Communion Message
(The table of determination)
November 25, 2001
Pastor Leigh Bishop

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

I was compelled by the two phrases that came together; 'on the same night He was betrayed' 'Jesus took bread and gave thanks'. He knew the fate that awaited Him. He knew that He had been betrayed, and yet He continued on in His mission with no thought of the consequences that lay ahead.

I thought to myself, how would I minister if I knew within a few short hours after my sermon was over that I was going to be arrested, put on trial, and executed? I wonder if I would be able to carry on with the confidence that was necessary, or is somehow that would dominate my thinking and probably cause me to stumble for words and look at the clock and wonder when and if this situation would take place? And yet God's grace is so sufficient.

I want us to look today at the table of communion as the table of determination. The Bible tells us when Jesus made His way to Jerusalem that last week He set His face as a flint, which meant that nothing was going to deter Him from the course that lay ahead. He was determined to fulfill God's will for His life. Now some people have looked at the time of His prayer in the garden as Jesus actually looking for an escape clause. That was not the case. He was not praying that He would have to avoid the cross. His prayer was an agony of prayer recognizing that the moment He took upon the sins of mankind, and became sin for us, that He would no longer have intimate fellowship with His Father; and that had never happened in all of eternity. That was the cup that Jesus found it so hard to take; that cup of separation from His Father. But He even took that cup determined to fulfill the purpose for which He came into this world -- our salvation.

Determination is an important quality in our lives. The Bible gives us the example of Moses who the Bible says chose to suffer with the children of Israel rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. We live in a world that offers immense pleasurable sin, and the only way we will be able to withstand the temptation of that sin is by a determination that says, we will choose Jesus instead.

Daniel is another beautiful example of a man who, even as a boy, refused to eat the king's food determined to obey the will of God. And that followed him all through his life sometimes costing him imprisonment and potential death. He refused to cower in the face of the enemy because he was determined to serve God.

The apostle Paul puts it most powerfully: he says, I determine to know no one save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. For whom I have suffered the loss of everything, and count it as garbage, that I might know Christ. And that is the challenge for us in this day and age as we come to this communion table and as we live for Jesus day to day, that determination to know nothing but Christ, and to realize that everything we possess in this world, in comparison to Him, is garbage. He is everything. If we bow in His presence we are acknowledging how dependent we are and how much we love this lamb of God. Let's go to our knees.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Father we are so thankful. Thankful for Calvary, and thankful for Jesus who for the joy that lay before Him endured the cross and despised its shame. And Lord we are humbled to realize how much He loves us, and how much we are dependent upon Him. The bread we hold in our hand reminds us Lord that He was broken for us. Until Jesus came into our lives, our lives were broken by sin and by guilt. We were unclean and unworthy, but when Jesus died for us and we recognized His death in our behalf, and received Him as our Savior, His broken body made us whole. Thank you Jesus. Let's partake of the bread together.

And then Lord this cup -- a continual reminder of the cost of our salvation. The precious, precious, precious blood of Jesus. The blood that redeemed us, that bought us back, that made us a part of the family of God; redeemed by the blood, set free by His grace. Lord every time we acknowledge this cup, we acknowledge our absolute dependence on You. You are the one who has forgiven us our sins. Let's partake of the cup together.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Thank you that You have given Your all for us, that You are determined to see us through all the way, and may we have within our hearts a holy determination to live for You, to honor You, with our lives and with our lips. We pray that in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Let's stand together. Take a moment to greet those around you and welcome them to church today.