Bread for the World

This morning we’ve considered the mission of the Father, Son, and Spirit to save the world. And this Table likewise reflects this mission. In John 6:51 Jesus says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Here we see that the salvation of the world through Jesus takes on a Eucharistic shape... The life and salvation of the world are connected to eating the flesh of Jesus. The giving of His flesh reflects the Father’s love for the world in giving His Son over to death. Jesus came to do the will of His Father and drank the cup He was given. In order to receive life and salvation from His death on the cross the world must feed upon Him. This ‘eating’ corresponds to the ‘faith’ of those who believe in His name, do not perish, and now possess everlasting life. It is that faith that you express at this Table in eating and drinking the bread and the wine. These actions symbolize your active participation in the death of Christ for as Paul says it is a communion in His body and blood. The elements do not change in substance to become such, but rather by faith we feed upon His flesh though He remains in heaven. It is through this active participation in the flesh of Christ that the Father and Son by the Spirit are now renewing and bringing life to the world. Eventually all the nations of the earth will join us at this Table as men and women, boys and girls, stream into Zion from north, south, east, and west.

Read More>>

Divisions and the Table

In the sermon we considered how the people of God are always prone to putting obstacles in the way of those who would draw near to God. Nowhere is this propensity more clearly revealed than here at this Table. Think of the ways that various churches rope off the Table and keep folks in the outer courts. If you’re too young, or mentally infirm; if you’ve not been baptized in the correct branch of the church, or are unable correctly to parse out the way in which Christ is/not present spiritually/materially in the bread and the wine, then in many, many traditions, you are not welcome at this Table. In these ways and countless others the church has kept other Christians at a distance and failed to realize the visible unity of the Church that the one loaf symbolizes. Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, baptism and communing at this Table define who is “in” and who is “out.” This is not the Table of the Reformed, or Episcopalians, or Lutherans, EO, or RC, it is the Table of the Lord. He decides who can come and who can’t. Let the unity that is manifested at this Table shape the way you view and treat your brothers and sisters in Christ both within and without this congregation and our denomination. Strengthened by the body and blood of Christ, endeavor to live peaceably with all those bought with the blood of Christ. You’ve been blessed and given grace in order that you might bless and extend grace to one another and to all men. Rejoice in the grace that you receive at this Table, but don’t keep it all to yourself!

Read More>>

Cross and Table

Well this morning we’ve seen how the way of Jesus to the cross has set down both the pattern and basis for our way of the cross. And it is this pattern and basis that we proclaim and celebrate here this morning. For as you pass the bread and proclaim, “My life for yours,” you are proclaiming your willingness to follow Christ in the way of the cross. You’re saying that even as Jesus laid down his life for you, even so you, out of love for Christ, as a result of His gospel, and in accordance with His Word, even so will lay down your life for your one another. You’re saying that just as Jesus denied Himself and took up His cross, even so will you. And yet as you pass the cup and proclaim, “Christ’s blood for your sins,” you are proclaiming your failure to do so. Only Jesus has denied Himself and taken up the way of/to the cross in perfect obedience. And it only as His blood makes you clean that you will be able to follow Him in this way. What would you give in exchange for this bread and wine?

Read More>>

Food for the Weary

This morning we considered how Jesus’ baptism thrust Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. And we saw how, in the midst of the wilderness testing, angels ministered to Him. In same way we saw how the angel of the LORD provided Elijah with bread and water to sustain him on his 40 day journey. Though the bread and wine spread before you weren’t necessarily provided by angels, they are nevertheless one way that Jesus comes to your aid. Knowing your weakness and frailty, He, in His unsearchable wisdom, provides His body and blood to sustain you in your struggle against sin. He has given His body and blood for you so that so you would know you are forgiven. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. Here at this Table we obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need because here at this Table we find Jesus and the emblems of His death for us. And the help spoken of in that verse is help in the midst of temptation. Therefore come to this Table and find grace and strength to stand and shine in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

Read More>>

Seeing, eating, drinking

In this morning’s Gospel lesson we saw a number of allusions to Exodus 24 when the glory cloud of God’s presence descended upon Mount Sinai. One of the other things we find Moses and the elders doing on the mountain in Exodus 24 is sharing a meal. Exodus 24:11 says, “So they saw God, and they ate and they drank.” This eating and drinking with God comes at the end of what some have described as a covenant renewal service very much like our own. They have already been called by God to appear before Him on Sinai, which has required their cleansing and consecration by the reading of the Book of the Covenant. They have been called, cleansed, and consecrated, and then “they saw God, and they ate and drank.” Beloved that is very same pattern that has brought you to this Table this morning. Only unlike Exodus 24 you need not remain at the base of the mountain like the people, or mid-way up like the seventy and even the priests. No, you are invited right into the middle of the glory cloud of God’s presence to eat and drink with Him. As His light has shined in your heart through the preaching of the gospel this day, He bids you come and “behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, ...being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,…by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Read More>>

Sabbath Meal

This morning we’ve seen that Jesus came to usher in an age of unending Sabbath consisting in peace and rest with God in His presence. In the sermon I made the point that this is why He performed so many healings on the Sabbath – He was enacting the peace and rest for which the Sabbath stood. I think it’s also why he spent so much time feasting. Nothing better communicates peace and rest than a meal. Remember that peace in the Bible doesn’t refer to the absence of conflict, but rather the presence of blessing. The former is shallow, even empty, but the latter is deep and full. Peace in the Bible, shalom, refers to wholeness and restoration of relationships between God and man and among mankind. When Jesus ate and drank with outcasts, He was offering them restoration, peace with God through Him. And rest in the Bible is most often connected to God’s presence. The Sabbath was the day when God drew near to His people and summoned them to rest. In the tabernacle and temple He assumed His resting place in the midst of His people. When Jesus ate and drank with His disciples at the Last Supper, they reclined and rested in the presence of God in the flesh. And this peace and rest for which the Sabbath stood and which Jesus enacted is yours in this meal. In eating and drinking this bread and wine you experience peace, wholeness and restoration both with God and with one another. Likewise in receiving this bread and wine you experience true rest with God in the presence of His Son by His Spirit. It is to this Table that your Savior beckons you to come and find rest for your souls. For here we hold up the emblems of our peace with God, the body and blood of Christ, and He remembers and renews His covenant with us. What could be more restful than knowing that you are at peace with God? So come and let us eat and drink in peace and at rest with our God! In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Read More>>

A Table of Refreshment

This morning we’ve been considering the spiritual conflict in which both Jesus and the Church are engaged. Well, in the midst of this conflict the Lord has spread this Table in the presence of our enemies in order to strengthen and renew us for this fight. In 2 Tim. 4:4 Paul terms this holy war in which we are engaged, “the good fight.” And he says that he has waged this war by faith. Elsewhere in Eph. 6:16 he singles out “the shield of faith” above the rest of the “armor of God” as being especially useful in this fight. This is because by the shield of faith “you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Well beloved this Table strengthens and renews us for battle by strengthening and renewing our faith. For here in the bread and wine our faith finds its object. Faith always has an object. We’re not to put faith in faith, even justification by faith. We’re to put our faith in Jesus Christ. And here at this Table our faith is exercised, it’s trained, to seek out its proper object. Faith is like a muscle. It must be used in order to grow strong. Well, the only way to come to this Table is to come by faith, believing in the death and resurrection of Christ for you. Even if your faith is weak or wavering, this Table has been appointed for you. Jesus says to you, “Come unto to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Are you feeling worn out and beaten down by the battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil? Then this Table is for you. Your Savior tells you He is gentle and lowly in heart and that in coming to Him you will find rest for your souls. His body was broken and His blood was shed that you might experience peace and rest in His presence. So come, feeding upon Him by faith and find this rest. And in resting, find your faith renewed.

Read More>>

The Family Table

In this morning’s sermon we considered how the gospel of the Kingdom reorders our lives by placing us in a new family. When folks come to Jesus telling him that His mother and brothers were outside, He looks at His disciples and says, “Here are My mother and brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” And likewise He looks down upon you gathered for this feast and He says, “Here are My brothers and sisters and mothers.” Having responded to the gospel of the Kingdom with the obedience of faith, you have been constituted the house and family of God. And beloved there is nothing more important to life and health of family than the family meal. In recent years countless studies have shown the family that eats together is stronger, healthier, and happier than those who allow the family meal to fall out of the family routine. And this common sense observation regarding the earthly family holds true when we consider the family of God. The table that is spread before you is our family meal. And the family that shares this meal together will be stronger, healthier, and happier than those who allow this meal to fall out of the family routine (read liturgy). Sharing a meal together is one of the most potent rituals in human life. Nothing else that we do together conveys a sense of belonging the way that a meal does. Coincidently that is why it is so utterly important that our children come to the Table with us. That’s why Jesus was always sharing meals with people. And it’s no wonder that sociologists and cultural anthropologists are finally catching up with Him. Beloved, this is your family meal. In receiving you to this Table, God the Father is saying that He accepts you as His sons and daughters through your elder brother the Lord Jesus Christ. You are his brothers and sisters and mothers! Therefore come to the Table He has spread for you!

Read More>>

Seeing Jesus

In this morning’s sermon we saw how the invitation to “come and see” Jesus is connected to Jesus’ presence, where He abides. Like the summons to follow Jesus, the invitation to “come and see” Jesus is first and foremost a challenge to be with Jesus. And beloved if we would see and be with Jesus, then this Table should be the central event of our lives. For here with the eyes of faith we see Jesus, His body broken and His blood shed. And here He has promised to be with us. For as Paul says in 1 Cor. 10:16, in partaking of this bread we commune with body of Christ. And in partaking of this cup we commune with the blood of Christ. When you and I “come and see” Jesus at this Table, we come to the place where we are seen and transformed by Jesus. It’s pretty hard to commune with the body and blood of Christ and go away unchanged. Here at this Table we are, in the words of David, searched and known and tried by God. And if there is any wicked way in us, He will root that out and lead us in the way everlasting. But you see we need not fear the searching gaze of Jesus because He not only searches and knows us, but also loves us. And the Father accepts us on the basis of His body and blood. Therefore you should rejoice to “come and see” Jesus here in the bread and wine. For these are the signs of your acceptance – the memorials of Jesus’ death for you. You belong to Him and this is the way He has appointed for you unto everlasting life. So beloved, “Come and see.” Come and be seen and transformed by your Savior. He loves you and accepts you and delights to be with you.

Read More>>

Heaven Reopened

This morning we saw how one aspect of the work of Christ involved “the reopening of heaven.” We saw how Mark connected the tearing open of the heavens with the tearing of the firmament veil in the Temple. Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the people of God are given access to the Most Holy Place in the heavenly Temple. This is perhaps the central identity and vocation that you are given by baptism. In baptism God sanctifies you, makes you holy, in other words, He makes you a priest. And under the old covenant the priests were those who could pass through the firmament veil into the Holy Place. Everybody else had to wait outside. And even then only one the priests, the High Priest, could pass through the second veil into the Most Holy Place, and that only once a year. But by the sacrificial and atoning death of Jesus, the veil is torn and heaven is reopened. This old covenant form of graded holiness is done away with and we are all constituted priests of God. That is the truth portrayed at this Table. Here, we are all brought near by the blood of Jesus to share a heavenly meal. In the covenant renewal liturgy and most fully here at this Table, heaven is reopened. Together we pass through the heavens in union with the Lord Jesus Christ and come into the presence of God. This Table is the fulfillment of your baptism. So come and feed upon the body and blood of Christ by faith. Do so knowing that His body and His blood are the means by heaven has been opened for you. And rejoice because the same God who was well pleased with His Son, is pleased with you and accepts you because of His body and blood. You belong to Him by baptism and thus He is pleased to feed you at His Table. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Read More>>

Things are not always what they appear

This morning’s Gospel lesson contains not only an epiphany, or revelation, of Jesus to the Gentiles, but also an epiphany of God’s way of working in the world. The one strand that ties the various nativity stories together is summed up by Mary in the Magnificat, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” Jesus Himself summarizes this grand reversal of fortunes with His saying, “the first will be last, and the last will be first.” What we see in these reversals, and which was prominent in our Gospel lesson this morning, is the strong element of irony in the way that God advances His purposes in the earth. The epiphany of David’s Greater Son provokes fear and plotting in Jerusalem, but joy and worship from the land of the east. And beloved we see the ritual enactment of this irony in the Table spread before us this morning. The “glorious and triumphant feast of the Lord” to which you are summoned each week would appear to many a rather inglorious and unsuccessful feast. I mean this isn’t a Table of fine choice meats and aged cheeses that we would picture on the Table of a King. And the feast is a celebration of the death and seeming defeat of the King, rather than the triumphal conquest that many of the Jews expected of their promised King. But to view the Table in this way is to miss the epiphany of God’s way of working in the world through Jesus. The simple of elements of bread and wine signify the transcendent glory of the King of kings and Lord and lords. And the death that is proclaimed by these simple elements is the means by which Jesus, “disarmed principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, [and] triumphing over them in it.” And beloved, despite all appearances to the contrary, as you feed you upon this bread and wine Christ’s victorious kingdom is advanced in your lives and throughout the earth. Despite all appearances to the contrary, this is “the glorious and triumphant feast of the Lord.”

Read More>>

How Can This Be?

This morning we considered the angel’s announcement to Mary that she would conceive and bear the Son of God, though she was a peasant virgin dwelling in the backwater town of Galilee. This announcement surprised her as it does us when we read of it. And beloved we need to recapture some of that same wonder and surprise about what takes place at this Table each and every Lord’s Day. I mean think of it. Each and every Lord’s Day the risen and exalted King of kings and Lord of lords comes to visit us in Greer, SC, tucked away in this old building in the middle of an old mill community. Each and every Lord’s Day the God of heaven and earth raises us Gentile peasants up from the ash heap of our sins and seats as princes at His Table. When I read the words of institution and call you to partake of this glorious and triumphant feast of the Lord, does this announcement ever catch you off guard? When I pray before the bread and again before the wine, thanking God that in these sacraments we receive Jesus Christ, do you ever wonder with Mary, “How can this be?” Beloved, this Table is the closest we come to experiencing what Mary experienced when she bore the Savior in her womb. For here we receive the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ into our inmost being by faith. At this Table the Holy Spirit comes upon us and the power of the Highest overshadows us enables us feed upon Christ though he remains seated at the right hand of God. Here at this Table we can rejoice with Mary for here God is with us and we are blessed among all the peoples of the earth. But you need not fear to come. For you like Noah and Mary before you, have found grace and favor in the eyes of God. He sent His Son on that first Christmas Day to save you, His people, from your sins. And He accomplished that salvation on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. So eat and drink with hearts full of joy at the wonder of your salvation. Receive here, in bread and wine, the grace that you have found in Jesus Christ.

Read More>>

Repeating the Signs

This morning we saw how all of the questions of the priests and Levites led them on an “Adventure in Missing the Point.” In all of their questions and in all of their preconceived ideas of what they were looking for, they had missed the point, they had forgotten the signs. The One who was coming after John stood in their midst and they didn’t know Him. The light was shining in the darkness and the darkness didn’t comprehend it. Well, in God’s goodness and mercy He has given us these signs, bread and wine, to keep us from missing the point. Each and every week we receive these signs of the body and blood of Christ to keep our minds and hearts focused upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. Week after week the light and life of men and the world shines in our darkness and gives us His body broken and His blood shed so that our eyes will be opened to Him. This is of course the tragedy of the contemporary church, which has removed these signs from their place in the weekly liturgy to a once a month, or once a quarter observance. Is it any wonder that the Church has by and large lost her way? We need to have Jesus Christ front and center. This is again part of the beauty and utility of the Christian Year, rehearsing the story of Jesus Christ year after year, and it is surely the blessing of weekly communion, receiving the signs of Jesus Christ week after week. In eating this bread and drinking this wine by faith alone in Christ alone you will be kept from missing the point, from missing the presence of Christ in your life. So come eat and drink for you belong to Him and He delights in you! In His goodness and grace He has given you these signs that in receiving them, you might receive Him, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Read More>>

Better Than Money Can Buy

This morning we’ve seen that Mark presents the First Advent of Christ as the inauguration of a New Exodus. This New Exodus is described throughout Isaiah 40-55. Interestingly, this section concludes with a call to come and eat. It is actually the call that we are currently using at the beginning of our service following the seasonal scripture sentence, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price…Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.” Just as God brought Israel out of Egypt “to hold a feast” with Him at Sinai; even so the new exodus that He accomplishes by the cross is to culminate in a feast on the heavenly mountain. Ultimately, these verses are the call of the gospel. But, then again, what is the Table spread before, but the gospel in tangible form? You see eating and drinking are actions that depict so well what it means to receive the gospel. It is not enough to know what food and drink are, or even to agree that they are necessary for sustaining life. If you don’t actually eat and drink, you’ll starve, or die of thirst! Even so it’s not enough to know about Christ, or even to agree that He is the Lord and Savior of the world – the devil does all that. If you don’t feed upon Him by faith, if you’re not nourished and strengthened by His Body and Blood, you’ll perish in your sins, or your faith will be choked out by the cares of this world! Eating and drinking also depict so well the fruit of the gospel. Eating what is good brings delight. Later on in Isaiah, just before he describes the New Jerusalem, we read this, “Behold, My servants shall eat…drink…rejoice…[and] sing for joy of heart.” Beloved, the Table spread before you is nothing more or less than the gospel. As you eat and drink by faith in the death of Christ for you, rejoice and sing for joy of heart! This meal, this gospel, is more valuable than money can buy; it must be received as a gift of God’s grace. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Read More>>

A Table of the Kingdom

In this morning’s sermon we considered Jesus’ coming in judgment upon Jerusalem in AD 70 as well as His coming again on the Last Day. And both of these comings inform our celebration of this Table. For, of course, we gathered here on the Day of the Lord in the New Jerusalem to proclaim the death of our Lord until He comes again. You are seated here in the kingdom of God as a result of Christ’s shaking of the heavens and earth and sending of His messengers to call His chosen ones from the four corners of the earth. In Luke 13 we read of how Jesus was going through the cities and villages of Israel telling them to enter the kingdom through the narrow gate. Then he describes a scene of judgment where Israel sees, “Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God…They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom.” This is the kingdom that Luke later describes in this way, “And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kindgom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (22:29-30). You see your presence at this Table is an exercise of Christ’s kingly authority and indicates that you share in that authority. You are the kings and queens, the princes and princesses, of the new creation. In putting all things under the feet of Christ, beginning with Jerusalem and Rome, he is putting all things under your feet as well, as Paul said to the Romans, “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Elsewhere Paul writes that God has made Christ “to be head over all things for the Church” (Eph. 1:22). “For all things are yours,” writes Paul, “whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come – all are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21-22). And each and every Lord’s Day this truth is enacted at this Table. Here, you eat and drink in the presence of, and the certain hope of victory over, your enemies. Here, you proclaim the victorious death of the King of heaven and earth until He comes again to deliver the kingdom to the Father. Rejoice, the Lord is King!

Read More>>

A Table of Unity

In this morning’s sermon we caught a glimpse of the wonderful diversity that characterized the earliest church: Slave and free; Jew and Gentile; prominent and obscure. God integrated folks from such divergent backgrounds into one body, the Body of Christ. And He continues to work in this way today. As you look around this assembly you see a similar diversity, crossing the spectrum of class, gender, and geography. How is this possible? God weaves together this rich tapestry by the power of His Holy Spirit blessing the proclamation of the gospel of His Son. But how are men, women, boys, and girls from such divergent backgrounds formed truly to live as one body? You can perhaps see how He gets us in the door, calling us out of our divergent backgrounds to a common faith in Jesus Christ. But how is this common faith maintained? Well, for the early church the single most unifying practice that nurtured their common faith was their common worship. When folks from such divergent backgrounds gathered perhaps daily, but at least weekly to devote themselves to the means of grace: the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, the breaking of the bread and the prayers, God was at work by His Spirit forming them into one body. And the pinnacle, the climax, of these daily and later, weekly gatherings was the Eucharistic feast; the feast spread before you this morning. So sacred was this feast that in the early church they actually dismissed all visitors and catechumens from the service before the meal. They did this believing the words of Paul, “For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” It is here at this Table that our unity in diversity is most clearly seen. Come then and join in the communion of the saints in eating this common meal. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Read More>>

For the Life of the World

In this morning’s sermon I argued that we begin to correct our posture towards the world by participating in the service of covenant renewal. This is preeminently true as we come to the Table each week. For in offering the ‘creatures’ of bread and wine to God, we are symbolically offering the world to God. Just as Israel was God’s priestly nation and thus worshipped on behalf of the world, even so do we. Under the OC this was given clearest expression in the Feast of Booths wherein 70 bulls were offered, one for each of the nations listed in Gen. 10. For us this priestly calling is fulfilled most clearly in the offertory and prayers of intercession. In this movement of the service we are bringing the world to God and wrestling with God in prayer for her life and redemption. Which brings us to this moment, when we are seated to keep the feast. Yet, even in feasting the life of the world is in view. For in a moment I will break the bread that Jesus described as, “My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” And in feeding upon the bread of life you are being transformed so to live for the life of world; to give your own bodies as broken bread in service for the life of the world. In this light I encourage you to allow this Table to transform the tables in your homes. One of the central occasions that Christ redeemed during his earthly ministry was mealtime. It seems that Christ never passed up an opportunity to eat with “outsiders.” Thus it was around the table, as well as in the streets, that gracious words fell from lips of our Savior. These no doubt proved to be opportune times for Christ to demonstrate wisdom, grace, and wit in answering the questions of tax collectors and sinners. Consider how you might open your lives/homes, to those around you and receive them to your table with the same grace that God receives you to His. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

Read More>>

Eat and Drink for God Accepts You!

In this morning’s sermon we saw how the future judgment according to works serves as reason for us conduct our lives in the fear of the LORD. This judgment of the Last Day is of course anticipated on the cross, but also each and every Lord’s Day as we are summoned to appear before God for evaluation. In this sense every Lord’s Day is an arrival of the Day of the Lord and prepares us for that great day. We recognize this at the beginning of the service when we confess our sins and receive God’s cleansing grace. Thus we confess that we begin in grace being justified apart from works. Yet the Christian life and CRW doesn’t end there. For having been consecrated by the Word of God, read, sung, and preached, we then respond by offering the fruit of hands, our works, ourselves, to God in the tithes and offerings. And the Lord graciously receives our faithful work in union with the perfect sacrifice of His Son. These are the sacrifices that Paul describes as “a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.” In this we confess our faith in a future aspect of our justification that includes our works as the demonstration of the faith with which we began. Now what does all this have to do with the Table? Well, Solomon has told us that this matter of God accepting our works affects our eating and drinking. In Eccl. 9:7 he writes, “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.” We come to this Table with joy and merriment of heart celebrating God’s acceptance of us in Jesus Christ. And Solomon continues, “Let your clothing always be white, and let your head lack no oil.” It is in this way that you come to the Table: clothed in the righteousness of Christ, anointed by the Spirit, with joy and merriment, for God has accepted your works!

Read More>>

The Culture and Discipline of the Table

This morning we considered the calling of fathers to nurture their children in the training and discipline of the Lord. We saw that this training and discipline requires the enculturation of our children into the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christ as well as administering the discipline of Christ. This is primarily the task of fathers, but it is also the calling of the Church. The Church has been given the commission to disciple the nations and this discipleship begins with baptism. Thus at baptism our children join us in the discipleship program of the Christian church. This program, administered through the officers of the church, likewise aims to establish a Christian culture and discipline. And this Table stands at the center of this culture and discipline. Here, at this Table, Christ trains us in truth, goodness, and beauty. Here we feast together in the beauty of holiness with the songs of Zion upon our lips. Here, the goodness of God is lavished upon us in the rich provision of the body and blood of Christ for our salvation. Here, by faith, we feed upon Christ who is the Truth. And so feeding upon Christ we are transformed to be a true, good, and beautiful people. Our senses are attuned to perceive that which is truly good and beautiful in everyday life: self-giving service, peace and unity among the Body of Christ, the simple joys of feasting together. This Table also administers the discipline of Christ for it is to the Church, not fathers, that Christ committed the keys of the kingdom. To be cut off from this Table is to be subjected to the discipline of Christ so as to be taught not to blaspheme. And in coming to the Table Christ deals with us, training us to more truly reflect His likeness in our relationships with one another. Here then, at this Table, we are gathered as the children of God to receive His fatherly care. Let us embrace this culture and discipline with joy and gladness.

Read More>>

A Table for Children

In this morning’s sermon we saw that the obedience of children to their parents is founded upon God’s covenant with us. And this covenant likewise provides the ground for the presence of our children at the Table. God has told us that His kingdom belongs to such as these. He makes nursing babes and squirmy toddlers examples of the faith with which all of His people are to approach Him. And it is that same childlike faith that we express at this Table. God claims us as His children by baptism and grants us access to this Table where He nurses us unto everlasting life. It is here in the assembly of God’s people for the ministry of Word and Sacrament that you express your longing for the pure milk of the Word and taste and see that the Lord is good. This Table reminds us that we are all children of God, utterly dependent upon our Father to feed us, nourish and strengthen us. Here all of our eyes wait upon God to give us heavenly food, to open His hand and fill us with good things, to send forth His Spirit and renew us. And though He intends for all of us to mature in our faith, for our faith to deepen and strengthen, yet we never get beyond this Table. Indeed, the maintenance of this childlike, receptive, trusting faith is critical for our growth in grace. It is when we think we’re beyond a childlike trust in the gospel that we get off track in the Christian life. You never get beyond the need to be fed by God at His Table. In His grace, God has provided this weekly reminder that we are all children of God and all alike stand in need of His grace. Come, then, as babes longing for the pure milk of God’s grace and taste and see that He is good!

Read More>>