Dear Family at Christ Community,

    This Sunday we will partake of the Lord’s Table. As we approach the cross of Jesus in our time hearing from Mark’s Gospel we learn again how necessary this meal is for sinners like us. One of the sobering realities we have observed in Mark is the repeated failures of the disciples to listen, trust and obey. Like them, we have seen time and again that, left to our own resources, we have no hope of drawing near to God.

    And yet, because of the cross we have the confidence that the story does not end with our failure but with Jesus’ victory over sin for His people. As we will be reminded again this Sunday, the cost of our redemption was very great. Yet for all those who put their trust in Christ alone it secured a new life that cannot be outmatched. In the Lord’s Table we begin to see the great benefits of our life in Christ in tangible way. This means of grace visibly confirms our union with Jesus and seals the reality of the Gospel upon our hearts. Because of Jesus we live in this fallen world with hope, not because of our strength, skill, or wisdom but because we know that our sin and failure does not have the final say if we belong to Him. Michael Horton challenges us to consider how this glorious reality shines forth at the Table:

Here, we taste the powers of the age to come, and our hearts are gradually subdued. Our lust for this world and its ‘boasted pomp and show’ yields slowly but surely to the ‘solid joys and lasting treasures’ that ‘none but Zion’s children know.’ While tasting is not the same as feasting face-to- face in our raised and glorified bodies at the Lamb’s wedding reception, it fills us with gratitude and hope. Through these divinely appointed means, the Spirit breaks into our drab, one-dimensional, fearful, plot-less world and sweeps us into His kingdom that is even now coming down out of heaven.

    As we prepare to partake of the Table this Sunday, let us think over the great cost of our redemption from sin. Let us be awakened not just to a sobering realization of our sinfulness, but a joyful realization of the new life Jesus has purchased for us. Let us pray that the Spirit will use these means to deepen our trust in Jesus so that in everything we may live for Him, joyfully bringing Him glory by the love we show for Him and for each other.

In Christ,
Robby