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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 begin 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 will walk through during Lent are based on and seek to give expression to the very same devotional rhythms that we find at the 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 lead 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- Throughout Lent, we are reminded that as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the salvation that Christ accomplished for us, we are not to come to God’s house with a generic repentance that seeks only a generic healing. Instead, our repentance (our need for that salvation) is to be specific. Why?
A] 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] 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 deliberate connection between God’s specific grace and your 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 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. 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)
III. The final thing I want us to see is the Singularity of God’s Assurance
Notice then how both Table and Lent assure us that God responds to our 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.