A Table for Lent
Isaiah 41:10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Introduction
This morning as we continue our Lenten preparation, I want us to look at the connection between Lent and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Table. Why? The devotional rhythms that we walk through during Lent are based on and seek to give expression to the very same devotional rhythms that we find at the Lord’s Table.
Think about it: both the Lord’s Table and Lent point to and proclaim the one Gospel of Jesus Christ and our need of it. In other words, they both direct us to the same place for the same reasons.
Therefore, to understand one will enable us to better understand and participate in the other.
I. The Single Basis of both the Table and Lent is Grace- The manifold witness of Scripture is that God’s grace is specific. In other words, when Christ bore all your sins on the Cross, the very sins and struggles that you are facing right now today were included in that mix. Therefore, God assures you that the grace He accomplished for you some 2000 years ago, the same grace that will one day fully and finally complete you, is already at work right now in the specifics of your life.
Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Also 2 Cor 3:18)
B] Therefore, during Lent we are not to come to God’s house with a generic repentance that seeks only a generic healing. Instead, our repentance (the acknowledgement of our need for that salvation) is to be specific and current. Why? The salvation we are preparing to celebrate is the single remedy for the very sins and struggles that we face right now today. FN#1
Hebrews 10:12 but Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
C] Not only that, it is this very notion of specific grace that is behind God’s institution of a weekly/regular celebration of the Eucharist. Notice then, God instituted His Sacrament in such a way that each week you come to the Table in the very midst of life. As you come, you are called to bring with you your current needs, present struggles, and specific sins. Not only that, as you partake, Christ responds by placing the very assurance of His all sufficient sacrifice into your hands and on your lips. Why? God assures you that the grace accomplished by His onetime sacrifice is a grace that covers/includes/touches the very specifics you are facing right now.
1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Bottom line: both Lent and the Lord’s Table are based on and make the direct connection between God’s specific grace and your current/specific needs
II. The next thing I want us to see is the Singularity of God’s Call during Lent and His Call to the Table
A] In both cases (Lent and Table) we are reminded that Scripture calls each one of us to respond to the Gospel by turning to God with our need for that Gospel.
Mark 1:15 repent and believe in the gospel.”
B] In fact, over and again throughout Scripture we see the centrality of responding to God’s call by drawing near.
James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Importance: remember, every movement, every motion, and every action or posture in our service is pedagogical in nature. That is, each one serves as an outward devotional prompt. Notice then, why coming forward for Communion is so important (and why drawing near to God is such a central part of Lent):
1. Drawing near to God is a concrete/tangible reversal of our tendency to run away from God (in our priorities, choices, commitments, and in our shame)
Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away
2. Drawing near to God leaves no confusion about the single source of our healing (notice if you could fix yourself or if God expected you to fix yourself, there would be no need to draw close. You could stay right where you are).
Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”
3. Drawing near to God reminds me that God does not heal me to make me more comfortable or more at home in the fading kingdoms of this world.
That is, God does not heal me to leave me where I was as I was. Rather,
God heals me to make me a citizen of His Kingdom.
Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (Rev 18:4) FN#2
III. The final thing I want us to see is the Singularity of God’s Assurance
Notice the way both Table and Lent assure us that God responds to your need
James 4:6 God gives a greater grace.
Importance: the same assurance of God’s ongoing presence and grace that He gives you at His Table is the entire basis, focus, and hope of Lent.
How then do I respond? I am to respond by drawing close to God, assured of the direct connection between my needs and the Salvation that Christ has accomplished.
Footnotes
1] This is not to lesson or in any way diminish our general and universal acknowledgement that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Instead, it is to affirm that the major task that God has given us today is to faithfully walk the section of the path that we are on today.
2] We could also add: drawing near to God for communion is a corporate act (something we all do together). As such, it reminds me that while salvation is direct and personal, it is not private or individually varied. Instead, it is corporate and definite. Thus, grace is what God says it is (not what I want to make it to be). In turn, the same love, forgiveness, and assurance given to you are given to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God,
· Thus because the grace that God gives is a grace that changes us, we are all expected to amend our lives, bear fruit, and live more and more for Christ.
Matthew 3:8 “Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance;
· My needs do not exclude me. Rather, I have the same assurance as the problem free, glow-in-the-dark saint two pews over has
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. (I John 1:9)
· God’s grace will forgive and heal that obnoxious believer I find so difficult. Thus, I respond to them (in my assessment and my dealings) in light of the greater certainty of grace.
Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (II Cor 5:16-17)