We live in a self-sufficient time. Our primary reference points are ourselves, we seek to glorify ourselves, and everything we need to live we can find within ourselves. Disney has catechized and indoctrinated us well! Find your truth, find strength within yourself, you can overcome anything! The words from the early church father Augustine sound foreign to us, "My heart was restless until it found its rest in God." What’s he mean by "restless"? We are the masters of our own destiny!

In our sinfulness and self-centeredness, we believe that we can live independently of God and of each other. We have become far too complacent with our separation from God. In our blindness, we do not realize our very existence is dependent upon God.

First, we ought to examine our hearts: is there hostility between me and others? Is there the spirit of division in my heart that totally contradicts what is expressed here in the Lord's Supper? Any hostility and division that exists among a church must be surgically excised. The unity of a local church is not a mere byproduct of its ministry. Rather, unity is the foundation that undergirds all ministry! The ordinances and preaching of a church will be worth nothing on the Day of Judgment if we allow disunity to fester among us. Therefore, brothers and sisters, if there is a dispute between you and another church member, seek reconciliation before coming to the Table.

Now, some Christians in church history have persistently abstained from the Lord's Table for fear of participating in an unworthy manner. However, that is not what Paul is telling us to do here. Instead, we ought to examine ourselves and promptly reconcile with one another. The same principles that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount should apply here. In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus taught that if you have a dispute with your brother, you are to leave your gift at the altar, go and be reconciled, and then return, not stay away! Now many of us will ask the question, but what about other sins in my life? This question brings us to our second "look" and the foundation of the Lord's Supper.

Paul records in 1 Corinthians 11:25 how Jesus explained the Lord's Supper: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." The most fundamental truth of the Lord's Supper is that we remember the ratification of a covenant between the Triune God and Jesus Christ. God the Son took on a truly human nature to be the faithful covenant partner that humanity needed. He signed the covenant with His own precious blood and proclaimed to the heavenly host, "It is finished!" There is nothing more fundamental to the Christian life than this truth, and we remember it every time we come to the Lord's Table: Jesus died for us.

So let's return to the question: what about sin in your life? Should you stay away from the Lord's Supper because you know that you sin? If you think you are sinless, the Lord's Supper is not for you. Christ came to save sinners, those who are poor in spirit, not self-righteous people. I can't put it better than John did in 1 John 1:8-10, "8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." If you are waging war against sin, and willing to go as far as it takes to eradicate it, but you still stumble, then the Table is for you. The Lord's Table is God's sign to you that your penalty for past, present, and future sin has been paid. But what if you don’t love God at all? What if you earnestly and persistently believe that sin is better than communion with God?

If you're reading this and you’re not a Christian, I’m encouraged that you read so far into an article about the Lord’s Supper. Right now, however, it is best if you do not partake of the Lord’s Supper; it is God’s visible Word to you that you are not in Christ. You are not in a safe place, but you are living rather on borrowed time. But, as the elements pass you by, consider the cross. The cross proclaims that God is holy and cannot simply forget sin. Rather, every sin deserves the death penalty. We are all worthy of God’s eternal wrath in hell because of our rebellion against Him. But God, out of pure grace, has given us a way. He sent His Son, whom He crushed in the place of all who would believe in Him. The sins of God's people were atoned for by his death so that all who trust in Him and turn away from their sins might have peaceful fellowship with God for all eternity. So, if you don’t believe in Jesus yet, let the bread and wine pass you by the next time that you witness the Lord’s Supper and remember the cross; trust in Jesus as your Savior and repent of your sins.

Before we get to our 3 remaining points, I want us to consider: What if the sermon ended here? What if this were all we had to say about the Lord's Supper? Sadly, I think that the experience and understanding of many evangelicals end at this point, and perhaps, our following points will correct some of that. But let's revisit what we are remembering in the Supper. Do we really believe that Christ would institute this ordinance with no regard to its effect? In other words, why should we examine ourselves and remember Jesus' cross? What’s so special about a cup of wine and a piece of bread?

Now, some of you are probably aware that Christianity has had no small measure of debate about how God is present among us in the Supper. In broadly Roman Catholic Austria in 2021, I think it is important that you are informed about these things, even if I cannot do any of these debates justice right now. The most obvious error concerning the Lord’s Table is that of the Roman Catholic Church. The official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church describes the Lord’s Supper as an act that represents - read more like re-presents rather than symbolically represents - Christ’s sacrifice in the present time. When the priest delivers a prayer, the bread and the wine at that point only appear to be bread and wine but are transfigured into the actual body and blood of the Lord. Therefore, the Roman Mass is, at its heart, sacrificial. This is a blasphemy that disparages the fact that Christ has finished his work of propitiation, and it serves as a grounding to make Catholics dependent upon a mediated grace from the Roman Church. The Roman Catholic Church seeks to repudiate the biblical gospel of justification by faith alone and usurp Christ as the sole justifier of the saints.

During the Protestant Reformation, the Reformers Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli couldn’t agree on how to respond to the papists on this matter. When the two men came together in Marburg, Luther refused to read Christ’s words “this is my body” meaning anything other than it was actually his body. I concur with John Hammet when he writes that this is pretty strange. Luther was okay with figurative language in other parts of the Bible, but he refused to adopt an understanding of the elements as symbols of spiritual realities. Nowadays, Lutherans will speak of the Supper as a “sacramental union” where the presence of Christ is “by, with, and under” the sacrament. The Book of Concord describes this union like two boards that are glued together, inseparable, and somewhat indistinguishable. The biggest problem in this, according to many in the reformed tradition, was that they do not mean Christ is present by the Spirit and according to the divine nature, but they mean that the physical nature of Christ, the nature by which Christ endured the Cross, is present at each administration.

At this point, I believe that biblically informed Christians must part ways from the Lutheran understanding of the Supper. At the council of Chalcedon in 451, the Church summarized the biblical understanding of the two natures of Christ with 4 critical negations that serve as guardrails concerning Christ's two natures: “without confusion (read without intermingling), without change, without division, and without separation.” The Lutheran view of Sacramental Union changes Christ’s human nature and confuses it with his divine nature. Human natures are, by definition, finite - occupying a single space and time. Christ’s human nature is at this moment in Heaven with the Father and nowhere else. Christians do not need a mystical presence of Christ, we need only recognize that Christ is present by His Spirit and in our hearts by our faith.

So, dear Christian, the Lord's Supper is a fellowship meal where we experience God’s presence and fellowship with Him. Yes, it doesn't look that profound; it's just a small piece of bread and a cup of wine. But by His Spirit and according to your faith, God is in our midst as we dine at His table. Let’s not relegate the Lord’s Table to an afterthought, but let’s rather dwell upon it and look forward to it as the climax of God's presence among us on the Lord's Day.

I have one final thought regarding the presence of God in the Lord's Supper. I want us to reflect on how God has always dined with his people.

Adam and Eve lived in the temple garden of Eden where God walked among them. The tree of life was in the center of the place of God's presence. They were nourished by it so profoundly that they would never die as long as they had access to the tree. As long as they did not eat from the one forbidden tree, eternal life and eternal fellowship with God were theirs. But we all know how this story ends. Adam and Eve were seduced by the serpent and rebelled. They took what was forbidden and thereby lost what was graciously given. God then cut off their access to the Tree of Life.

The story of redemption shows that God restores the fellowship that was lost in the Garden. For example, the Lord's emissaries have a meal of bread and meat with Abraham, God’s covenant partner, under a tree in Genesis 18. In the tabernacle and temple, there was a table in the Holy Place set aside for what is called the "Showbread," which was the sign of God dwelling and dining with His people. And what kept this table well lit, day and night? A lampstand that looked like a tree. Do you see the pattern? God's people were made for His presence, and He wants to sit with us at His table, under the canopy of His tree. "Aha!" you say, "but there is no tree when we celebrate the Lord's Supper!" Oh, but there is a tree. Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, (Now Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23)“Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”" You and I have fellowship with God when we sit under the shade of the cross. We enjoy the fruit of that tree - the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through it, we have eternal communion with God, which unfolds anew before our eyes every time we partake of the Lord's Supper. But the biblical-theological theme of communion does not end at the Lord's Supper. As great as the Supper is, it too will one day be fulfilled.

In Luke 22:16 and 18 Jesus says, "16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” … 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." While we feast in the presence of God on the Lord's Day, the head of the table does not dine with us. His fast awaits a future glorious day. Jesus means the day when the bride will be delivered to her eternal bridegroom in glorious splendor. Heaven and earth will be joined forever, and God - in all his fullness - will dwell among his people. Every time we partake of the Lord's Table, we take a bite and drink a sip from the future. It is as if the Holy Spirit takes a few morsels from the future banquet and feeds us with them now in the present.

In 1 Corinthians 10:17 Paul writes, "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." Here we are back to Paul's juxtaposition of participation at the Lord's Table versus the table of demons. When the local church partakes of the Lord's Supper, it partakes of the Lord's Table together - as one. The "for" that begins the last phrase conveys a strong causal relationship. The reason that a local church is a church depends on its members sharing the Lord's Supper together.

The Reformed tradition has maintained that what we call membership and church discipline, the Bible calls baptism and the Lord's Supper. Therefore, the final phase of church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5 was to remove someone from the Lord's Table. Why is this relevant? Conversely, all those whom we regularly invite to the table are our members, and we constitute the church together with them.

Think of the Lord's table as a family meal. All members of the family are invited to the family meal. We might even say that it is a ritual of families that they eat together. Usually, this is a time when families prioritize listening to each other. My wife sometimes admonishes me to put away my phone and stop thinking about writing sermons or assignments. Indeed, there is a real need to be there for each other.

If we are united with our church in the Lord's Supper, then it only makes sense that Paul tells us to "wait for one another" in 1 Corinthians 11:33. The Corinthian church had the problem that their lack of concern for one another resulted in one group having the "Lord's Supper" for themselves and the other group being deprived of the Lord's Table. The Lord's Supper is not about everyone having a private and separate encounter with Jesus.

Instead, brothers and sisters, let us wait on one another. Churches ought to labor so that all of their members can be present during the administration of the Table. There are many good things that churches can do, but we ought not neglect what we are absolutely commanded to do. After all, what does it say about us if we send one of our members away to serve us, but we participate at the Lord's Table without them? Would any of us send one of our family members to wash the windows while the rest of us eat dinner? Let’s strive to bring each of our members to receive this means of grace; for their sake - to receive God's presence, and for our sake - to be united with them.

Many places that are not churches, like Christian conferences for example, unfortunately, try to serve the Lord's Supper. At one such conference, I and a dear Presbyterian brother had to awkwardly excuse ourselves from a room while the Lord's Table was desecrated. Without the authority of a local church and without any kind of fence, the "Lord's Supper" was served. What does this tell us? It says that the Lord's Supper is a private right of all believers to administer in any place they choose.

Christians in the 20th century were so eager to snatch the keys of the kingdom from the hands of the gathered body of believers and give them parachurch ministries. The drastic effects of this are too numerous to name. Fundamentally, it has altered our generation's perception of the church’s nature, mission, and primacy. Jesus died for His Church which is expressed in local churches. If it is not the intention of a group to declare itself as a local church, it is not the right place for the Lord's Supper. Baptism is the Lord's way of recognizing Christians, and the Lord's Supper is the Lord's way of recognizing local churches. Let’s do everything in our power as Christians to protect the primacy, authority, and mission of the local church.

So when you prepare for the Lord’s Table, get ready to behold something amazing. First, we must examine ourselves - we look inward. Second, we remember the cross of Christ by looking back. Then we will fellowship with God by His Spirit through our faith - we look to heaven. Fourth, we eagerly await and look forward to the Lord's eternal table. Last, let’s not neglect to consider one another as we share together; let’s look around instead. Whenever you practice the Lord’s Supper as a church, rejoice as you behold a visible word together.

Jesus came to a self-centered world that is still quite satisfied with itself. But through the cross and the gospel symbolized in the Lord's Supper, we are spiritually nourished by Jesus while confessing our total dependence on Him. In the new heavens and new earth, life and sustenance will abound. The tree of life will grow on both sides of the river of life. The light of God's presence will be Jesus Himself. And every child of God will walk in communion with God for all eternity.