We too often want convenience store holiness. We are impatient with our sins in the wrong way, meaning that we want and demand quick fixes for our problems. We want a holiness that will straighten out the pressing problems we have created for ourselves, and we want that holiness shrink-wrapped, hanging on a rack on …
Service in the Supper
The Lord Jesus, as He established the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, taught His disciples about another kind of authority, one that does not depend upon who shall be reputed the greatest. He also taught that it did not depend upon how people might flatter the one who holds to carnal power – when someone …
Meeting At the Appointed Place
When God feeds His people He uses means. These means are called means of grace. They do not bring grace to you the way a bucket carries water, but they are means of grace. So what does this mean? The biblical formula is that God saves and sanctifies us by grace through faith. Different wings …
Bread Baked in Heaven
As the Lord broke open the bread of life, and as He gave the cup of the new testament, He went on to say that the hand of the one who was to betray Him was resting on the same table. He went on to say that the Son of man was going just as …
The Table of Acceptance
We are a conservative church. We believe the Bible. We hold to the tenets of the Reformed faith, and we have no patience with the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which God also hates. With all this being the case, this meal could easily turn into a banquet of self-congratulation. But it is a meal for …
Rejoicing in Forgiveness
As His passion drew near, the Lord told His disciples that He desired to eat the Passover with them, but He said this in a way that emphasized that desire strongly. He said, “With desire I have desired . . .” As far as it goes, it is good that we have an accurate view …
Relief and Anguish
We know that this is a covenantal Table. The cup is explicitly called the cup of the new covenant. But covenants have sanctions; when the covenants of God are abused by faithless men, He does not just sit idly by. At Corinth, Paul explains that some there were sick and some had even died because …
The Eucharistic Gift of Thanks
The goodness of God is seen everywhere, and in everything, but it is particularly evident in the gift of food. One of our customs is to “say grace” every time we partake of a meal, and this is actually a very sound tradition. The Bible doesn’t command it anywhere, but it is truly a devout …
Nevertheless
Jesus told His disciples that the cup of the Lord’s Supper was the new testament in His blood. But later, in the Garden, when He agonized over His fast approaching death, He prayed that the cup would pass from Him. He was in such agony over this that His sweat was like blood, falling down …
Now Wash Up First
When we assemble at this Table we are doing more than simply gathering to be nourished—although that is right at the center of what we do. We also are showing the world where we gather to be nourished. When a bunch of kids are playing in the neighborhood on a summer afternoon, imagine five or …