Our God is a God who says no to that which destroys us, but His character is not fundamentally negative. When He put our first parents in the Garden, He said yes to every tree in the Garden but one. That tree was restricted, and only for a time. It is commonly assumed by Christians …
These Are Your People
We are here primarily to eat and drink. This do, our Lord said. Now it is important for us to remember certain things as we do this, of course, but we are not here primarily to remember. We can do that without the bread and wine. We should of course be clean from all known …
The Body of Christ
When we refer to the body of Christ, there are at least three different senses in which we use the phrase. The first, of course, refers to the body which was crucified for us, was raised in the power of the Spirit, and which ascended into heaven. That body is the body of a true …
Organic Allegiance
The world is a sacramental place. By this I do not mean to say that you should be hearing some kind of spooky music everywhere you go, but rather that God has built into the world the inescapability of what might be called “rites of allegiance.” This in fact is where our word sacrament comes …
The Shrine of Endless Adolesence
More than once, a reluctant young boy at the dinner table has been exhorted to eat his lima beans, or his spinach, so that “he can grow up big like his daddy.” Growth is one of the goals that eating serves. There are many other blessings associated with eating and drinking, but growth is certainly …
Kings and Priests, Not Martinets
We have been considering this Table as a place where we, the people of God, give counsel to our Lord. In one sense, this may sound exciting, but taken another way, it should be troubling.We must never forget the Creator/creature distinction. And this means that we must never pretend that we have knowledge, or wisdom, …
Greater Matters
Last week we considered why it is important for us to be seated as we partake of the Lord’s kindness at this Table. This is the time when we, His people, sit with the Lord at Table, and when we discuss with Him the affairs of the world. He has invited us to His Table—He …
Insecure Kings and Priests
Why do we sit as we partake of the Lord’s Table? What is the point of that? Might it not seem disrespectful, as though we were taking this too casually? Wouldn’t it be more respectful to kneel, or come to the front of the church and kneel? No, we don’t believe so. There is an …
The Wine of Life
We have seen that this cup contains the wine of reconciliation. We were reconciled to God through the death of Jesus (Col.1:21-22). This is the cup of reconciliation. But the blood of Jesus is also quickening blood. Jesus said, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him …
The Cup of Reconciliation
You hear every week in the words of institution that this cup is the cup of the new covenant in the blood of Christ. What is the blood of Christ to us? In coming weeks, we will consider a number of truths concerning, but let us begin with this. This is the blood of reconciliation. …