Dear Family at Christ Community,

   This Sunday we will have the privilege of celebrating the Lord’s Supper. As we heard from God’s Word last week, the Lord’s Supper visibly reminds us of what the Gospel gives to us— Jesus Himself. It also physically confirms that the Gospel is a reality operative in our lives if we have received Jesus by faith through grace. In these natural means, God condescends to give us a picture of the supernatural work of redemption Jesus has accomplished for His people.

    Just as we do not take up the literal body and blood of the Lord at the Table, so we also do not take up mere, empty signs. Instead, through the bread and juice the Holy Spirit lifts our hearts and minds up to the risen Christ and we feed on Him spiritually. This spiritual feeding on Christ is no less nourishing to our faith than food is nourishing to our bodies, and it is a vital means by which our spiritual health is kept secure. Jesus is alive, and not dead. He rose victorious over sin and death, and by union with Him we can be sure that sin and death do not have the final word over our lives. This glorious reality is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit, and it is by His work that our souls are able to feed on Christ who now sits at the Father’s right hand in heaven. Speaking of this reality, John Calvin reminds us that:

Although it seems an incredible thing that the flesh of Christ, so far removed physically, should be food to us, we have to remember the immense inward power of the Holy Spirit and how foolish it is to try to measure its immensity by our feeble efforts. What our minds cannot grasp, faith must engender—that the Spirit really does unite things separated by space.

    As we prepare to partake of the Table this Sunday, let us remember that in the bread and juice we spiritually and truly partake of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us receive the Table as a visible sign and seal of the invisible gift of our union with Jesus. Let us lay aside every thought that we have in ourselves the strength needed to persevere in the Christian life. Let us instead humbly receive Jesus as the only One who will nourish and sustain us to the day when He joins us at His Table as a fellow diner.

In Christ,
Robby