I'm going to ask if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 26. There's an assumption that's made in significant corners of Christendom that the importance of the Lord's Supper is reflected by the frequency with which you observe it. And consequently, the churches that have weekly communion take communion very seriously, and those who have monthly or quarterly or annual communion take it less seriously. The accusation has even been made that that those churches really see the Lord's Supper as a thing that is secondary. It's an aside in their ministry. It's almost viewed as a disruption of the normal program of the church, a thing that is tolerated but not really embraced. And I would like to maintain that that is completely to misinterpret the Reformed tradition and the understanding of the Lord's Supper and its place and its importance. In fact, I would argue that exactly the opposite is the true in terms of the self-understanding of Reformed Christianity, by which I include Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists, and others of the Bible church tradition, and include the Methodists as well. And that is that exactly the opposite has been the way that the Lord's Supper has been interpreted and practiced and administered. That is to say, it is because the Lord's Supper is so important that it has been infrequently observed. By infrequently meaning either monthly or quarterly or on an annual basis. It has not been a sign that the table has been taken with less seriousness. It rather has been a sign that it is taken with great seriousness. I admit that that's not the only way to express your seriousness. You can express it by having a weekly communion. I'm not arguing with that at all. What I am arguing is that the infrequency of observance has any kind of implication with respect to the unimportance of the Lord's Supper for reformed churches. Rather, the thinking has been it is so important that time needs to be given for proper administration. Time must be given to prepare. Time for self-examination. A time for the preparation of the soul for the right receiving of the element. And so it has been because of the importance of the Lord's Supper and the need of preparation and the need of self-examination and the need of meditation prior to the observance of the Lord's Table that it has been observed with less frequency. And so you had the development in our tradition of the Scottish communion season, for example, where observance of the Lord's Supper would begin on a Thursday night with services, and then Friday night services, and then Saturday night services. And then a Sunday morning, there would be two sermons prior to the administration of the supper. And then there would be a Sunday evening service, a post-communion service, and then a Monday night Thanksgiving service. Why all that? Because of the central importance of the Lord's Supper. Indeed, in our tradition, leaders of the Presbyterian Church have referred to the Lord's Supper as the visible gospel. They've referred to it as the substance of the whole Bible, even the epitome of the whole Christian religion. Because there, the gospel and the promises of the gospel are made visible and are ratified for the people of God. There, in turn, Christian commitments, Christian response and commitments are likewise ratified. It's where the backslidden reaffirm their faith. It's where the unbeliever comes to profess his or her faith. It's where the faithful believer reaffirms his faith. It's where the noncommunicant member comes to confirm their faith. It is at the heart of the life of the people of God, as understood in the Reformed tradition. And here's the reasons why, as we prepare ourselves to come to the table this morning. It's at the table that the atonement is made visible. And the benefits of the atonement are represented as well as realized. The atonement is made visible. Look with me at verse 23. There the apostle Paul writes, for I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread. This is of the Lord's institution. This is a ceremony that he himself enacted, as is true of the sacraments. They come from Christ himself. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. My body, which is given for you, given how? Given in sacrifice, given to you on the cross. My body, which is given as a sacrificial offering on the altar of God, on the altar that the cross is. until you do this in remembrance of that sacrifice. You do that in remembrance of me, of the giving of my body as a sacrificial offering. Verse 24, And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Verse 25, In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me and remembrance of what? The shedding of my blood. This blood that was shed on your behalf, the blood that was shed for you. I died for you in your place as your substitute, in your stead. I hung there on that cross. I suffered there. That was for you. And you remember the atonement. Remember the cross. Verse 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." What was happening at that cross? This proclamation of the Lord's death, we are proclaiming what? What, just a tragedy? Just one of those tragedies like the death of Socrates that take place in the annals of history every once in a while. There's this tragic death and we look back and we reflect upon the tragedy of humanity and the sacrifice of the one who died as being an especially noble example of self-giving. No, we have misinterpreted the word sacrifice if we understand it in that way. The sacrifice of Christ is a sacrificial offering. It's the language of sacrifice and of altar and of one being given as in the Lamb of God being given, who takes away the sin of the world. Not a sacrifice like the military hero who gives his life, but actual offering of oneself as a sacrificial victim on an altar, thereby satisfying the justice of God, satisfying the requirements of God, making sufficient payment for the sins of the guilty. And so we read in Hebrews 10, 12, he made one sacrifice for sin. Not just a generalized sacrifice, but a sacrifice for sin for all time. Hebrews 9.22, only through the shedding of blood can there be the remission of sin. In other words, this sacrifice is a bloodshedding. It is the offering up of a sacrificial victim on behalf of those who are sinners and guilty, which God receives as adequate payment on our behalf. Again, John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's the point. He is doing that which the lambs did. He is functioning on the cross in sacrifice, the way a sacrificial animal functioned. He is being offered as an atoning, as a propitiatory sacrifice on the altar that was Calvary, on that cross for us, on our behalf, in our place, in our stead. A question comes up, why don't Presbyterians have symbols in their church? If you look around, you won't find any symbols in here. You won't even find crosses. Why don't you have crosses? Why don't you have symbols? Well, we do have symbols. And there they are. We have a table, and we have bread, and we have a cup. And those are the symbols that Christ appointed to be those that would represent his atoning work. He didn't ordain other symbols, but he did ordain symbols. And so the gospel becomes visible when we administer the Lord's Supper. There we see his body. There we see his blood. There we see these reminders of his sacrifice given on our behalf prior to the administration of the sacrament. We only heard about these things with our ears. Now we see them with our eyes. Now we handle them with our fingers. Now we taste them. Now we smell them with our noses. Now they are made visible. And they now appeal to our sensory apparatus that God has given to us. The gospel is made visible and tangible. And what they represent is that which the Christian religion is all about. There's an awful lot, and I mean awful, an awful lot of Christless Christianity abroad these days, by which I mean not a failure to mention Jesus. There's a mentioning of Jesus in most Christian sermons, but there's this tragic failure to mention the Jesus of the cross. And Christianity comes to be preached as a kind of system of morality, or as therapy. Christianity is a way in which you can feel better about yourself, or how-tos. Here's the information you need in order to live a better life. And Jesus, who helps you to live this better life. I think the table here reminds us, as the gospel is being made visible, here is the center of our religion. What's at the center of it? It's a cross. It's a death. It's a sacrifice. And Christianity is not about Jesus being my friend or Jesus being my helper or Jesus being my comforter. And I say that carefully because I think Jesus does all of those things for his people. You're no longer strangers, Jesus said, but friends. And he sends the Holy Spirit to be our comforter. And so we understand that. But what I'm saying is that if those things are at the center, we have missed the meaning of the Christian religion. If those are the things that we talk about, if that is at the heart of what we have to say, then we have missed the heart of what we have to say. We have missed the true center point. We have missed the point of emphasis. What Christianity is about is a cross. What Christianity is about is a sacrifice, an atoning sacrifice on a cross, one that propitiates and puts away the wrath of God, the just wrath of God for sin. It is a satisfaction that is offered on our behalf, in our place, in our stead, as Christ dies for us. That's what we're reminded of at the table. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Why did he come into the world? To save. Not just so that they could feel better about themselves, not so that Christian preachers would preach therapy, not so that my self-esteem would be boosted, not so I might be self-actualized, but so that I might be saved because I'm under condemnation and I'm in need of salvation. He came to save his people from their sin, the angel announced in Matthew chapter 1. Similarly, Jesus himself said that he came not to be served, but to serve. And how did he come to serve? And to give his life as a ransom for many. That is, to pay the price that was due, to pay the ransom price. to pay for the guilt, to pay our obligation before God, that we might be pardoned, that we might be forgiven, that we might be reconciled to God, that we might have peace with God, and that we might say what the Apostle Paul in Romans 8 1, there is therefore now no condemnation because we are in Christ Jesus. So why is the Lord's Supper at the heart of our religion? Because there the atonement is made visible. Each time we administer it, I hope you see in its symbols visibly the reminder that that which is at the heart of what we believe, at the heart of it is the broken body and shed blood of Christ. Secondly, gospel privileges are made visible. Not only is the atonement made visible, but so are gospel privileges. 1 Corinthians 10.21 refers to this ceremony as the Lord's table. 1 Corinthians 11.21 refers to it as the Lord's supper. Whose table is it? Whose supper is it? It's the Lord's table, the Lord's supper. It's His. He is the host. That makes us what? the invited guests. In other words, the table represents a privilege. It represents a great privilege. It represents that we have been reconciled to God, that we now have peace with God, and so we are now in the place where we are invited to know him. This is life eternal, Jesus said in John 17.3, to know God. and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. And so the table represents intimacy because it represents table fellowship. We don't have just anyone come and dine with us at our tables. To be invited to come and dine at somebody's table is a great privilege. And the reason why we're somewhat selective about that is because it's a very intimate thing to do in many respects to have someone into your home and at your table to sit across from them, to consume the food, and to engage in the conversation that naturally flows between those who are seated at a table together. And if that's true in our world, how much more was it true of the ancient world? where these things were recognized, these traditional societies, where the privilege of the table and the intimacy of the table and the importance of the table and what takes place at the table was understood in a much more immediate sense than it is for us here today. Imagine being invited. to the governor's mansion, to dine with the governor or being invited to the White House, to dine with the president. Well, this goes beyond that. This is the Son of God and God the Son. This is the Lord Jesus Christ who has a table and he invites you to come and to dine with him, to sup with him, to enjoy his benefits at his table. And so what we have here is we have a representation of the privileges of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 10, 16, in this respect, the Apostle Paul uses the word koinonia to express what we share when we come and partake of the bread and of the cup. We enjoy fellowship with Christ when we come here to his table and we partake of the bread and partake of the cup. That's the word that he uses. That's a word of intimacy. We have been adopted into the family of God. We are His children now. We enjoy all the privileges of family membership, so that this in fact is a family table. And we come as the children of God. We come as sons and daughters now, no longer aliens, no longer estranged. no longer distant and remote from him, but we have been invited and we are now members of the family and we come to the family table, his table, and enjoy the intimacy of fellowship with Christ at his table. All that is being represented here, as well as the privilege of knowing and having the promise of his protection and his provision and his presence and enjoying access to him. Jesus says to us through the writer to the Hebrews. I will never leave nor forsake you He says to the disciples at the end of Matthew 28 lo I am with you always even to the end of the age what we have here at the table is the privileges of the gospel being made visible for us Christianity is not a philosophy It is the intimacy of table fellowship with the true and the living God. It is knowing God. It is experiencing fellowship with God. It is enjoying God. And that is being represented to us and realized on our behalf visibly and tangibly, sensibly, as that is through the senses. as our catechism would use that word. And then thirdly, the ongoing gospel provisions are being made visible. So the atonement is made visible. Our gospel privileges of intimacy with God are being made visible. And then ongoing provision is being made visible as well. The bread, the cup, the command to eat and to drink, our commands with respect to what, after all, is food. We're talking about partaking of food, food that are certainly symbols of Christ's sacrifice, but in themselves are actually food, food that is spiritual in nature. so that the bread and the cup represent for us spiritual food, spiritual drink, nourishment for the soul. Now, the Apostle Paul calls it these things in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 3 and 4. He speaks of them as spiritual food, spiritual bread, spiritual drink. And so when we come to the table, we think back to the atonement, certainly. We think of our privileges that we have as adopted children of God, to know God. But they also are our provision for the sustenance of our ongoing spiritual lives. These are spiritual food and spiritual drink to nourish the soul. That's why we repeat something of a mantra here. This is a meal, not a mass. It is a supper, not a sacrifice. I am a pastor, not a priest. This is a table, not an altar. This is food that we partake of, food that is visible, food that is physical, but food that represents spiritual food given to us by virtue of Christ's death on the cross for the nourishment of our souls. They're given as a reminder that our souls are hungry, that our souls are thirsty, that our souls need spiritual food. They need spiritual bread. They need spiritual drink. Jesus acknowledged this regularly and identified himself as the one who is able to satisfy the hunger of the soul and to quench the thirst of the soul. You see, we know what it is, don't we, to have physical hunger and physical thirst. We know what it is to to crave nourishment, to be dying of thirst, as we put it. And Jesus is playing off of that with metaphors of food and drink in order for us to understand the way in which he satisfies the deepest longings of the human soul. When he says, I am the bread of life, he who comes to me shall not hunger. He who believes in me shall never thirst. When he says, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. And from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. The table is a reminder of the ongoing provision that Christ makes for our souls. He's saying to us as we come to the table, he's saying to us that I am the one that is able to satisfy that hunger. I am the one who is able to quench that thirst. There isn't anyone who isn't brought into this world, who doesn't live in this world, who doesn't experience some measure of the hunger and of the thirst of the soul. And Jesus is saying of all who hunger and all who thirst, I am able to satisfy that hunger. I am able to quench that thirst. And when we come to the table, that provision of God for the ongoing life of the people of God is being represented and it is being realized. It affects and brings about the very thing that it represents. So that while he is the one who feeds our souls and satisfies our thirst through his word on an ongoing basis, he also does through these visible, tangible elements that are before us. They become for us spiritual food and spiritual drink for the quenching of the hunger and of the thirst of our souls. So for us, in the Reformed tradition, The infrequency of our observance says nothing about the importance of the table itself as we have understood it over the centuries. We are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. And until he comes, we are reminding ourselves of the atonement. We are reminding ourselves of the privilege of table fellowship with Christ. We are also experiencing, as we remind ourselves, of that which Christ has made available to us for the satisfying of our souls. That is the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who indwells us, who fills us, who gifts us, and who bears his fruit. It's a reminder of the word that was given, that word that sanctifies and builds up our faith. It's a reminder of the church and that context within which all of these provisions are operative. and of the sacraments that nourish and feed the soul. The Lord's Supper has a central place. It is of great importance. It ought never to be neglected, and yet it ought always to be carefully observed with thorough preparation and self-examination. And so we have these words of warning. In that respect, verse 27 of this same passage, there, 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. In other words, this is not like every other Sunday. This is something that requires that we examine ourselves, whether or not we are partaking in an unworthy way, whether or not we are truly repentant, whether or not our souls are ready for this partaking. Let a man examine himself, he says in verse 28, and so let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. So let him eat. So let him eat. How? As one who has been examined and one who is not unworthy. Not because you're not a sinner, no, the table is for sinners, but for repentant sinners, for believing sinners, for people of faith. Verse 29, for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. There are ramifications with respect to the abuse of the table. And while anyone can come any Sunday and listen and hear, and there not be any temporal judgments that are threatened by God in his word, there are temporal judgments threatened with respect to the observance of the Lord's Supper. It's of a different nature than just the hearing. So that's why we guard the table. That's why we fence the table. That's why we warn, even as I am now warning, that you not come if you are an unbeliever and participate. This is the Lord's table for the Lord's people. We don't restrict it. We don't call it a Presbyterian table. It's for the Lord's people. And anyone who is a member in good standing in an evangelical church is welcome to come and to partake and participate in this service. And we do require that you be a member somewhere because we don't think that individuals ought to determine the credibility of their own profession of faith, but that you ought to subject yourself to the judgment of spiritual leaders in the church who confirm your profession of faith. And they then admit you to the table, because it is a church ordinance, and so the church guards the table in light of these kinds of warnings. So there is the necessity that one not eat unworthily, that one examine oneself, that one take seriously these warnings of temporal judgments. And so we do observe the Lord's Supper with some infrequency, not because it's unimportant. Rather, with all of these cautions and threats and guards, we observe it infrequently because it is so important, because it's vital. to the epitome of the Christian religion. It is the gospel being made visible. These are the signs and symbols of Christianity, not the kind that are plastered on walls, but those which Christ himself has ordained, the table, the cup, the bread, the wine. They are the reminders of his his atonement. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. So don't be afraid to come. Just examine yourself. And if there's sin for which you have not repented, repent and be cleansed and come and partake. When we are judged, he says, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brethren, When you come together to eat, wait for one another. If another is hungry, let him eat at home so that you may not come together for judgment." And so there are these cautions. Why? Because it is so important, because it is so vital, because the table is so central. And so with these cautions, having been expressed, with these warnings having been given, and with these reminders having been expressed, the reminders of the atonement, these reminders of the privileges being extended to us even now to come and to take a seat, not at the governor's mansion, not at the the table in the White House, but at a table here in anticipation even of the great marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven. Come take this privileged position and enjoy these spiritual provision that Christ makes available to us even now.