Jesus 101 Bible Study

OK, maybe you don't want to be in a group where everyone seems to know more about the Bible than you do. But you are really intrigued by Jesus, and want to know more about him. And you wish there was a group where you felt comfortable being yourself and raising your questions. The "Jesus 101" Bible Study that meets on Sunday mornings at 9:30 in the Youth Building is designed for you. There is no preparation needed, and it's never too late to start the study. Just bring your Bible, a cup of coffee, and come.

"Christ is Risen! So Why Do We Have to Wait?" Sermon

CHRIST IS RISEN! SO WHY DO WE HAVE TO WAIT?
Sermon by Judy Turner

For the last month, we have been on a journey as disciples of Jesus. During Holy Week we remembered the events of the last week of our Savior and leader’s life. Like Peter, John, and Mary we stood at the foot of the cross and could not take in the horror of the death of our Lord. We shared their sorrow as they laid Him in the tomb, and felt the death of hope. Easter Sunday we shared their amazement at news too good to be true. “He is risen?” How could that be? But we heard His beloved voice again, saw Him with our own eyes, our Lord was here with us again! And now, several Sundays after Easter, we continue the journey with those first disciples as gradually the reality sinks in. This is no illusion; Jesus is truly alive again. We are now in the period of 40 days when in His resurrected body the Lord Jesus continued to be with his disciples. What did he do during those 40 days? Luke tells us: He gave them instructions through the Holy Spirit, He spoke to them about the Kingdom of God. He gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.
Acts 1:1-8
1In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." 6So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

WAITING CAN BE HARD
Luke may remember this occasion particularly, because Jesus said to wait, and (I can imagine) that seemed so counterintuitive. I can imagine the disciples were fired up and ready to go and change the world! But Jesus said to wait. And maybe as we’re on this journey with them, we feel puzzled, frustrated, and agitated. Why wait? How do we feel about waiting? Do you enjoy a nice, long wait? What about the long wait in the doctor’s office or in line at Wal Mart?

If you’re like me, we aren’t very good even at little waits in daily life. But there are much more serious kinds of waiting in our lives as Christians. There’s the waiting of a single person who longs for a life companion, there’s the waiting of a childless couple, but prayers seem to go unanswered. There’s the unemployed person waiting for a job, the waiting of a spouse that’s trapped in a hurting marriage that never seems to change. There’s the person struggling with an addiction, crying out to God to just take it away, but each day the battle continues. Or, maybe like the disciples after Easter, we are eager to do something significant for God, we feel a passion to do a particular work for God, but the door doesn’t seem to open. “You’ve called me to do this. You’ve put it in my heart. How long will I have to wait?” We get stressed and distressed with waiting. We ask, “Why does God make us wait? If God can do anything and He’s all loving, why doesn’t He bring us relief and give us answers NOW? Why doesn’t He open the doors and use me NOW?

WHY DO WE WAIT?
God Changes our Focus
Often, God does something in us as we wait that is as important as the answer or opening we are waiting for. While we’re waiting, God may refocus us from “The Kingdom of me” to “The Kingdom of God. Jesus started His ministry with a stunning announcement of good news, “The Kingdom of God is at hand, here, in your midst. The Kingdom is the reality of a loving God in charge, fulfilling His good purposes. And Jesus says that by following Him you can step into that reality here and now. You can experience a life of intimacy and interaction with God. It is available to you. The disciples didn’t get it, even after hearing Jesus teach about the Kingdom of God and demonstrate it for 3 years! The disciples say to the resurrected Jesus, “Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” They want to return to the glory of the past. They need the Holy Spirit to give them understanding and change their focus. We can’t be too hard on the disciples. Sometimes, instead of being willing to move with faith and hope to face the challenges of our mission field today, we would really rather go back to the comfortable church of 1952. But it’s not about us and what makes us comfortable! God has to change our focus from the “Kingdom of me” or “The Kingdom of us” before we can truly be of service to the Kingdom of God.

God Changes Our Character
In our waiting times, God may be changing our focus. Sometimes, in our waiting, God changes our character, so we can truly do His work in His way. We hear a lot about trusting God. But how much can God trust us? We want to be able to pray and see prayers miraculously answered. We want to give our time and effort to doing great things for God. But what if God did pour out His power in our lives? Could He trust us to use that power rightly? I heard a young man named Steve share his story of a dream of planting a church. He felt called to that work of God. He had a passion for it. He targeted an area with lots of unchurched people. He worked his tail off. He reached some people and they started worshipping together, but the people didn’t stick. After several years of hard work and sacrifice, he had to close down the project. Steve cried out to God in his sense of failure and anger, “Why did you let me down?” “My son”, he heard in his spirit, “This was never my project. I’m crazy about you, but I’m not crazy about your pride.” Through what seemed like failure, God worked in Steve, developing in him the character of Christ, listening and obedient to the Father’s direction. God is crazy about you. You are one in whom Christ dwells and delights. But is there something in your life God isn’t crazy about? God want to do a work in you, so He can work more effectively through you? After several years of waiting, the Lord opened a door for Steve to plant a church, which is thriving.

HOW DO WE WAIT?
Practice of the 9 Ways
So, how do we wait? Do we sit and watch tv until God does something? Biblical waiting is not passively sitting and doing nothing. The disciples, told to wait, went to Jerusalem and “joined together constantly in prayer,” or another translation says, “they devoted themselves to prayer.” Can you imagine what might happen if we DEVOTED ourselves to prayer? The 9 ways are a way of life, and a roadmap for “waiting times” in our lives. When we wait, we actively practice the 9 Ways.
And we make daily decisions to trust and to hope.

Daily Decisions to Trust and to Hope
John Ortberg says, “ Waiting on the Lord is a confident, disciplined, expectant, active, sometimes painful clinging to God. Waiting on the Lord is the continual, daily decision to say, “God, I will trust you and I will obey you even through the circumstances of my life are not turning out the way I want them to, and they may never turn out the way I want them to. I’m betting everything on you, God, and there is no plan B. “ We wait with hope. Hope is the continual, steady expectation of good from God. We don’t know how God is going to work, but we wait expecting something really good, because God is loving goodness. That is His character. We choose to believe that God is always at work for our good, even if it seems that nothing good is happening. When we continually make these choices, we grow in our intimacy with God and we become people He can trust to do His work in His way.
WHEN GOD SAYS, “GO”

To our hopes and dreams sometimes God says, “No”, sometimes God says, “Wait”, and at some point, God says, “Go!” There comes a time when God moves. God acts. On the Day of Pentecost, God said, “Let’s go.” And the disciples received power: intellectual power, wisdom and knowledge; spiritual power, great faith to do impossible things as miracles of the Spirit; emotional power to deeply love one another and the people of the world; physical power, strength and endurance beyond their human capacity. The disciple received power and became Jesus’ witnesses, to the ends of the earth.

John and I have shared our story of how we got to this area. For over 20 years we had the dream, the passion, for mentoring spiritual leaders for Christ’s mission. We tried to move forward, but doors did not open. But in 2004, God said, “It’s time. Take some big steps of faith.” Our first response was, “Yikes!” As we took those steps, God miraculously provided the means, the place, the people. It is not to our credit that we took those steps of faith. We did it afraid, and were only able to do it because the Holy Spirit had more of us than at any time before in our lives. God had worked within us through those long years of waiting. We now look back and say, “God’s timing is perfect.” We weren’t ready to walk this walk of faith before now.
Easter Sunday I had a profound experience of gratitude for our journey of faith. As the service opened, Dawson and John stepped into the baptistry. Then Scott, our youth pastor, baptized Corey, Zach, and Trevor. These 4 young men on Easter Sunday were claiming the Christ who first claimed them, and setting the direction of the rest of their lives as a followers of Jesus. And I thought, “Oh God, thank you. I wouldn’t have missed this moment for anything! Thank you for putting your dream in our hearts 20 years ago. And when it was your time, you gave us the faith and courage to go. Oh God, there is nothing so satisfying as knowing you and doing your work.”

WHAT IS YOUR NEXT STEP?
God is always inviting us to take the next step in this journey of drawing closer to Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and doing the work of Jesus. What is your next step? Are you willing to put your hand in the hand of God and say, “Let’s go?”

FCC Youth Share God's Love on the Square

Andrew, a FCC Hero

Saturday our church had a booth at the Flower and Garden Show. We raised some money for the Youth Fund, but more importantly, we shared the love of God in some practical ways. Kari, Emily, Elizabeth, Abby, Dawson, Andrew, and Genesis spent their day giving out free seeds with a message of God's love. When the storm blew hard and people were frantically trying to get things put up, they spontaneously helped. Talk about putting the love of God into action!

Uncle Edgar is Bewitched, Bothered, & Bewildered!

Uncle Edgar is betwitched, bothered, and bewildered. He has in his possession a lot of tubes, valves, spigots, and widgets that, when all connected up, will be an irrigation system for the Community Garden. But dang! He doesn't trust himself--or the profoundly dim Labor working for him--to put it all together properly. So:

If you know how all these things come together please tell Edgar--or the dim Labor working for him--how to do it. No work required, just advice and time to supervise. Contact Dan at your convenience next week. Thank You!

“Everything Written About Me…Must Be Fulfilled”

Luke 24:36-53

We pick up today’s reading following the Emmaus Road story which we considered last week: 36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.

What are we to learn from this? At the very least we should note that Jesus wanted his disciples to know and Luke wants us to know that the patterns for Jesus’ life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ongoing Lordship were set forth in the Old Testament. Let me repeat: the patterns for Jesus’ life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ongoing Lordship were set forth in the Old Testament.

I was taught in seminary that the Five Books of Moses were actually pasted together from at least four competing and contradictory documents, all written long after the time of Moses. I was also taught that the book of Isaiah was written over parts of four centuries by at least three authors, known as First, Second, and Third Isaiah. No book of the Bible emerged unscathed from the treatment of my professors.

For most of them, their basic belief was that real divine inspiration was impossible, that anything in the Bible which seemed to prophesy something that happened later had actually been written after the prophesied event took place and then fictionally projected back into the past so that it would appear to have prophesied what was already known to have happened by the time it was written.

When Luke reports that Jesus says that the patterns of his life, ministry, death, and resurrection were set forth in the Old Testament and we contrast that to what I was taught in seminary, we have a dilemma. We must make a choice. Either Luke was lying or just plain wrong that Jesus said such a thing, or Jesus was lying or just plain wrong that the Old Testament set forth the patterns of his redeeming work, or my seminary professors were lying or just plain wrong that predictive prophecy is impossible. Guess whom I think to be most likely lying or just plain wrong. Let’s see, Jesus, the apostles, or my professors? Fortunately, we have a way of testing this. We can carefully read the Old Testament.

1. No sensible person claims that the Old Testament was written after the time of Jesus. Conservatives and liberals, skeptics and believers, all agree that the Old Testament writings were completed well before the first century A.D. The evidence is indisputably solid.

2. Many hundreds of passages in the Old Testament foreshadow some aspect of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, or resurrection. Taken together, they give a rich picture of what Jesus actually did. While he could have intentionally fulfilled a few of them, many required the miraculous powers of a Sovereign God, and others happened to Jesus in ways that he could not humanly control. We are compelled to conclude that predictive prophecy happened and that the Old Testament foretells many details of Jesus’ redemptive work.

3. The body of Old Testament passages that foretell the life of Christ are so numerous, they come from so many parts of the Old Testament, and their fulfillment is demonstrated in so many strands of the New Testament, that a serious and open-minded student can only conclude that a Higher Intelligence is behind the writing of the whole Bible and that the Bible is indeed the inspired word of God.

4. I am delighted to tell you that, despite the impression you might get from news magazines and so-called educational television, despite what some intellectually lazy seminary professors are still teaching, many faithful Bible scholars are doing the hard, disciplined, detailed work on which the foundation for firm faith can be built. I believe that there has never been a time when more advances have been made in recovering and defending the faith of the Bible than in the last four decades. The real and solid work moves in a quite different direction from what gets the attention of our information media.

We live in an exciting time for Bible scholarship in which Bible—believing scholars are making great and far-reaching discoveries that help us see and explain the great truths of the inspired Scriptures, truths that affirm the authenticity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They do this not by reading their own views into Scripture. They do it by rigorous study of the original, inspired writings, uncovering the truths that have been there all along just waiting to be noticed. A large number of Bible-believing scholars are now doing research that beats the socks off the old skeptical theories. Let me mention two of the many:

First, John Sailhamer, who teaches at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California, has made a career of showing how deeply imbedded prophecies of the Christ are in the Five Books of Moses and in the rest of the Old Testament. I am not prepared to summarize Sailhamer’s rich and complex work in this sermon, but let me list out of my own head ten of the many things about Christ and his gospel that were anticipated in the Five Books of Moses:

1. Genesis 1 shows that human beings were created in the image of God so that they could represent God’s nature and purposes through their dominion over the earth and its creatures, preparing us to see that Christ came to restore the image of God in us.

2. Genesis 2 and 3 show that human beings were created for intimate and restful relationship with God, a state of perfect blessing in which they can hear and obey God, preparing us to see that Christ came as the presence of God and as the One who sends the Holy Spirit to live within his followers.

3. Genesis 3 shows that despite human sin, a descendant of Eve would arise who would decisively defeat the ancient serpent, Satan, the deceiver of the world, preparing us to recognize Christ’s victory over evil.

4. Genesis 6--9 show that God is committed to working with sinful human beings over a long history to redeem them from sin, and that he is willing to bear the cost of their atonement himself. This he symbolized in the rainbow covenant with Noah.

5. Genesis 22 shows that God himself must provide the necessary sacrifice and that God could restore whatever was sacrificed, preparing us to believe that Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins and to be restored to life, this being a point of the story of Abraham’s nearly sacrificing Isaac. It is from that story that we draw words of scripture passages such as, “God…gave his only Son,” and “He who did not spare his own Son….” What God spared Abraham, he himself gave and then restored.

6. From Moses’ account of the Day of Atonement in Levitcus 16, we conclude that identifying ourselves with a perfect and costly sacrifice is a necessary part of our being atoned, and we so identify ourselves when we are baptized into Christ.

7. Genesis 14 shows that the Melchizedek model of divine priesthood precedes Aaron’s priestly line and the Melchizedek model of the divine kingship precedes David’s kingly line, pointing to the fact that, from the beginning, before there was an Israel, or an Aaron, or a David, God planned the redemption of believers from every people and tongue and ethnic group and nation.

8. Genesis 49:8-10 shows that, nevertheless, there will be a future divine king descended from Judah. Salvation begins from the Jews and then extends to the world.

9. Genesis and Exodus both show that the righteousness of God will be restored to humanity by God’s grace received through human faith (this concept is not just in the New Testament but was already present in the two oldest books of the Old Testment).

10. Deuteronomy 18 and 34 show that the people of God would not fulfill God’s will until the coming of a future Prophet like Moses who would enable them to enter into righteousness. When Luke and John report conversations that point to Jesus as the Prophet like Moses, their readers and hearers were prepared to make the connection that the prophetic vision of the Five Books of Moses was being fulfilled.

Now let’s shift from Sailhamer to Alec Motyer (pronounced like Mateer). Motyer, retired principal and Old Testament professor of Trinity College, Bristol, England, with pastoral experience in both the Church of Ireland and the Church of England, has been publishing Old Testament scholarship for nearly four decades. He has shown how thoroughly the Old Testament anticipates the New Testament. He is best known for his work on Isaiah in which he tells us that the three sections of Isaiah are not written by Three Isaiahs, but by One Isaiah with a unified, divinely inspired message about three dimensions of the Messiah.

1. The Messiah King comes as a light in the Galilean darkness to introduce the reign of God into human history. Jesus fulfilled this by introducing his kingdom ministry in Galilee.

2. The Messiah Servant comes to reconcile humanity to God by offering a once-for-all atoning sacrifice. Jesus fulfilled this by his death on the cross.

3. The Messiah Conqueror comes in power to bring all opposition under his feet and to usher in the victory of the people of God. This stage of the work of Jesus has already begun and will come to completion with his return to bring a new heaven and new earth where the righteous faithful will reign with him forever in a restored creation fully actualizing God’s perfect purposes.

Now, is that not a more useful and convincing message than the mass of confusion we receive from the skeptical scholars?

I have mentioned two of many reputable scholars whose work in seldom noticed by the information media. Sailhamer is Southern Baptist; Motyer is Anglican; that defines a wide spectrum of churches. We could fill in the spectrum with Presbyterians and Methodists and many more branches of our common faith in Jesus and in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures. My point is that this is not a narrow group of scholars.

The bottom line is that the evidence is massive and growing that Jesus was right, that everything written about him either has been or must be fulfilled, and that for the sake of our redemption from sin and deliverance into blessed life now and eternal life in a perfect new creation. That calls for our faith and commitment to Jesus and for our deep appreciation and study of God’s inspired Word.

Homely as a Mud Fence: Garden Update!

There are few things as homely as a garden as it drags itself out of winter and shakes off the fallow cold of November and the months through March. But it is April and things are beginning to happen!



One thing happening is that a sprightly lemon balm plant popped out of chilly earth and forthrightly called out "Howdy!" This beautiful perennial has an astonishing aroma that can be enjoyed when steeped in hot water or emulsified into soap or a lotion.




Thirteen of the 15 blueberry plants made it through the winter and have begun to leaf out. Our two "failures" are a result of AWOL: where they went nobody knows...but if you see them wandering about town tell them that all is forgiven, and to head back to the garden!

This week, the Stice Family has busted sod for a melon and squash patch for the kids, Garden Manager Kari Keever has planted tomatoes and other good things, and the Hudspeth family has hauled in dirt, amended poorly performing beds, and also planted flowers. We are also glad to see that potato and onion plants are popping up and performing pretty well.

Because of really excellent mulching and over-wintering practices, our Community Garden should be virtually weed-free this year. Weeding, as we all know, is an enthusiasum killer and your Community Gardeners have largely succeeded in booting them out. If you're interested in having a bed contact Kari Keever for more information.

Next week's update will record and describe the installation of our new irrigation system. Believe it or don't...this is exciting stuff!

New Bible Study: Jesus 101 Series

Are you intrigued by Jesus? Want to know more about him? Grow in your relationship with him?
You'll want to experience this new Bible study, meeting at 9:30 Sunday mornings in the "Young at Heart Room" in the Youth Building, starting on April 25.
We guarantee you won't feel like everyone knows more than you do about the Bible, because we don't! And...there are NO stupid questions.

We are using the "Jesus 101 Series" designed to help us respond to Jesus as we encounter him in the stories and teachings of the Bible. Jesus was anything but dull, and this study will challenge your thinking and stir your soul regardless of how far along the spiritual pathway you might be.

There is no homework for this study! Just bring yourself, a cup of coffee, and a desire to encounter Jesus, Provocative Teacher, Sacred Friend, Extreme Forgiver, Authentic Leader, Truthful Revealer, Compassionate Healer, Relentless Lover, Supreme Conqueror.

We Meet the Lord, Crucified and Risen

I will summarize rather than read today’s text from Luke 24:13-35. On Resurrection Sunday afternoon, two disciples of Jesus were walking to Emmaus, a village about seven miles from Jerusalem, talking with grief and despair about the events of the week. The risen Jesus drew near and walked along with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. They expressed their previous hopes that seemed to them to have come to an end with the crucifixion. Their despair was so deep that they took no renewed hope in the empty tomb or in the women’s testimony that angels had told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus responded, “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” It was drawing toward evening when the disciples came to their destination and invited the still unrecognized Jesus in to dine with them. I take up the reading with Luke 24:30: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’ 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

We at First Christian Church of Berryville are a people of the Lord’s Table. Week by week, we gather around this Table to meet our Lord, crucified, risen, and present. For many of us, the observance of the Lord’s Supper is the high point both of the worship service and of our week. Strangers may ask how we can do this every week without allowing it to become humdrum, a merely empty ritual. They are rightly aware of a danger that does exist, but it is a danger that ought not exist. Coming to this Table is like going to a gourmet restaurant which offers a brand new special every day; there is always some rich new experience available at this Table if only our eyes are opened to see it.

It was on Thursday evening just prior to his Friday crucifixion that Jesus observed a last Passover meal with his disciples, instituting the Lord’s Supper as a new covenant meal to be regularly observed by his followers in all times and places, taking bread, blessing and breaking it, and giving it to his disciples. It was on Sunday evening, just after the discovery of his empty tomb that morning, that Jesus supped with two disciples in the village of Emmaus, and, it was as he took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, their Risen Lord. I do not think that it is an accident that the wording of what Jesus did at table on Thursday evening prior to his crucifixion and what he did at table on Sunday evening following his resurrection are so closely similar. This is the Table not only of crucifixion, but also of resurrection. It is a Table of many experiences.

I want to lay before us today just a portion of the richness of this Table summarized by seven words: 1. Commemoration, 2. Proclamation, 3. Examination, 4. Participation, 5. Anticipation, 6. Incarnation, and 7. Celebration.

1. Commemoration In instituting the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me.” The Greek and Hebrew words behind memory involve more than mentally recalling something; they involve re-entering the experience. This meal is a commemoration, a memorial, a re-presentation of what Jesus has done for us as he fulfilled all the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, especially as he opened the possibility of our redemption from sin, death, and hell by dying for us on the cross. I remember a time when the Lord’s Supper in many churches was observed as if it were a funeral service for Jesus, complete with grief and gloom. It was considered irreverent not to act as if you had just suffered an irreparable loss. Nothing could be less appropriate. Note that Jesus who instituted the commemoration meal saw the grief of the two disciples on the Emmaus road as a sign that they were foolish and slow of heart to believe. To be sure, Jesus’ death on the cross was agonizing and so a solemn awareness of the cost of our redemption, and an awestruck wonder at his amazing self-giving love, is appropriate. But although Jesus died, he is not dead, and although he died because of our real guilt, the point is that he died and was raised to redeem us from that guilt. What we are most to commemorate is that, as the redeemed of the Lord Jesus, we have entered a new and eternal covenant with God. Let us commemorate his great gift of redemption with that attitude of joyful gratitude for redemption.

2. Proclamation One of the benefits of observing the Lord’s Supper weekly is that it guarantees, whatever the deficiencies of the preacher (ahem), that you will receive in every worship service a proclamation of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and a very potent proclamation it is, complete with tangible representations of the torn body and poured out blood that paid the cost of our redemption. The Lord’s Supper is the enacted gospel, the supreme object lesson of the lavish and costly grace of our God. More than a few people have been converted by the sight of it. Let us at this Table proclaim his death, resurrection, exaltation, and coming again until all is fulfilled.

3. Examination When we are baptized into Christ, we die to sin and come alive to God. Paul says that it is not appropriate for the baptized to go on sinning. But ungodly actions and attitudes continue to creep into our lives. It is not fitting for us to be re-baptized each time we stumble, but it is very important for us to get back on track as quickly as possible. The Lord’s Supper offers us weekly opportunity to examine our hearts, minds, and actions, to confess our sins, to repent, and to seek the renewal that Jesus offers. We all know that skipping regular maintenance of a vehicle or of a home heating and air conditioning unit is asking for big trouble down the road. The Lord’s Supper is sort of a spiritual maintenance contract that comes with our baptism. It is foolish to pass it up.

4. Participation Paul tells us that the Lord’s Supper is a participation in the body and blood of Christ and in the body of Christ, the church, the community in all times and places of all who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Savior and Lord of the world. The Greek word translated participation is koinonia. It can also be translated as sharing, fellowship, association, or community. It is the word from which our term communion comes. Translators who choose the word participation or sharing are emphasizing our active involvement in the community. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper establish a community of faith in whose fellowship and mission we are active participants. The community of faith is vital to our experience of the Lord’s Supper. The church is founded on the costly grace and self-giving love of our Lord Jesus, and that grace and love must find expression in our relationships with fellow believers and in our sharing the gospel in words of truth and deeds of love with those who are not yet members of Christ’s church.

5. Anticipation Some Bible scholars have noted that, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their eyes were opened to their fallen condition, and that this led to their hiding from each other and from God, and to their being excluded from the Garden of Eden where they had enjoyed perfect fellowship with God and access to the tree of life. The scholars also notice that, when Jesus breaks bread with the two disciples at Emmaus, their eyes are opened to recognize the risen Jesus whose resurrected body is the anticipation of the resurrection we will share in a perfect new heaven and new earth, a restored Eden, complete with an even better tree of life. It is a very different sort of eye-opening event. This Table holds before us the perfect restoration of all creation as a greater and grander Eden where the faithful will reign with Jesus. This Table reminds us to live in anticipation of the future perfection, leaning toward as much of it as possible in this life, praying in words and actions, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Where are you today? Recognizing that you have lost something precious through sin? Or, recognizing that Jesus lives to restore the perfection we have tossed away? Our eyes need to be opened to both realities, but the dominant message of this Table is one of gracious restoration.

6. Incarnation The Word of God was incarnated or made flesh in Jesus Christ at the time of his conception and birth. We are made one with the incarnate Christ at our new birth through the waters of baptism, and that incarnation is regularly renewed in us at the Lord’s Table. Christ is really present to us when we gather around this Table. He meant what he said when he used the words, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” I am not saying that some sort of magical transformation takes place in the molecular structure of the bread and wine when the words of institution are uttered. I am saying that Jesus is really present not just at the Table, but in these elements on which we are spiritually fed. Because of your baptism and because of your participation at this Table, Christ is really in you as you leave this place and go about your daily lives. He feeds you; he nourishes you, he imparts his nature and purpose to you. Because Christ is in you, you must take proper care of his life in you. Your eating, sleeping, working, playing, serving, studying, praying, and worshiping should all be undertaken with the awareness that Christ is really in you. You are the vessel through which people around you see his grace reaching out to them. Take care that you put good things into your body and mind in which Christ dwells. Take care that your actions and attitudes represent his gracious heart of redeeming love.

7. Celebration Among other things, the Lord’ Supper is an advance experience of the Messiah’s banquet table in the new creation. People will come from east and west, from north and south, from every tribe and tongue and ethnic group and nation to sit at Table in the new heaven and new earth. In short, it is a party. Now I quickly must say that it is not a party like a slumber party, or a fraternity party, a Super Bowl party, a cocktail party (it is not about us, our revelry, our entertainment, our social advancement, and so forth). This party is focused on one subject, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. In Luke 14, Jesus told a parable about a great banquet to which many proper guests were invited, but they were too involved in the world’s pursuits to come; the master said that none of those who failed to prioritize his party would be allowed to enter. He extended the invitation to people of lesser worldly qualifications who knew how to value and prioritize a good party. In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables, the first about a lost sheep, the second about a lost coin, and the third about a lost son. Each lost thing is found, and in each case the finder throws a party. In the first two parables, Jesus concludes by saying that, just so, there is joyous partying in heaven over every lost person who returns to God. Listen closely now. We are getting to the culminating point of the sermon. In the third story, the elder brother of the found son, complains bitterly about the party and refuses to attend. The father explains that it is only fitting to celebrate, for the younger brother was dead and is now alive, was lost and is now found. The implication is that, if the elder brother shared the Father’s heart, he would be inside celebrating instead of outside complaining. That is the gospel truth, and it is the truth we are commanded to celebrate at this Table.

In summary, the Lord’s Table has many levels of experience. Let’s not miss any of them.

1. Commemoration, 2. Proclamation, 3. Examination, 4. Participation, 5. Anticipation, 6. Incarnation, and 7. Celebration.