And suddenly we have so much space. So great to have the little ones here. What's that? Yep, yep, that's right. All right, so today is the day that we typically, the last Sunday of the month, partake in the Lord's Supper. And I'm going to talk just a little bit about traditions, but also worship. You know, we traditionally gather on the first day of the week and what we call our worship service. And as we think of that concept of worship, you know, we have all sorts of different ideas that come in our minds of what is worship, what what constitutes worship. And our English word worship actually comes from an older English word of worth ship. That is literally where it comes from in English, this acknowledgment of worthiness or showing reverence and adoration. If we look at the Hebrew words that are translated worship, one idea is bowing down. We bow down, we lower ourselves before God in worship, in adoration and acknowledging he is exalted and we are submissive underneath him. But as we think through the practice of worship, there are several aspects of worship that we typically participate in during a worship service. And so one of the things we do is we sing praise to God. We just got done singing some songs of praise to him. That is certainly an act of worship as we proclaim the excellencies of God and our gratitude to him for his rich blessings in our lives. We also read the scripture. did that as Eric came up earlier and we give honor to the Word of God as our guide for life. Another aspect of worship is praying. We seek God's blessing and we acknowledge our need of Him and seeking His help and direction in our lives. Another aspect of worship is the giving of offerings. acknowledging that all that we have comes from God. And so we offer a portion back to him as an expression of thanks and worship. And then of course, we also listen to a sermon, a message from the word of God designed to instruct us and to help us grow in our faith and giving glory to God. But then there is another typical act of worship, and that is the partaking of the Lord's Supper or communion. And so here at Southwick, we typically do it once a month on the last Sunday of the month. In other churches, it's kept every Sunday. Others do it less frequently, perhaps quarterly or biannually. We're not given a precise command in scripture about the frequency. keeping the Lord's Supper, but as Paul states in 1st Corinthians 11 26, as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, we are expected to do it on some sort of a regular basis. But then we ask the question, so what is the purpose? of this Lord's Supper or communion. This same verse that we started here gives us a reason for the Lord's Supper. So it continues on, as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And so this is a demonstration of or a proclamation of the fact of the Lord Jesus' death on our part as a sacrifice for our sins, providing our salvation from sin. He took the punishment that we deserved. Our guilt went on him as he died. And so we proclaim that through the partaking of the Lord's Supper. And so I want us to go back then to some of the gospel accounts that give us the details of what exactly did Jesus do in establishing the Lord's Supper. We call it the Lord's Supper because he is the one that gave the command. He is the one that gave the example, gave the pattern for us to follow. And so we go back to the gospels, the history of his life and what he did in establishing this. And we start in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, in verse 17, where it says, on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? And so this gives us the setting. It was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was a seven-day-long feast, and at the end of that was the Passover itself and all of that the the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover that all commemorated the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt as God Delivered them through remember he had the ten plagues that he brought on Egypt showing his power against the the gods of Egypt and the final plague was the death angel and God gave the command that Every household was to take a lamb, a spotless lamb, the Passover lamb. And they were to, first of all, examine it to ensure that it was without spot, without blemish. They were to keep it within their houses during the days of preparation. And then on the night of Passover, they were to sacrifice that lamb, each house. They were to take the blood of that sacrificed lamb put it on the the the lintel and the doorposts of their house and they were to close the door and then roast the lamb and eat the lamb within the house and nobody'd go out because God was sending his death angel over the land of Egypt and on every house where there was no blood on the doorpost the firstborn son in that house would die as God's judgment on sin of of Egypt and any unbelieving Israelite So they were under the blood, they were protected, and the angel passed over them in their house. And so it was on that commemoration of the Passover that Jesus initiated this Celebration of the Lord's Supper and first Corinthians 5 7 connects the Passover and Jesus death by saying Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed so that lamb of the Passover was a foreshadowing was a symbol of what Christ would do for us as The the judgment of death on our sin we would be passed over if we're under the blood of Christ, our Passover lamb. And so just as that lamb was an innocent substitute for sinful people taking their place, Jesus died for our sins as our substitute. So they the disciples said where will you have us to prepare to keep the Passover? Jesus told them go to this room You'll find it's all prepared and they found just as he had said and so they met together They had the Passover meal the commemoration of that prior deliverance and then we read that After the Passover meal was finished, Jesus took a piece of unleavened bread from the meal, and he gave it new significance. And we read in Luke 22, 19, 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. So I said that this was part of this feast of unleavened bread. And one of the things that God had told the Israelites back in Egypt is, that they were to search throughout their houses and get rid of all trace of leaven or yeast from within their houses because that was a symbol of sin. And so it was picturing for them, oh, we are to put away sin from our lives as we approach this holy God and as we follow him in obedience. And so the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for seven days. They take all sources of leaven out of their homes, and then they have unleavened bread, this wafer-like bread that's not raised by the yeast or the leaven. And so Jesus took this unleavened bread, which pictured the removal of sin, and he said, this is my body. which is given for you. And so this bread became a picture, a symbol of the sinless body of Christ. But notice that he said, do this in remembrance. Do this to remember me. There was no mystical transformation of the bread. Jesus was still there. He was about to die the next day. But he said, this represents me. This is a picture, a symbol of my body, which is given for you. And so Hebrews 10.10 tells us that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That's one of the reasons in that scripture there that it says Jesus, the sacrifice was once for all. In some traditions, they will say that this is a fresh sacrifice on our account and so the bread becomes the actual body or somehow becomes the mystical body of Jesus and we partake of that fresh sacrifice. The scripture tells us that that sacrifice was once and it never has to be repeated. And so this is just a picture for us of that once for all sacrifice that Jesus gave in his own body, taking the punishment of our sins on our account. And so then we read after that, Jesus took the cup after supper saying, uh, this, There it is. This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. The Bible is very clear that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. That's why all through the Old Testament era, there were daily sacrifices, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of animals that were constantly being offered, killed in order to pay for the ongoing sin of the people. Because God said that the wages of sin is death. There has to be a death to pay for sin. But Jesus took that for us. And as it says in Hebrews 9.22, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. His sacrifice was the perfect. sacrifice that settled the debt for all sins forever for all who would receive him by faith. And so we read that Jesus said this is the new covenant. This was promised in the Old Testament. A covenant is an abiding legal agreement and promise between two individuals and in this case between God and man. The Old Testament was an old covenant under the law. And Jesus said, this is the new covenant that replaces the old one. because Jesus fulfilled the law, he fulfilled all the provisions of the old covenant, and he established this new covenant between God and man by means of his own sacrifice, his own blood. And just like the bread, Jesus said this cup was then a symbol of his blood, and that they were all to drink it. in remembrance of him with that memory of this represents what Jesus has done for us. He settled the debt, he sealed the new covenant. And so because of the spiritual significance of this ceremony that that the Lord Jesus established and all that he did for us personally in his own body, The Apostle Paul tells us whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. And then he gives the command, let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. He talks about an unworthy manner of partaking in this. One example of an unworthy manner of partaking in this is a person who does not have a personal faith relationship with God through Jesus Christ has no understanding of what this means and that Jesus took my place. And so to partake in it is to be saying, I don't care what Jesus That would be an unworthy manner. Another example would be a believer who is out of fellowship with God, not in right relation, just as our children can be in disobedience to us. They're not in a right relation. It doesn't make them not children. But things aren't good. They're in rebellion. The same thing would be true of a believer who is in some way in rebellion against God to then partake without addressing that rebellion is an offense to God. And so the command is, let each one, let a man examine himself. One, to find out, am I in the faith? Do I have a faith relationship, acknowledging Jesus died for my sins, and I'm now responding in thanks and worship. Secondly, OK, I know that Jesus died for me, but am I in that right position, or am I disobedient? Am I somehow rebellious against God, and do I have to address that before I can partake of that? And so that's our responsibility. He paid the debt. He gave out of love for us. And we're told now to examine ourselves and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup as an act of worship, as a response of thanksgiving and love of what he has done. this Lord's Supper does not provide us salvation. It's not somehow that by eating this and drinking the cup that okay, now I've, I've received Jesus through this note. It's a picture of a spiritual reality internally that we receive by faith. And we are doing this as a response as an acknowledgement of what Christ has done for us. And so As we prepare for the Lord's Supper, we are to take that time, each one, to examine ourselves, to communicate with God within our own hearts and minds, and prepare our hearts to receive this and acknowledge any sins that need to be confessed and to express that love and submission and thanks and worship to the God who gave so much for us. It is his faithfulness, his love, and his provision that allows us to access the throne of grace. In fact, the song that we sang earlier, And Can It Be, It had the final verse, bold I approach the eternal throne. Think about what that means. I mean, any one of us on our own, thinking about approaching the throne of almighty God, the eternal, perfect, holy, all powerful God, that is a fearful thing. And nobody can approach that in in some casual manner. And yet in Christ, because of His sacrifice, because of His blood, and the fact that in Christ we have been made children of God, we have boldness to approach the very throne of God as His children who are in His love, knowing He receives us as such through Jesus Christ through his sacrifice on our account. It is all because of Jesus that we have that access. And again, that's why we respond in worship. So as our servers come forward, This is the time for us each to examine ourselves, to pray within our hearts and prepare our hearts to be able to receive this as an act of worship in a response of love and thanksgiving. All right, Ray, would you ask the blessing on the bread, please? Father, we ask you to bless this bread and help it to remind each one of us of the great sacrifice you've given for us and motivated us to live a life worthy of it.