Zach Fulginiti | Food For Weak Faith

Sunday Evening, July 12, 2026

Given by Zach Fulginiti | Pastor of College Ministry, Christ Covenant Church

Food For Weak Faith
1 Kings 19 & Deuteronomy 8
Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 28

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Transcript

As we come to Lord's Day 28 in the catechism, we will be looking at a couple different Scripture verses. So, you may want to put your finger in Deuteronomy 8 and 1 Kings 19. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and 1 Kings 19. We'll be looking at those passages a little later on. That might help you from flipping over in the middle of the sermon. Deuteronomy 8 and 1 Kings 19. Let me read for us the questions set before us this evening. Questions 75, 76 and 77 from Lord's Day 28. 

Q75: How does the holy supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits? 

A: In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of him who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured–out blood.

Q76: What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured–out blood? 

A: It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and in this way to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ’s blessed body. And so, although he is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one soul.

Q77: Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with his body and blood as

surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this cup? 

A: In the institution of the Lord’s Supper: “The Lord Jesus on the night when 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 way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” This promise is repeated by Paul in these words: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” 

Let's pray together. 

Father, as we come to you tonight, we want to acknowledge that we are people who forget. We forget your goodness. We forget your promises. We forget just how much you love us sometimes. So, as we come to you, we pray that you would meet us in your Word, you would strengthen our weak faith in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

We live surrounded by signs. Signs are all around us. Most days we don't think twice about them. I'm sure in some parts of the world a red octagon on the side of the road might not mean anything. But for you and I, we know this sign, even if it doesn't have the letters S T O P on them. An invitation in the mail is a sign that you were invited to a wedding, a party, maybe a graduation. It's a sign that your presence has been requested, that you are on the guest list. Signs matter because you and I are people who forget. We are people who are prone to doubt, but signs can point us to where we ought to go and how we ought to live. This coming weekend, I'll get to officiate a wedding. And when it's time to exchange rings, this is what I'll say. The wedding ring is an outward and visible sign of the enduring covenant of love you are establishing with one another today. It signifies to all the uniting of this man and woman in holy marriage through Jesus Christ our Lord. As you wear these rings, whether together or apart for a moment, may they be constant reminders of the promises you are making today. A spouse doesn't wear a ring because they'd otherwise cease to be married or because if they didn't they would forget that they're married. They wear it because it is a visible, tangible token of the promises made on that day. 

This is a true story. My very first wedding that I officiated was right up here on the platform at Christ Covenant. You know, it was your first time. It was my first time. Bit of a rush. Things tend to go by quickly on wedding days. You know, everyone was looking at the bride and groom. I was making sure that I was, you know, looking alright myself. I knew what I was going to say. Eventually, we end up here on stage, and I'm here with the groom, and as the bridesmaids are coming down, I look down, and I realize that I don't have my wedding ring on. Thankfully that couple made it through. They are still married today despite that blunder of the pastor. Thankfully no one noticed except for my wife. We had a talk after that. Now despite my forgetfulness, I was still married that day. Nothing about my marriage had ontologically changed, other than I did have some explaining to do. But imagine with me going through an entire married life like that. Imagine you refuse to wear your wedding ring despite your spouse's desire that you do so. Something would be obviously wrong, would it not be? To your spouse, the ring would be your daily affirmation of promises made, worn where others can see it. To the outside world, it would tell others that you belong to someone. To yourself, the ring would signify something, that you can look down on ordinary days when feelings may have faded and be reminded of truths and promises that you made. 

We all need signs in life to remind us of what's important, to remind us of where we're going, to remind us of what we have committed ourselves to, to remind us of what has been promised to us. A couple weeks ago, Pastor Eric looked at question 66. Tells us that the sacraments – baptism and the Lord's Supper – are signs and seals of the covenant of grace. If baptism is the sign of initiation into the covenant, then the supper is the sign of covenant renewal. If you were with us those two weeks, you would remember that Pastor Eric told us that these signs point to something greater than themselves, to a greater reality. These signs do better than one big, red octagon, because these signs point us to Jesus. So tonight, we're beginning to look at the sign of the Lord's Supper. In doing so, there are two things I want to bring out for us this evening. This sign, the Holy Supper, is meant to cause us to look back, but it's also meant to help us move forward. That's what we're going to look at tonight. Looking back and moving forward. 

First, looking back. The Holy Supper is meant to cause us to look back. What does that mean? Well, it means that the supper is supposed to help us remember. It is meant to be a reminder. Specifically, the catechism tells us that it reminds us of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. Look back with me at question 75. The answer there, “Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises. First, as surely as I see with my eyes, the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me. So surely his body was offered and broken for me, his blood poured out for me on the cross.” Now I am sure that there are people out there who are more future-oriented than past-oriented. There may be people who would say, “I don't need to look back. I'm only concerned with what's ahead of me. Looking back just slows me down. Looking back holds me back.” Well that’s not really what the Bible tells us. That's not really what this sacrament does. 

Think back with me at our Scripture readings that Clay read for us in 1 Corinthians 11 and Luke 22. “Do this in remembrance of me.” Christians are supposed to be a remembering people, and the sacrament pushes us to do just that. We are to remember that his body was offered and broken for me. We are to remember that his blood was poured out for me on the cross. We remember what Christ has done for us. And there [is] more than one way to remember things. There is the remembrance of the mind, certainly a recollection of facts. That's important – a recollection of information – but there's also the remembrance of the heart. Not just knowing, but feeling the weight of what's true. I think most Christians would say, "Of course I remember what Jesus did for me. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I've been hearing that all my life." And if that's you, that's a wonderful gift. But even though many of us can recite the stories, these verses, by memory, don't we so often live as if we have forgotten? 

A remembrance of the heart means that all that I can recall, all that has happened in the past, still affects me today. And if it doesn't – if we know the facts, but they've somehow stopped shaping how we actually live – then we have forgotten, even if we are still able to remember. We do this when we forget the forgiveness that the cross offers us, as we relitigate sins that God has already forgiven, or we assume God is disappointed with us the way that we are disappointed with ourselves. We do this when we forget his sufficiency, as we worry about money, wealth, our kids, as if we were the ones totally in control. We do this when we build our identity on performance, so a bad week at work or a critical word can ruin us. We do this when we forget his lordship as we treat Sunday as any other day of the week. We do this when we forget his promise to return and live in this world as if there is not another world to come. We invest our best hope in things that rust, our anxiety in a future that the risen Christ already holds. We do this when we proclaim his death until he comes again on Sundays and then live Mondays as though he will never return. Friends, we do this all the time, do we not? We are a forgetful people. No, it's unlikely that a Christian would forget the facts of the gospel, but the supper is calling us towards more than a mere recollection. It's calling us towards a remembrance of the heart. It's calling us to remember with our minds, to feel with our heart, to act with our hands. 

This is something that God's people have struggled with many times over. Flip over with me to Deuteronomy 8, if you have your finger there. I'll read a few select passages there, because it gives us such a clear picture of God's people in the Old Testament forgetting and God's caution to us that we should remember. We'll start in verse 2: “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. As he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Let's move down to verse 11: “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart will be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground, where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you to do good in the end. Beware, lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant, that he swore to your fathers as it is this day.” 

Notice three things that the people of God were warned of forgetting the commandment, of forgetting the Lord's provision, and of forgetting what God had done for them. We tend to say, and we tend to think that if we saw something miraculous, some kind of divine intervention, I could never forget that. We tend to think that if only the Lord spoke directly to us as he did in days of old, if he gave us some kind of sign from heaven, if he answered our prayers for deliverance from our trials that we would never forget him. And yet, is this not what we know happens to the Israelites? They forgot God had delivered them from slavery, that he had provided food and water for them in the desert. And it begs the question for us, where have you and I forgotten God in our own lives? Where have we forgotten the Lord's goodness and kindness, his provision, his love, his care? 

What happens when we forget? Look back at verse 17 with me: “When you forget the Lord and all he has done, beware lest you say in your heart that my power and the might of my hands have gotten me this wealth.” When we forget the Lord, we become full of pride. We become just like the world around us. Verse 19, “If you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.” Friends, this is why we need the Lord's Supper – to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. We need to remember that just as surely as we can see the bread and taste the cup, so surely his body was offered and broken for you and me. The Lord's Supper offers us a chance to remember Jesus, to remember who he is, to remember what he has done, to remember how much he loves you. Don't you just love how personal the catechism gets? So surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. These are not annoying reminders that pop up on our phone. These are precious, tender, personal truths that each day, each week, each month, you and I – we forget. And the Lord's Supper reminds us that they are real. The supper called causes us to look back. 

But the supper is not just a cause to look back. It's not simply a memorial service. It is also a sign that strengthens us as we move forward in the Christian life. The supper is a real spiritual feeding on the crucified and risen Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in both Christ and believers as the bond uniting believers on earth to heaven. In a couple weeks, the catechism will address the Roman Catholic view of the Mass. But here it is important to note the view made popular by Ulrich Zwingli, known as the memorialist view. This view would suggest that the supper is primarily commemorative, a remembrance of Christ's finished work, not a means through which grace is presently conveyed. Christ is present only in the mind of faith of the believer, not in, with, under, or through the elements. In this view, the bread and wine are bare signs. They signify a spiritual reality, but they do not convey or exhibit it. On the contrary, we believe that Christ is present with us in the supper, that he is present with us spiritually. We not only remember Christ, but we feed on him by faith. The supper is meant to strengthen us as we move forward in the Christian life. Notice what the catechism says at the end of question and answer 75: “The supper nourishes and refreshes my soul.” Look at question 76. It says that we are united more and more to Christ through the supper. Nourishing, refreshing, uniting us more and more to Christ. The supper is not only a reminder for us, it also strengthens us as we journey along the Christian life. 

Flip over with me to 1 Kings 19. The other passage I encouraged us to put our finger in – 1 Kings 19. 1 Kings 19 is the story after the story. 1 Kings 18 is the story of Elijah with his confrontation with Ahab and the false prophets. 1 Kings 19, I think, beautifully illustrates this strengthening work that the Lord does by feeding us. Throughout Scripture, we repeatedly see pictures of God feeding his people. Book of Exodus, God provides manna from heaven for his people to eat. Psalm 23 tells us that God does what? He prepares a table for us. There's the feeding of the 5,000 in all four gospels. Jesus's feeding of the 4,000 is recorded in Matthew and Mark. In John 6, Jesus describes himself as the bread of life in which we are to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Over and over and over, we see God feeding his people in the Scriptures. So, back to 1 Kings 19. Again, you may be familiar with the dramatic events prior at Mount Carmel. There's a three-year drought. Elijah confronts King Ahab and the 450 prophets of Baal. He calls down fire from heaven to prove that Yahweh is God, while Baal's prophets fail after their frantic pleading. And Elijah then has these false prophets executed, and he prays while God provides the drought-ending rain. 

It's an incredibly dramatic story of God's power and God's provision. But let's look at what happens immediately after, in chapter 19, verse 1: “Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with a sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he (Elijah) was afraid, and he arose, and he ran for his life and came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree, and he asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough now, O Lord; take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’ And as he laid down and slept under a broom tree, and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’ And he arose and ate and drank and went into the strength of that food 40 days, 40 nights to Horeb, the mount of God.” 

I don't know about you, but there are many times where I have a difficult time identifying with the person of Elijah in chapter 18. Such incredible faith and confidence in God. But I have no problem identifying with the person of Elijah in chapter 19. God does tremendous things, and how does Elijah immediately respond? He responds by shrinking back. He hears one word from Jezebel, and he's ready to give up. Verse 4, he asks that he might die, saying, "It's enough now, O Lord. Take away my life. I'm no better than my fathers.” This is a realistic picture of the Christian life, is it not? One day full of faith, full of power, the next day ready to lay down under a tree and give up. And this is where we need to know that the supper exists for you and me in our weak states. It's there for real Christians who struggle, who doubt, who have weak faith. It's meant to nourish and strengthen us wherever we are in our faith. The supper is not a reward for the strong. It's a means of grace for the weak. 

Look back at question 75. Just notice this repetition: “As surely as I see my eyes, so surely his body, as surely as I receive, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul.” Surely, surely, surely, surely. The Lord meets us in our weak state. The supper exists for those with weak faith, for those who need to be strengthened in this Christian life. The supper exists for you, and it exists for me, because don't we all have weak faith at times? Certainly, there are times when we don't feel strong, but is there anyone walking in this Christian life that wouldn't admit at least times of weakness, times of doubt, times of discouragement? Surely, we need food for our weak faith. 

So, look back at 1 Kings. Elijah has given up. He has laid down. He is so distraught that he asks to die. But notice what happens in verse 5. An angel comes to minister to him. And what does he do? He feeds him. Arise and eat. And Elijah looks and behold, God has prepared for him a meal. He's baked a cake for him. He's provided a jar of water for him to drink. When Elijah had no more strength, when Elijah could go no further, God himself comes and provides food for his weak servant. He acknowledges that the journey is too great for him alone. I'm sure some of us have felt that about life. The journey is too great for me alone. God, this relationship is too much for me. God, this diagnosis is too great for me. God, this challenge, this disappointment is too overwhelming for me. I'm just going to lie down and give up. And that's why we need God to feed us. I'm not trying to say that 1 Kings 19 is some proof text for the supper, but does it not give us an incredible picture, a beautiful illustration of what God does for his people? We see that he's gentle and kind. He's tender, that he provides for you and me. He provides what we need, because on our own, we do not have the strength for the journey ahead. 

Doesn't this picture also recall what the resurrected Christ does in John 21? The disciples are toiling away. They're not able to catch a thing. Jesus points their nets in the right direction. Cast them over there. He calls them in, and what does he do? He feeds them. John 21:9, “But when they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So, Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the nets were not torn. And Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’” 

How does the supper do this? Look at question 76 again. Through the Holy Spirit, we are united more and more to Christ. The supper strengthens us by strengthening our union with Christ. And you may say, well, once we're united to Christ, aren't we forever united to him? And yes, that's true. Once we are united to Christ, we are forever united to him. But you and I also know that relationships can grow stronger. Marriages can grow stronger. Likewise, they can also grow weaker over time if not attended to, can they not? The Lord's Supper is a means of grace for the believer. It unites us more and more to him. It strengthens us in him more and more, so that each time we come to the table, we take, we eat, we drink in faith. Each time we do that, we are being more and more united to Christ by the Holy Spirit. That's a remarkable thing. Isn't it a remarkable gift to know that all you and I have to do, as question 76 puts it, is to come with a believing heart to receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life? All we need to do to receive this strengthening is to come, to believe, and to receive from his hand. When we come by faith to the table, the Lord assures us that he will meet us there, that he will strengthen us. 

The supper is meant to cause us to look back, to remember who Christ is, what he has done for us, what his promises are to us. It's also meant to cause us to move forward, to be nourished and refreshed, to be strengthened for the journey ahead of us as Christians. This supper that the Lord provides for us, that we get to partake in, is meant to give us assurance. Look back again at question 75, and remember that word that keeps popping out. Surely, surely, surely. Here's what Pastor Kevin writes in his book on the catechism: “As surely as I know without a doubt or hesitation that I am holding the bread, that I'm sipping the juice, so surely can I – can you – know with complete confidence that God loves me in Christ.” 

Our faith is weak, but is not Christ so strong? And just like the good Father he is, our God knows us. He knows what we need. He's provided for us a meal with which he feeds us himself. We get to partake in it regularly to help our weak faith. So, friends, when we come to the table, as we did just last week in the morning, know that this isn't some mere memorial service. There's something more happening. There's something real happening. He's feeding us. He's assuring us. He's strengthening us in him by his Spirit. 

I mentioned at the beginning that I get to officiate a wedding this coming Saturday. Such a joy to be able to do that, to be able to see two become one. Going to make sure that I have my wedding ring on when we do that. I get to have a front seat to see a holy union, but what makes the pastor's role so incredible isn't the seat. It's that I don't just get to watch what's happening, I get to participate in it. And friends, the same is true here. If we are in Christ, we don't just watch from the pews what's happening up here while the table is being prepared. We come, we take, we eat, and we drink. A wedding officiant gets the closest view in the room, but at this table, you get closer still. You don't just watch the promise from a pew. You hold it in your hands. And just as surely as you and I can feel that bread and to taste the cup in your hands, so surely can we know that God loves us in Jesus Christ. So, come, taste, and see that the Lord is good. He gives us food for our weak faith. Amen. Let's pray together. 

Lord Jesus, how kind it is of you to feed us. We don't feed ourselves, but you feed us. You know that the journey ahead of us is too great for us alone. And so, you come, and you give us bread. You give us wine to remind us of all that Christ has done and to strengthen us for the road ahead. We thank you so much for the supper, for the meal that you've provided for us. Give us eyes to see the beauty of this. Give us eyes to see Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen.