“Come to the Table” I Corinthians 10:14-22 Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
Someone sent me a cartoon this week. It shows a mother and son walking home from church, and the mom says, “The next time Pastor Bob ask you what the sermon was about, don’t say, ‘About three hours’!”
Special occasions are often connected with food—Thanksgiving, Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. Friday evening I attended a dinner here at the church for the Boy Scout Yankee Clipper District Council. All afternoon I could smell the great meal Mal Hanson was preparing downstairs! Whenever there’s a special meal, we can’t wait to be told: “Come to the table!” This morning, Jesus has set the table and is inviting us, “Come to My Table.” 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. 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.
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” (vs. 21). 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 we can resist temptation. Do we get an appetite for what God has for us, when we’ve been dwelling on things below, rather than things above? 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.”
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. How much different to know that God loves us individually, and has a specific plan for our lives. Jesus fills our days with a sense of significance and satisfaction.
3. When we’re dining, we also need time to enjoy the moment. My mom used to work in a fast-food restaurant in NJ called the “Eat It and Beat It”. I hear the chairs in places like MacDonalds and Burger King are designed so that people won’t get too comfortable, so they’ll eat, leave, and make room for more customers. In Europe, when you sit at a table, it’s yours for as long as you wish—sit down for lunch, and linger the whole afternoon if you like. No one is urging you to go. American tourists complain that European waiters keep a low profile—the reason is, they don’t want to appear to be rushing the customers. Sometimes we’re in such a hurry that we don’t enjoy our food; we inhale it and rush on to something else! When we partake in the Lord’s Supper, we come to savor the moment, to linger and reflect and remember. 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. Liturgical churches do this; they make Communion the center of their worship.
4. Harmony at the meal table 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 political differences. Not everyone shared the same viewpoint, and 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. In vs 17 Paul makes a point of saying that “we are one body” and we “partake of the one loaf.” Conflict, tension, disharmony, can all ruin a perfectly good meal. One thing we don’t bring to the table is divisiveness. When I served as an Army Chaplain, all my Communion services were inter-denominational. We didn’t all concur on the nature of the elements, or how often we should receive them; some of us were used to coming forward for Communion, others held the tradition of kneeling, and others were used to being served in the pews. What we did agree on was our unity in Christ. What united us was greater than what divided us.
5. We need to be grateful for this meal. I saw an apron in a gift catalogue that says: “Kiss the Cook”. Those who prepare meals appreciate being told that people enjoyed their meal. I was having dinner a restaurant in Saugus and the cook approached my table; he looked like he was 7-feet tall, and he boomed out, “How do you like my cooking?” I liked it—fortunately! When we come to the Lord’s Table, we need to eat with gratitude, to not take it for granted. God provided manna, miraculous food, to the Jewish nation in the wilderness, and all they did was complain. We need to appreciate the cost of this meal. There’s a famous Swedish art film that’s a parable of grace, Babbette’s Feast, in which a young woman uses her inheritance to prepare a wonderful gourmet meal for her friends. She obtains the most costly ingredients and prepares a banquet worthy of a 4-star restaurant. Unfortunately, some of her guests don’t fully appreciate her gift. Jesus has prepared a meal for us that cost Him His life. We should appreciate how our deacons take the time to prepare our Communion. Even more we should appreciate the sacrifice of our Savior; otherwise we miss the whole point of this meal!
This past Sunday I gave my annual class on Communion to our Sunday School. I think perhaps that children may understand Communion better than adults, with their childlike faith. There’s a big difference between being childish and being childlike. When we are childlike we come to Communion with a sense of wonder and awe. A minister asked a group of young children what they thought of this ordinance, and here are some responses: A 6-year old said, “Communion is part of God and God’s life.” A 10-year old answered, “It reminds me of Jesus and that He died for us.” A 5-year old responded, “It makes me happy to remember.” And a 12-year old stated, “It’s the closest we can get to Jesus.”
6. We also 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 (vs 22), Who will not 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. We don’t see overt pagan idol worship today, yet idolatry is still prevalent in our society…because trusting anything for what God alone provides is idolatry. Eating at the Lord’s table means communing with Christ and identifying with His death. Our partaking of Communion indicates that we undivided in our commitment to Christ. He is our top priority; He has preeminence in our lives.
Let us now prepare to approach the Table of our Lord.
