Every year the Blue Jay boys hockey team holds an INVITATIONAL hockey tournament.

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1 Christ Calls Us to Communion Matthew 26:17 30 April 6, 2014 Every year the Blue Jay boys hockey team holds an INVITATIONAL hockey tournament. It s not open to any team that wants to come you have to be invited, you have to be CALLED to come. In a similar way, Communion is an invitational celebration, and Christ is the Inviter! Christ is the One who CALLS us to this table. I. Jesus calls us to examine ourselves 26:21 22 And while they were eating, he said, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me. They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, Surely not I, Lord? We re not to come to this table flippantly or carelessly. We re to examine our lives in the light of God s Word (as Paul reminded the Corinthians in 1 Cor 11:28: [we] ought to examine ourselves. ) I always want to make it clear that this table is not just for our church members not even just for adults but I don t want to just say Y ALL COME as though this were a community pancake feed! Isn t it interesting that all the disciples were sad and began to ask if THEY were the ones who would BETRAY Him!? Bach has a piece called Saint Matthew s Chorale and at this point in the chorale the audience sings, I m the one, I should repent Of course, we can never exclude sinners from the Lord s Table, or we would ALL have to leave but we must exclude unexamined, unrepentant sinners for the sake of Christ s reputation and for the sake of the person coming. So, we re to examine ourselves. But please understand me: It is not those who feel unworthy who should not come! We are ALL unworthy. We are ALL weak. 1

2 We re all capable of betraying Christ. The question is whether we are willing to repent of our sin or whether we will hang on to it in pride and refuse to give it to Christ. By the way, Jesus words to Judas are very revealing Judas said, Surely not I, rabbi. And Jesus responds, [which the ESV translates very literally as] You have said so. The NIV is a little looser: Yes, it is you. But I think if Jesus had actually been that unambiguous if He had simply said, Yes, Judas, it s YOU! the disciples might have ATTACKED Judas! On the other hand, if Jesus had said, NO, He wouldn t have been honest So it is almost as if Jesus is giving Judas one last chance to change one more chance to turn back! He s saying to Judas, I know who you are, but He s still not condemning him! It s His Amazing Grace once again, isn t it? So as the disciples examined themselves, we need to examine ourselves Are we following Jesus Christ? Have we confessed and repented of our sin? Are we in fellowship with the people of God? In communion, Jesus calls us to examine ourselves. Is it I, Lord? II. Jesus Calls Us to Worship While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Notice please that Jesus is the SUBJECT of all the verbs. Jesus takes gives thanks breaks offers it You see, the Lord s Supper is not something we are doing for Jesus, it is something He is doing for us! 2

3 This celebration this morning is not primarily about giving our love to Jesus (though I hope you re doing that!) this is all about JESUS giving Himself to us. And we need to hear again Jesus exact words: This is my body this is my blood Whenever I hear someone criticize the Roman Catholic or the Lutheran positions about communion, I always ask them, What did Jesus say?? He could have said, This REPRESENTS my body this represents my blood, but He didn t! He could have said, This is my LOVE or this is my SPIRIT but He didn t! He said, This is my body this is my blood. And however we understand that, we must not say less than Jesus said! The sacraments are very physical because WE are very physical And they appeal to our humanity to our physicality. One of my favorite verses in this regard is 1 Corinthians 10:16: Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation [koinonia, fellowship, a SHARING] in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Whatever these verses mean, they certainly mean that we are somehow fellowshipping with Christ through this meal! These are not empty symbols. We are not just remembering Jesus. When we receive these elements by faith, Jesus is here with us feeding and nourishing us! Do I understand how all this works? No! Do I accept His Word on it? You bet! So, this is a Call to Worship because as Christ presents us with this bread and this cup, we certainly do remember His body given for us and His blood poured out for us, but we ALSO come face-to-face with Jesus and what else can we do but fall down in worship before Him? This is the Bible s thanksgiving service, isn t it?! 3

4 Remember, the whole backdrop of this service is the Passover celebration in the Old Testament the celebration that God had rescued His people from the Egyptians. that He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, just as He delivers us from slavery to SIN. By the way, Jesus makes a point of saying, Drink from it, ALL of you. I think he s saying, Examine yourself, but examine yourself under the microscope of God s mercy and grace don t pick yourself apart and EXCLUDE yourself from everybody else as though God were picking you apart under His judgment and setting you aside. We need to focus on His forgiveness, not on our sins this morning! In communion, Jesus calls us to Worship. III. Finally, Jesus Calls Us to Serve I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father s kingdom. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Two thoughts: 1) The Lord s Supper for all of its sobriety is a celebration, and it s a celebration of our hope. We long for the day when Jesus will stand once again at the head of the table and share Himself with us in that most intimate way! It s like Good Friday We re sad because of the cross, but we already know the rest of the story! 2) Jesus won t let us stay in the upper room He sends us out into the Mount of Olives and beyond There are trials to be faced There is work to be done There s a Gospel to be proclaimed and lived out And so Jesus calls US to serve Him and our neighbors. The Lord s Supper really is a spiritual meal Because God s work out in the world is TIRING, sometimes it s EXHAUSTING, and so we come in for lunch and rest and refreshment But then we go back out to do our work. 4

5 So come in faith and feed on Jesus Christ this morning Let Him nourish you and renew you And then go out from here into the farm fields and the battlefields and continue to work for Him! Rev. Robert Smallman Bible Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in America) 1605 Highway G Merrill, WI