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Come To The Table
John 6; I Corinthians 10-11
On Thursday of this week
we will all have one thing in common:
we will impatiently salivate, waiting to hear the words: “Come to the
table!” This morning, Jesus has set the table and is inviting us, “Come to
My Table.”
John 6:27
Jesus is speaking to a group which followed Him because He just fed
them. He says, "You all want
seconds ... but I have something better!
You shouldn't settle for more loaves, you can have the LORD!
He points out the fact that there are better reasons to follow Him
than just for a temporary fill.
Ill.—what
do you call a stray cat that you feed?
“Pet!” You own her now,
like it or not! She’ll stay
right beside you. But will she
find more in you than that? Will
she find love and a place in the family, or will she be dropped off in a
better neighborhood or fall victim to an unfortunate “accident?”
v. 31 They wanted the Lord to top
that miracle.
v. 32-33
Their mouths are watering, they cannot wait…oh hurry, they said,
licking their chops. Don’t tease
us…when will this bread get here?
v. 35 It is here!
You’re looking at it!
“Oh,” they said sadly.
“Really?” What a let down
they felt.
v. 41-42
They aren’t thrilled with His claim, and they don’t believe.
They aren’t getting the picture here, but we must make sure WE
understand:
v. 48-51
Jesus announces the main course, and it’s Him!
It’s a spiritual analogy, but they don’t get it.
v. 52 They’re thinking He’s like
Dracula telling the young couple to come over because He’d like to ‘have
them for dinner.’ Well, it’s not
cannibalism Christ is advocating, it’s true Christianity, realizing His body
and His blood are the real spiritual sustenance that will sustain a
Christian life.
v. 53-58
It’s not very physically appetizing, but spiritually speaking, it’s
the best eating you’ll ever experience.
Psalms 34:8
O taste and see that the LORD
is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Bread sustains life, and
His body is the bread, so we must trust in the sacrifice made by that broken
body.
Leviticus 17:11
For the life of the flesh
is in the blood:
Blood
is life.
And when Jesus’ blood was shed, His life was being poured out, and
all who kneel at the foot of that cross receive that life in a sin
cleansing, life giving bath. Are
you washed in the blood?
Jesus was saying that just
as you take food and water into your physical body and it brings you
physical life you must take His flesh and blood into you spiritually to
bring you spiritual life. This
is a message of commitment - the difference between believing with just your
head and believing with your heart.
Jesus is talking about
receiving Him into your innermost being.
And I say today on the authority of God's Word that people who are
truly born again are not just those who believe a set of facts in their head
or pray a prayer with their mouth...rather, they are those who receive Jesus
Christ into their innermost being.
"Believe IN the Lord
Jesus?" No, even the demons do
that! "Believe ON the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved!"
v. 47 'on'
'Believe on' contains the
idea of commitment. This group
wasn't willing to make that commitment.
As long as He is working miracles and feeding them He was fine in
their eyes, but once you ask for a person's heart...for commitment, you risk
losing your crowd!
They didn’t get it in
Jesus day, but we can now! It’s
not about really eating that flesh and drinking that blood.
Jesus said these elements before us today are SYMBOLIC of His body
and blood. There’s no saving
power in these elements, and none will be saved today by partaking.
This is a time of remembrance.
This is only for those who HAVE been saved by that sacrificial body
and that redeeming blood, and want to obey the command to remember and be
thankful.
But first, there are several things we need
to bring to the table:
1.
Before we sit down to a meal, we need clean hands. You don’t work in the
garden or garage and then come inside, sit down, and eat dinner. You wash up
first. This is why the Bible tells us to examine our lives before receiving
Communion.
Turn to I Cor. 11:28
We may see something that
needs to be confessed and cleaned up. When we were kids, we occasionally had
to go to bed without supper because we did something bad. When we come to
Jesus with remorse and repentance, we find forgiveness, restoration, and an
invitation to His table. Some people get so burdened by their sins, that
instead of asking forgiveness, they figure they’re too unworthy to
participate, and they pass the tray without partaking. None of us are
worthy, but if we’ve trusted Christ, we are eligible. He invites and
authorizes us to come to the table.
Psalms 24:3-4
3
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand
in his holy place? 4 He that
hath clean hands, and a pure heart…
2. Also before dining,
we need a good appetite. What would happen if you were invited to someone’s
house for dinner and an hour before the meal you ate a bag of chips, a Coke,
and a package of Twinkies? After all this junk food, you’d have little
appetite for the good stuff! Paul tells us, “you can’t drink the cup of the
Lord and the cup of demons too; you can’t have a part in both the Lord’s
Table and the table of demons”
That’s in I Cor. 10:21,
look at it: God offers us a
substantive meal—the Bread and Cup won’t fill us up physically, but they
will satisfy our spiritual hunger. When we stuff ourselves with the junk
food of sin we lose our appetite for the banquet God has prepared for us. We
need to “taste and see” the satisfying goodness of the Lord (Psalm 34:8).
Dr. Leroy Creasy of
Cornell
University has identified
a chemical in grapes that reduces the risk of heart disease. He reports in
the Journal of Applied Cardiology that grape juice lowers cholesterol and
cleanses the heart of life-threatening impurities. At the Lord’s Table grape
juice represents the blood of Christ, which cleanses our spiritual hearts of
sin’s deadly effects.
We are in
the world, but we don’t have to be of
the world. We are exposed to sin, but with God’s help we can resist
temptation. Can we really have an appetite for the good bread that God has
for us, when we’ve been dwelling on things below? When our perspective is
fixed on temporal things, we can get caught up in that which has no lasting
value. Jesus promises, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled.” [Mt. 5]
What does
Jesus mean when He says we’ll be “filled”? I think a lot of people live
their lives on EMPTY. They go day-to-day without much purpose or meaning,
and when they reach the end they wonder what the point was in living. They
are starving spiritually. Well Jesus is what we’re truly hungry for, and
good news—He’s inviting us to His table!
3. When we’re dining, we
also need patience--time to enjoy the moment. We live in a fast food world,
even at home, where we don’t take time to make the meal what it used to be.
Ill.—the chairs in places
like McD’s and Burger King are designed so that people won’t get too
comfortable, so they’ll eat, leave, and make room for other customers.
I have to admit, that
sometimes I’ve looked at the clock, and after my sermon, I’ve sprinted
through Communion. When we come to the Lord’s Table, our spiritual meal
should be the focus of why we’re here.
4. We also need
harmony at the meal table—it is important. I heard about a family who got
together for a meal, and before long the table conversation got
controversial. They started talking about current events, but the discussion
slipped into politics. Not everyone shared the same viewpoint as some were
conservative and others were foolish, and so the enjoyment of the meal got
ruined as they argued. We can’t expect everyone in our congregation to agree
on every issue, but we are expected to get along.
10:17 Paul makes a point of saying that
“we are one body” and we “partake of the one bread.” Conflict, tension,
disharmony, can all ruin a perfectly good meal. One thing we don’t bring to
the table is divisiveness. We don’t
have to agree on absolutely everything, but rather focus on Christ. What
unites us is greater than what divides us.
5. We need gratefulness
for this meal. Jesus gave thanks, and so should we!
You've seen the apron that
says “Kiss the Cook”. Those who prepare meals appreciate being told that
people enjoyed their meal.
When we come as a church
to the Lord’s Table, we need to eat with gratitude, to not take it for
granted. When God provided manna, miraculous food, to the Jewish nation in
the wilderness - all they did was complain. We need to appreciate the cost
of this meal. Jesus has prepared a meal for us that cost Him His life. We
should appreciate how our deacons take the time to prepare and serve our
Communion. Much more we should appreciate the sacrifice of our Savior;
otherwise we miss the whole point of this meal!
6. We also need to
come to God’s Table with loyalty. We avoid the competition. If your family
owned a restaurant, you would come frequently, tell others about it, and you
wouldn’t want to eat anywhere else. Paul is talking about how people try to
eat at the devil’s table, yet also come to God’s. We serve a jealous God
(read vs 22). He will not allow Himself to be replaced with substitutes. He
demands our undivided loyalty. The Christians at Corinth were tempted to
revert to the idolatrous practices of their former lives. Our partaking of
Communion indicates that we are undivided in our commitment to Christ. He is
our top priority; He has preeminence in our lives.
7.
We need to leave the Lord’s Table with purpose.
This is spiritual nourishment and strength for us…but strength for
what? God would have us to be
energized for a purpose, and that is to serve Him with all our strength.
Like calories: “Take it
in, burn it up.” But many
Christians are content to sit back and get spiritually fat.
It’s like there’s a spiritual tryptophan in what they hear from their
preacher that gives a temporary fix but then lulls them to sleep until they
next time the bell rings and it’s time to eat again at church!
The best food and drink we
could ever partake of is on the table, and we are invited to come and
partake. Let’s make sure and
bring the right stuff with us, clean hands, the right attitudes, and spirit,
and let’s be prepared as we leave to prove and demonstrate the real
spiritual strength and health we have by the way we serve and work for our
Lord!
If you aren’t sure if you have been
saved, and you’d like to be, you can be...allow us to help with that
decision. Unlike the rest of
us today who will merely be remembering the body and blood of our Lord
and how He saved us, YOU will truly be receiving the real thing if you
decide to be born again today.
Does our John passage
teach transubstantiation? No.
If the elements became
literal flesh and blood, then what we would have would not just be a
symbolic remembrance, but a sacrifice, and that would be heresy and
blasphemy against our once smitten Savior.
Hebrews 10:12, 14
12 But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
14 For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
There is no saving virtue
in the elements. It's a symbolic
remembrance of the once and for all sacrifice Jesus made and then He said,
It is finished, and it is indeed finished, and He's no longer on that
cross...the crucifix is grotesque, Christians are to live in the light of
the empty tomb!
Also, if Jesus was talking
about the Lord's Supper in John 6, then it would mean you have to partake in
order to be saved, and you do not.
Also, Jesus makes it clear
that He is speaking spiritually, not literally.
John 6:63
It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they
are spirit, and they are life.
Further, 'eat my flesh'
and 'drink my blood' are in the aorist tense, which means, "Do it one time."
It's a once and for all partaking, not to be repeated.
As we partake, it is a
time of reflection. We are
looking back and looking forward.
1 Corinthians 11:26
For as often as ye eat
this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death [looking back]
till he come [looking forward].
As we look back we
remember that though salvation is free, it was not cheap.
The bread symbolizes His broken body and the cup is picture of His
blood shed for us.
We not only look back but
forward. "Till he come"
At the last supper Jesus
told the disciples I won't partake of this with you again until we are
together in my kingdom.
Wouldn't it be wonderful
if the next time we partook it was in heaven?
Did you know you can find
communion in your OT? Passover!
And that first time the children of Israel partook they were in slavery in Egypt
and they were told to receive it with their coats on, because they needed to
be ready to vacate! We need to
live the same way!
10:16 This verse asks 2 rhetorical
questions to which the answer is yes!
Gentlemen, please approach the table and prepare to serve.
11:26-31
Let’s all turn around and make an altar out of our seats at the
table, and as you do, examine yourself, asking the Lord to examine you and
show you any unconfessed sin in your life.
Then give thanks to the Lord for His body and blood, for your
salvation as a result, and ask Him for strength for the journey of service
ahead!
v. 23 Gentlemen, please pass the
bread.
v. 24 Give thanks.
v. 25 Gentlemen, please pass the
cup / Give thanks.
v. 26 Let’s join hands around
this table now as we sing and dismiss.
[Some sermon material courtesy Allen Hern and
Robert Leroe]
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