Mark Scholten

This is a family table.  All of God’s children are welcome here. 

If you are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ as he is offered to all in the gospel; you are welcome to this table.

If you do not know the Lord, if you have not placed your faith in him alone for forgiveness; do not come to this table.

We are the adopted children of God.

Here we are reminded that all that belongs to the real, natural son, belongs to them as well.

We are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, through faith.

Many parents have adopted children into their family.  They often make that happen with great sacrifice, and it is pursued out of great love.  With every added child, the love of the whole family increases.

When they become part of the family, officially full sons and daughters, they often struggle to accept the fact that they are full members of the family; that they are included, loved, and will continue to be loved no matter what the future brings – just like the natural children.

They seem to emphasis the ‘adopted’ part of adopted children.  They fell like second class children, not full accepted, not equally loved.  Nothing pains the parents more than this struggle of their adopted children.

So, they continue to love them, accept them; speaking love to them, giving them tokens and reminders of their continuing love and acceptance.

In part, that is what God is doing in the Lord’s Supper.  He is reminding us that we are His children, with full rights and privileges as sons and daughters, yes, but also as fully loved and accepted as the natural son.

Romans 7:17 “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

“Provided we suffer with him.”

To be part of the family is to embrace the joys and the sorrow.  It is to live life together; even the tears and the suffering.

Perhaps nothing proves that you are part of a family than the fact that you feel what they feel, and suffer what they suffer.

So it is in the family of God.  We are family.  We bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

Colossians 1:24  Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ‘s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

But notice also the end of Romans 7:17; “in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

We will be glorified with Christ.  The best is yet to come.  We will enter into his glory.

Matthew 25:34, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

“And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”” (Luke 22:15–18, ESV)

The Lord’s Supper is an intensely personal meal.  It is a family meal.  It is by invitation only.  And the invitation goes out to all who believe; to all his disciples.  If you do not believe the gospel, do not come to this table.  If you are not a Christian, do not come to this table.

Jesus earnestly desired to have the last Passover with his disciples.  He was nearing the end of his painful mission. All was about to change.  Passover would become the Lord’s Supper, the work of Christ would be fulfilled, and the Kingdom were come in a new and powerful way.

Jesus takes an oath of self-denial until it is accomplished.  “I will not eat,” “I will not drink, until…”  This declares his steadfast commitment to finish his work and to complete their redemption. In other words, to fulfill the meaning of Passover and the Lord’s Supper.  To shed his blood to save their souls. “Having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1).

Jesus here proclaims his steadfast commitment to go to the cross and to fulfill his calling from the Father.

“Until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”  “Until the Kingdom of God comes.”  When did that happen?

In his incarnation, in his death and resurrection it came.  It began.  It was initiated.

In the end it will come in fulness.  It will be completed to the uttermost.

The kingdom is here already, but not yet in its fulness.

The blessings of the kingdom are present now, they are accessible, but not yet complete.  

The day awaits when the full multitude, from every tribe, tongue and nation will come to Christ.

This is a supper that we can enjoy today, and in its fullness then. The marriage supper of the Lamb is coming.  Here is a foretaste; an anticipation.

The Kingdom is here, and the kingdom is coming.

We look back, we remember, the finished work of Christ – his shed blood and his resurrection.  The Kingdom is here!  Jesus reigns now!