Holy Food

One of the central controversies in the Christian Church has been concerning the Lord’s Supper. What is going on? What is the bread and wine? Is it really the body and blood of Jesus? Or is Jesus hovering around the bread and wine supernaturally? Is He really present with us in a special way in this meal?

As we partake, I often say something along say receive the Lord's body given for you, this is Christ's blood shed for you. Do I mean that the bread and wine is altered into body and blood?

No, I don’t. It is bread and wine and stays bread and wine as I pray, say the words of institution, as we eat and drink and swallow.
But we do partake of Jesus by faith as we eat and drink. He is present with us and I believe that in Communion, His presence is particularly powerful. 

We not only partake of holy food because we are thankful to God for it, we also partake of Jesus because we are thankful to God for Him. We look to the crucified, buried, raised, enthroned and coming again Jesus. We give thanks to Him. We eat and drink believing that He is in us and we are in Him and the Holy Spirit fills us with confidence in Jesus Christ. Our faith grows stronger by eating this meal, and so we do more fully partake of Jesus.

So, let us make sure to give thanks to God for all of our good blessings and especially for the eternal blessing that is Jesus Christ, given for you.

Teaching That Saves

St. Paul told Timothy, Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

         What is it we should take heed of and what doctrine are we to pay attention to? 

    That Jesus came to save sinners. That He died and rose again. That He rules over everything. That He is coming again at the last day to receive His kingdom.

         Therefore, continue living out what God has worked into you. Be faithful. Don’t get distracted by the rumors of impending trouble, even of those who grow weak or deny the faith or who lead the saints astray. You stay steadfast. You believe. You teach others the same. This will save you and them.

         Dear Saints, you are here today to take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Thus, you shall save yourself and them that hear you. He does not mean that you become your own Savior. He means that you fully trust the One who is the Savior. Rest assured, God is faithful and He will save you and those that hear you to the uttermost.

Dangerous Church Food

We are living in a time in which some of the powers that exist would call this dangerous church food. They say that it is dangerous because there could possibly be someone here with a virus that could spread from one person to another and make us all sick.

Furthermore, this virus could spread from this place and make our community sick. Therefore, if we are to love our neighbor, then we should abstain from such food.

The powers are correct. This is dangerous church food. It is dangerous to principalities and powers. It is dangerous to fear. It is dangerous to unbelief. And where these powers of darkness loom, where there is such fear, where there is creeping unbelief, this food and drink and the Holy Spirit of God that flows through it, spreads the light of Jesus. It sheds light on the darkness. It banishes fear. It gives a sturdy resolve to the weak.

There is no doubt that this is, indeed, dangerous food. And just the sort of dangerous food that is necessary for soldiers engaged in a battle, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

So, eat and drink in faith and become dangerous to the world and the flesh and the devil. For Jesus, who died, rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father until all these enemies are subdued beneath His feet. Amen.

Be Strong and Courageous

Dear Saints, the Scriptures often exhort us to be strong and courageous. The power in that phrase resonates with us. We all want to be strong and courageous. We are drawn to strength and courage.

However, we often find ourselves weak and cowardly. How can we live in such a contradiction in terms that is the human condition?
Thanks be to God that He takes the weak and beggarly things of the world to confound the powerful and worldly wise.

This meal is a perfect example of God’s intention for us. Because we are weak and cowardly, the Lord condescends to give us tangible signs of His love and care for us. He gives us the waters of baptism that mark us as His own. He gives us bread and wine to show us that He gave us the body and blood of His Son.

We look at the water and the bread and the wine, things we can see, to give us strength and courage to believe in the God whom we cannot see. These signs bolster our faith and in faith we walk into the future, into struggle, into sickness, even into the valley of the shadow of death, and we fear no evil, for God is with us. 

In Christ, be strong and courageous.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Preparation

Prayer of Thanksgiving

         Our Father in Heaven, You have blessed us mightily and we give You thanks. You have provided for us in great abundance and even in this time of rising unemployment and uncertainty, You have provided for our people. Please continue to give us each day our daily bread and teach us to work hard with our hands so that we can learn to bless others. Use us and our gifts to advance the Kingdom of Jesus to the ends of the Earth. Amen.

Prayer of Preparation for the Lord's Supper

         Our Father, thank You for bringing us together in this place. Thank You for showing us that our unity is in Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended and coming again. For in Jesus, we live and move and have our being. As we eat the bread and drink the wine today, reveal to us the glory that is Jesus Christ, the one loaf that was delivered for our sins and raised for our justification. And strengthen our local body that we may be one just as He and You and the Holy Spirit are one. Amen.

The Fire of God

Psalm 32:5 I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

Words of Assurance-The Fire of God

Dear Saints, see that you do not refuse God who is speaking to you today. For if the old testament saints did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns us from heaven. 

In Old Testament times, God’s voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 

You all have embraced Jesus Christ, offered to you in the Gospel. God has sent His Holy Spirit to you, the fire of God, to give you life, to translate you into his unshakeable kingdom, to purge and purify you and to fully consume you. He has received you as He receives His own dear Son, who was an acceptable sacrifice, offered up once for all the people. If God is for you, who can be against you?

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Confession

Psalm 32:3-4 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.

Our Father in Heaven, You have caused us to die to our sins and have raised us up with Christ. And yet, temptations and sins still afflict us: anger, bitterness, envy, lust, and pride. Forgive us for these sins. By Your Holy Spirit, lead us to seek the things that are above and to have hearts filled with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience toward our neighbors. Amen.

Praise

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Our Father in Heaven, we glorify and praise Your Holy Name. You sent Your Son to us to live a perfect, sinless life, to suffer for us and to die on the cross to atone for our sins. The grave could not hold Him because You raised Him from the dead by the power of Your life-giving Holy Spirit. He appeared to the apostles and disciples with many undeniable proofs and commissioned Your people to proclaim His name to the whole Earth. He is now seated at Your right hand, interceding for Your people and ruling over heaven and earth. He has sent Your Holy Spirit to us so that we would proclaim to all the Earth the mighty acts of God. We give You glory for doing all of this so that the name of Jesus would be greatly exalted in the Earth. Amen.