The Lord's Table

Opening:

It is blessed thing to be able to worship God through the preaching of the Word on the Lord’s Day. And an even greater blessing to be preaching on the Lord’s Table in preparation for partaking of the Lord’s Table.

Introduction of the Passage:

This morning, we will be all over the Scriptures. We go from Old Testament to New Testament, back to Old and again to the New. But no worries, we will be leaving the Apocryphal works out of it as is proper. The reason we are going to be jumping around so much is because I believe it is proper before the Lord to do some study on the Lord’s Table before we partake of it. So we are going to go to His Word to learn about this sacred practice. So this morning, we are going to read Matthew 26:26-28, Christ’s institution of the Lord’s Table, and then begin our study.

Reading of the Passage:

When you have located that passage, I would ask you to stand with me out of reverence for the reading of God’s Word.

Matthew 26:26–28“26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Behold, the Word of God which is true for all time. Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Oh Lord, we ask for your hand on this time. As we study what you have said in your word about your table, may we humbly submit to it and obey it. Guard us from error. And may we humbly commune with you today Lord. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Need:

This really is an important topic. The Sacraments have been a topic of great debate in the church, and the Lord’s Supper is no exception to this. Christ’s Table that is made to unify His people has become rather divisive. But we must recognize that was never what ought to be. This Table is a unifying Table and a Table of utmost importance. We must recapture the importance of this sacred act. We live in a world gone mad. We are currently living in creepy clown world. And in this crazy world we live in, we need Christians who are well read and well fed. What do I mean? I mean, we need Christians who know the Word, are fed on the Word, and who meet regularly with Christ. We need Christians who are regularly coming to Christ, confessing their sin, repenting, and then gathering with the Lord at His Table. But first and foremost, we have to establish what the Lord’s Table is.

Interrogative:

So What is the Lord’s Table?

Sermon Idea:

This is the question we will examine this morning. We are going to be looking at what the Lord’s Table is. And this is a very brief outline. We do not have time to really dive deep into the reality of this wonderful blessing. But we will hit the highlights.

Transition:

So what is the Lord’s Table?

Point 1: The Lord’s Table is the second of two sacraments instituted by Christ for the Church.

There are two sacraments of the church. But before we get into that, perhaps we should define what a sacrament is.

What is a Sacrament?

Now, some people take issue with that word, Sacrament. They say it sounds too Roman Catholic. But protestants have used that term willingly for about 450 to 500 years. But what matters is how we define the terms. It doesn’t matter if we say sacrament or ordinance or something else. What matters is how we define it. Now there have been many definitions of this term and we do not have time to get into all of them, but in short, I think Augustine defined it well. Augustine defined a sacrament as “a visible sign of a sacred thing,” or “a visible form of an invisible grace.” What this means is that it is a visible sign of deep and spiritual mystery.

Calvin expounded on this at great length but summed it up like this,sacrament is “a testimony of divine grace toward us, confirmed by an outward sign, with mutual attestation of our piety toward him.” In other words, a Sacrament is something instituted by Jesus for the whole church that shows us in a physical way His grace toward us. And in practicing the sacrament, we show our love and honor for God. I agree with Calvin. Shocking, I know.

But this gets to the root of it. A sacrament is an act physically displaying God’s grace toward us. It is made by God, for the whole church, in order to show us His grace. And He illustrates the grace He has for us in a physical and earthly fashion. He uses words and actions we can understand. He does it in a way that even a child can understand. But fundamentally, it is His. And this is important. As one pastor said, “He made it, He gets to tell us what it is and how to do it. In Short, it’s the Lord’s Table, He gets to set the menu. He get’s to set the table, not us.”

And this applies to Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are the two sacraments.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

You see, the two signs God has given to the whole church to physically image the gospel and physically illustrate His grace to us are baptism and the Lord’s Table.

Baptism is the entrance into the covenant community of the church taking the place of circumcision from the Old Testament.

The Lord’s Table takes the place of the covenant renewal feasts in the Old Testament, principally the passover. Christ instituted this during the passover feast.

So baptism is welcoming into the covenant community and the Lord’s Table is the ongoing covenantal commitment. At Baptism we have entry into the covenant community. And at Communion we have the regular re-commitment to the covenant. These are the only two sacraments. Marriage is not one, because marriage is not for the whole church. It is also not only for the church. Marriage is for all humanity, not just the church. And not everyone in the church partakes of it. Only two.

Transition:

So that is what a Sacrament or Ordinance is. It is a physical display of God’s grace, instituted by Christ for the whole church. Moving on.

Point 2: The Lord’s Table is Communion with Christ and His Church of all time.

This is where we get the term communion. We get it from the King James rendering of 1 Corinthians 10:16–17 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

And we have to recognize the truth of this. The act of partaking of the Lord’s Table is unifying. It unites us is a real and Spiritual way with our Lord, and it united us with one another. It is a real communion. Paul is saying that in the act of taking the bread and the wine, we are truly communing with Christ and with each other. The act of Communion is a uniting act. It establishes church unity.

This is why, many times when talking about the Lord’s Table, I will say this. The ground at the food of the Table is level. No one stands higher than anyone else. We all come to Christ broken and sinful. And in the act of Communion we see we are all sinners saved by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone. This united us. And it unites us to the church of all time. We are partaking of the same meal with the same meaning that the church has taken for two thousand years. This act is one of the greatest acts of unity there is.

Transition:

But we must continue.

Point 3: The Lord’s Table is commemorating the death of Christ, remembering His sacrifice.

Luke 22:19 says “19 And he took bread, and when he had 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.”” When we partake of the Lord’s Table we are doing it in remembrance of Him. Paul also says this in 1 Corinthians 11:26 “26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Not only is The Lord’s Table an act of communing with Christ and the church, it is also a physical reminder of what Christ did. When we break the bread we remember His body being broken for us. When we see the wine, we remember His shed blood for our sins. It is a physical act that reminds us of the price our Lord paid for us. We remember His sacrifice through the elements.

Transition:

And this leads many to a question. Is the Lord’s Table merely a physical remembrance or is it a Spiritual reality? Well, the problem with that question is the word “merely.” The Lord’s Table is not merely physical nor is it merely Spiritual. And this brings us to our fourth point.

Point 4: The Lord’s Table is physical in the elements, spiritual in meaning.

You see, this sacred act cannot be talked about as being merely physical or merely spiritual. It is a union of physical and spiritual realities. This is why Jesus uses the terms He does. Bread and body, wine and blood. To summarize:

4.a. The Lord’s Table is the eating of the body (bread) and the drinking of the blood (wine) of Christ.

You see it is physical and spiritual. So lets break this down.

4.b. The Physical Elements are bread and wine.

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Table, He was eating passover with the disciples. Let’s read the account again. This time I will read Luke’s account of this. Luke 22:14–20“14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had 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.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

You see, Jesus was sitting down to eat the Passover meal. And this is so significant. Passover was THE salvific event of the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant Jews would look back on passover and remember how God saved them. And they commemorated this with a feast. Specifically, they used unleavened bread and wine. Both were highly symbolic. The bread and wine had great meaning. And God, in His divine story has used bread and wine as symbols all through Scripture. This is beautiful. This absolutely blew my socks off. As I was praying and reading and studying in preparation for this sermon over these past several weeks, I was blown away by God’s sovereignty in the smallest of things. You see, God, from the beginning has been using bread and wine in the most fantastic way. Let’s look at this.

4.b-1 Unleavened Bread.

Christ used the unleavened bread present at passover. And this bread was rich with meaning. And the Old Testament is filled with symbolic imagery about bread.

Life Giving or Life Sustaining:

All over the Bible we see the picture of bread as giving or sustaining life. Think of Elijah in the wilderness after confronting the prophets of Baal. The angel gives him bread to sustain him and bring him back to hope. Think of the Children of Israel in the wilderness. What does God give them to keep them alive? Heavenly bread called Manna. This is what sustained them. But this is not all.

Sinlessness:

Unleavened bread specifically is seen as a symbol of sinlessness. Leaven is seen in the Bible as a symbol of sin. Think of Jesus in Luke 12:1 telling the disciples “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” To remove the leaven is a picture of being sinless.

Think of all the bread used in the Temple sacrifices listed in the Torah, all these uses of bread.

Christ is the bread.

And here is the absolutely astounding thing. God is telling a story. And all through History and all through the Bible we see these pictures of bread. And then we come to Christ. These symbolic natures of bread we see in Scripture, are all fully true of Christ. Christ is life giving John 6:35 “35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger...” Jesus is also the one who sustains all, especially our salvation. Think of Hebrews 1:3 “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

Jesus is sinless and without leaven. Christ is perfectly mirrored in the bread of communion. This is why we Jesus used bread. He is the bread! Whenever we see in Scripture bread sustaining anyone or being used as a symbol of sinlessness, we should instantly think of Christ. He is the Bread of life!

4.b-2 Wine.

And God continues His masterfully written story with the cup. The second element of the Table is wine. Now, instantly I must qualify this. This is true wine. I know there are those who try to say Jesus was using some form of non-alcoholic wine, but there is just no backing or evidence at all for that stance. You see, God is telling a story. And He has been weaving this story together perfectly through all history. He has fashioned every word perfectly to show this story. And the Bible has spoken of wine in some fascinating ways.

Given for Joy:

Wine is a gift from God given for joy.

Psalm 104:14–15“14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth 15 and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.”

God gives wine to bring about joy and gladness.

Dangerous:

Wine is a gift from God to bring joy, but it is also shown clearly to be dangerous. The Proverbs are filled with warnings against the dangers of being a drunkard and addicted to wine. And the New testament also warns against this.

Ephesians 5:18“18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,”

So it is joyful and good. It is a gift to be embraced, but it is also dangerous and sharp. Wine is like a sharp knife or a loaded revolver. It is good and useful and a blessing. But it also must be handled well because it is sharp and dangerous. And the Bible expands on this in it’s symbolic language. Wine is a symbol of God’s blessing and wrath.

God’s Blessing:

But this is what really blows me away. Wine is also used symbolically in Scripture to show God’s blessings.

Proverbs 3:10“10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”

Isaiah 25:6–8“6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”

Notice that last passage especially. This is a promise of the New Covenant, specifically of the final day when God sets all things right. And how is it pictured? As a feast of rich food and well aged wine. This is symbolic language about the blessing of God. Although I bet the food and wine at the final feast will be of excellent quality.

God’s Wrath:

But wine is also used as a symbolic picture of God’s wrath, not just His blessing. This fascinated me as I was studying. Scripture uses the image of a cup of wine to image God’s blessing and God’s wrath.

Psalm 75:8 “8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.”

And this ought to cause us to ask a question. We should say, “hold on, how can wine be a symbol of blessing and wrath? How can God use this image of a cup of wine for both blessing and wrath? How do blessing and wrath go together?”

Christ is the Wine.

I am so glad you asked! Beloved, this is beautiful. Christ is the Wine! Christ is given for our joy. Salvation in Christ is brimming with joy. I would not have enough time in this entire day to break down all the passages dealing with the joy we have in Christ. But suffice it to say, go read Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Christ is also THE sign of God’s blessing. God pours out His blessing on us in Christ. He is the Wine of God’s blessing. But, now we answer our question. How does blessing and wrath go together? How can wine be the sign of God’s extravagant blessing and God’s foaming wrath?

That question is answered in who drank the cup? Who drank the cup of God’s wrathful wine? Christ drank the wine of God’s wrath for us! That cup of God’s wrath the Psalmist speaks of, Christ drank it on the Cross. He says so in Luke 22:42 “42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””

But now we come to the one most people have a problem with. Is Jesus dangerous? We are fine with Christ being our joy, our blessing, and the one who drank God’s wrath for us. But many Christians have a problem with us saying Jesus is dangerous. You see, wine is clearly dangerous, but is Christ? You see, in our day we have a watered down, milquetoast, Welches view of Christ. But the Biblical Christ was not how we so often picture Him. Jesus said in, Luke 12:49–53 “49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Jesus is not safe. To quote C.S. Lewis, “Safe? who said anything about safe? Of course He isn’t safe. But He is good.”

Jesus is far more dangerous than wine. He is a 40 proof strong savior. He is sharp and dangerous. We must not water down Christ.

Transition:

You see, even the elements used are packed to the brim with biblical meaning and beauty. This absolutely astounded me as I was studying. But there is more meaning. You see, Communion is not just physical. The Lord’s Table has a Spiritual reality to is.

4.c. The Spiritual reality is a true communion with Christ.

And this gets to the heart of one of the most heated debates in all of Church history. This debate was one of the central debates of the reformation. Countless gallons of ink has been used in debating this subject. What exactly is the nature of the communion we have with Jesus at the Lord’s Table? Just what did Jesus mean by the Word “is”?

What is meant by the word “is”?

Well, I want to accurately represent the positions here. I don’t want to straw man anyone. So let me break down the views very briefly. The four views are as follows:

Transubstantiation: The Roman view that while the bread and wine remain in substance bread and wine, when they are consecrated, they in reality become the physical body and blood of Christ. Christ is re-sacrificed in the mass.

Lutheran: The Lutheran view is that Christ is not re-sacrificed. However, Christ is physically with us in Communion. Christ’s Physical body and blood are present in the elements. Still bread and wine, but in and under the elements are Christ’s body and blood.

Reformed: Christ cannot be physically in the elements, because His physical body is truly in heaven. However, He is spiritually present in the elements. The bread is Spiritually Christ's body. The wine is spiritually Christ’s blood.

Figurative: Christ is not with us in a special way in communion. It is just bread and wine and is meant only to symbolize Christ.

So who is right? I will try not to get too technical. But, the Roman Catholic view cannot be sustained. The author of Hebrews makes is abundantly clear that Christ was sacrificed once and for all. There is not even a hint in the Scriptures that there is any power in the bread and wine to forgive any sins. It is a Spiritual act, but it is not how Christ forgives us. Christ forgives us by faith alone. So we can toss that out right away.

And I also disagree with the Lutheran view. I have the absolute utmost respect for Luther. But I just think he missed the mark on communion. One of the central teachings of Christianity is that Jesus, in His humanity, is truly human. That His human body has all the physical limits of a human body. Jesus is still truly human and truly God. And we do not confuse these two. He was not a deified human. He was not a humanized deity. His natures did not blend. He is not omnipresent in His humanity, but in His divinity He is omnipresent. This is why Jesus told the disciples that He was going away but that He would be with them always. How could He go away and still be with them? Well, His human body went away into heaven. But His divinity was still omnipresent and with them. He was truly with the disciples. He promised to be with the church. This means Jesus is truly with us in His divinity. Because of this, we cannot say Jesus is in the bread and wine Physically. That would be saying that His human nature is not really human. As truly human, Jesus cannot be in more than one place at a time. In His divinity He can, but not His humanity. It is biblically untenable.

So is He spiritually present? Or is this act purely figurative? Well, I do not believe Biblically one can make the case for this merely being an act to symbolize. It is a symbolic act, but it is more than that. Two reasons.

4.c-1 It is a cup of blessing.

First, Paul calls this cup a cup of blessing. 1 Corinthians 10:16“16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” Now I must ask a question. Is that a real blessing? Is it really a blessing that we gain from partaking of the blood of Christ? Absolutely it is. There is a true spiritual blessing to taking the bread and wine. And saying it is merely symbolic makes that blessing no different than when we are sitting at a stoplight and think about Jesus.

No, clearly Paul is clearly saying that there is a real special blessing that comes in this one act specifically. And the reason he gives is that we are actually communing, participating in the blood of Christ. This is an act that in some supernatural way is us communing with Christ.

Second reason:

4.c-2 It is a judgement on those who take it unworthily.

Let me ask you this, if the bread and wine are merely symbolic, why were people in Corinth dying from taking it unworthily?

1 Corinthians 11:28–30“28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”

Clearly This is not just a symbolic act. There is a real spiritual element to it. Christ is with us in this act. You see, when Christ said “This is my body, this is my blood” He was clearly not speaking in physical terms, but what He said was no less true. We do not read it woodenly, but we read it accurately to what is intended. Jesus and Paul promise that this act is a real communion with Christ. And we must see the importance and the danger of that.

Argumentation:

What exactly is the importance of gathering at the Lord’s table?

The Importance of Gathering At the Lord’s Table.

Well, first, Christ commanded us to. But beyond this, it truly is a blessing. I mean think of the honor of this. We get to come to the Lord’s Table and meet with Him here. We get to take part in an act that Christ Himself instituted. Jesus gave us this act to remember His death for us. In the taking of the bread we are given a vivid image of Christ’s body being broken for us. In the taking of the wine, we are given a vivid image of the blood Christ shed for us. And we get to confess our faith in Christ in this act.

In taking the elements, we are saying “I believe that Christ took my punishment on His own body. I believe Christ shed His own blood in my place.” In this act, we are given the joy of knowing we are redeemed. We are reminded that we are set free, not through our works, but through the death of Christ on our behalf. And here at the Table, it is as if we see Christ welcoming us in. Here we remember the gospel. Here we see His body broken for us. Here we see His blood poured out. And here, we commune with Him. As one body, we commune with our Lord. We are united together in our confession of sin. Here we together confess our sin. We are all sinners. No one here is better than anyone else. And here, we confess our savior together. He is our Lord. As we take the body and the blood, we are confessing together as one that Christ is Lord and Savior.

And we need this. We need to meet with Christ. We need to be fed at His Table. We live in a papiermache world. We live in a world of empty platitudes and high emotion. What the church needs today is Christians who are quick to confess their sins and repent and quick to confess their savior. We need Christians who come to Christ broken and empty and leave forgiven and filled. And that is what we do here.

That is what this act is. Confession of sin and confession of Christ.

Application: Confession of Sin and Confession of Christ.

But Three points to consider before we partake.

Action 1: This act is reserved for Christians.

If you are here and you are not trusting in Christ for salvation, then this meal is not for you. I am not trying to embarrass you. But this meal is not yours. In taking these elements we are physically confessing our faith in Christ. If your faith is not in Christ, you cannot confess Him. Do not lie and pretend to confess Him. If you are here and you are not a Christian, let the plate pass you by. And then come talk to me after. I would love to answer any questions you have in regards to Christ. This act is reserved for baptized believers who have confessed their faith in Christ.

Action 2: If you are unrepentant, do not partake.

If you are in open unrepentant sin, I beg you not to take this. Paul warned the Christians there against taking the Lord’s Supper unworthily. What he meant by this was that they were in open sin and refused to repent. They were blaspheming God by refusing to repent and then flippantly taking the body and blood of Christ. So if you are in sin and you refuse to repent of it, for your own safety please let the plate pass you by.

But I want to make a not on this. This does not mean sin you are willing to confess. If you confess your sins, I beg you, eagerly take! This meal is for sinners. This meal is for broken and hurting sinners. This meal is our comfort. Here we are reminded of our forgiveness. So confess your sin, and then take freely and experience the joy of the Lord.

Action 3: Take this bread and wine with joy.

Christ welcomes us to His table openly. We come to Him with joy. Bring your burdens and feel them slip off your shoulders. Bring your sins and confess them. Feel them roll away under the grace of our Lord. Christ welcomes you, you weary and tired, you worn down and broken, you sinners and restless. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Closing Prayer:

Let’s pray.

Taking of the Supper:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Oh Lord, you are good. You have blessed us beyond words. Use now this offering for the glory of your name. We give it to you with joyful hearts! Bless it and use it. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.

Benediction:

Beloved, we who have met with the Lord are joyful. We can go now into the World with clear consciences knowing Christ has forgiven us, united us in Him, and promised us salvation. Go now in the peace of the Lord won for you on the cross!