SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't love a good meal?
SPEAKER_00: There was a time in American history when you went to a good restaurant and you knew it was good because it tasted like home.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if it was good enough, undoubtedly someone would remark, this tastes just the way mom used to make it.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe, maybe we can relate to the movie Ratatouille, a tale about a rat who knows a lot more about cooking than most humans do.
SPEAKER_00: And a story where the feared food critic and his overwhelming review of the signature dish was a result of a meal that instantly transported him back to a memory of his mother making the very same meal.
SPEAKER_00: It was a taste of home.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, times have changed.
SPEAKER_00: No more do we eat at a restaurant and compare it to home cooking meals, it seems.
SPEAKER_00: Now it seems our home cooking is an attempt to make our copycat recipes to taste like this famous chain restaurant or that one.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, this chicken tastes just like Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_00: Or, man, this soup reminds me of Olive Garden.
SPEAKER_00: It seems we've lost the taste for what home tastes like.
SPEAKER_00: Home is where the heart is, as the saying goes.
SPEAKER_00: Home is where one longs to be when they've been caught up in the busyness of life.
SPEAKER_00: Home is best remembered when everyone is gathered together around the table, enjoying their favorite of meals.
SPEAKER_00: During Bible class a while back, the question was posed: what is a family tradition that you have at your house?
SPEAKER_00: Many in the class immediately recalled warm thoughts of family gatherings, around dinner, around eating, around the fellowship of sitting at the table together, or of specific bowls or plates that were used for Thanksgiving dinner.
SPEAKER_00: And why?
SPEAKER_00: Because food brings people together.
SPEAKER_00: These traditions are important because they bring people together in a way that nothing else does.
SPEAKER_00: The table we eat at is the table where we share some of the most important things of life.
SPEAKER_00: And all the important moments in life seem to always have food.
SPEAKER_00: It should not be a surprise to us.
SPEAKER_00: God hardwired us this way.
SPEAKER_00: Go to a wedding and there's food.
SPEAKER_00: Go to a funeral and there's food.
SPEAKER_00: Go to a baptism and there's food.
SPEAKER_00: Go to a confirmation and there's cake.
SPEAKER_00: There's always fellowship at the table, though.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest fellowship happens over eating and drinking.
SPEAKER_00: Go out with friends, and we want to eat, drink, and be merry.
SPEAKER_00: It's the place where memories are made.
SPEAKER_00: And making memory over food is the point.
SPEAKER_00: Read the Word of God, and we will find it's no different.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the most important covenants made by God in Scripture is made over food.
SPEAKER_00: The feast days in Scripture were all celebrated in remembrance of God's deliverance of his people.
SPEAKER_00: But God set the remembrance of that deliverance over food.
SPEAKER_00: He ties it to eating and drinking.
SPEAKER_00: The Passover feast before the Israelites were delivered from Israel was to be remembered not only by the sacrifice, but by eating the meal together.
SPEAKER_00: None of it was to be left until morning.
SPEAKER_00: At Mount Sinai, right before giving them the new covenant and the law, God brings the people to the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And there was under his feet as if it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven of clearness.
SPEAKER_00: And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: They beheld God, and they ate and drank.
SPEAKER_00: From this moment on, they would know home was with God, their Savior.
SPEAKER_00: But eating on a feast day for an Israelite wasn't just about recalling some distant memory, but rather it was always experiential.
SPEAKER_00: A feast day kept by the people of Israel was meant to be understood as a present reality for those who were eating it.
SPEAKER_00: In the Passover, they knew their salvation was secure both because of the sacrifice and because of the eating.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the Lord had instructed the Israelites to do: to kill the spotless lamb, to cover their doorpost and lintel with the blood and eat it.
SPEAKER_00: There was no salvation apart from the shedding of blood and the eating of the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: With the blood, the entire household was covered.
SPEAKER_00: With the eating, each family member knew the Lord's salvation was for them.
SPEAKER_00: And it was this Passover feast where our Lord decides to institute the Lord's Supper for his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: For you.
SPEAKER_00: Then the new covenant is also to be ratified by blood, as it reads, He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, it's not a coincidence, dear beloved, that St.
SPEAKER_00: Paul calls him our Passover Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does his blood cover the whole household of faith, but you receive his sacrifice into your mouths and hearts, knowing that this salvation won on the cross of Calvary is for you when you eat and you drink.
SPEAKER_00: For just like the Israelites, what good would it do to sacrifice a lamb for the Passover and eat something else, like chicken and potatoes?
SPEAKER_00: Rather, it would be important that they partook of the body of the lamb that was sacrificed on their behalf so that they knew it was for them.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, what good is it for you to think to yourself, well, this is only bread and wine?
SPEAKER_00: Why would you want to partake of something that symbolized the sacrifice instead of the sacrifice itself?
SPEAKER_00: How else do you know that it's for you than when you eat and drink the true body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: So then we come to the table of the Lord and eat and drink with God in the flesh, so that we know that we have received what His sacrifice was given for, and so that we commune with God and with one another.
SPEAKER_00: For there is no other place where you're joined together into one body like you are at the Lord's Holy Supper.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other place where you have fellowship with your Christian brothers and sisters than you have when you partake of the sacrament of the altar.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other place where the Lord Himself binds you together with his own body and blood.
SPEAKER_00: That is why there needs to be peace before partaking of this sacrament together.
SPEAKER_00: Because there cannot be strife within Christ's own body.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other meal that Christ instituted so that you know, so that you know, dear Christian, that you have fellowship with God.
SPEAKER_00: For on the night he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take eat, this is my body.
SPEAKER_00: And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, I will not drink of it again, of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And it is his father's kingdom, which is your new home, our real home.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to experience a foretaste of home, of the Lamb and His kingdom as your present reality, if you want true fellowship within the body of Christ, if you want to know what your salvation tastes like, then come to the table of the Lord and receive the true body and blood of our Lord for the forgiveness of all your sins, and let him join you in fellowship that lasts for all eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Please rise as you're able for the prayers of the church.