Who is God the Father?

Introduction

Good morning everyone! If I haven’t gotten the chance to meet you, my name is Jackson.

We continue this week in our new summer sermon series on Doctrine. For the next 4 sermons we will examine who God is in light of Scripture.

Just a little bit an overview of the next four sermons. We will be focusing today on who God the Father is. Next week, we will talk about God the Son. The following week will be the the Son’s work. What he’s accomplished. And then the week after that, we will talk about God the Holy Spirit.

Today we ask the question, “Who is God the Father?” As I was studying this week and trying to figure out how to preach this, I came across the same problem that Pastor JD did last week which is that there is so much to say about who the Father is and His relation to the Son and the Spirit that I could not figure out how to cover it all. So instead I am going to just stick to a text. We believe in expository preaching here at Echo Church. Which means we believe that we should choose a specific passage and let that passage’s main point inform our main point.

And that means that this sermon will only capture certain aspects of God the Father. And that’s OK. We want to worship God in His Word as His Word reveals it to us.

Before I start, I do want to orient us to this conversation. Some of us may not be very familiar with the concept of the Trinity. Some of you may be non-Christians and have never heard of the Trinity. Even just the word can sound a bit heady and confusing.

Let me just spend a few moments to briefly explain what we’re talking about. It’s not a full definition and certainly isn’t going to touch on everything.

If the concept of the Trinity is something you struggle with and want to talk more about, I would love to get lunch or coffee and just thinking more about it with you.

But to ask Who is God the Father? begs a question. Why qualify, “the Father?” Isn’t God just God?

Christians have historically believed in what has been call a Triune God. A Triune God. And what we mean by that is that we believe God is One, yet He is also three distinct Persons. I know that’s confusing. But we believe he is One Being in Three Persons. We believe that the One God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Again, I know that that sounds confusing. But to say God the Father is to differentiate Him from God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

When we speak of the Three Persons of the Trinity, we are saying that they share together completely the nature of God. But don’t mistake that for us saying that God is a species like human beings are a species.

I am human being. Being a human being makes me part of the larger group - human beings. Yet when we say the Father is God, we are not saying the Father belongs to a species or category called “god.” There is just one God, and the Father is God. Likewise, the Son is God, not as one who belongs to a category called “god,” but is the One God.

So when say anything about God, we generally say it about all three persons of the Trinity. God is love means the Father is love and the Son is love and the Holy Spirit is love. God is light means the Father is light and the Son is light and the Holy Spirit is light. Any and all of God’s attributes is true of each person of the Trinity.

So when we distinguish between the Father or the Son or the Spirit, we are - for just a moment - considering each person separately. But know that that is an artificial separation. The moment we examine each Person they immediately begin be One again. Or finite minds can’t grasp this very well.

And we don’t need to. Today, we will attempt to discuss - just touch on really - in what way the Father is the Father and not the Son or the Holy Spirit in a very specific context. And that context is Ephesians chapter 1.

Let me read our text in its entirety and then give us our main point for this morning:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Let me give us the main point today:

Main Point: God the Father is to be Praised because He Has Sent His Son For His People

We see the main point right up front in verse 3.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God is to be praised! We are gathered this morning to worship and praise God!

This summer series is on doctrine. We are trying to learn together some core foundational truths in a systematic way. Yet we are not merely to know more about God, we are to know God in a way that causes us to worship Him. To praise Him. To give glory to Him!

There’s this story about an author who was at a local bookstore. He saw his book and picked it up to look at the book. The bookstore clerk came up to him and told him, “Do you know the author of that book?”

The author responded back, “I do. Do you?”

The bookstore clerk responded, “Yes!”

The author responded, “No you don’t.”

The bookstore clerk was taken aback and blinked at the man. The man responded, “If you knew the author, you’d recognize that I am the author.”

It is possible to read about God and hear about God and talk about what He’s written and yet not truly know Him. Because to know Him truly is to be brought down to our knees to worship Him.

We are about to venture into the depths of God’s goodness towards us. So I ask you to take just a moment and ask yourself, where is your heart right now this morning at this moment?

Is your heart oriented towards praising the God who has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing?”

Or is mind cluttered and clouded with and preoccupied with summer vacation plans?

With the upcoming project for work?

With the bills that we know are coming?

With that difficult conversation you need to have with a loved one?

All of those important things must be dealt with but I am asking you, in this moment to reflect on the creator of the universe, who in Christ, has given us everything befitting of a child of God.

As I was preparing for this sermon this week I incorporated into my morning devotion a chapter from the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. I know you all read the 1689 Confession on your free time like I do so I don’t need to explain to you what it is. I’m just kidding.

The 1689 is a confession of faith written by baptists in the 1600s (obviously) to do two things. Its was to distinguish the particulars of baptist theology. And two, it was meant to tie baptists into a long history of biblical thought.

And it is just a beautifully worded way to orient our hearts towards God. Let me read from the first paragraph of the second chapter of the 1689 Baptist Confession:

The Lord our God is but one only living and true God...infinite in being and perfection...a most pure spirit, invisible...immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own...most righteous will for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin

This is the God we worship and the God will talk about this morning. And this is the God to whom Paul says “Blessed be!”

Let us bless Him in prayer before we start.

My first point is this friends:

Point 1: It is the Father who sent the Son

We see in verses 3-4, which is the main overarching idea of this passage: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Everything else that follows until the end of 14 is an explanation of what it means that God has blessed us in Christ.

What are those things? We will be discussing each in depth today. In Christ, the Father has:

Predestined us for adoption (v5)

Redeemed us through Jesus’ blood (v7a) which accomplishes

Forgiveness of our trespasses (v7b)

Making known to us the mystery of his will - that is to unite all things in Christ (v9)

Predestined us to obtain an inheritance (v11)

Sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance (v13)

We will talk abut each of these today as it connects to our worship of God.

But notice something. In each of these, it is the Father acting in or through Jesus Christ. Every action of the Father is done via Christ or believers receiving from the Father via Christ.

The Father has blessed us in Christ, chosen us in Christ, adopted us through Christ, redeemed us in Christ, set forth his will in Christ, unite all things in Christ, given us an inheritance in Christ!

The isn’t the only place we see where it is the Father that sends the Son.

Turn with me to John 17. Here Jesus is praying to the Father. And in praying to the Father, Jesus says starting in verse 3:

English Standard Version Chapter 17

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

From this passage, what is eternal life? The answer is, to know the Father and to know Jesus Christ whom the Father has sent. Then he says, “I have glorified you on earth” how? by “accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.” The Father is the one who gives and initiates the work. He is the one who decrees and the Son carries it out. And then he says in verse 5, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” Jesus confirms that he shares this glory with God the Father. Before creation He was with the Father in glory.

The Father is God and the Son is God. But in our passage, what distinguishes them is that the Father is the initiator. He initiates and it is done through the Son.

The Father decrees, the Son carries out.

But why? Why does the Father decree and the Son carry out? If both are God, could it have been that the Son decrees and the Father carry out?

The answer, is no. The reason for that fact is captured in a fancy term theologians use called “eternal generation.” What that means is that before space and time - before matter was created and history was enacted - the Son finds His source in the Father.

We see this concept of generation in John 5:26 where Jesus says, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”

Another way to say that is that the Father has life in Himself from Himself. He is ungenerated. The Son has life in Himself from the Father. The Father is the “source.” The word “source” is a bit of an imprecise word - but I think it captures enough what we’re talking about. It is from the Father that the Son, from all eternity, has come.

This eternal model of the Father and the Son, where the Father is the source and the Son the one generated from the Father is then displayed in their roles in creations.

We aren’t going to talk much about the Holy Spirit this sermon but in any action of God we see this Trinitarian pattern play out. The Father is always the initiator. The Father is the one who predestines because He is the source. The Son is the one who carries out the action because He comes from the Father. He generated from the Father.

So we can say, “Blessed by the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,” with the Father being the one who blessed us in Christ because it is the Father who is described as the one who initiated the blessing just as he is the source within the eternal life of the Trinity.

Nod your heads if that made sense. Alright. Let’s move on.

We also see that the Person of the Father has a unique relationship with the Person of the Son. And it is a relationship that is so deep and vital that it is the name by which they are called. The Father is the Father of the Son. The Son is the Son of the Father. This relationship defines who they are in a unique way.

We see this stressed here in verse 3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now you’re probably also wondering how the Father is the God of Jesus. That’s for next sermon. Let’s focus in on the Father relationship this time.

One reason this relationship of Father and Son is vital is because without it we would have no adoption. The work of adoption is accomplished within the sphere of the relationship of the Son to the Father.

Verse 5 tells us it is through Christ that we have been predestined for adoption. It is only in Jesus’ Sonship that we are adopted. Without the Son, we have no adoption. We wouldn’t be able to come to the Father as our father. But “in the Son” we receive adoption. The technical term is “union with Christ.” In Christ, we are given the same status as He has - Son of God. We are sons of God. If Jesus was not the Son we would not be made sons.

So to sum up this point, it is the Father who sent the Son. It could have been no other way because it is proper that the First Person of the Trinity, the one who is ungenerated - the source - sends the One who is his exact imprint and nature.

And it is in the Son whom the Father has sent that we who believe in Jesus have receive every spiritual blessing!

My second point is this:

Point 2: The Father has chosen to make us holy for His glory

Paul starts out in verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” and then he gives us two reasons why in this specific passage he - Paul - is blessing God the Father.

The first is it is the Father “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Normally the word “who” is simply giving us more information about the specific person that word references. Jackson, who is preaching, is moving his hands. But force of the argument here makes it so that this clause actually becomes one of the reasons why Paul blesses God. It is precisely because the Father is the one who blesses us in Christ that he is to be praised!

The second reason comes right afterwards. Verse 4, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” The words “even as” can be translated “because” and it does have that force in this situation. “Blessed be the God and Father because he has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world!”

The rest of the passage down through the end of 14 explains to us what this predestination looks like through Jesus:

Redemption through Jesus’ blood (v7a) which accomplishes

Forgiveness of our trespasses (v7b)

Making known to us the mystery of his will - that is to unite all things in Christ (v9)

Obtaining an inheritance (v11)

Being sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance (v13)

Before we go into each of these, I want us notice the purpose of all of this. God has chosen us for what purpose? Look at the end of verse 4, “that we should be holy and blameless before him.” He has chosen us not for adoption for adoption’s sake. He has chosen us not merely because the Son wanted to die on the cross and shed His blood. He predestined us not merely to lavish upon us an inheritance. Those three things are connected to the result of his choosing us. And it is to be holy before Him. The result of his choosing is our holiness.

You guys see that? God’s choosing us, adopting us, and shedding His blood for us is to make us holy.

But that’s not all. There’s an underlying purpose. After each of things God has accomplished we get a refrain.

to the praise of his glorious grace (v6a)

that we…might be to the praise of his glory (v12)

to the praise of his glory (v14b)

He has done all He’s done in Christ with the result of of making us holy and for the purpose of bringing us to praise His glory!

Friends, the reason that a Christian is to praise God for blessing us in sending us the Son to die for us is not just because we get to go to heaven when we die. I have heard countless gospel presentations and Christian discussion that gives lip service to what God has done but the focus is instead on us. On man. On how we get to go to heaven.

Our redemption, our justification, our sanctification - these big theological words that mean that we get to stand before the father and inherit everything - they’re true. But they are meant to bring us to praise Him. They are not the end in themselves. They are pointing to the gloriously merciful God!

We are called to praise God because He has done all those things through Jesus. The glorious news of the gospel is that God takes a wicked and vile sinner and transforms Him by God’s amazing power to become like the image of His Son.

And it is only through the Son that we can be called sons. As I said earlier, it is in the Son that we can be sons.

I to take a moment to make sure sure we understand concept of “Father” correctly. So many Christians have a hard time - throughout church history - praising God and relating to Him as they ought to because of poor earthly fathers. They had experienced earthly fathers that, rather than point them to the true Father of Glory, had actually become stumbling blocks for them.

Many of us have had passive fathers. Many of us have had abusive fathers. I completely understand that.

But God’s Fatherhood is not the exact same as our earthly fatherhood. Our experience of fatherhood is merely a vague reflection of the divine fatherhood.

The Fatherhood of God transcends over all creaturely limitations. It is not dependent on anything. It does not change. It is not temporal, limited to time and space. Rather, it is self-existent, infinite and eternal.

Right now, if we sit down and come up with our ideal father-son relationship that would be nothing - a pale imitation still - of the Father’s relationship to His eternal Son.

God the Father loves God the Son as the most beloved Person in the universe. We see in Hebrews 1:3 that the Son is the “radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature...” If God is the most perfect and lovely and lovable being in the universe, than it is good and true and natural that He should love Himself more intensely than anything. And if the Son is indeed the exact imprint of his nature then the Father loves the Son more than anything!

Yet, Jesus also says this in John 17:22-23:

English Standard Version Chapter 17

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me

Oh friends this is wonderful news! The love of the Father for the Son is the love He has for if you believe in Jesus Christ.

Friend, apart from Jesus you are under wrath. There is only eternal punishment awaiting you. But in Jesus, Father says “I love you as I love my Son who is the exact imprint of me! When I see you I see my Son which means I see me!” He sees the most magnificent, majestic, beautiful and perfect Being in the universe. Not because of you, but because of Jesus Christ.

I’m not saying this as some self-help, self-confidence booster. I’m saying “you’re so great!” You’re not! God is!

Salvation comes from God alone. It is God who has blessed us, it is He who has chosen us before the foundation of the world.

Look at it with me church:

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world (v4a)

he predestined us for adoption…according to the purpose of his will (v5)

according to his purpose (v9b)

having predestined according to the purpose of him (v11a)

Paul could not be clearer!

The Father is to be praised because our adoption comes from God alone. It has nothing to do with how good you are. By the sheer love and mercy of God, he has chosen Christians.

“In love he predestined us for adoption to himself.” Paul says in verse 5.

So understand, I’m not giving some ego- booster for you. We are fallen creatures deserving the wrath of God.

But, Christian, it should be of infinite comfort that God loved you with the love of the Father for the Son before your great, great, great, great grandparent was even born. Whatever struggles you’re going through right now - whatever difficulty, God loves you.

That difficult situation with your parent. The financial stress of raising a family. The car that keeps breaking down. The house that keeps needing repair. The relative with cancer. The disease wracking your own body. The deep trauma you’ve experienced and you don’t know how to let it go. The overwhelming burden of feeling alone in a world filled with people who seem to not know you.

God knows you. He has chosen you before times and space began. Before the universe came into existence by the power of His Word.

If you’re sitting here, tired and worn out and beaten by the world or your own sin that clings so tightly to your flesh, hear what God says. “I have loved you before foundation of the world. Don’t doubt my plan for you that includes every spiritual blessing in places you can’t yet even conceive of!”

Christian - your God and your Father loves you because you are united to His Son. Praise Him! Praise Him because He knows you. He sees you. He’s loves you. He’s predestined you to be his son, Christian. And it’s to the praise of glory!

Can we praise Him church?

Gospel Transition

If you’re here today and you’re wondering, “If God has predestined certain people to be adopted, then how can I be one of them? What if I was simply not chosen?”

Friend I can only say this - God works in a mysterious way. He does what it says here as “according to the purpose of his will.” We are told that secret things belong to the Lord. We don’t know His will. God has chosen to reveal certain truths us.

One of those truths is that He chose Christians before the foundation of the world. And that, friends, is meant to be a source of comfort and peace for Christians who are struggling under weight of the sins of the world we live in. It is not meant for us to divine or predict who is or is not chosen.

If you hear God’s words today and you say in your heart “I want that! I want to be a child of God! I want to know Him as Father and feel His love for me!” Don’t try to read God’s mind and see if you were chosen!

Never once in the Bible does it say for us to figure out God’s will in whether or not he has chosen us. The Bible is clear about what you need to do, Friend. And that is to repent and believe in Jesus!

Verse 7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Friend, you are a sinner. I know that that is shocking to hear because our world has decided that it just absolutely taboo to confront someone in their sin. But understand that I am a sinner. Christians are sinners. We are all sinners in need of God’s mercy!

And the Father has sent the Son to die on a cross to shed his blood so that I can turn to him for forgiveness of my sins!

A true Christian does not praise himself for being righteous. He praises God for the forgiveness of his unrighteousness in the Son dying on the cross! There is no self-righteousness here. There is only God-given righteousness!

So friend, if you are sitting here today and you do not know the love of God for you in Jesus I ask you to put your faith in Him. To put your faith in the Son who died and shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins. Not on your own righteousness. Not own goodness. The sheer mercy of a Father who has chosen a people to be His sons through His One and Only Son.

Retransition

Let’s look at verse 11. “In him we have obtained an inheritance.” As sons we will be given an inheritance. That’s how the ancient world worked. Male heirs are given an inheritance. And here, God having adopted us as sons will give us an inheritance. This inheritance is our salvation and everything that comes with that. We were created to have dominion over the world. And so at the end, when God recreates the heavens and the earth, we will reign and rule with Christ over creation. We will receive that which rightly belongs to the Son of God.

That is sheer grace and mercy. Can you think of a better reversal story? We were evil sinners who God calls “children of wrath” under the power of Satan. And God the Son died for us so that we could be adopted and redeemed. So that we would be made holy! In Christ we go from condemned to holy! And more than that, we go from a path of eternal destruction to inheriting with Christ the entire world! How can we not praise God for such a reversal?

Christian, I have sometimes gone through my days complaining and groaning about how hard I have it. Have you? I have sometimes gone about my day with a heart of grumbling. Friends, life is hard. I don’t want to dismiss that.

But we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were headed straight towards destruction! And God, in His infinite mercy and grace, has reversed your fortunes so that you literally have an unimaginable inheritance waiting for you. Look at verse 18, friends. Paul prays for them in verse 16-17 and says the he prays that God would “have the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.”

Imagine if you were in unbelievable debt. You were absolutely bankrupt and you were headed for utter financial ruin. You won’t be able to feed yourself. You won’t be able to feed your children. You’re going to be homeless.

And just out of the goodness of someone’s heart - even though you’ve stolen from them and taken their money and spat in their face - they lavish upon you goodness. They are going to leave you an inheritance you couldn’t even dream of!

What would say to that person if they went around grumbling?

We have gone from death to life. We have gone from pending destruction to the promise of eternal life! We have gone from bankruptcy to unimaginable fortunes!

PRAISE BE TO GOD!

And not only does he just promise we will receive this inheritance - He gives Himself to us to guarantee it.

Look with me at verse 13 again. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.”

The Father has not only given us all things - he has given us the Holy Spirit - God Himself, to us to guarantee that we will receive that inheritance. God desires we have confidence in our salvation.

It’s not exactly the same, but this passage reminded me of Hebrews 6:16-19. In speaking about the promise of the inheritance, he author of Hebrews says,

Hebrews 6:16–19 ESV

For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

Our Father is so gracious, so loving, so incredible that He has sworn to ensure that we have confirmation of His promises to us. He guaranteed it on Himself! He did so so that we would have, as the author of Hebrews describe, “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”

Here in our text, the God seals us with Himself to guarantee our inheritance. The Father seals us with the Holy Spirit.

Oh Christian! If you are here today and you are downcast, know that God is with you. He is in you. You were sealed with Him. Praise Him! Praise the Father for His wonderful gift of God the Holy Spirit in us.

Friend, if you are not a Christian turn to Jesus. Repent! Hear again the simple logic of verse 13, “If you hear the word of truth which is the gospel and believe in him, you will be sealed with God Himself to guarantee your inheritance!”

The gospel is the good news we’ve been talking about. It is the message that you and I are sinners. That Christ has shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins for those who believe in Him! Believe in Him and you will receive salvation! He guarantees it! And then praise Him! Praise Him for sending the Son! Praise Him for choosing us before the foundation of the world. Praise Him for His adoption of us! Praise Him for Jesus shedding His blood for our sins! Praise Him for the eternal inheritance! Praise Him for guaranteeing that with Himself in the Holy Spirit!

And we come full circle again, friends. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Praise God!

Let’s pray.

Communion

We are about to move into a time of communion by partaking of the Lord’s Supper together It is another time for us to praise God together by remember Jesus’ death for us on the cross. Our text today says that we have “redemption through his Blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

The cracker is meant to signify Jesus’ broken body for us. The juice that’s red represents His shed blood. We, together, will celebrate Jesus’ redemption of us in shedding His blood. As you look at that cup, look at the dark red color. It’ll taste sweet to our tongues. But Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane knew that the cup He would drink was not sweet. It was the cup of God’s wrath for you and I. So that we can drink a cup that is sweet! Jesus’ blood dies our robes white. Jesus’s blood turns the cup of wrath into the cup of blessing! Praise God!

Here at Echo Church we practice communion in a way that you may not be familiar with. Firstly, we ask that those who partake profess Christ. What that means is that you have placed you faith in Jesus for your righteousness. That you believe that gospel is true and it is only through Jesus that you will receive salvation.

Secondly, we ask that you partake only if you’ve gathered around other believers who hold you accountable to live out your faith. That other believers have a say in your life and can say “Hey brother or sister, I see that what you’re doing is inconsistent with your profession Christ.” And that you can do the same. At Echo we call that church membership and others call it something else. But we ask that you are in a formal environment where other believers see your life and affirm it and hold you accountable and you reciprocate that.

If those those things are true for you, we invite you to join us at the table. We’ll turn on some music and you can go ahead and take the double cup in the back table there. There will be a cracker in the bottom cup and then the juice on the top. Bring it back to your seat and we’ll celebrate the Lord’s Table together.

1 Corinthians 11:23b–24 ...the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Let’s take the bread together.

1 Corinthians 11:25–26 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Let’s take the juice together.

LET’S PRAY.