you cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of
demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the
table of demons reversing the order. What Jesus does here? I believe is merely begin to
introduce the right, and if this is the second cup, so be it.
If Jesus sets the cup down, so be it. If Jesus passes it then
and explains it later, so be it. Jesus point is simple. And clear. The end of his earthly fellowship
is drawing to a close. But it is going to flourish again
in the coming kingdom. As one pastor described, it is
a kingdom of light, a kingdom of love and triumph and praise. And throughout eternity, what
a fulfillment, what a reunion that will be when the meaning
of this Passover will be experienced in all its fullness, when the
wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest and the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover
the sea. Jesus says, let’s take a moment
of unity. Let’s share this cup because
we won’t share it again. We won’t share it again until
the kingdom is fulfilled. Look at the perfection, finally,
the perfection of this celebration. And the introduction of what
we now know as the Lord’s Table was probably done in connection
with what we previously saw was step six of the order of the
Passover. That’s where the Lord’s Supper
was instituted. And Luke picks it up in verse
19. And it says that when he had taken some bread and given
thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, this is my
body, which is given for you do this in remembrance of me. And there are more conundrums
to come. Matthew and Mark say that Jesus
blessed and gave thanks, blessed the bread and gave thanks for
the cup. Luke says that Jesus gave thanks for both. Paul records
that Jesus gave thanks for the bread only. And you have entire.
Books written on that one little controversy, if you will. The
two terms were just merely interchangeable. It meant to bless or to give
thanks, and the meaning is the same. Whether which word the
various writers of Scripture used, the bottom line word, the
word, incidentally, that Luke uses is eucharisto. To bless or to think which came
to name the bread as the Eucharist, right? For those of you from
a Catholic background. Ultimately, it was used of the
the entire communion right itself. It was called the Eucharist.
With regards to the bread that Jesus uses here. It was unleavened
bread. It was the only bread that would
have been at the Passover table, but Jesus doesn’t prescribe that
for all time. Jesus doesn’t get all hung up
and neither should we as to exactly what kind of bread is used. Should
it be a cracker? Or should it be a loaf? Jesus merely prays, setting this
bread apart, thanking God for it, thanking God for what it
represented. God’s Savior come to Earth to
pay the penalty for sinners. That’s what Jesus knew. Contrary
to popular presentation, Jesus’ body was offered, but not broken.
You have many saying that you cannot break literally bread,
you must use this unleavened bread like a cracker that breaks
and shatters into dozens of pieces. Because Jesus’ body was broken,
the only problem with that motif is that Jesus’ body wasn’t broken.
One said it like this, since Jesus is about to speak of this
bread in terms of his body, and since that body was about to
be broken on the cross, there is a special suitability about
breaking the bread. Forgetting entirely what Scripture
says, John 19 records this, the soldiers came and broke the legs
of the first man and the other who was crucified with him, but
coming to Jesus when they saw that he was already dead, they
did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced
his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out. And
he who has seen has testified and his testimony is true. And
he knows he is telling the truth so that you may believe for these
things came to pass to fulfill the scripture. Not a bone of
him shall be broken. With regard to the order of partaking
of the elements, The only thing that the gospel writers teach
is that both are to be instituted. They don’t state in any definitive
terms what sequence there to be given. Most often, the church
throughout history has partaken of the bread first and then the
wine. But it doesn’t make any essential difference. Jesus was
ultimately killed. He offered his body and his blood,
and that is exactly what we celebrate in the Lord’s table. And what about the nature? What
was it we were celebrating? If you look at it again, verse
19 says, do this in remembrance of me. The Passover had slipped
out of function to be a remembrance for the deliverance from Egypt,
because now there was a much greater deliverance that was
wrought by Christ. Previously, they were delivered
from sinful men. Now they were being delivered
from sin itself and from the grip of sin. As one said, a few
more hours and the old symbol. Will have served its purpose
forever, having reached fulfillment in the blood that was shed on
Calvary, it was time, therefore, that a new symbol. Replace the
old, and that’s what Jesus institutes in the Lord’s table. The Lord’s
table is to be a continual calling of mind to him of him who redeemed
us from the bondage of sin as the Passover was an annual calling
to mind of redemption. That’s what we do when we come.
We remember Jesus Christ. That’s the point. That’s the
whole point. Does this bread really become
Christ’s body? The point is almost silly. The answer is no, as the context
plainly shows, Jesus was standing there in the flesh, in his body,
right in front of them as he uttered these words. Jesus constantly
used figurative language. In reference to himself, Jesus
either called himself or was referred to as the vine, the
door, the morning star, the cornerstone, the lamb, the fountain, the rock,
the bread of life, none of which he meant literally and most often
provoke people as they tried to take them literally. John
to 19 destroy this temple, which he spoke of himself, I am the
living bread, John six fifty one. Jesus said in 653, truly,
I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in himself and yourselves.
And the greatest departure that Christ ever faced followed. Finally. In the perfection of
the Lord’s table, look again at verse 20. Where Luke records
in the same way. He took the cup. After they had
eaten. Saying this cup, which is poured
out for you, is the new covenant in my blood. If you’re familiar
with Paul’s treatment of these great passages in first Corinthians
11. Paul adds something here. Paul
says, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me,
and some have said, oh, you know, Paul was just adding. He was
just indiscriminately adding in detail. Jesus didn’t say that. No, Jesus didn’t say that. Not
when he instituted the Lord’s Supper, at least none of the
synoptics record that. But there’s one little detail
that we miss in Corinthians, if we’re not careful. Because
Paul, in verse 23 of chapter 11, says, for I receive from
the Lord. That which I deliver to you that
the Lord Jesus and the night in which he is betrayed and he
goes on and on to the end where he says, do this as often as
you drink it in remembrance of me and all of the Lord’s Supper,
the bread and the cup are to be done as a memorial to Christ. That separate bread. And separate
from the cup was indication of his body and blood. Speaking
of a sacrificial death where the body is separated from the
blood, there is death. And in case you’re curious, grape
juice, it wasn’t even common until after the eighteen hundreds,
largely brought about by Finney’s influence in the church. Are
you wrong to use one over against the other? No. When Jesus says this cup, that’s
what’s in focus. It represents his outpoured blood
on their behalf, and Jesus institutes a new covenant in his blood. Covenants were crucial to Israel.
Moses, in Exodus 24, Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the
people and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which the
Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. Essentially,
what Jesus is doing is establishing a new covenant in his blood. Jeremiah had spoken of this covenant
that was coming. Jeremiah 31. Behold, days are
coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like
the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
My covenant, which they broke, although I was a husband to them,
declares the Lord. The covenant with God was a key,
crucial figure In the relationship of the Jews to their God. What Jeremiah tells us. There
in Jeremiah 3131 is that there was coming a new covenant. But
apart from the shedding of blood. There would be no covenant that
that covenant would also be a covenant of blood. A special relationship
between God and his people. Just as reconciliation with God
always required blood and atoning sacrifice. And since man was
not able to offer any suitable sacrifice, Jesus came as a substitutionary
offering that is must be accepted by faith. It must be accepted
by faith. As one pastor said, when Jesus
spoke of his blood as blood of the covenant, he was surely claiming
that at the cost of his death, He was about to inaugurate a
new covenant of which the prophet Jeremiah had spoken. His death
would be central to the relationship between God and his people. It
would be the means of cleansing from past sins, consecrating
to a new life of service to God. It would be the establishing
of the new covenant, which was based not on people’s ability
to keep it. But on God’s forgiveness. And so the meaning The whole
meaning of the Lord’s Supper is summed up in the simple command
of Christ, repeated and reiterated by the Apostle Paul by way of
Christ. Do this in remembrance of me. It’s Jesus Christ in him only. That is supposed to be our focus.
A communion. It was the desire of the Lord. It was our Lord Jesus Christ’s
desire that by means of this supper, this celebration that
was instituted here, that the church would remember his sacrifice
and would love him and reflect on that sacrifice and embrace
him by faith throughout the centuries to come. And that they would
ultimately look forward in living hope to his return. As I studied these passages this
week. One author made the point of
pointing out of that there is a past, a present and a future
element to this table. When we come to this table, there
is the past element of the fact that we remember Christ’s sacrificial
death that is over and done with, it is finished. It was once for
all time. And it was done on our behalf.
It was a sacrificial death. And because of that, there should
be a solemnity that acknowledges that it was our sin that put
Christ there. There is a past element, as one
said in the Lord’s Supper, we look back to the Lord’s death,
his substitutionary atonement. When we participate in the Lord’s
Supper, we symbolize the death of Christ’s body and blood as
we individually reach out and take that cup. We participate
or share in the benefits. There is a past element, but
there’s also a present element. There’s a present element. We
not only look on the sacrifice that was offered 2000 years ago,
but we look at the present and we look at ourselves and we must
examine ourselves. We must examine ourselves and
we must cry out for grace in the present. And we also enjoy the elements,
we enjoy the bread, we enjoy the cup. Because they are indications
of God’s ongoing provision in our lives. They are indications
of God’s grace that is tasted and seen in so many different
ways in our lives. God has not abandoned us to ourselves. We are not left to our own devices
until he returns. He is constantly sustaining his
people. As one said, in biblical life,
bread and wine were commonly used for nourishment. They came
to be used as symbols of the spiritual nourishment and the
blessing of God. Just as ordinary food nourishes
our physical bodies, so the bread and the wine, a picture also
picture the fact that there is spiritual nourishment and refreshment
that Christ is giving. Jesus has here for us not only
an encouragement of physical sustenance. food and air and
whatever we need, but far more importantly, the grace that we
need to be faithful to Christ. There is also in this present.
Context of the Lord’s table, a communion with fellow saints,
when we commune with God, we also commune with one another,
and that has a very present reality to it, doesn’t it? And because
of that, we can’t have odds with our brothers. We can’t have unconfessed
sin. We can’t have grudges and gripes
and complaints. And because of that, there should
be a soberness. Because there is this present element to the
Lord’s table, there should be a soberness in view of our present
struggle and our desperate need of God’s grace. But as we come
to the Lord’s table, there is not only a past and a present
element to it, A past and present aspect, if you will, there is
a future aspect. As we come to the Lord’s table,
we have great anticipation of his return that we won’t always
celebrate like this. We won’t always celebrate in
anticipation. We won’t always celebrate in
anticipation of a great banquet symbolized by the bread and the
wine. What one called a foretaste of
the great banquet of the table of the king. But because there
is this future aspect. To the Lord’s table, we should
have a hopefulness as we celebrate it, a hopefulness, not only looking
back at the past, not only crying out in the present for grace,
but looking to the future with great and eager anticipation
that one day we will celebrate such a banquet. Such a celebration
with the Lord Jesus Christ in his presence. And that will be
the beginning of forever. Let’s rejoice before him as we
prepare our hearts for the Lord’s table. Our merciful God, we humble ourselves. And Lord, while our purpose was
not to answer every question that has ever been entertained
regarding the nature and meaning and significance of the Lord’s
table, father, we see most of all. The main point was that
we remember the Lord Jesus and father, how many of us By your grace can so easily do
that as we look back on our pitiful lives, lives that were outside
of the grace of God and contrary to all that you loved and prescribed
for us. Lord God, only by your grace
did you bring us to knees of repentance, only by your grace
did we open our eyes and see Christ as our Savior. The one
we desperately needed. Father, we thank you and praise
you for the privilege to celebrate. This Lord’s table. And thereby
to proclaim. Our Lord Jesus Christ. As long
as you have us here. Father, grant us the grace now
as we partake. To prepare our hearts. To celebrate
this in view of the past. in view of the present and in
view of the future. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen. We’d be prepared if you would take
your hymnals and we’ll sing the first two verses of My Jesus
I Love Thee. Let’s stand together