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  THE LORDS TABLE
  by Todd Atkinson
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Summary: This sermon focuses on the significance of the Lord's Table,
also known as Communion, as a means through which God's invisible grace,
power, and presence are conveyed through visible and physical elements.
It emphasizes the importance of understanding, faith, and encounter in
relation to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Table, highlighting
how Jesus, as the primary sacrament, wanted to interact with humanity in
a tangible way. The sermon encourages a deeper understanding and
expectation when approaching these sacraments, leading to a higher level
of encounter with God's grace and power.

Topics: "Significance of Communion", "Encountering God's Grace"
Scripture References: John 6:35, 1 Corinthians 11:23, Acts 2:38, John 1:14, 1 Timothy 1:17, Mark 6:5, Acts 5:15, Acts 19:11, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Colossians 2:12, Luke 22:19

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon focuses on the significance of the Lord's Table, also known
as Communion, as a means through which God's invisible grace, power, and
presence are conveyed through visible and physical elements. It
emphasizes the importance of understanding, faith, and encounter in
relation to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Table, highlighting
how Jesus, as the primary sacrament, wanted to interact with humanity in
a tangible way. The sermon encourages a deeper understanding and
expectation when approaching these sacraments, leading to a higher level
of encounter with God's grace and power.

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CONTENT
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Nice to be back with you. I have not been away, but I just felt like the
Affliction Series, other members of our team, to run that. And now
they'll let me back, and I get to preach through Lent.

Well, with Ash Wednesday this past week, we began the season of Lent.
And that season will culminate on Good Friday and on Easter Sunday. And
so I want to preach through this season of Lent a new series on a
particular subject.

And I want to teach on the Lord's Table, also known as Communion. It's
the Lord's Table because the Lord instituted it. It's called Communion
because it's where we share our deepest communing with him and with one
another.

It's also called the Eucharist because in its beginnings, Jesus took
bread and gave thanks. And so the Eucharist comes from the word for
thanksgiving and recalls this pivotal moment where Jesus gave thanks for
the bread. And something unlocked and it multiplied there.

Something supernatural occurred. And it's an ideal series for this time
because it was on the eve of Jesus' death that he initiated this
practice. It was with his death in mind.

And he wasn't only preparing his people, his disciples, for his death.
But through the Lord's Table, he was preparing them for life after
death. He was preparing them for what does it look like to enjoy him
after his death.

And to look back to his death and to keep it pivotal. Which is why he
said, do this in remembrance of me. And so I think it's just an ideal
time as we prepare.

He used this table to prepare people for his death and life after his
death. As we prepare for Good Friday, I think it would make an ideal
time of preparation for us. The last six weeks or so, we've been running
a series called Affliction.

It's breaking down the gospel into its simplest expressions. So that
whether someone is a seasoned veteran of church, or someone who was in
church their very first Sunday, or their very first month, that they
would be able to understand what Jesus has for you. So I want to carry
on in this spirit of that series and try to teach this in a way,
hopefully.

That whether you've been around for a long time, it might help you. But
also whether you're very new to church, and new to this language. What
are they talking about? I want you to feel like it was meant for you, if
you're new.

And that it's accessible. There's something for you to gain and to take
home by it. So let's look at Jesus.

That's why we're together today. When we look at the life of Jesus,
there is something stunning that we come to understand about God. And
something that we understand about the way God does things.

The way God works in our lives. And the way that we can receive that and
interact with Him. And it's this.

That although God is invisible, you can't see Him, that He is
nevertheless exceedingly real. And though you can't see Him, He has
chosen to come to you, and to visit you, and to give you His grace and
goodness and power through things that you can see. And through things
that you can touch.

1 Timothy 1, verse 17. Paul says, Now unto the King, unto the King of
the ages, He is immortal, He is invisible, He is the only wise God. So,
this word invisible.

God is invisible. Now, He's not quite invisible like the invisible man
is invisible. Because, if there was something, I guess like the
invisible man, if I understand the plot quite right, He's still a man,
and He's still generally the shape and size of a man, He's just a man
you can't see.

So God's not invisible in that sense, He's invisible in the sense that
there's too much of Him to be confined to a human body. That it would be
a limiting factor. So if I invite Corey Hunt to come and stand here, if
he's here, he can't be there.

Now, he looks at me with a kind of like, maybe he's got super powers.
And so, he might be, I haven't figured that out yet. Under normal
circumstances, living in a human body is a limiting factor.

It exposes you to our world in which we live, you're exposed to physical
infirmities, a physical body gets tired, so it requires rest and sleep
and replenishment, you can only be in one place at one time, you can't
live in all the ages, etc. And so God, by His very nature, can't be
limited, unless He limits Himself. So He's invisible.

So how do you relate to someone you can't see? The old phone commercial,
reach out and touch someone, how do you touch him? How do you come in
contact with him? How do you receive what he has? And I want to talk
about one of those ways today. And it's this, that although you can't
see Him, and although He is invisible, He has chosen to come to people
in ways that are very visible and are very physical. So when we study
the life of Jesus, we see pictures like this, how that He would walk our
earth, and He would heal people, but most customarily, the way He would
heal people was to reach out and touch His hand on someone.

He would lay hands on someone, and they would be healed. So consider
that for a minute, why did He have to touch them? So human beings, by
nature, are quite tactile. And that's a good thing.

And when we touch someone, there's lots of, maybe, messages we're trying
to send. So if someone was sad, a hug communicates something. It might
say, I'm sorry.

Or, I would hope to comfort you. Sometimes someone might be walking past
you, and you might quickly just reach out and just touch their elbow.
It's a way of saying, I know you're in a hurry, I just wanted you to
know I noticed you.

So touch says a lot of things. It might say, I'm here for you. I like
you.

I like that we have a connection. I'm sorry you're having a rough day.
Is there something I can do to help? Touch says a lot of things.

But when Jesus was confronted with people of serious need, and He
reached out and touched them, there's a lot more going on there than, I
think you're a good person. There's a lot more going on there than, can
I give you a hug. When He touched someone, He was forming a connection
between heaven and earth.

There was something that you couldn't see, that was being transmitted
through something you could see. And that is, God's healing power was
coming. You can't see His power.

So most of the times He prayed for people to be healed, there wasn't
lightning in the sky. There wasn't electrical sounds in the air. You
actually couldn't see healing power, but you could see His hand.

And you knew when that hand was coming your way, a connection was going
to be formed between you and God. A connection was formed between heaven
and earth. And God's power came through His hands.

How do we know when you can't see power? Because there's an entire
chronicle of one person after another person after another person that
was healed, that received a miracle, and experienced the supernatural
power of heaven through the laying on of hands. And so these phrases are
common in the Bible. Jesus laid His hand on him, and he was healed.

In one instance, He laid His hand on a dead person. He laid His hands on
her, and she came to life. Wow! So, at the end of our services, just to
explain, you're new, why do they pray for people? And why does someone
maybe gently put a hand on my shoulder when they pray for me? So a
couple things about that.

First of all, if you're the one praying, it's probably good if there's
someone you don't recognize, you should ask permission. Unless there may
be a little permission granted in coming forward. But still, if you
don't know them, you should say, would you mind if I put a hand gently
on your shoulder? Because in case they think, well, I go to church, but
they paw on me a lot.

They can't keep their hands off me there. Not quite the reputation we
want to get. So if it's maybe someone new, you could just ask that.

But if you're the one up here praying, you need to start thinking about
this in a different way. Is that there's a time to say, hey, I love you,
I'm connected to you, I'm sorry you're hurting. Send all those messages.

But don't miss the bigger message. Do you have faith that you are a
sacrament of God? That you're the visible means, you're the physical
means through which God's invisible grace and power is going to flow to
that person, and that when you reach out your hand and touch them, that
God is wanting through you to make a connection between heaven and
earth. Because if you can begin to get that, your faith can apprehend
that, you will see more things happen when you pray.

Faith. And understand something called the sacramental principle, that
the church is a sacrament. We're the physical means that now Jesus
transmits his invisible power.

So Jesus laid hands on people, and the most dynamic stuff happened. Mark
chapter 6, he prayed for people, and it says this, he anointed them with
oil. Oil.

Another physical substance. It says, and they were all cured. So oil.

If there's many reasons why we might touch someone, there's also many
reasons why we might use oil. So you could use it as a moisturizer. So
if someone comes forward and you notice that their forehead's a little
dry, we do live in southern Alberta, buff them up a little.

Do not do that. They will never come back to our church. Their cuticles
are a little dry, just take a little look there.

So it could, yeah, it could be, oil can be used in a variety of
purposes. It could be used as a moisturizer, it could be used as a
perfume. Okay, we won't go there.

Do not be spraying oil on people. Other cosmetic purposes, it can be
used as a food preparation. We cook with oil.

So why was Jesus putting oil on people? Basting them like chickens?
Because in the Old Testament, oil was given to God. Special, expensive,
fragrant oils were offered to God. And they were given to Him that they
might be used for His purposes and His purposes alone.

So that through that very physical means, that He might convey or
transmit His very invisible power. And so right from the beginning,
Jesus, later on the disciples, and it became the practice of the church
to anoint with oils that had been blessed or consecrated or given to
God. So again, that's what these wee vials are for.

If you're new to church, these things need explaining. That's what
they're for. So if someone prays for you, maybe you come forward for a
blessing at the end.

We're following in footsteps that Jesus Himself made. And we're asking
that His invisible power and other invisible things, His love for you,
you can't see love. His kindness, you can't see grace or kindness.

But everything that He has for you that you can't see, that it would
come to you through ways that you can see. Many, many other instances of
this in Scripture. Some of them unusual ones.

On one occasion, Jesus actually made saliva. If I see any people at our
altar doing that, you will have some explaining to do. And we'll judge
by the fruit.

If the person is healed, I'll say nothing. As long as you use modest
amounts. So Jesus actually made saliva at one point.

Maybe He didn't have oil. Who knows? When you are that full of God, even
His saliva was anointed. And put it in a man's eyes, and a blind man's
eyes sprung open.

Healing power. You can't see it. It came through something you could see
and touch and feel.

On another occasion, He made mud. Same thing came to a blind man who
could not see. Made a paste out of mud.

Smeared it on the man's eyes. Which is a profound truth. The man already
couldn't see.

Now He puts another layer there. There's many truths. I love preaching
for that text.

But I'll give you a little hint. Sometimes when you're following God,
sometimes things get muddier before they get clearer. Very important
truth.

En route, so He could see, things had to get muddier first. And it was
okay. So if you're going through a patch where things don't seem clear,
they seem kind of muddy, you might be in the very center of God's will.

And don't know it. Makes a paste out of mud. You could see it.

And it just shows how He could take anything. He could take anything and
make it holy. He could take the dust right out of the ground.

And when He prayed for it, and when He touched it, and when He employed
it in His services, even mud could become a sacramental. Even mud could
become something that He could use for healing. Another instance, a lady
came and touched the hem of His garment and had this deep thing.

She understood something about this principle because she wanted to
touch God. And she reached through the crowd. If only to touch the hem
of His garment.

Again, He's so God. So full of God's presence. Even His clothing was
seeping with healing power.

And she reached out and just touched. But for her faith, she had to
touch something physical. She had to touch something physical.

So at the end of our services and other occasions, sure, it's actually
okay. You could sit in your chair and pray by yourself. We all do.

But there's also some other part of ourselves that faith looks like to
reach out and touch God. There's a physical element. It's nice to have a
physical person pray for you and lay hands on you and anoint you with
oil because we know God works and has always worked through such means.

The apostles, as we go into later in the Bible, got this message. They,
too, laid hands on people. They, too, anointed people with oil.

In Acts chapter 5, one day, people are getting healed even as Peter's
shadow crosses them. His shadow crosses over sick people. So that's not
a physical means, but it is a visible means.

And they get healed. On other occasions, there are so many demands upon
the apostles. There are so many sick people that want them to come and
pray that there is not enough hours in a day to do it.

So they actually begin to pray for pieces of cotton, handkerchiefs,
ladies' aprons. Actually laid their hands on them and prayed that what
Jesus had put inside of them would be transmitted, that invisible grace
and power would be transmitted into a very physical means and they would
go and then put the handkerchief on sick people and they would get
healed. Crazy stories.

Now, of course it would be better if they could be there in person. And
they very quickly understood this and so they began laying their hands
on handkerchiefs. They began laying their hands on people who then went
to pray for people.

They multiplied. So like an army, the church rose so that people were
there praying. But at certain stages, there just wasn't enough people to
go around.

But God still honored and worked through that means. That is not why I
have that in my pocket. So don't ask for it.

So the Bible is literally full of instances. We could go on for hours,
reveling in the stories where God just decided to work through very
physical, through very visible means, and through them, divine power you
couldn't see was conveyed. There's only one problem to that approach.

Remember the Old Testament? Naaman, a commander of the Syrian armies,
literally an enemy of God's people, was completely ridden with leprosy.
And he came to a prophet in Israel and said, I hear you could heal me.
And the prophet gave him instructions, go to our river Jordan and dip
there seven times.

And he was so mad. I'm not going to go dip in your muddy river, he said.
Well then, go home with your leprosy.

So finally, someone convinced him, well, you should try this. Maybe this
is the way their God works. And when he submitted to the words of the
prophet, and he went to the river Jordan, very physical.

It's a river, you can see it. And he dipped seven times. The Bible says,
when he came up the seventh time, the leprosy was completely gone from
his skin.

His skin was as new as the skin of a baby. Brand new skin on his body.
But that miracle occurred as he interacted with the very physical and
visible means that God had appointed that day.

So we could go on and talk endless amounts of stories. The only risk
with this approach is that it kind of misses the wood for the trees.
Because you're isolating on stories, individual stories, as opposed to
the big picture, which is even truer and more important.

And the big picture is this. Not stories about Jesus. The big picture
is, Jesus himself is the highest and greatest instance where the
invisible God wanted to interact with our world, wanted to touch and
bless and come in contact with us.

And so he wrapped himself in human flesh and literally walked amongst
us. This is the most profound miracle. I mean, leprosy, being healed of
it, that's a great miracle.

Brand new skin over your entire body. But it is nothing compared to the
miracle that we call the Incarnation. It's where God stepped into a
human body.

Why? So you could touch him. So here are the words of the apostles. This
is John the Beloved.

John the Beloved, who one day was just reclining just so he could hear
Jesus' heartbeat. He knew the heartbeat of God. And this is what he
wrote.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard with our ears,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched
with our hands, that which was from the beginning came into a form. We
could hear him with our ears, our very own ears. We could see him with
our very eyes.

We could touch him with our very hands. This life was made manifest. In
other words, the Son of God was alive long before the Incarnation,
before he took a physical form, but he was made manifest.

The word made manifest means to become visible. To become apparent to
us. So here's God, who wanted us to know just what he was like.

And so he became visible in the form of Jesus. Imagine this. So people
could say, I touched God.

I looked into the face of God. And now every time I open my Bible and
study the life of Jesus, I gaze into the face of God. So the individual
stories are wonderful.

As long as we don't miss the big picture. God acts in this way. This is
something profound and central to the way that God relates to our world.

A couple applications. One of them I just briefly touched upon. The next
time you read your Bible, open it up and look at Jesus and realize this
is God, became visible.

Literally, in the Old Testament, they were afraid to look at God because
they felt they would die. So here, every day now, I open my Bible, I
gaze on the face of God in the person of Jesus, and I'm amazed that I
don't die. I can actually look at God because he took a form that I
could look at him, called Jesus.

So I used to think it's kind of perplexing. How do I know about God? I
know now. I just look at Jesus.

I know where to look. Second truth. Not only is God taking a human form,
that's a sacrament.

Maybe, first of all, a couple definitions. I put a slide, just a few
things that you might take home. So, traditionally, this language is
called a sacrament.

What is a sacrament? A visible sign of an invisible grace. So when God
puts something invisible through something that is visible, and the
visible thing is actually a sign. So when there's someone who's willing
to lay hands on you and pray for you in Jesus' name, it's a sign that
God wants to do something.

He wants to act on your behalf. A couple different applications. There's
what's called the sacramental principle, which says that God makes
himself present to us or available to us through physical means.

We've looked at many, many instances of them. But what is the primary
sacrament? The sacrament above all other sacraments is the person of
Jesus. A couple other take-homes.

At Jesus' ascension, the Bible says he was taken up from our sight until
they couldn't see him any longer. You actually then couldn't see him. At
which point, the church was birthed and we become the new sacrament of
God.

So do you see yourself like this? You are now the physical means through
which God wants to show his invisible grace and power. You, tonight we
start a city-wide catechism class. It's deliberately, it's in the penny
house, coffee house.

We want to be right downtown, in the center of our city. And we have
people from all over our city coming who are new to the Christian faith
and new to the church. I think God has hundreds and hundreds of things
like that in store for us.

Because when his church realizes we are now a sacrament, that if we
could get a hold of that and actually believe that, that we are the
physical means through which now God wants to show his invisible grace
and power, we would live differently in our city. I began this series by
saying that I want to talk about the Lord's table. So let me just,
that'll be enough for today.

Not only is Jesus the primary sacrament, but there are particular
sacraments that he has instituted. The two chiefest of which are baptism
and the Lord's table. I don't have time to teach in any depth on these
today, but I want to leave it with you and I want to prepare you as we
come to the Lord's table, is that Jesus instituted them.

They are more than just symbols. So notice we don't have a symbol here,
but it would be easy to put one. What would be an appropriate symbol for
the pulpit? I guess like an open Bible? Symbols are good things.

But what would happen if someone took the symbol off? Would the
preaching fail? Because the symbol was removed. We have a symbol on top
of our church. We have a cross with Christmas lights on, I think, before
our time.

Isn't that what we have? We've got Christmas lights on. Now, there's no
more symbol that I love in Christian faith than the cross. But if the
wind blew it down, would we fail to be a church because we took the
symbol down? No.

Symbols are great. What's taking place at baptism and at the Lord's
table is more than merely symbolic. They are sacraments, which is a bit
different than a symbol, meaning these are the two chief places that
Jesus instituted that his invisible grace, his invisible power, and his
invisible presence would come to his people through these very physical
forms.

I can't wait to teach on this through the whole scripture. Jesus said
this, I am the bread of life. He who believes in me will not die Baptism
in the form of water.

It's not just water. I can go home and have a bath if I want a bath. But
when Jesus wants his grace and power and presence to come to us through
the water, now you've got a Christian baptism.

Water can wash your body, but only the sacrament can wash your soul.
Only Jesus coming through at physical needs and meeting you in it could
ever wash your soul from the stain of sin. And he has ordained this
table.

It's very physical. I can't wait to take you through all the passages.
But through this very physical means, there is an invisible grace and
presence and power that he wants to give to you.

And I'll end on this thought. What I found is this, my own experience
and others. As your sense of understanding grows, so will your sense of
faith.

And what will follow is your level of encounter will grow. As your
understanding grows, for baptism, we do a lot of teaching on baptism. So
people go into baptism with a much higher level of expectation than we
would have 10 years ago.

What happens? That's way more powerful God encounters. They go in with a
higher level of understanding, with a higher level of expectation, which
is another word for faith, which means they have a way higher level of
encounter on those days. The exact same thing too is the Lord's table.

We will grow. We're going to camp on this through Lent. Our sense of
understanding will grow.

As our understanding grows, our sense of expectation will grow. We will
come forward with a higher level of faith. We will engage with a higher
level of faith.

And heaven will respond with a higher level of encounter. So God's got
some very cool things. Let's spend a few moments in prayer.

Maybe you'd close your eyes. And what would you ask him for? Ask that he
would do today what he did in the Gospels. Because he is the same
yesterday, today, and forever.

So he hasn't changed. Ask that when we would lay hands on someone,
something would happen through that physical means that God would be
pleased to convey his wonderful love and kindness and power through that
physical means. That when we anoint someone with oil.

In fact, we pray that we would be so full of God that when our shadow
crosses people in this city, when we rub up against people, when we hang
out with them at the penny, that we'd be so full of God that
supernatural things would happen. Heavenly things. When people come in
contact with his church.

Us. Maybe you haven't been baptized before because you didn't realize
how important it was. That it is not a symbol.

I didn't get baptized for a few years after becoming a Christian because
nobody ever explained to me how important it was. And I have zero
interest in doing meaningless things. Maybe, maybe some of you'd come
out to the penny tonight to learn about the road to baptism.

But for all of us, can we begin a journey today that will go on for the
next few months and say, Jesus, teach us about your table. From your
word, teach us about your table. Teach me how to come to it with
expectation.

Teach me what I should expect. I want to commune with you. I want to
encounter you.

I want to fellowship with you around your table. Teach me, Jesus. The
very first table, the last supper, it was such an intimate occasion.

Lord, when I come to your table, I want it to be an intimate occasion
between you and I. We normally do a corporate confession here. Just for
today, I just want you to exercise faith and just confess in your hearts
right now. This is unusual.

We normally do this out loud and a better way of doing it. By the nature
of confession, it's meant to be out loud. That's what a confession is.

But I want us to get to grips with it. If through your week, you had
accumulated debt, and every Sunday you come to church, Jesus wrote your
debt off, you'd be pretty excited to get to church. If every week he
goes, I'll take care of that debt.

I'll pay for that. That's what happens at communion. Every week I can
confess my sins.

He forgives my debts as I forgive my debtors. I walk away every single
time with a clean slate and a clear conscience. There is nothing like
it.

I don't have to carry weight for my wrongdoings, which are many. I don't
have to carry it for a long time or people's offenses to me. I don't
have to carry them for a long time and be down.

I can offload them every single week. So what do you need to offload
this morning? What do you need to say, Jesus, forgive me. Forgive me for
my self-pity, which causes me to blame people around me.

Forgive me for my self-loathing, which causes me not to see you, see
myself as you see me. Forgive me for letting anger get the better of me.
Forgive me that when my heart is lonely, for looking at all the wrong
places.

Forgive me that because I was rejected, I can now be quick to reject.
Because I was rejected, I assume everybody is going to reject me, so I
never get close to people. Forgive me that when truth is spoken over me,
you're so invaluable.

Forgive me that I put all my walls up and I actually don't want to
receive it. Forgive me when I am inhospitable to truth. Forgive me when
I am ruled by fear instead of faith, by untrust instead of trust.

Forgive me when I know the right way to walk, and don't. Forgive me for
any idolatries that have crept up in my heart, that are diluting my
single-minded devotion to you. Forgive me where my heart is going cold
or hard.

Now let him hear your prayer, if you truly pray to him. Let him take
hardness out. Let him take fear away.

He's here by his Spirit. Take jealousy away. He's our Heavenly Father,
and he is full of great mercy.

And he has promised the forgiveness of sins. Promised. To anyone who
with sincere concern, heartfelt sorrow, and faith, true faith, turn to
him.

God loves the real deal. May he have mercy on you. May he pardon and
deliver you from all your sins through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now just think with me on the cross. Father, we give you thanks for
yourself. Every day, but especially in this period of times.

And we remember how that on the night that he was handed over to
suffering and to death and betrayal, that our Lord Jesus Christ took
bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, this is
my body, which is given for you. Take and eat. Do this in remembrance.

After supper, he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it
to them, saying, drink this, all of you, for this is my blood of the new
covenant, which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink
this physical, visible cup, do it in remembrance of me, and believe that
something invisible and spiritual and powerful will be conveyed to you.
Holy Father, we offer you this bread and this cup.

We ask that you would send your Holy Spirit to come to us through this
very physical means. Send your Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these gifts
that they may be unto us, the body and blood of man. His sacrament.

Meet with us. Commune with us. Let your presence come to us, to invite
the servers to come.

As you come today, come with a higher sense of expectation. Whether it's
for the bread and the chalice, or whether it is for a blessing,

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/RXUPiw7GKII.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/todd-atkinson/the-lords-table/
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