The Word and the sacrament go together. Without the sacrament, the Word by turns gradually evolves into mere lecturing, or, if it is excited, a hectoring of God’s people. On the other hand, the sacrament without the Word gradually turns to superstitious and blind observance, at the end indistinguishable from rank paganism. The two go …
Partaking
Remember there is no such thing as a nature/grace dichotomy. Nature is grace, and grace, rooted as it is in the very nature of God, is entirely natural. When we come to this table, we are certainly partaking of Christ. But we are not doing this because the table is a different kind of event, …
God Deals With Us
Observing the Lord’s Supper on a weekly basis makes it a central event in our lives. As we have said a number of times, God deals with us here, and He deals with us according to His Word, and not according to ours. If we are struggling against His work in us here, the temptation …
The Central Table
This is the Table, and it has its rightful place at the center of our lives. What we do here sets the tone for what we do at every other table. This Table is the rudder; it guides and directs all our other table fellowship. If we are hypocritical here, we will be hypocritical around …
The Rain of Bread
For those who are converted to God, the grace of God envelops everything, drives everything, and defines everything. This includes our desire to learn how to walk in His ways, which means our desire to grow and flourish in our sanctification, which means loving and understanding His law. This is a Table of grace. There …
Christ as Manna and Water
Our Jewish fathers in the wilderness were followed by Christ and were fed by Him. He was the Rock that accompanied them, and they all drank from that Rock. The apostle Paul says that this was written for us, as an example, lest any of us destroy ourselves, the same way many of them did. …
Objectively Submitting
The Table before us is set by God Himself. He invites us to it, and as we sit down with Him (in the person of the Lord Jesus), He deals with us. We cannot prevent this, we cannot manipulate it, and we cannot turn it to our own ends. This Table means what God says …
Partaking in the Covenant
The world is covenantal. This is because the God who Himself is eternally covenanted, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the Creator of this world. He could not fashion a world in which He was not the God of it, and the heavens declare His glory. In other words, the universe must display the characteristics …
For All the Saints
The Lord’s Supper was instituted by the Lord Jesus Himself the night He was betrayed. The next scriptural example of it being observed was over a month later, on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples broke bread together. In the first, Jesus was alive and physically present with His disciples. In the second, He …
Distinctions Within the Covenant
God makes distinctions between particular congregations. He does not divide the world into two great categories, the baptized and unbaptized, and treat them all accordingly. But neither does He treat everyone according to their individual status alone. It is true that everyone stands or falls at the Last Day one at a time, and God …