Take your Bible’s now in turn, if you would, to the New Testament reading this morning, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians 10, starting at verse one. Once more, give your full attention. This is the word of God.

The Lord says through the Apostle Paul, for I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud than in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For the drink from the spiritual rock that followed them in the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, that people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people, judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel, are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then, that food offered to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

The word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. Join me in prayer as we ask the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching and reception of that word this morning. Let’s pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we do come again. We thank you that you have come to us in the power of your Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, let us never accept or encounter or think of these things as ordinary, for they are not, Lord. We pray that you would help us to realize just what you’re doing through your spirit through the faith that he provides. We pray that you would enable us to praise you and to give ourselves to you. We pray as we seek your face and your word in that word and seek to listen to the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would send your Holy Spirit to us afresh. that we might not merely come as tasters, but as children who are hungry and long to feed upon every word that you say to us. We pray for grace, Lord, that we may sit under your word, that we may listen to your voice, and that it would break through our callous hearts, and by your gracious love and your passion, transform us into the likeness of Jesus, our Savior. And so we pray, Lord, that you would, by your word and through your Spirit, Do good to us. Do good as we come for Your counsel and for Your presence. We pray, Lord, minister to us according to the wide variety of our needs, but bring every one of us, Lord, we pray, to see that You have provided all that we need in Christ, that we may come to Him and find our all in Him. We pray this for His glory and for our good. In Jesus’ name, and all God’s people said together, amen, amen.

I realized after a recent baptism that not preached on the sacrament of Lord’s Supper for some time. And I thought, again, it would be a good to cap our refresher of worship of what we’re doing as corporately as God’s people by looking at the supper to examine the awesome wonder of the supper and the encouragement from it that we receive and to magnify God’s glory. I’ve mentioned often throughout the course of my ministry here, that the Lord’s Supper is the peak point of worship. It’s where worship reaches its consummation and a meal of fellowship between God and his people. And we need to be clear that it is the peak point, but it’s not the priority. The priority of worship is the Word of God as we receive it, as the Spirit works through that Word, as we begin and he calls us through that Word and he cleanses us through that Word. The Word of God opens our worship. It fills our worship. It directs and controls and interprets and concludes our worship as we’re commissioned back into the world as God’s people made new. But nonetheless, in the stages of worship, as we gather, we come into the richness of the union and communion with Christ that the Lord’s Supper administers to us.

The Meaning of the Table

And today I want to look briefly at the meaning of the table, the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, what it is that’s going on and the benefits that are indeed communicated to us in the Supper, the Lord’s Supper in communion. So first we ask the question, what is that? What is it that is communicated to us in the Supper? How do we commune with Jesus in the table? Well, to start with, we say often that the wine and the bread are signs and seals of the new covenants. The Lord’s Supper is a communion meal. It’s a communion meal of eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ. The covenant relation that believers in Christ are in brings about communion. And we read throughout, I will be your God and you will be my people. I will dwell in your midst. The covenant in Jesus Christ is one that brings us to Christ to draw near to him in communion and union. And so Jesus says, this is my body, eat it, my blood, drink it. That’s what he says, right? This is, this is. And so in 1 Corinthians 10, 16 that we read, that the cup is a participation in his blood and the bread, a participation in his body. Christ said in John six, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. If you did not eat his flesh and drink his blood, Jesus says, you do not have eternal life, right? It’s that simple, a proposition. Now, at the time of the Protestant Reformation, we have to remember one of the points that They were protesting was what the Roman Church taught about the supper, about the Eucharist, communion, the Lord’s Supper. And they use John, Rome does, six to argue their view. And it’s the same today. They still teach this. And they insist that since Christ says to you, you must eat his flesh and drink his blood for eternal life. Right. John six. He says, you’ve got to eat and drink to have eternal life. And then he says, this is my body. This is my blood. Eat and drink. And so the Church of Rome says and has said, you see, it’s physical, literally the blood of Jesus. This is what he said very clearly. It’s actual physical flesh, actual physical blood that are served in the sacrament. And so they developed their view of the elements of the supper, the bread and the wine. They actually physically changed into the physical body and blood of Jesus. And so the Roman Catholic Church looks at us Protestants and says, don’t you believe what it says? Don’t you believe what Christ says here, right? What is the problem? Jesus says it, why don’t you believe it? Didn’t he mean it, right? Why are you trying to get away from this? The problem is though, the problem is John chapter six, verses 35 and 63. That’s the problem with the Roman Catholic view. that the elements are actually physically the body and blood of Jesus. The problem is those two verses in the gospel of John 635 and 663. And we need to know this and what these verses tell us. And so when you talk to your friends, your Roman Catholic friends, you should show them these two verses and bring them to mind and to question and challenge their view. John 635 says, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger. He who comes to me shall not thirst. And what’s he saying here? He’s saying that by believing you drink and by coming to him you eat. The eating and the drinking, you see, that Jesus says you must do to have eternal life are acts of faith, not acts of physicality, not mere acts of physical action. They’re acts of faith. The position of Rome is defeated right there in understanding this very clear verse. And in verse 63, Jesus says, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all, or the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. And so this is very, again, you have to take the entire passage and see what was being said here. The flesh profits nothing, verse 63 says. You see that? And so Jesus himself is explaining to us what he means when he says, eat and drink. The Jews in his day did not get it, what he was saying, like the Roman Catholic Church still doesn’t get it. They don’t understand it. They thought Jesus is talking about his actual physical flesh and blood. Jesus is clarifying that he’s talking about the work of faith in the realm of the spirit that occurs and that the flesh, the visible, tangible, the physical in those things, there is no profit alone. There’s no profit there in and of themselves. I am speaking to you words that are spirit and life, he said in 63. So therefore, the bread and the wine here in the table, are signs and symbols, not transformed substances of the body and blood of Jesus. These do not change from one to the other. So therefore we ask, does this mean that Christ’s body and blood are not present nor communicated to us in the supper? And that’s a big, pertinent, significant question, right? Does this mean that Christ’s body and blood are not present or communicated to us in the supper? Does that mean that we have no communication, no fellowship in the body and blood of Christ in the table? And of course, the answer to that is no, that’s not what it means. That’s not what it’s saying. That’s not what we’re teaching. We do have fellowship, communion, communication in the body and blood of Christ, but it’s not physical. The fellowship that we have is spiritually by the spirits and eating and drinking in faith by faith. We believe in the real presence, the real spiritual presence of Christ in the table. And so the bread and the wine, these are the means the Holy Spirit uses to bring about the participation, a communion, a fellowship in Christ’s blood and his body. And again, remember our text, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16. It’s a key text. And it says, again, I’ll read it. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? And that word participation in both of those sentences, It’s sharing. It’s the word fellowship. It’s the word, you know the word, it’s koinonia, right? Fellowship. It’s fellowship in the body and blood of Christ. Participation, a sharing in. It’s a partaking of. It’s a communion in. And so as you eat the elements in faith, you’re spiritually participating, fellowshipping, communing in Christ’s body and blood. You’re fellowshipping and in union and communion with Christ as you do so in faith. And what is there? We have the past and the present and the future reality. So you are communicating in his past body and blood. You’re communicating with him presently in the fellowship of the Spirit in heaven. As we heard last week, the city of the living God truly drawn into glory with all the saints, with God, the judge and with the Lord Jesus. Presently in the Spirit in heaven, and you’re communing with the marriage supper of the Lamb, right ahead of time by the Spirit, right? A foretaste of that supper that we will have at the end of time. But the Spirit brings us the realities to come in our world, right? Even now, he brings them forward. And so we see this union, this covenant oneness is established by Jesus. It’s given to us so that when we sit down at the table and we partake of these signs and symbols, these small tokens of faith by faith in Christ, we truly commune with Christ. Our souls are nourished, right? And that’s a glorious, awesome thing. We are, as it is, one flesh with Jesus when we do so. Think of Ephesians 5, right, when it talks about marriage, it’s speaking of marriage, and it quotes Genesis. Why did Paul, what did he say, right? He said it’s about Christ and the church. becoming one. So when Adam says, Eve, you are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, those are the words that Jesus is speaking about the church. We are one, right? The covenant binds us together. The two become one. There’s a rich, spiritual, redemptive covenant bond. There’s a reality there. And that rich, spiritual covenant bond that we have with Jesus, in Jesus, is nurtured, it’s strengthened, it’s grown, it’s deepened, it’s enriched, it’s sweetened, and it’s refreshed when by faith we spiritually feast on the body and blood of Christ, when we partake in faith through the spirit of this table. When we commune really, truly, spiritually, we have to remember when we say spiritual, that doesn’t mean not real. We commune truly, really. It’s his way and the communication of Christ in the supper is truly, really spiritually by faith. So that’s what’s communicated to us when we receive Jesus Christ, truly, really. by the Spirit, by faith. And again, this is an awesome thing that we shouldn’t have a ho-hum attitude or an indifferent attitudes toward. This is an incredible blessing that the Lord gives us. Can we comprehend it fully in this life? No, we can’t. But we believe and trust what the Lord says in his word. That’s what’s going on. And so that’s the union. That’s what’s communicated to us.

Sanctification

And then another benefit of the table that’s going on there is our sanctification, right? Our sanctification. our quickening of life and killing of our sin. We know that food and drink sustain life, and by food and drink, life grows. If you stop eating, what will happen? Well, you’ll stop growing, and eventually you’ll die. Food and drink are necessary for sustaining life and for growing life and for developing. And so, too, food and drink of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper gives you the sustenance, the nourishment, the strength in your soul to sustain your fellowship and growth in Christ. And perhaps later this Lord’s Day as you’re committing it to the Lord and you’re trying to set it apart as not just an ordinary day, perhaps look at Belgian Confession 35. It’s a truly glorious passage from the Old Confession that speaks of this analogy between the physical body and mouth and hand and the spiritual that’s going on here. Every time we come to this table, This covenant truth should come home to us. This truth should come home. I am justified by faith. I am clothed in the righteousness, not my own, by the works of Jesus Christ. We should be reminded again and again when we come, what do we think? What do we think about when we come to the table? You know, often different traditions have built up on seasons of preparation for the table and different time frames and different things that people go through, or many people just think about the table and their preparation. What do we think about? What do we think when we come? Do we think that I come to the table because I’ve had a good week and I deserve it this week? Or do we think that we come because we’ve tried really hard? Do you think that you come to the table because maybe you shared your faith, you spoke with someone about Jesus, or maybe you think that I’m going to come because I finally stopped indulging in blank sin, whatever it is. I finally stopped or lessened this sin that I’ve been engaged in this week. So now I can come to the table. That’s not why we come. And if you’re thinking that way, I encourage you to stop thinking that way. This is covenant of works kind of thinking. We don’t earn our way or our right to come to the table. We come to the table why or how? We come, as that old hymn says, with nothing. We come, nothing in our hand we bring, simply to the cross we cling. Right? We are justified by faith, and so we come. It remains the foundation for my life and my faith and my growth and the gospel for my standing before God, justification, and the gospel for my living and growth in holiness, my sanctification. To believe the gospel, to believe the truth of what it says and what he’s given you the faith to exercise to believe, believe that for every moment of your life. Believe it and trust it and accept that it’s true again and again and always. because of what Christ has done, not because of what you have done. But also through this table we receive spiritual life. The Apostle Paul says in Colossians and then in Ephesians 4, of course, to put off the old and to put on the new. Put off the old and put on the new. Crucify the old man. Put to death the elements of the old man in your life. and to vivify, right, to bring to life, to enliven by the Spirit that which is new in Christ. What does the table do? It brings me into closer recognition and understanding and fellowship, a closer, stronger stimulation of faith and experience of the cross, the resurrection of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 3 tells us that as you look upon Christ, it has a transforming power in your lives. It has a sin-killing power. Do you believe that? Do you believe what Scripture says when it says, that’s what happens. It has a power to kill sin in your life. Trust what it says. And how is sin killed in your life? It’s by bringing the cross closer and in closer and closer proximity to your faith and to your soul. How are virtues stimulated and fed and vivified, brought to life? It’s by bringing Christ closer. into closer and fuller proximity to your faith in your soul so that you put off what is old and you put on what is new by faith through the Spirit, right? That’s an incredible thing. And that’s a promise of Scripture that the Lord gives to you as you do so. And it’s a command. So the elements of the table bring you into the spiritual reality. This is why these elements feed and nourish and sustain and strengthen the soul. So that’s another benefit that we have from the supper. That’s something that’s communicated to us.

Identity

Another one is our identity, right? Identification. It’s the benefit of being planted and grounded in the body of Christ. When we come to the elements of the table, the driving overwhelming awareness is the love of God. the love of God for his people, for you if you are his. God’s love is perceived in Christ’s death and is dying upon the cross on your behalf. How do we know that God loves sinners? How do we know? Romans 5 tells us God shows his love for us in that and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We know that he loves sinners because Christ died for sinners, right? The Lord’s table brings home the motive of God’s love, the act of God’s love in Jesus Christ, that the Spirit then brings home to my soul when I partake, right? And remember Romans 5, that beautiful picture that we’re given, that truth that is told where it says that the Spirit pours out the love of God into our hearts, right, into our hearts. And that’s an awesome thing. Meditate upon that, brothers and sisters. Think upon these things for your encouragement. And how does he do it? How does he do this? He does so through the means of grace that he’s ordained for his people through word and prayer and the sacraments. And the very love with which we have been loved is not just for you alone. Have you thought about that? God fills you with his love as you feed upon the bread and the wine, as you pray, as you avail yourself to the word. And why is that? Why does he fill you with your love? It’s not just for you, not just so you can walk around full, filled with the love of Jesus. No, he fills you with his love so that you might, that it might flow out of you, right? Flow out of you to others, right? He doesn’t just love you. He loves his body as well. He equips you, not just for yourself, but for service. He loves his body, and he wants the love of his body to be reciprocated and realized in the real life, put on display, felt and shared one with another. And so this table grounds us. in the body and the love of Christ so that we might share it with one another. That’s an amazing thing. It’s quite contrary to the individualism, individualistic bent that we have so much in the West. It’s an incredible thing, right? His love is not just for you, but it’s that you would love others. And that when we come each week to this table, God is saying to you, I love you. I love my body, and I gave my life for it to redeem it. All of its ugly, gross sins, I have dealt with them fully and completely, even though my body has acted in rebellion against me. Its flawed, weak love has gone after other loves and indulged in other things. Still, I love my body whom I have redeemed. The body’s sins will not break my love for it. Think about that as well, an incredible thing. When you’re down, when you’re doubting, when you’re discouraged, think about that. The love of God is greater than your fallenness and your brokenness and your failings. And so when we come to this table, it should cause us to be amazed, right? My sins, my sins have nailed Christ there to that cross. And he took those nails of my sin so that by taking them, he might cleanse me from those very sins and free me from the guilt of those sins and the punishment of those sins. He dealt with what keeps us apart from Him and with one another, that He might bring us into rich fellowship with one another. That is the power of the sacrament when received by faith through the Spirit. It grounds us firmly in the body of Christ and in the love of Christ, which is to be shared by that body. What an amazing, loving Lord He is, right? How overwhelming is the gospel when we think about that? It should cause us to praise our Lord, right? And stir our hearts.

Orientation

And then lastly, the benefit that flows from, or that’s had by the supper is our orientation, right? Who are we? It identifies us. We commune with the Lord there. It speaks to and activates our sanctification, but also our orientation. Who are we in this life? The Lord’s Supper gives us a new story. It tells you the truth of who you are now that you are Christ’s. God wants the redemptive historical drama to be your drama. You’ve been drawn up into that reality. He doesn’t want your drama to be your drama, right? He wants you to be part of the history of redemption that he’s unfolding for his people in this world. And so we so easily identify ourselves by our own drama in our lives, right? That overtakes us, that overwhelms us, our story. what we do and think about ourselves, what the world tells us about ourselves. And God tells us that we are His, and that we’re part of what He’s doing for His people. And that’s who you are if you are Christ, if He is your Savior, and you are His, right? Galatians 2.20 is that glorious verse that is probably memorized by most of you, or should be, where it says, I have been crucified with Christ, right? That’s the table, right? Union with Christ. And it’s no longer I who live, right? I’ve died in Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life I now live in the flesh, right, that is this life that we live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who delivered himself up for me. That’s the new story of which you’re a part. That’s the story of your life. That’s your orientation. if you belong to him. And I pray that is your story, even this morning. I take from Christ, I feed upon Christ in the table, and I die unto myself in Christ. That’s our story. And I walk out from this fellowship with him in the table to now live anew a life of faith in Christ for him in all that I do. And whatever I live, whatever I do, I’m trusting Christ that I might please him. not out of slavish fear, but because he loved me. He gave his life for you. That’s the desire of our heart.

And so that whatever we do, whatever we think about during the week, whatever we’re attempting to do, we do so in connection with our communion with Jesus, desiring to please him, desiring the other six days of the week that more of Christ might be shown and seen in my life, in all that I do, and less and less of my old self, Because that’s not who you are any longer. It’s not who you are. And this needs to be especially so in those hard and suffering moments of life, those trying times, those painful moments of life, what some call the cross moments of life. Right? What are the cross moments of life? It’s when the pain that we’re going through drives you to plead with God for escape, to plead with him for an out, for a pass. Let it be done, Lord. Let it be done. We know Jesus had moments like this. What was Christ’s moment where he pled for a pass? We all have them. They hurt. They’re awful. They’re discouraging. And we think, I don’t deserve this, we cry. And this is the pain that moves us to beg the Lord for a pass, for an out. And when we come out from the worship, come out from sitting under the word of God, the spirit working through that word and out of the supper, back into our lives, we must face these moments again. And we have an opportunity to face them by faith in Christ anew, reminded of who we are. Because in the communion and fellowship at the table with the body and blood of Jesus, we’ve communion with him in his death and in his suffering. It’s been commanded that we will suffer. We will suffer. We now come out into the world to continue that communion, right? We continue on in that. Paul said in Philippians three that he wanted to know the fellowship of his sufferings, the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ.

And the Apostle Peter echoes the same thing in first Peter four, the same sentiment with regard to the Christian’s life, where he says in verse 12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. but rejoice in so far as you share in Christ’s sufferings, that you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. You see what Peter is saying here. Going out from the table in worship into the world is to continue that redemptive historical drama of sharing in the sufferings and glory of Christ in your life. So that Peter says, yes, even though those sufferings are upon you and you want to say, Lord, give me a pass on this one, please let it pass. And he says, what? Sometimes he says, no, my grace is sufficient for you. Peter says, we look heavenward and we glory in it. And Paul says, we rejoice in our sufferings. We receive even now a taste of glory, and we look forward to that day of glory when all the sufferings will be swallowed up in the accomplishment of Christ’s work in his church. So when you eat and when you drink of the body and blood of Christ, you’re adopting for yourselves a new life. It’s telling a new story of who you are, a true story of who you really are, your new orientation in this life. You’re adopting a new life. You’ve been crucified and you have new life. That old life is over. And you’re taking on new life and a new story that you can carry out from the table and back into the world. It’s called union and communion with the sufferings and glory of our Savior, right? And it’s a glorious thing indeed.

And we have to remember, brothers and sisters, we have to remember whenever a Christian experiences, right, as Paul says, a thorn in the flesh, that believers can be sure that there are two things at work here. There are two hands that’s been put at work whenever a believer experiences a thorn in the flesh. There’s the one hand that seeks to drive you to despair. to be despondent. There’s the hand that seeks to make you say, there’s just no way I could never serve Christ as long as I’m going through this. Has that hand spoken to you? Have you experienced this? But there’s another hand, and that hand has been stretched out in sovereign control of every detail of your suffering. And that hand is at work to use that suffering to make you more and more like your wonderful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Think of Romans 8. And our reflex is to say this is impossible, cannot be. But if that’s impossible, there’s no hope for your salvation. Because that’s what happens in the cross, right? Remember Christ, he said within hours of his crucifixion, This is happening to me because it’s a time that the power of darkness and hell are let loose to destroy me. And at the same time, he knew, he fully knew that he was going to the cross because his father was sending him there. And the most wicked thing that the devil ever did was the very thing that God in his sovereignty would use for your salvation and for mine. That’s what Peter says in Acts 2. The definite plan of foreknowledge of God, Ephesians 1. They put him to death. It was part of God’s plan. Consider Paul. Remember, he was given a thorn in the flesh, famously. Some of us don’t just have cross moments here and there in life. Some of us have cross lives, cruciform lives, and the suffering and the pain that goes seemingly unending. And, you know, Paul pled. He suffered and he pled with the Lord to take it away, to remove it from him. And that’s what Paul was learning, that the glory, all the glory would be Christ’s when the Lord said to him, Paul, I’m not taking the thorn away. I’m not taking it away. And we don’t learn this otherwise. Brothers and sisters, for some of you, that thorn may have been there for years. And you’ve longed to be taken away. I know I have longed to be taken away, but some of them cannot be taken away in this world. And so what are we to do? What are we to do? We are to learn, says Paul, that his grace is sufficient for you. His grace is sufficient for us and that his strength is made perfect in our weakness. And we say, and I say, I want my strength to be made perfect by my strength, that I might serve you better and serve you best and serve you the way that I see I should. And the Lord Jesus says, if your strength is made perfect in your own strength, then you will never be able to serve me. Because then people will say, isn’t he great? Isn’t he strong rather than isn’t Christ glorious? And the weakest will never be able to see that the strength of Jesus Christ dwells right down upon the weakness of the weakest saints. And then we discover that, as Paul says in verse 10, for the sake of Christ, then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecution and calamities. I learn contentment because I know that in the midst of the aching soul with a thorn in the flesh that Jesus has promised his grace will be sufficient for me. And he’s promised that it will be sufficient for you. And that it is in my weakness that he dwells with power and that he shows his power in your weakness in you. So to be made the dwelling place of the power of Christ, where he reveals his glory is the place from which to rejoice in sufferings. because it’s through those sufferings that show Christ’s presence and his power. Most of us have had a hard time dealing and trying to merely endure sufferings. We think it’s great that we can bring ourselves to submit to be the dwelling place of Christ’s power, but to rejoice in our afflictions, that’s what Paul tells us to do. It’s what the Lord tells us through Paul, to rejoice in our sufferings. It’s more than we can handle, we think, and it is more than we can handle. I know it’s overwhelming when I think about this, and we must know that in these times and in these trials, that God is sovereign over all, that he works all things for good, and that Christ’s power is magnified, and it’s shown brightly in our weakness, in his weakness in Paul’s. And therefore, we not only endure, but we rejoice in our weaknesses because Christ is all sufficient for us, and that’s what’s being manifested. in the things that we go through. That’s why Paul says, when I’m weak, then I am strong. When weak, then strong. And this reminds us of salvation itself, right? When you realize you can’t work to earn it, you realize that you don’t deserve it, you’re indeed work, weak. And when you acknowledge your brokenness and your weakness and you threw yourself helplessly upon Christ, then His power, what explodes in your life, in your weak life, and His strength is revealed and giving you new full life and security for eternity, for glory, for Him. When weak, when you are weak, then you are strong in Him. and he is glorified. You have a thorn in the flesh, right? Do you have a thorn in your flesh? Suffering, weakness, calamities that pound and beat you down. God reigns, brothers and sisters. The Father works and Jesus Christ is all sufficient, always for you and for me. He is powerful for you. What a Savior we have. his life for yours, all of his life for you in totality, the totality of all of your life. What a Savior indeed. And we remember and we partake of the Savior and we are grown and we’re filled and we’re unable to rejoice and make it through in this life with all of those moments, all of those cross moments and thorns by the means that he gives and he gave to us in the table as a means of grace. And so may we remember, dear Christians, and grow in our faith and in our understanding, Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day, as we hear his word, as we pray indeed, and when we commune with him in the supper, let us trust him for everything, for his love, for his mercy, and for his sovereignty, indeed, today and always, in all those moments of our lives, as we bring him glory in all that we do. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for what you bring to us in the supper, even as far beyond us as it is to grasp in its totality. Lord, we pray, feed us full. We pray that you would indeed assuage our fear, grant us to live anew, to walk with a new life and a new script to walk with Jesus. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you are gracious to us in Christ, that in you we have a sure and safe refuge and the promise to behold our Savior for all of eternity, one with another. Lord, we pray continue to tune our hearts for glory. Give us a longing to be with Christ and a longing for the consummation of the surely to come. We do pray, Lord, that you would be with us until that time, as we live in this pilgrim life, as we go through in our weakness, with these moments, physically or relationally, emotionally, whatever they may be, Lord, we’re confident that you know, and that you’ve given to us, and that you will give to us the strength to persevere, even in our weakness, as your glory shines through. Lord, we pray for your people. We pray that you would bless us and strengthen us, and grant to us your spirit to faithfully serve you and to live for you. And indeed, whatever we might endure in this life, that we would see you, our God and our King, are faithful and gracious to us. And that you are our sure, firm rock amidst it all, even unto glory.

Dear Lord, work through us, even us, to be the light of Christ in this world. We pray for your people suffering here and around the world. Pray that you would grant relief and peace and whatever your will, Lord, pray that we would trust you and that you would strengthen the hearts of those you love and who suffer in your name. Lord, we do pray for those in government that you placed us under. Lord, we pray that you would have mercy on your people around the world and also here in this nation and locally. Help us not to despair in all the perceived insanity and wickedness and corruption. Father, we confess it’s so easy to be overwhelmed by fear and frustration and even anger. We pray have mercy on and help us to trust you. We pray that you would help us to remember and to know that you are in control and that you are bigger and greater than all of the issues of this life, political or otherwise. We pray for your will and your way, even in those various offices that they hold. We do pray that you would use them for your ends, that you would bring stability and truth and peace to our city and our nation and around the globe, and that you, Lord, that you bring us week after week. We thank you to your holy hill and your holy dwelling, to your word and to the sacrament with the multitude of the people. We thank you that we come to you, our exceeding joy, and that we will praise you our God, for our salvation. We pray, bless the families of the church, the singles and the children, Lord. We pray that you would bless the officers of the church and its work. We praise you and thank you and ask that you would continue to grow us in depth and in number and protect us and direct us where we should go. Help us to know our dear Father. and that you are our sustenance in plenty and in want, and to know Christ’s presence and love as your beloved children. Pray be with us as we continue to worship now and we ask all these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.