Communion Exhortation - Ecclesiastes 3:16-5:20

I've gotten way behind on these.

Here is the most recent in the series, if you want to catch up. Now that I'm caught up with my Calvin reading, I'm hoping to do 2 posts a day - 1 on Calvin, and 1 communion exhortation or Narnia chapter.

We come to this table in worship to receive from Jesus Christ. It is the Lord’s Table, and not our own, and so we must come humbly. We do not speak and act rashly, as if we owned the place. We do not open our mouths to object to the Lord’s ordering of His world. We open our mouths, so that He can fill them. We do this faithfully receiving our portion from God’s hand, receiving the enjoyment and blessing He gives through Christ.

We do not eat alone. 2 are better than 1, and a 3-fold cord is not easily broken. This meal was not meant to be just between you and God. Paul warning about how to partake worthily in 1 Cor 11 begins with a basic assumption: “when you come together as a church.” We are to discern and regard and esteem the Body of Christ highly, as Christ did. So when we come together, we wait for one another. But there is more we can do beyond a routine of holding the bread and all eating at once. How else can you receive this Supper by faith among the community of God’s people? We want to express our faith in and love for Christ, and you see about 100 different people through whom to express it around you. You don’t just happen to believe in the same Jesus. No, Jesus is weaving you together with friends here, creating one masterpiece tapestry. He is doing this here at this Table, where the Spirit unites us with the source of life, Jesus Himself. We cannot see the whole tapestry, b/c we are IN it, and can’t step back to take in the whole view. That is our place; to be part of the body and to play our part humbly and well. We do this by faith, believing that God sent Jesus into the tapestry to restore it when it was unraveling. He died, so we could die to the penalty and power of our sin; He rose that we might live in Him. Eat, drink, see the good in Christ’s labor, and be satisfied in Him.