Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised Every day I will bless you, oh loving Father, We praise your name forever and ever We worship our King who has conquered sin and death, who is raised to eternal life We worship the God who claims us each one as sisters and brothers with our Lord, Jesus Christ
THE GOSPEL OF LUKE THE LIFE & STORIES OF JESUS
SERMON TEXT: Luke 22:1-23 5
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. 6
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it. They said to him, Where will you have us prepare it? He said to them, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there. 7
And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. 8
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed! And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. Luke 22:1-23 ESV 9
Christian worship doesn't teach us how to think; it teaches us how to love, and it does so by inviting us into the biblical story and implanting that story in our bones. - James K.A. Smith
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. Mark Twain We only really learn what it means by practicing it.
The Last Supper
When we celebrate Jesus meal we aren t just whistling in the dark. Bread and wine are taken up in the Eucharist into God s future purposes, and become to us vehicles through which we can taste the fact that there is a new world, there is new hope, there is a new way to live and we are part of it. And our brokenness and tiredness, our crassness about the fish we haven t caught, and the long hours we have wasted doing our own thing instead of God s thing, somehow fall away, and we become people of the new celebration, people of the new creation, people of God s new world, which is a world of fresh light, fresh forgiveness, new starts, new hopes. We must learn to celebrate the fact that Christ is risen, and that puzzled though we may still be about it we are risen with him. NT Wright, The Crown and the Fire
It Is Central To Our Christian Faith - Jesus became the lamb that was slain - evil is conquered and our debt is paid - the King himself meets us at the table
When we engage in the Lord s supper, we celebrate the defining moment in human history, God s plan of Salvation for the World. When we partake in His body and blood we find life through His death.
It Forms The Church Into A Family - that does not stand alone - creates a deep unity because of the cross - promises a new, radically loving, Kingdom
To put it another way, when we stand forgiven before God through the word of Christ, we don t stand alone. As we enter God s presence with confidence, we find ourselves in the vast company of forgiven sinners, just like use, who have been cleansed and justified through the blood of Jesus. There s a whole family of us who can now draw near to God with dumbfounded joy on our faces and the name of Jesus on our lips. Tony Payne..
The Eucharistic feast is a tiny normative picture of kingdom economics. No one hoards, leaving others with a lack. Bread and wine are freely and equally distributed. James K.A. Smith
The Church, in taking the Lord s Supper, looks forward to the day when all who are weary in this world will find rest. It forms the Church into a loving, deeply united, strongly bonded family.
It Forms Our Individual Character - in obedient gratitude for our acceptance - from condemnation to celebration - frees us to forgive as we ve been forgiven
The Lord s Supper is not for perfect people, but for repentant people. Tim Keller
The Lord s Supper calls us to live out, in faith, the implications of Jesus s death. At the table, we come continuously for spiritual nourishment.
THE GOSPEL OF LUKE THE LIFE & STORIES OF JESUS
How Deep the Father s Love
How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the Chosen One Bring many sons to glory
Behold the man upon a cross My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom
Invitation To The Lord s Table & Great Thanksgiving Show and instill a vision of the liturgies kingdom From: The Common Book of Worship
Jesus said: Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Jesus said: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if those who hear my voice open the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me. O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy are all who find refuge in God!
The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Eternal God, holy and mighty, it is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise, and to worship you in every place where your glory abides.
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with the heavenly choirs and with all the faithful of every time and place, who forever sing to the glory of your name: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
You are holy, O God of majesty, and blessed is Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. You sent your only-begotten, in whom your fullness dwells, to be for us the way, the truth, and the life.
Revealing your love, Jesus taught those who would hear him, healed those who believed in him, received all who sought him and lifted the burden of their sin. We glorify you for your great power and love at work in Christ. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made us a new people by water and the Spirit.
We give you thanks that the Lord Jesus, on the night before he died, took bread, and after giving thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take, eat.
This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup, saying: This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.
Remembering all your mighty and merciful acts, we take this bread and this wine from the gifts you have given us, and celebrate with joy the redemption won for us in Jesus Christ. Accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving as a living and holy offering of ourselves, that our lives may proclaim the one crucified and risen
Great is the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Praise to you, Lord Jesus: Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory.
According to his commandment: We remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his coming in glory. Christ is the bread of life: When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory.
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these your gifts of bread and wine, that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
By your Spirit unite us with the living Christ and with all who are baptized in his name, that we may be one in ministry in every place. As this bread is Christ s body for us, send us out to be the body of Christ in the world. Amen.
There is nothing we have that we have not received; all we have and are belong to God bought with the blood of Jesus. To spend everything on ourselves, and to give without sacrifice is the way of the world that the Father cannot abide.
But generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord; who love him with free hearts, and serve him with renewed minds; who withstand the delusion of riches that chokes the word; whose hearts are in heaven, and not on earth.
We are determined to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person among us. We are determined to be faithful stewards of such a little thing as money that Christ may trust us with true riches.
Above all things, we are determined to be generous because our Father is generous. It is the delight of His daughters and sons to share their Father s traits, and to show what He is like to all the world.