A SEAT AT THE TABLE

INTRO

When I get invited over to someone’s home for dinner...

Picky eater

House rules [shoes at the door/keep shoes on]

“Make yourself at home...”

Ultimately, we end up around the table sharing the meal.

Have you ever been welcomed by someone in such a way it almost felt like you could never repay the visit?

TRANSITION: Welcomes are meant to be received

COMMUNION

What is it and why does it matter to the Church?

[SLIDE] COMMUNION IS NOT JUST SOMETHING WE RECEIVE, IT IS WHAT WE WERE CREATED TO BE.

Communion is a Sacrament (Holy Mystery)

The mystery is not in the bread and the cup.

Mosaics: explain what they are.

The mystery is in the mosaic that is set before us at this table.

TRANSITION: The story of Communion is a mosaic and it matters that we see the picture.

READ LUKE 22:7-8,14-20 NLT

DO “THIS” IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME

CONTEXT: JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES ARE EATING THE PASSOVER MEAL

vs 15 is the key for us to see the mosaic before us.

WHAT WAS PASSOVER?

Exodus 12 if you want to read about it.

STORY RECAP: Passover is a feast that God instructed Israel to take to commemorate when God personally freed His people from slavery in Egypt to bring them into His presence, the promised land.

THE MEAL IS A PICTURE OF THE EXODUS.

Israel had eaten this meal every year since the Exodus.

Jesus draws attention to two of the items on the table: Bread and Wine

THE BREAD OF AFFLICTION: it represented their bondage in Egypt.

The Cup of Wine was representative of the blood of the lamb.

There are today 4 cups, each with a name: Sanctification, Plagues, Blessing, Praise

Jesus says this about The Bread and The Cup: This is my body. This cup is the new covenant between God and His people, this is my blood.

[SLIDE] JESUS IS THE FINAL PIECE OF THE MOSAIC MEAL THAT REVEALS ITS PURPOSE.

THE MEAL HAD ALWAYS BEEN A PICTURE OF JESUS.

[SLIDE] COMMUNION IS NOT JUST SOMETHING WE RECEIVE, IT IS WHAT WE WERE CREATED TO BE.

THE TABLE: COMMUNION IS ABOUT SACRED ASSEMBLY

[SLIDE] GOD WAS NOT MOVING HIS PEOPLE FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, BUT RATHER FROM ONE SPACE TO ANOTHER.

THE EXODUS TAKES US BACK TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN

There, humanity was created and PLACED into SACRED SPACE (The Garden, God’s Presence).

But because of our trespass or our sin, we were displaced. We were moved to a different SPACE because we were no longer content with “eating” only what God had provided.

Remember where we started about being invited into someone’s home?

It PLEASED God to put us in SACRED SPACE with Him. This is what God has created us for.

OUR BIG PROBLEM

How then could we get back to that SACRED SPACE where we live and eat only what God is providing?

These feasts were meant to prepare Israel for SACRED SPACE. But notice something in this passage:

READ LEVITICUS

Leviticus 22:31-33; 23:1-2 (LXX)

Now keep carefully my commandments and do them. And you will not profane the holy name, and I will be reverenced as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. I am the Lord, who sanctifies you, the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to be your God; I am the Lord.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, The festivals of the Lord, which you will call sacred assemblies, these are my festivals.

“I am the Lord, who sanctifies you...”

Sanctification is synonymous with being made holy.

God is the only One who invites us and makes us able to be in SACRED SPACE. Not the meal.

Adam and Eve didn’t wander into the Garden. God put them there.

The Passover was a feast unto the Lord. It was a specific meal, marking a specific event, that was intended to be eaten in God’s presence.

WHAT DOES COMMUNION MEAN FOR US TODAY?

We call it communion because at this table we are united with Jesus Christ.

This table is a picture of our already but not fully yet reunion into Sacred Space.

The bread that once was our bondage and our sin is now broken in His body which is now our freedom

The Cup is no longer the blood of a lamb that had to be slain every year. It is His blood that was shed once and for all.

The Cup has more to see: Remember there are 4 cups at the Passover. Jesus mentions at the 3rd cup that this was the new covenant between God and His people. The Cup of Blessing.

[SLIDE] THE NEW COVENANT IS NOT A DIFFERENT TABLE, IT IS A BIGGER TABLE.

THE FIRST COVENANT WAS WITH ABRAHAM

Abraham- through you ALL nations will be BLESSED.

[SLIDE] COMMUNION IS A PICTURE OF HOW WE HAVE BEEN INVITED BACK INTO SACRED SPACE.

ADMONITION

1 Corinthians 11:17–32 (NLT) [WILL NOT READ. ONLY REFERENCE]

Paul warns about taking Communion in an unworthy manner

Speak Freely about the division in the Church and selfish or apathetic habits in the Church.

Think about who was seated at the table at The Lord’s Supper [KEYS OUT]

The invitation to this table is for everyone but you must come empty-handed.

READ 1 CORINTHIANS 10:16-17 NLT

ILLUSTRATE “ONE LOAF”

Give Instructions for Communion

Reconcile first to God, then to others, then come to the table and receive while the song is played.

[SLIDE] COMMUNION IS NOT JUST SOMETHING WE RECEIVE, IT IS WHAT WE WERE CREATED TO BE.

[SONG] GRATITUDE

FINAL ENCOURAGEMENT

[SLIDE] COMMUNION IS NOT JUST SOMETHING WE RECEIVE, IT IS WHAT WE WERE CREATED TO BE.

READ 1 Peter 2:9 NLT

The priests served on behalf of the people before God.

They were a picture of who we were created to be.

They ate in the tabernacle and the temple in God’s presence, and you are called to this same position through Jesus Christ.

Live a life that tells the story of this bigger table.

May your life be united with Jesus in His suffering so that we may know Him in His resurrection life.