The Presence of Christ during Communion

I owe that for all of my, my work during the year, but God is faithful. God is good, and God uses and touches clay pots. it's my pleasure this morning if I can get the next slide to talk about one of our missions trips, and that is Team Uganda. There are 4 of us that are going to be traveling, to Uganda, some of us for, 2nd and.

3rd and even 4th time the 4 people who are going are my wife Eileen, our daughter Carly, Brooke Vincent, and myself. I get the next slide. we're gonna be traveling to, near the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and we're going to be staying and looking at, primarily two schools, though, one of the things you find out about Uganda very quickly is nothing was predictable. we could end up pretty much anyplace.

There's all kinds of strange things happening. The plan right now is to work in two schools. Bethel Covenant College, and Bethel Junior School, which are, near each other, outside of Kampala. If I get the next slide, our goal this year is to continue, a work we began last year, setting up a, computer network and computer labs for the school, there.

I'm hoping this year to spend a little bit less time on technical stuff. We are adding some more laptops. another system upgrading their server and doing some other things, adding some content for them. My goal this time is to try to spend more time with the staff, one on one in groups, training them, finding out what their needs are and things of that nature, just coming alongside to help them with the technology, as much, as possible.

If I get the next slide, one of the things I found out last year, I was absolutely amazed. and how useful the technology was to them. We went last week thinking, oh, computers, and finding out they have, they have no library at schools, very few of the students have textbooks, because computer lab has been really a, a, a great help to them. for example, yesterday I was loading up software and the laptops and starting to get excited.

I was able to load one Bible study program, about 8 different Bible translations, a Bible encyclopedia, a whole bunch of other stuff. would normally be boxes full of stuff, that can now go in this really small little package, for these kids to use, for their Bible study along with all kinds of other things, encyclopedias and other things they'll be able to use. If I can get the next slide, one of our other goals in Uganda is one of the, the, the, the watchwords is. is flexibility because ministry opportunities are all over the place, and you never really get comfortable there.

you're sitting in a meeting and all of a sudden the microphone's handed to you and you find out, oh, you're answering the question, or, or you're giving a few words or somebody calls late at night and you're preaching tomorrow and. All kinds of interesting things happen while you're there it's very different than than I'm used to in our culture here where everything seems to be planned and orderly and things of that nature if I get the next slide, some things you can pray for, spiritual preparation, getting ready, for me I need to get ready for the spontaneous.

What that means is being, being ready to be spontaneous so thinking through some things to share while I'm there, the other members of the group will be working with, students, doing Bible studies, there's lots of opportunities for counseling, lots of the kids there have had difficult times, that, they need counsel. Council for, also there's still technical things to be done.

I'm very busy right now putting that together. we always need prayer for the transportation needs, making sure everything gets packaged and, everything meets the, the weight requirements, all those kinds of great, details that the airlines have cause to favor when you're over a few ounces or a few. Whatever, as we try to take things over there, we're also still in need of financial help as members of our team raise their support, we can be in prayer, for that. And one last thing if I can get the last slide, we do have a prayer card we put together, for the trip if you would like one of these prayer cards.

I think you still have some in the back and you can grab those on the way out, but we very much covet your prayers. I hope you get ready and as we're there from July 11th to July 3. OK. next, I wanna introduce to you our, associate pastor, Carlos Luciano.

If you guys are visiting for the first time or you've only been here a few times, I just want you to, to know that I'm just one of the little dogs up here. the big dog is away. Pastor Milton Vincent will be here next week to. I'm sure with you his word, but as it is, it's God wanting to speak to you this morning through me.

Please pray that I don't trip over the stuff behind me. There's a good chance that everything is gonna just fall over backwards because I like to move around and like if I can't move around, I feel very confined and I can't speak. So I pray that the Lord will help me. Let's go ahead and look to the Lord together as we pray and seek to give birth to this baby.

Let's pray. And dear Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning. Lord, we give you thanks, we give you praise, and we remember, Lord, the fact that you died for us. And Lord, as we take some time this morning to focus in on the topic that is at hand, we know that part of your intention for us to remember once again what you have done.

Father God, I do pray that you would give me clarity of mind. I pray, Father, that you would use me as an instrument of your blessing in the. Lives of your people so that ultimately what they would hear would not be me but that you would speak to their hearts. Lord, I pray that you would arrest all of our attention.

I pray for everyone, Lord, including the children. I ask Lord, for the children that you would give them much grace and help them to bear with me and help them to pay attention and help them to gain from what it is that I am about to share as we focus our attention this morning on. The Lord's supper Father God, we give this time to you again asking that you would make us just aware of your presence cause us to know that you are here with us and cause us to know that you are pleased to speak through your word as it is proclaimed and I pray again that you would help me in the proclamation of your word to my brothers and sisters for your glory.

And for our good we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

A number of years ago, I have this memory. A number of years ago I was attending the master's college working on a degree in biblical counseling and sad to say I'm still working on that degree in biblical counseling needing to finish it but nevertheless that's a different story. during one part of the program I had to be away for a couple of weeks, like two whole weeks away from my wife and away from my son at the time it was just Marcy and Andrew, and I believe Andrew was maybe 2.5 years old or 2 years old at the time, just a little guy, just a little toddler toddling around, and, just having to go to this 2 week class and being away from my family for such an extended period of time, honestly I wasn't looking forward to it.

I wasn't looking forward to it, but once I got there it was very encouraging the teaching was outstanding and I was being ministered to and God speaking to my heart and healing me in some ways and sanctifying me and just causing me to grow as a result of the instruction there but every night, needless to say I was faithful to call my wife and my son Andrew.

I wanted to speak to them every day and. Often times in the course of the day I would think about them longing to speak with them longing to talk with them well my son as well and my wife no doubt longed to hear my voice and they longed to hear me speak to them throughout the course of their day well finally the day came after a couple of weeks of being away in which I was driving home. And there's this moment of anticipate anticipation that is about to arrive and I couldn't wait to see my wife and my son and I will never forget as as I walked through the front door of my home my wife obviously was there to warmly greet me and we were happy to see each other and there were some smiles and whatnot it just felt like a relief just to be with my family once again.

And then as, as after she hugged me, I proceeded to the hallway of our house and I was standing there at one end and there from one end of the hallway I looked all the way down at the other end of the hallway and there was my little 22 year old boy just standing there, this little guy looking up at me and he got all excited and he comes he just.

just yelling and screaming comes running to me and it was as if time was standing still at the moment. It's like this, just, just running to me and I'm seeing him and I'm getting inside and I'm ready to bear down and give him a big hug and my little boy and this is my daddy and, and then, then all of a sudden about 4 ft from my feet he just stopped. He just stopped it got real quiet and he's looking up at me and I could tell that his countenance was about to totally change and he just began to cry just uncontrollably as he saw me just this this emotion overwhelmed him during that moment at which he understood just how much he had missed me.

he was longing to see daddy he was looking forward to seeing daddy and and obvious I was looking forward to seeing him likewise we should long to be at the place where we know our father's presence will be.

We should long to be at the place where the father wants to make himself known to us. We have learned over the weeks that his special presence is to be experienced, within the context of the gathering together of God's people as we gather together even now God is. Wanting to make his special presence sensed he's wanting to make his presence known to us and, and, and so, in the illustration with my son and me, he longed to be with me, he's wanting to be with me and likewise we should be the same way but there's another point there that I wanted to communicate.

It wasn't just that the son was longing to see his father, not that Andrew was longing to see me, but I too.

Looked forward to seeing my boy and our Father in heaven he longs for us to be at the place where he can bestow upon us his special presence and a special blessings. There's a sense in which the heart of God is is such that God in his heart, he wants our presence. As well it's not just a one way street there's a reciprocal thing going on here in which God longs to be with us and we ought to reciprocate that desire to be with God and so we have learned that God makes a special presence felt he wants to manifest a special presence in the context of the church and over the.

Last few weeks we have looked specifically at the topic of worship.

Pastor Mike Dick Berry, did an outstanding job dealing with the topic of worship. I just wanna add one quick thing to that. Even though he didn't focus on the singing part, he made reference to it, but just even in relationship to the singing part, listen to what the psalmist says 22:3. Yet thou art holy, O thou who art enthroned obviously he is speaking to God and what does he say about God?

He is enthroned now notice the location in which he is enthroned thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel, he sits enthroned upon the praises of his people and so by way of extension as we sing praises to God, God is pleased to make his presence felt. He is pleased to manifest his presence. To us as we sing our praises to him he is enthroned upon the praises of his people and so we dealt with the topic of worship and God's presence and worship we also dealt with the topic of God's word and the preaching of the word specifically and how God wishes to make his presence experienced in the preaching of his word.

God's word tells us that his word is living it is alive and it is active and.

Sharper than a two-edged sword, it is life giving. It is life sustaining. God wants to use his preached word in our lives to impart life to us, to imparts sanctification to us and to cause us as a result to grow. And so we should, as we anticipate the preaching of the word, be there ready to hear not just the word of God, but the God of the word speaking to us through His word.

Never forget a few years back at the Sovereign Grace Leadership Conference, a group of us care group leaders had attended this conference, and, Pastor Mike Bulmore preached a sermon, and the sermon was entitled The Functional Centrality of the Gospel. It was just right down our alley at the time and continues to be the functional centrality of the gospel, just a wonderful powerful message in which he was just preaching to us on the centrality. Of the gospel for ministry and then afterwards I was just like blown away.

I was at the edge of my seat listening to the whole thing.

I was like, man, this is so awesome. You just feel yourself being nourished as the word of God is being proclaimed. I'll never forget looking to Pastor Milton after him I was eager to talk to him. I said, Pastor Milton, I said, so, so what do you think about that?

And he looked at me with this dumb Cheshire cat grin on his face and he says, I think I just, it's, I think I just got saved. And I looked at him and I said, what, maybe you did. But anyway, you see the power of the word of God as God's faithful proclaimers are, are, are preaching the word to the people of God and the people of God hearing it and they're feeling themselves to be fed and to be nourished and to be strengthened to that is what God wants to do. Through this perhaps single most important hour of the week of your life as the word is being proclaimed and against the context of the gathering together of the people of God and so again we've learned about his presence in worship we've learned about his presence in the spoken word and this morning I want us to consider the presence of God in communion, the presence of God in communion.

Unfortunately, In my opinion you can take it or leave it but in my opinion anyway, a lot of believers fail to see the value of the Lord's supper you can see that practically demonstrated you will go to some churches in which in some churches what they do with the Lord's supper is they celebrate it maybe a couple times a year. Now I'm not saying that that is wrong, but when you juxtapose that against the practice of the early church, the early church saw some value in the Lord's Supper, whereas in contemporary churches it seems as if they don't quite see the value of the Lord's Supper, and so some churches, they do it, a couple times, maybe 4 times a year or whatever.

There are some churches that don't do it all together. And I was speaking to my sister recently who goes to another church.

It is a very good church. I would highly recommend it as a place to visit and even attend to become a member of but she was telling me as I was talking to her about what I'm gonna be preaching on she was telling me there that at this church again a very good church solid preaching and everything, she was telling me that she can't even remember. Having gone there for 3 straight years, very faithful, can't even remember doing communion, and then later on she says, what, yeah, I remember I think one time we did communion.

But that indicates to me a church that fails to value at some churches they would choose to tack communion on to the very end of their service, almost as if it's a must do a thing.

Let's, let, let's attach it, and that's what we used to do. We here at Cornerstone years back used to attach communion to the end of the service, not that we saw it as not important, but that. It does seem to indicate something about the value of communion in the context of what is going on in the church and so now you will find when we celebrate communion the first Sunday of every month when we do the Lord's supper, the Lord's Supper is placed strategically within the context of our worshiping God together as we sing gospel songs to him and celebrate him together.

And so that is a good thing in the history of this church that the gospel has indeed become more central to our approach to things I would like to confess to you.

That I, as I have thought about this topic and as I have looked back over the history of my practice as it relates to the Lord's supper, I have failed to value it in the way in which I am now believing God is wanting me to value the Lord's supper. I valued it but not anywhere close to the value with which I should place upon it. The Lord's supper is a very beautiful thing it's an awesome magnificent glorious thing that the Lord Jesus Christ asks us to do for his glory and for our good and I've just failed to see it for all of what it is and what I would like to do this morning is I want to answer the question.

Why should we highly value the Lord's ser in the times of our gathering?

Why should we highly value the Lord's supper in the times of our gathering together? And by the way, an encouraging thing about this, as I have already said, we now do the Lord's Supper, the first Sunday of the month, but we do it within the context of the overall service in the, in the worship, but we do it every Sunday when you, factor into, into, the equation, the fact that in care groups. We do the Lord's supper, so there's a sense in which those of you who are who are actively faithfully participating in the life body of this church coming to Sunday celebration going to care group, you are partaking of the bread and the cup on a weekly basis and so, that's a good thing I think about this church is that there's a real, there's a real desire to celebrate this, non-spoken gospel if you will.

So again, the question to answer why should we highly value the Lord's supper or why should we look forward.

To the Lord's s Supper. With great anticipation, please turn with me to 1 Corinthians. I want to begin by reading an extended passage before I provide you with the answers to this question, some of the answers anyway. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, beginning in verse 17.

1 Corinthians 11 beginning in verse 17. We will find many of the answers to the question contained within this passage. Verse 17 Paul has already addressed, I know head coverings. And now we are in verse 17, but in giving this instruction and of course the this that he is referring to is the this that he is about to talk about and he is about to talk about communion, but in giving this instruction I do not praise you because you come together, you come together and notice what he says.

Not for the better. Implied is the fact that when they come together, they should be coming together for the good and specifically when they come together and celebrate the Lord's supper in the times of their gathering, the result of that should be good in their lives, but he says you do not come together for the better and to add insult to injury, he says, but for the worse. And then in verse 184 as he unpacks what it is that he began in 17 verse 184 in the first place and incidentally he does not even get into in the second place, in the third place, and in the fourth place later he says in the first place, and this is essentially the thing that he zeroes in on as he speaks to the Corinthians about their bad practice of the Lord's Supper, he.

Says for in the first place when you come together as a church I hear I have heard people have told me that divisions exist among you and in part I believe it for there must also be factions among you so that those who are approved may become evident among you therefore when you meet.

Together it is not to eat the Lord's supper. What this is here is an indictment upon their coming together to have the Lord's supper. They're coming together to have the Lord's supper, and they have so perverted it to the point to where Paul is saying it is as if there's a sense in which you are really not doing the Lord's supper because you have not approached it in a worthy manner. It is not to eat the Lord's supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and the other is drunk.

There are indicators of sin and selfishness and self-centeredness going on among the believers, and Paul is wanting to take issue with them concerning their sin. What? Verse 22, do you not have houses in which to eat and drink, or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you?

Shall I praise you in this I. Will not praise you and then Paul wonderfully goes on to remind them of the thing, that they should be reminded of continuously and that is the Lord's supper and Paul is wanting to to explain to them some details as to what happened so that they could begin to get it right here verse 23 Paul says, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you.

Do this, do this in remembrance of me in the same way he took the cup also after supper saying this cup is the.

New covenant in my blood, do this, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, for as often as you drink, as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim, you announce, you herald, you preach the Lord's death. You preach his death until the day in which he comes back. You preach his death until he comes 27. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

But a man must examine himself. A man must examine himself, OK? pay attention. That a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and to drink of the cup, for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge himself rightly, no, the body rightly, you see, part of what is going on here is examine yourself and you cannot.

Examine yourself outside of the context of the body and so as as you examine yourself you are automatically examining the body because it is within the context of the body that you may potentially need to get things right examine yourself, discern the body, judge the body rightly verse 30, for this reason many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep ouch. God had visited them in discipline. But if we judged ourselves rightly we would not be judged but when we are judged we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world so then my brethren, when you come together to eat the Lord's supper, to partake of the Lord's supper, wait for one another.

If anyone is hungry, let them eat at home so that you will not come together for judgment.

The remaining things. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come so of first importance if you will is the communion which symbolizes the gospel message itself and Paul is wanting to bring that to their attention because if he can get them straightened out there he's gonna cover a lot of bases in the process so that's the text. Back to the question and the answers that I am providing for you this morning again the question why should we highly value the Lord's supper? Why should we look forward to the Lord's supper with great anticipation?

Number one, because our Lord commands us to participate in communion. Because our Lord commands us to participate in communion, again going back to the passage in verse 24, it says when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you. Do this, do this what I am doing with you, you do, do this in remembrance of me and obviously the church picked up on that. And and all the way up until the time of the Corinthian church, the church was practicing this they were obeying the Lord when he says do this they did it they were practicing communion and then by way of extension, obviously we are to continue to celebrate the Lord's supper even until the day in which he returns and then he is going to celebrate it with us and by the way Jesus looks forward to that day so again.

In the same way he took the cup after supper, saying this cup is in you come in my blood, do this, do this. So attention is being drawn to the fact that we are to do what the Lord did with them way back at the first Lord's supper. And so the answer to the first question. Or the answer, the first answer to the question why should we, value communion greatly in the times of our gathering together it's because the Lord commanded us to do it, he said to do it.

Now he doesn't just tell us to do it just to do it, but there's a reason why he wants us to celebrate the Lord's supper is because he knows it is good for you. And for me it is healthy, it is a healthy exercise. It is an exercise that he tells us to be engaged in because he knows 2 that communion brings the gospel to our immediate attention. Communion is ordained it is designed by God, by the Lord Jesus Christ as an ordinance that we are to practice.

So that we can have this unique opportunity to focus our attention on the gospel itself, communion brings the gospel to our immediate attention. Now we know anyone who has been here long enough, we've heard it 1000 times, but we'll hear it 1000 more times over the next week probably. That the gospel must be absolutely central to life and that the gospel itself is the power of God onto salvation and for us as believers if we deviate from the gospel we deviate into error and heresy and major problems and so we must maintain the gospel as being central to our life.

Life central to our belief and practice everything needs to flow from the gospel and Jesus knows that that's why he gives us this Lord's supper so that we can continuously be bringing the gospel before ourselves and in a sense preaching the gospel to ourselves as we partake of the elements during the Lord's supper.

You see, Jesus Christ loves you. He gave his body for you and he gave you a ceremony to remind you regularly of what he did for you and me. And so as we, as we eat of the bread and as we drink of the cup, as we do so we must do so being informed by the gospel and the truths that are related to the gospel itself as we partake of the elements we are to remember that there was some 2000 years ago on a hill far away a blood soaked splintery cross from which there was. Blood spilled to the ground and there upon the cross, the lamb of God was slain, brutally slain, with blood pouring from his body, from his hands and his feet, and he had nails pierced through his hands and nails pierced through his feet, and he was experiencing absolute physical agony beyond our ability to comprehend.

We are to remember when we take a communion together that this bloody Jesus on the cross did that for one reason. And that is for the glory of God, two reasons, and for my good. He did that for me. He died for me.

Why? Because I needed a substitute. I needed someone to take my place. Why?

Because as I think about communion, I must be reminded of the fact that I am sinful and deserving of judgment. I am deserving of wrath and outside of Christ, I am underneath the wrath of God. But through Christ and through his shed blood, I have been brought into a relationship with him and all of the wrath of Almighty God which should be poured out upon me and you directly is poured out upon his son so that in him we have deliverance from the guilt and power of sin, in Him we have salvation, in Him we have hope, and when we celebrate communion, when we, when we, eat that bread, the broken body, and when we drink of the cup.

Remembering the the the blood of Jesus Christ, those things should have such a profound impact on us so that when we do this stuff together it results in our good in our benefit and so that we eat and we drink blessings into ourselves, blessings that God wants us we need to remember they're at the cross of what it is that we are in Christ and I don't know about you there are times in which on my way to church I've had a rough morning.

Perhaps a little bit of tension between me and my wife for me and my kids, and occasionally there will be a time in which I've had a rough morning and I come to church and it's the first Sunday of the month and we're celebrating communion. what communion does for me? It gets me to deal with my sin. It gets me to say, oh Lord, I've messed up.

Forgive me. It gets me to remember that my sins have been atoned for. It gets me to remember the fact that all of my sin has been dealt with by Jesus at the cross. and it doesn't have to be that I remember my sin for the more maybe, maybe, maybe communion forces me to remember some sin earlier in the week in the month, even over the year.

I am convinced. That given the number of people here there's gotta be someone for whom the next time they approach communion. There are probably sins that they need to deal with that are sins that have been patterns of life for maybe a decade or more. And what communion does for you?

It forces you to deal with that and to come to the cross and to experience there at the cross freedom, freedom from the guilt, freedom from the power so that you can walk in the newness of life that is yours because of the cross. The cross reminds us of the fact that there is no condemnation, no condemnation for all of us who are in Christ Jesus. You may be burdened down with personal sin and you feel discouraged and you feel as if God has abandoned you, but based upon the authority of the word of God I can say that there is no condemnation for anyone who is in Christ there is no condemnation.

We have been brought into the kingdom of the most high God, and we are sons and daughters of the most high God, and he has poured out his spirit into our hearts, and we have a promise that the day will come in which we will see our Lord physically face to face.

And so when we partake of communion together, we are preaching this gospel to ourselves. The broken body, the spilled blood, the cross, my place was taken by him, physical sufferings and just real quick, there's the spiritual suffering that he took for us. I am amazed when I begin to think about when Jesus was on the cross and some of his last words for the first time ever in his life he cannot say Father. Because he has my sin upon his back and rather than refer to his father as father.

He has to in a sense distance himself from the one who distanced himself from him and he has to cry out my God my God why have you forsaken me? When we celebrate communion these are the things that we remember these are the things that should come to our mind and we should be profoundly blessed as a result so communion brings the gospel to our immediate attention. 3. You see, it's not just that God wants the Lord's table and the gospel that it represents to be brought to our immediate attention.

But he's also wanting to use us as we partake of the Lord's supper to proclaim the gospel to others. This is an opportunity for you and I, without saying a word to proclaim the gospel to our brothers and sisters. We get to proclaim the gospel we get to say the very same things that we were saying in relation to ourselves we get to say the same thing to our brothers and sisters and partaking of the elements I get to say without literally saying it, but in my actions I am telling you that you are forgiven if you are in Christ.

Because what does Paul say?

You proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26. When you do communion, you proclaim, you announce, you preach, you herald the gospel to your brothers and sisters. You are telling your brothers and sisters you are forgiven.

You are washed in the blood of the Lamb. You are a child of the Most High God. You are telling your brothers and sisters your sins have been atoned for the wrath has been appeased you are underneath the favor of a loving father who is committed to you and he will never leave you or forsake you isn't it awesome that he has given us this opportunity to proclaim the gospel to our brothers and sisters even in a nonverbal way. What a blessing.

As we proclaim the gospel. In this nonverbal way, no doubt there will be nonbelievers there and they may get saved as a result of our communion times together, but we're proclaiming it as I have said to other believers, and this launches me to my next point, number 4 communion serves as a celebration of our unity in Christ. And let me go ahead and say the 5th 1 and lump them together. So for communion serves as a celebration of our unity in Christ.

We are celebrating our unity in Christ when we do the Lord's Supper together. But then fifthly, communion serves as a preservation. Of our unity in Christ, we celebrate our unity and God wants to use the Lord's supper in our lives to preserve practically speaking, our unity in Christ. Listen to what Paul says in the previous chapter, 1 Corinthians 10.

Verse 16 is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ, since there is one bread. We who are many are one body. He is connecting the one bread to the fact that we are the one body.

He's making that connection. We who are the many are one body. Yes, we are many, we are individuals, we are each our own person, but yet we are one body and notice what he goes on to say for we all partake of the one bread, a reference to communion. And he uses communion as an opportunity to remind us of the fact that we are one body.

By God's grace and by his design and through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are one body. Is what Paul is saying, and we do communion together, we are reminded of the fact that we are one body. We celebrate the fact that we are one body. Before I came to Christ in 1991, I had a family.

But it was a relatively small family compared to the family I now have because I have been brought into the kingdom of God and because I am part of the family of God and I'm not just my own individual per se but I am who I am in relation to my brothers and sisters and collectively we are one body and we are to celebrate our oneness as we gather together in communion. I've got brothers and sisters in Christ. As I eat of the bread, I, I am reminded that he died for me, He died for my brothers and sisters.

I now have brothers and sisters, and in Jesus Christ we are one.

What a blessing. And that ought to be something that just stirs our excitement so that when we look forward to communion we look forward with anticipation and part of what we do, we celebrate our unity in Christ but as I said, communion also serves as a preservation of our unity. It's one thing to say, we're one in Christ. It's another thing to be one in Christ and I believe that God has given to us this beautiful ordinance in order to practically preserve the unity.

Think about what happens there with the Corinthians. What does Paul say? What does Paul say? You need to approach it in a worthy manner.

Right? You need to, to check your heart, make sure it's right, discern the body, look at the body, not just yourself but the body of Christ, the believers around you, and ask yourself, is there anything that I have done in relationship to my brothers and sisters in Christ for which I need to make reconciliation or restitution so that when I come to the Lord's table, I come in a worthy manner. Obviously our God considers our relationships to one another as of vital importance.

In fact, because some were approaching the table in an unworthy manner, what happened?

They got blasted they died, and would it be not that there would be people in our body who would die because we come to the table in an unworthy manner. If there is a relationship in your life in which you need to seek reconciliation, I would encourage you to do so before care group when you celebrate Lord's supper before next week when we celebrate it together as a as a body in the celebration service. I would encourage you if there is anything that you have between any other believer to humble yourself before almighty God and before that other man or woman or child and to seek forgiveness so that when you come to the table.

You're able to come in a worthy manner.

Perhaps you are a child, a young child, and you have disrespected mommy or daddy. And God would say to you, get your act straight. He would say to you, go to your mommy and daddy, go and tell them that you are sorry for your sins. Maybe you are a parent, you have sinned against your child, and God would say to you, go to your child and tell them, tell them that you are sorry for the ways in which you have sinned against them.

Tell them that you are sorry for the mean words. I am sorry for the way I, I hollered at you. I am sorry for the way I treated you. I'm sorry for being.

Too rough with you or maybe there's a brother or sister in Christ in this church or in another church with whom you've burned the bridge and you are not entirely innocent God would say to you, I want you to go to that person and I want you to seek reconciliation and if need be restitution as well, get yourself right so that the relationships you have with other believers are relationships so that when you come to the table and celebrate. It's not just a theoretical unity you celebrate it is a practical unity.

Jesus Christ died on the cross so that our relationships with one another could be redeemed and so when we think about the topic of the Lord's supper and why we should be motivated to partake of it, why we should eagerly desire it, as I have already said. Because it's commanded because it's an opportunity to preach the gospel to myself, it's an opportunity to proclaim the gospel to my brothers and sisters and even unsafe people who are around me and it's a means that God wants to use in our lives in order, in order that we might celebrate unity and in order that we might experience practically speaking unity in Christ.

And there's one other last and final answer to the question that I want to give to you. The Lord Jesus Christ is present. During communion. He is present during communion.

In the first service I got into this big long ordeal on the difference between transubstantiation and real presence. what? Forget about that. I don't have the time for it and you probably don't either, and you may not even wanna hear me speak about it.

You'd rather hear Pastor Mike. He's our expert here on that topic, but. Suffice it to say that the Lord is present in communion. We're not talking about physical presence.

We're not talking about, he is in the bread and he is, the bread becomes his body. No, scripture tells us that Jesus himself continues to call the wine and the bread. Wine and bread, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until I drink it with you in my kingdom. What is he calling it fruit of the the vine and what is he saying until I am with you physically present in my kingdom and so is he physically present when we take the elements together?

No, he's not. He is there spiritually. And his presence is a real presence spiritually and as we partake of the elements we literally do, eat judgment upon ourselves if we approach it in an unworthy manner, but we can eat blessings upon ourselves if we approach it in a worthy manner. He definitely is present in our times of communion together.

He is present in two ways as I've already made reference to. He is present to discipline, and you can see that in the passage we read earlier. Present to some had died. Was the Lord there?

Well, of course he was. He was actively involved in their coming to the end of the rope. And he was there present and he saw and he observed that they were coming to the table in an unworthy manner. So he was obviously present to discipline.

Did the people who come, did those people who, who, who had come to the Lord's table, were they coming to him in total faith? Were they coming to him totally understanding what it is that they were doing? Were they coming to him with a heart totally surrendered to Almighty God? No, they weren't.

Was the God there was was Christ therefore not present when they partook of the elements? No. Regardless of whether I believe it or not or what I think or what I feel, he is present in the times of our gathering and especially in the times of our taking the communion there is a special presence, no doubt that is there. He is their present.

To discipline as well as present to bless. Remember what Paul says. When you come together, it is not for the good. Obviously the implication is that they are to come together for the good, and he lands into the communion.

He lands into the Lord's supper and he focuses on that. No doubt God intends the Lord's Supper to be used in our life as instruments of his blood. He wants us to be blessed through the communion. He wants us to be blessed.

On one hand their lives were shortened, who knows? On another hand, perhaps maybe God would choose to extend to us life if you will. they're sick. On the other hand, quality of life, health.

Because they, because they're approaching the table in a worthy manner, God wants to bless. He wants a special presence to be experienced, that special presence to bless. He wants us to be cognitively aware of our great God, of our wonderful God. As we Do communion together.

Why should we eagerly anticipate the Lord's supper during the times of our gathering? Number one, our Lord commands us to participate in communion. Number 2, the Lord's Supper brings the gospel to our immediate attention. Number 3, as it is brought to our immediate attention, it is also an opportunity for us to proclaim that gospel to our brothers and sisters and even the lost.

It is an opportunity for us to proclaim the gospel. Number 4, communion serves as a celebration, a celebration of our unity. In Christ. And fifthly, it serves as a preservation of our unity.

In Christ, and then finally, as I have said. The Lord Jesus Christ is present spiritually in communion. And as I referred to before, we are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes the day will come in which he will be with us physically. And he will break the bread.

In our midst, and he will eat. Of his supper with us, but until then he says, do this in memory of me. Even as you look forward to the day in which you get to do it with me in my kingdom. Communion is a beautiful ordinance communion, the Lord's supper, the Lord's table, Eucharist, giving of thanks, any of those titles are used in the Bible to speak of what I am talking about.

Jesus instituted communion for God's glory and for our good. It is always appropriate for us to eagerly anticipate the times of our gathering. It is especially appropriate for us to eagerly anticipate those times when we gather in celebration of the Lord's supper. Final thing I wanna say.

there's times in which maybe I've worked hard all day whether it's physical work or mental work or whatever and some of those times I just, you wouldn't know it but I haven't eaten all day long and I'm feeling hungry and it's, maybe 789 o'clock at night I call, honey, what's for dinner? And she'll say, oh, I made your favorite curry chicken and what? I love curry chicken. I can get excited about that or, or, or, or maybe I hear that I get an opportunity to eat fish and chips.

Oh, I love fish and chips. I can get excited about that. I'm looking forward to the fish and chip meal. I'm looking forward to the curry chicken meal, but what?

How much more should we get excited about the communion meal, the Lord's supper. Where we can come together and as we gather in community we can partake of the the the body and of the blood metaphorically speaking of course the bread and the wine we eat these things and we drink the stuff and we we bring blessings into ourselves what how much more should we anticipate that meal. Not that I've said it, but notice they did it in community. When you come together, when you come together, when you come together for the Lord's supper, it is a community feast.

And so I would encourage you as you anticipate it. To anticipate it with joy and excitement. Some of you have never had communion, and perhaps the reason is because you've never been baptized. And it would seem legitimate to be baptized in response to God's command as an outward expression of an inward change, but once having been baptized.

Eat. And drink blessings into your soul. And I say that especially for the benefit of the little ones. Would you join me in prayer?

Our gracious heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, we thank you for the blessing of communion. We are reminded, we remember, we remember. Of who we were before. And now, who we are as a result after Christ.

And God, we give to you glory and praise. We worship you. Lord, in reference to the cross, we say thank you, Jesus. Once your enemies now we are seated at your table.

thank you Jesus. It is in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen. And all God's people said, Yeah.

Thank you, Carlos, for blessing us with. The preaching of God's word we have heard from the Lord this morning and I hope that you've been challenged in your own estimation of the Lord's table. Obviously, anything that the Lord gives to us, it must be for our good, right? If we can eat and drink judgment to ourselves, we can eat and drink blessing to ourselves.

And we are very, very thankful for this visual preaching of the gospel that we get to participate in. And we're thankful for Pastor Carlos and just laying out to us. the truths from 1 Corinthians 11 and 10, and, I just pray that every one of us would have that attitude. What is your favorite meal?

You think about what is your physical favorite meal, it's great to have a favorite meal. But spiritually, that there should be a sense which that really does well up within our hearts. My favorite meal, The Lord's Supper The Lord's Supper and one of the things that's really cool I've been thinking about lately whenever I participate in the Lord's Supper is just how the Christ says, I will not eat the bread or the vine until I eat it together with you in the kingdom and that while we are preaching the gospel to one another through the communion, we're reminding ourselves that one day we're gonna be physically in the presence of Christ again.

What a blessing that is.

Here we are that, we're enemies by nature, right? But Christ has brought us in to be children. And one day we will actually share in that supper, physically in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand together.

And just rejoice. In the gospel, this table that we get invited to.