Guests at the Lords Table

April 5, 1992

1 Corinthians 11:23-30

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

When the disciples came together for the Passover meal that we call the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who was the host. It was a borrowed room, but it was Jesus who made the arrangements, and took care of the details, even though His disciples helped carry them out. He even took the task usually assigned to the least or the youngest: He washed the feet of those around that table.

The story is in Luke 22, how Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare the large upper room, which they found by following a man carrying a water pitcher. And if we will, Jesus always prepares a table before us when we eat His meal together. Jesus is always the Host at Communion!

Eating the Passover meal, or Seder, is a significant observance in the schedule of every practicing Jew. It is both a solemn holy time, and a warm and wonderful family time. I doubt if we Gentiles can ever fully capture the warmth and the wealth of feeling that have surrounded the Seder for centuries.

That night the disciples were guests at their Master's table. They were together as family, with Jesus as the Host. This was a very significant occasion, and Jesus wanted them to grasp the significance.

"With desire I have desired to eat this meal with you," is the way that He expressed it. "I love you! I want you to know that you are dearer than life to Me!"

And we understand that on that holy night Jesus did something else, something that had never been done before. He transformed the Seder, the sacred Passover meal, with its Paschal Lamb and bitter herbs and remembrance of Egypt and the wilderness and Canaan, and He turned the focus of the meal on Himself.

Can you understand how profane and embarrassing and sacrilegious this would be for anyone but the Christ? But this WAS the Christ! And this was a sacred moment, indeed! All the sacrifices and symbols of the Old Testament were pointing to this sacrifice! The Paschal Lamb became the body of the Lord. The cup became the blood of the Everlasting Sacrifice.

That night Jesus ordained a new kind of Passover Supper. He commanded his disciples to eat of it, and as often as they ate, to remember His death, His shared LIFE, and His promise to come again and eat with them in the Presence of God the Father. This is the sacrament to which we all are invited this morning:

What, then, can we say about

I. THE NATURE OF THE SACRAMENT

[We can only know and understand of God that which He chooses to reveal to us. The sacred MEAL OF REMEMBRANCE for the family of faith will always be in great part]

1. A MYSTERY
   1. Any attempt to literalize or explain will certainly fall short of the truth it conveys to those who know God.

      [It is not wrong to use our minds in worship; there really is no other way. But when we set our understanding, our "reason" as a condiion for God's love and blessing we severely limit our capacity for receiving God's grace.]

   2. Suffice it to say that when we partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper we encounter
2. A PRESENCE; and by faith we come closer to God than in any other way. Some of our brothers and sisters make it a literal Presence; others have other explanations.

   There is something humbling and something of the acknowledgment that we do not have all the answers when we come to the Lord's table. In our arrogance- the arrogance of our culture that has put the "feelings" and "individual freedom" above every other good, it is good that we look with saints across the ages and around the world to this supper as

3. A SIGN AND A PROMISE; a promise of that which is inexpressible.

   The church fathers and traditions of the ages testify that this is a means of grace. We come to the table of the Lord, where HE is the Host, not to dicate OUR terms, but to look to Him for assurance that indeed He has come, and has died for us, and that He ever lives on high to make intercession for us!

[But what may we expect this sacrament to BE, to DO for us?:]

II. THE FUNCTION OF THE SACRAMENT

Without pretending to explain the inexplicable, the scriptures do help us understand what happens when we share at the Lord's Table, where He is Host:

1. It is an exercise in OBEDIENCE. The command, the imperative of the Lord was: "This do! In remembrance of Me!"

   The disciples who heard their Lord say those words clearly understood what He was saying and doing! They were to perpetuate that moment when Jesus declared that He, Himself, was the Paschal Lamb.

   And that commandment still stands!! The family still meets at the Lord's table. We are here because we want to be— but we are also here because Jesus has commanded us to come! We gladly obey.

2. The Lord's Table is also an exercise in REMEMBERING.

   Jesus said that night: " ...this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME."

   As long as we obey we will not forget. We dare not fall away from the clear understanding that HERE, in the BLOOD and the BODY of the Lord, the Paschal Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, HERE AND HERE ALONE LIES THE ONLY HOPE OF MANKIND FOR ETERNAL LIFE!

3. The Lord's Table is also a TESTIMONY, a SHOWING FORTH. It is a testimony to three worlds that we depend on Jesus for life.

   Jesus said: " ... as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, YE DO SHEW THE LORD'S DEATH TILL HE COME."

4. The Lord's Table is also a time of RECEIVING. It is a MEAL. It may not be a physical feast, and there IS mystery involved; but when we come to the Table we are fed.

   Jesus said: " ... THIS IS MY BODY, which is broken for you: ... THIS CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY BLOOD ..."

III. THE RESULT OF THE SACRAMENT

1. WE WILL EXPERIENCE RENEWAL

   The Lord's Table will a point of new beginning for us this day. No matter where you are in your journey, here we recognize that we are successful ONLY as we remain in Jesus, and that we are failures ONLY as we leave His Presence,

   Let us affirm that we are IN CHRIST, by faith, at this Table today.

2. WE WILL KNOW A RE-CENTERING OF LIFE

   It is easy to let the focus of our attention slip off Jesus Christ! It is easy to look at PROBLEMS, or at PEOPLE, or at WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN, or at WHAT DID HAPPEN ... and forget that what Christians live for is to abide in Christ.

   We have opportunity today to tell Jesus that we are depending on Him, on His sacrifice, on His love. Tell Him that HE is at the center of our lives and living!

3. WE WILL CONTACT A FRESH ENABLING. The Lord's Table is sacred, and not to be manipulated for personal ambition, but at the same time it is a powerful source of strength to each member of the Body to carry forward in the Spirit of the Lord all that He intends for us to be and to do.

   From time to time we all need to have this fresh outpouring of God's enabling grace. All across the centuries of the Church of Jesus Christ, the testimony of the faithful has been: It is at the Lord's Table where we receive new strength to continue in the faith.

   It may seem that what you need is MONEY, or AN OPEN DOOR, or a JOB, or AN ENCOURAGING WORD. And I do not in any way suggest that you do not need these, and need them desperately. But at the risk of sounding like a raving mystic, let me say that when we have Jesus, when we are centered in Him, we have His promise of "all these things." I am NOT saying that Holy Communion is the answer to all your problems; I am saying that at the Lord's Table, as Jesus draws near, we shall find His enabling grace.

Invitation:

To all who will come— to all who desire to draw near to God- - to all who are drawn by the grace of God to partake— this is the Lord's Table, and YOU are welcome!

Only do not come irreverently! Do not make a mockery of that which Christ has provided.

• Come with heart-searching. Open your heart to the Spirit of God. Ask Him to make you worthy to partake.
• Come with your victories— and lay them in gratitude at the feet of the Host. It is through Him that we ar more than conquer or.
• Come with your heart-aches and defeats! Come with your doubts and fears! Come with your sin to the blood that speaks of pardon!

Read aloud together "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" (#283) as a quiet prayer of the entire congregation BEFORE the distribution.