Praise to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray with me. Guide us, O God, by your word and spirit, so that in your light we may see light. In your truth, find wisdom and in your will, discover peace. Add your blessing to the reading and the hearing and the preaching of your word and grant us all the grace to trust and obey you and all God's people said, amen. Well, it is good to be back with y'all. I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas. I say having a Merry Christmas instead of had a Merry Christmas because we are Christians. And according to the Christian calendar, it is still Christmas. I think you kids know this without needing to be taught and you actually do a better job of celebrating the Christmas season than most adults. Most grown-ups treat the four weeks of Advent sort of like a drawn-out, extended pre-Christmas. So we spend four weeks singing Christmas songs, four weeks feasting, four weeks rushing around and getting ready for the one day so that by the time the one day comes and goes, the grownups are more than ready to clean everything up, start our New Year's resolutions, and get it over with. But that's because most of us grownups have been shaped more by the American calendar than the Christian one. The Christian calendar actually sees the four weeks leading up to Christmas as a season of preparation, of acknowledging that things aren't how they should be, and of contemplating how God not only makes but keeps promises, even if it seems to us like it takes a really long time for him to do it. If Christians prepared for Christmas like that, Well, then when Christmas Day finally comes, they would be better able to find themselves like eager children, ready to celebrate and enjoy God's gifts to us, starting with the gift of His Son, our Lord Jesus, the Christ, for more than just one day. So for you kids that are still celebrating, still excited about the new bike or the new baby doll or the new game you got on the day you celebrated Jesus's birthday, good job. Keep celebrating. Keep enjoying your gifts. Keep thanking God and your family for loving you and serving you this Christmas. And when you finally calm down at the end of today, Slow down and think about how cool it is that God would give you parents who, like God, are eager to use what they were given to give gifts to you. That's a blessing. After all, you weren't given your gifts because you deserved them, were you? You see, one of the quickest ways to ruin the joy of Christmas is to act like you deserve your gifts, ask about the next gift, and then hold on to them all really tightly rather than share them with others. Kids who think about and treat gifts like that grow up to be more like Ebenezer Scrooge and Mr. Potter than Jesus. And God doesn't give you or any of his children gifts so that they will grow up and be like those guys. God wants you and all of his children to grow up and be like him. And one of the reasons God the Father sent his son into the world was to show his children what he is like, an eager and sacrificial gift giver. And as his children who have received this greatest gift, we too should be eager to be sacrificial gift givers too. In our story today, the disciples yet again had forgotten this most basic truth of Christmas, a fact that Jesus had been trying to teach them for the last three years. It's been a couple of busy weeks, so I can't imagine anyone remembering what we talked about two weeks ago, but when we just heard the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, it's important to remember that they're doing so immediately after Jesus had instituted the new covenant memorial, which we call the Lord's Supper. with the words of the sinless Son of God echoing in their ears. This is my body, which is for you. And this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. These guys have the audacity to begin arguing about which of them would be regarded as the greatest in Christ's kingdom. Right after their lord and master had so plainly identified himself as the Passover lamb, the true sin and greater tribute offerings, these guys start bickering about who's going to be the most highly thought of person in Jesus' kingdom. Now maybe it was the wine talking. After all, they've probably had three or four cups by now, but these guys were acting more like spoiled children who unwrap one gift and then toss it aside to see what they're getting next than men who understand the implications of what Jesus has just said and done. Before we're too hard on them, though, Let's stop and think as to why they might have jumped straight to glory without stopping to think about the sacrifice it would take to get there. Remember, they are a part of a group of people who have been waiting for God to send a man who, among other things, would fulfill the prophecy we heard about in our Old Testament lesson. In Isaiah's second of the four servant songs, we heard what the true king of Israel was promised to come do. Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would call this promised one from the womb, and from the body of his mother, this one would be given a name. Sound familiar? His mouth would be like a two-edged sword, and he would glorify God with his life. The promised one would come to work and labor for his people, come to bring Jacob and Israel back to their God. He would raise up the 12 tribes of Jacob and become a light for the nations so that God's salvation would extend to the ends of the earth. He would be the servant of rulers and yet kings would arise and come to him and princes would bow before this one. And for about 750 years, God's people were waiting for that man to come. And the ones who were paying attention knew he was coming in their lifetimes because of some of the other prophecies in Daniel. And so they're waiting on pins and needles for the promised one. And from the beginning of Luke's gospel, we've seen this is exactly the kind of man God's faithful expected Jesus to be. After the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she had found favor with God and would conceive and have a son bearing God's name from the womb. a boy who would grow up being called the son of the Most High, a young man who would eventually reign over the house of Jacob forever and who would come be the kind of king whose kingdom would have no end. Mary went to her cousin, Elizabeth, told her the good news, and then sang this song. I'm not gonna sing it. My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God, my savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. Behold, from now on, every generation will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. The Lord has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever. Turns out Mary did know about her baby boy. Then, after her cousin, Elizabeth, gave birth to Jesus' forerunner, John, his father, Zechariah, the priest, sang, prophesying about his son and the one everyone had been waiting for. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David just as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of everyone who hates us to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy promise the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us, is from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our way in peace. This is what Zechariah expected of Jesus before he was born. After Jesus was born, even angels sang. Remember, the angel of the Lord that appeared to the shepherds at night and declared to them the words we opened our service with? Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among with those whom he is pleased. Even angels and shepherds had these kinds of expectations for Jesus in his first moments on the earth. And yet there was still more expectations. Another faithful old man who had been patiently waiting on the promised king to come, Simeon, when he saw Jesus like Jesus would do, he took the little baby in his arms and blessed him, rejoicing, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. So as you can see, the expectations for Jesus to be great had been following him since before he was born. And since the day he had been baptized and ordained by the Holy Spirit, those expectations had only grown. Jesus himself set the bar pretty high when he declared, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. After that first sermon, when Jesus talked the talk, he proceeded to walk the walk and do the things everyone expected the promised one to do and so much more. Jesus displayed power over Satan and demons when he cast a demon out of a man who had come into the synagogue in Capernaum. He healed Peter's mother-in-law of a fever, which was a much bigger deal back then than we normally think of in our wonderfully ibuprofen-rich world. Jesus made a leper clean. He gave a paralytic the ability to leap, and he rolled back death's door in raising the widow's son. Jesus proved himself to be a great physician by healing the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and who no one else could help, and by bringing Jairus' 12-year-old beloved little daughter back to life. He healed another boy with an unclean spirit, a woman who had been crippled for 18 years, a man with organ failure. He cleansed 10 lepers and restored the sight of a blind man. And those were just some of his displays of greatness in performing the miracles of healing on people. Jesus also displayed greatness over creation. and filling Peter's nets with so many fish, James and John had to come help bring them in. He calmed a raging storm and multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish such that his disciples were able to feed 5,000 men. And that's not to mention their wives and children. The people in Jesus's day were seeing all those songs about bringing God's enemies down and restoring Israel's glory and establishing a kingdom that would rule over the nations of the earth, coming true with their own eyes. And what's even more, these 12 men at the table had already gotten a little taste of kingdom greatness themselves, remember? Jesus had given them a preview of kingdom power when he gave not only the 12, but the 72, his spirit. And they had gone out and done the same kinds of things Jesus had been doing. Healing people and casting out demons, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and exercising authority on behalf of their king. And so when these guys are gathered around the table that night, and when Jesus gives them a few cups of wine and tells them that he's not going to drink again until he ushers in the kingdom, they know they're on the brink of world-changing history, and they know their king can make quick work of all his and their enemies. When Jesus took the bread and cup and said he was going to give his life for them, they couldn't have begun to grasp the magnitude of what he was saying. Jesus was the promised Savior they had all been waiting for. They'd left everything and everyone to follow him, and they'd been through so much together in the last three years. And so when Jesus says, one of you is going to betray me, you can imagine how the argument got started. In verse 23, Luke writes that first they began to question one another, which of them it could be who would do such a thing. Matthew and Mark give us a little better picture of the apostles by informing us that they at least started the discussion out on the right foot, asking, is it I, Lord? But Luke leaves that out. He simply goes straight from the questioning into the bickering about who was going to be regarded as the greatest. Could I betray Jesus? Could it be me? Fellas, do you think I could do something like that? And perhaps like bad Calvinists, they started telling each other, surely not. Once saved, always saved, man. Think about all the meaningful experiences you've had with your personal Lord and Savior. Apparently that worked and perhaps went something like, yeah, you're right. I have been with Jesus since the beginning. I committed my life to Christ. I was baptized. I've sat in on hundreds of his sermons. I've prayed prayers that God answered and I performed miracles. I've been an officer in the court and even cast out demons. There's no way I would betray Jesus. You know, come to think of it, I've done such a good job of being a follower of Jesus that when he takes his glorious throne, he's probably gonna give me a special seat at his table. I mean, look around, we're already a part of his inner circle. We're all going to be great. And now that I think about it, not only am I not gonna betray Jesus, I'm probably gonna be the one who everyone thinks of as being so great because I've actually sacrificed more and done more for Jesus than any of you people. Just like that, a fight breaks out. with each guy pointing out how much he has sacrificed and how hard he has worked and how many things he has done for Jesus. Now this has never happened to me, but I'm relying on some of you for insight. I've heard this kind of thing can still happen to Christians today. One minute you're having a calm discussion about something, And in the next minute, you're arguing and each person is telling the other person how much good they do. And if the other person would just acknowledge how much good they do, then the argument would be over and pecking order reestablished. Again, never happened in our family, but these guys are prideful. After everything Jesus has done and given them, they do not maintain a disposition of humble gratitude and an honest admission about potential weakness. Instead, they begin arguing over who is going to be the greatest when they finally get the gifts they rightfully deserve for all their sacrifice. And so like the last time they got into this exact same fight, Jesus interrupts to explain yet again that they've gotten the very nature of the kingdom totally upside down. You remember like when they tried to keep the babies from being blessed by Jesus? They are once again confusing the kingdom of God with the kingdom of men. Christ's kingdom is not about grasping for power and then welding that power just like the world. Jesus explains that the kings of the Gentiles lord their authority over the people under them. And those in positions of authority press people down in the name of good deeds and so are sarcastically referred to as benefactors. Now, Jesus isn't some Marxist critical theorist who's denouncing all forms of power and authority. He's not a woke CRT postmodern feminist who wants to deconstruct the God-ordained structures of the church and family life. We have to remember these guys are living in a world so different from the one we're used to. These people are not spoiled brats living on borrowed Christian capital. They don't have a voice or a revoice. They don't get to live their truth. They don't vote for Caesar and then whine and complain and spread propaganda until they get him and Herod canceled. The only reason people in our world think that they can act like that is because they've never actually lived in a time or place where the surrounding culture and its leaders aren't somewhat still operating with Christian assumptions. Truly non-Christian leaders and especially non-Christian kings and dictators don't give a rip about what people under them think or how they feel. They're only interested in getting and keeping power. And the best way to stay in power is to squash any and everyone who would threaten to take it away. You don't like Caesar or Herod? You better keep it to yourself. You better be thankful for the bone he throws you when his underlings pass out stale bread, and you better not mention the fact that you're poor and powerless and barely able to pay your debts because of his oppressive government that has forcefully taxed you into oblivion so that he could finance his lavish lifestyle and fund all of his government programs. You see, in the kingdoms of the world, the rich and powerful stay rich and powerful by using their authority to keep everyone beneath them. But not so with Jesus. He's the King of Jubilee, remember? He came to set people free from oppressors like that. But if the disciples keep up this worldly grasp for greatness attitude, their kingdom won't look any different than the kingdom of the Gentiles. And so Jesus admonishes them and explains that this is not how it's going to be in his world. If these guys want to be great in his kingdom, that's fine. That's well and good, but anyone can claim a stake to greatness while they have all the power and authority and are ruling from on high. If these guys want to be great in Jesus's kingdom, then he tells them they must become like the youngest child. They must think of themselves as a kid who has no rights, no power, no claims of rulership over anyone. That's how truly great men lead in Christ's kingdom, even though they are great and they do have authority. They do not lord it over the people under them. And Jesus goes on, if anyone wants to be a leader in his empire, well then they must become table servants. Like people watching and waiting for any and every opportunity to bless the dinner guests while having zero expectations of even getting a crumb from the table. That's what greatness and kingdom leadership looks like under the Jubilee King. It's so backwards, isn't it? So upside down and yet so Jesus-like. Think about all those miracles we listed earlier. Who were the benefactors? Who were the beneficiaries? Every single time Jesus used his power to serve people lower than himself. These guys have been waiting on and therefore seeing the powerful king from Isaiah's prophecy. And that Jesus is, but they've been so blinded by the glorious parts of his rule that they've forgotten the prophecy was a song about a servant. And that's what Jesus is trying to drill into them when he asks the rhetorical question, who's the greatest? The one who reclines at table or the one who serves tables? Obviously, the one who reclines at table while being served is greater than the one whose job it is to serve. Everyone knows that. So okay, fellas, we're all reclining at table, right? So we're all great, sure, and we're all being served, yes, but who's the greatest recliner at this table? Now, as quick as they'd be to argue with each other about who is the greatest compared to each other, none of them would have said they were greater than Jesus. And so he points out without saying it explicitly, and I being the greatest, what do you see me doing? You're all following me because you know I'm the greatest. And yet while I'm in your midst, while I'm here and among you, I am the one serving you. And surely that's not because you're greater than me, right? Brothers, the one who would be great in my kingdom must rule how I rule, as a servant. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that their visions of grandeur have no place at his table. This king's hall will not be filled with young, brash men seeking fame and power and glory. The king of Jubilee's kingdom will be filled with men who do not fight their way up to lead from on high, but who fight their way down to serve Christ and his people. Wasn't this Paul's point in his letter to the Corinthians that we heard in our epistles reading? To a church that was eaten up by pride for all the wrong reasons, Paul asked his own set of rhetorical questions. What do you have that you didn't receive? Well, if you've received it then, why are you boasting like you didn't receive it? The obvious answer is nothing. Everything they have, they've received as a gift from God in Christ through Paul. And yet this entire church was falling into the same trap as the disciples from some 20 years earlier. And so like Jesus, Paul rebukes them with a bit of sarcasm. Already you have become rich. Without us, you've become kings. And would that you did reign so that we might get to share some part of that rule with you. We are fools. for Christ's sake, but you're wise. We are weak, but you're strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. Like Jesus, Paul's words are dripping with irony. That church wasn't even a church before Paul came to town preaching the gospel. And now here they are all high and mighty as though they were a bunch of self-made men. Instead of receiving the greatest gift anyone could ever receive, the good news that Jesus was king of the Jews and Greeks, and that he was willing to sacrificially give his own life to save them, and then responding with the kind of humble gratitude that likewise sacrifices for others, They took the gifts, they took the privileges, and they tried to hoard even more for themselves. Rather than pursue love and unity, they'd begun to give themselves over to factionalism, arguing whose teacher was the greatest. Rather than using their God-given gifts to serve the body of Christ, they'd begun to draw unbiblical lines between the spiritual haves and the supposedly have-nots. And rather than seeing the Lord's table as an open table for weak and sinful and poor and repentant sinners of all ages, stages, races, and walks of life, they turned the Lord's Supper into a place where only the high and mighty and super spiritual got to eat and drink. In short, they'd fallen back into the same upside-down way of thinking about the kingdom as the apostles had all those years before. They'd fallen back into thinking and acting like Gentile kings instead of acting like Jesus, the king of the Gentiles. I wonder if there's any doubt that that same kind of letter with the same kinds of admonishments could be written to our churches today. We've got guys with their own little internet kingdoms jockeying for subscribers, trying to climb over fathers and brothers to get to their position at the top, and they're succeeding in their attempts to convince Christians all over the internet they must take a side. In order to make self-ruled men who rule well and win the world all in the name of what they think is a post-millennial patriarchy for their version of the new Christendom. They're acting more like the young, brash disciples before Pentecost than the spirit-filled men who considered themselves dead men walking for the sake of their king and his people. If you have no idea who I'm talking about, great. The less internet pastors you're aware of, in all likelihood, the better. But if you're at all into the world of online church leaders, be careful who you follow. Yes, Jesus is king, and yes, he is and will eventually bring his kingdom to bear on earth as it is in heaven, but he does not bring his kingdom to bear like the kings of this world. Christ's kingdom comes through the preaching of the gospel and through the lives of his subjects who live lives of sacrificial life-giving service, you know, like Jesus. Any version of the so-called patriarchy or Christ is King post-millennialism that tells you that won't work Totally misses the whole point of what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples on the very same night He was going to lay down his life to save them Beloved as those of us who have been chosen by God saved by him, adopted into his family, and given a place at his table where we receive gifts from him on high. Let us always be striving to use whatever power and authority and gift we've received, not for our own greatness, but for the benefit of others. We've been announcing our year-long men's leadership class for a couple of months now, and we just had our first meeting yesterday. I was so encouraged for the future of our church to see how many men are eager to grow in Christ likeness. Yes, for their own sake, but also for the sake of their wives and their children. And if the Lord sees fit for you. Over the next year, we are going to be driving home the need for leaders in Christ's church to be like Jesus and eager to love and serve Jesus by loving and serving any and everyone he puts in their lives. It's not too late to join us. Beloved, your leaders love you. I'm so thankful for God's grace in their lives, evidenced by how eager they are to sacrificially pour their lives out for you. And I'm looking forward to having other brothers join us. So if and when one of these men comes alongside you and tries to help you and give you counsel, don't fight them or complain about them or beat them down by being so extremely difficult to serve. Some of you are gonna do that. As the writer to the Hebrews says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. And let them do this with joy and not groaning, for that's of no advantage to you. Serving like Christ is hard enough without having to wrestle you and resort to sarcastic admonishments like Jesus and Paul. These guys could be spending evenings with their wives, drinking wine, playing with their kids, and even having a hobby. But they believe Christ has called them to lay down their lives for you. Follow them as they follow Christ. Elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, community group leaders keep loving and leading like Jesus. business owners, bosses, principals, teachers, you have been given authority by Christ to rule on his behalf. How are you using the authority he's given you for the good of your employees and staff and students? Employees, staff and students, how are you honoring their authority? Are you all fighting to serve one another? or are you constantly vying for greatness? Husbands, you have been given the gift of a wife, and God has given you authority over her. How are you using that authority? Are you lording your headship over your wife, or are you loving her, leading her, laying down your life for her, and even standing up to her? Not for your sake, but for hers. Wives, how are you honoring their God-given authority? Do you submit to them only when you agree or only after you've voiced your opinion on the matter a dozen times? Or do you go out of your way to lay down your preferences to serve and submit to your husband like the Jesus you profess to submit to lovingly requires? Parents, you've been given the gift of children. How are you using the authority God has given you over them? Are you harsh with them and do you provoke them to anger and discouragement by domineering over them and smothering them with rules? Or do you get down on their level, literally get down on the ground and play with them? Love them, enjoy them, praise them, and yes, discipline them when they need it, not for your sake, but for theirs. Kids, how hard are you making it for your parents to parent you? Do you respond to their authority by honoring them and obeying them right away, all the way, with joy in your heart? Or do you grumble and mumble and insist on your own way before begrudgingly doing what you're told only after there's been a consequence? Christ has given you the gift of parents, imperfect parents, sure, but if and when you don't honor their authority, you're not only dishonoring them, you're dishonoring the Jesus who loves you. Look at your parents and see them as God's gift to you and make their job as easy as you can by serving them like Jesus served the little children. Older brothers, older sisters, when you get left in charge, what do you do with your authority? Do you act like you're running a prison and your little siblings are prisoners? Or do you take good care of them and help them grow up so they can grow up and help others grow up, you see? As those who have been served by our King, any and every time you find yourself in a place where there's an opportunity to use whatever gift and whatever level of authority God has given you, rejoice in that gift and then ask God and others how you can use your gifts. Not to try and get more greatness for yourself, but so that you can use whatever greatness you've received to serve the people God has placed in your life. Our little church should be the kind of place who would receive a letter from Jesus or Paul that is filled with praise because we are filled with men and women and children who receive God's gifts with glad and thankful hearts and then use those gifts, not for our own interests, but for the interests of others. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Our communion meditation is picking back up in our story from our sermon text in Luke 21. Hear God's word. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. This is the word of the Lord. Now, we didn't make it to this part of the conversation during our sermon, but I think this is wonderful. Even with how ridiculous these guys have been acting, and even though Jesus had to rebuke these guys over and over again for their drift into being bad, selfish, glory-seeking leaders, He is still willing and eager to eat with them. He knows they're still babies. And he knows Pentecost is coming when he will give them the gift of his spirit that will totally transform them into the kind of men he's called them to be. But they're not there yet. And yet he's patient with them. He praises them for staying with him through his trials, and he tells them that he's going to assign to them, just like his father assigned to him, a kingdom. And the reason he says he's giving them that kingdom is so that he might eat and drink with them again. He wants to eat with these guys forever. sitting on thrones as rulers and judges. These guys, the ones who just totally butchered kingdom leadership are the ones the king is going to love and serve and save so they can eat together again. Beloved, that's how Jesus rolls. Something we've seen over and over again in Jesus's life, especially in Luke's gospel. Jesus loves to save and eat with repentant tax collectors, Pharisees, prostitutes, and prodigals. And such were some of you. But every Lord's Day since Pentecost, God's people have had the privilege of being drawn up into heaven, of gathering around Christ's table, and of eating and drinking with Jesus as rulers and judges over the world. Beloved, that's what we're doing right now. Because of Christ's eager willingness to serve God and you by giving his life for you, you now have the same privileges Jesus promised those apostles almost 2,000 years ago. So as the king's table servants bring you bread and wine, and as you take that bread and wine and pass it to one another, you're receiving and giving the greatest gift anyone could ever receive or give, fellowship with Christ and each other. As you receive these gifts, receive them as such and use the strength you receive by faith to go out from here to eagerly and sacrificially serve everyone God has placed in your life for his glory and the life of the world. Amen. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the peace. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night that he was betrayed, took bread. Let us pray. We do not presume to come to your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your many and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up crumbs under your table, but you are the same Lord whose character is to have mercy. Thank you, gracious Lord, that our sinful bodies are made clean by Christ's body and our souls washed through his most precious blood so that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us. Amen. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. These are the gifts of God for the people of God. Receive them as such.