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Sacraments W

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SERIES INTRO: This eight-week study is based on a sermon series on worship and the psalms called “Grace and Gratitude: Worshiping a Gracious God with a Grateful Heart.” Worship is our response to God and the grace and love he shows us in Jesus. Worship is how we relate to God—gathering, singing, confessing, hearing God’s Word, celebrating our unity with him through baptism and the Table, professing our faith to one another, and then re-entering the world as those who are ready to be part of God’s mission. The psalms lead us into worship, reminding us that God not only hears and understands all our many different prayers, needs, and emotions, but welcomes us and rejoices with us as we draw closer to him.

Mark Labberton, a contemporary pastor/theologian, calls worship a “dangerous act.” He writes, “When worship is our response to the One who alone is worthy of it—Jesus Christ—then our lives are on their way to being turned inside out. Every dimension of self-centered living becomes endangered as we come to show God’s self-giving heart.” Centuries earlier, Augustine said the gathering for worship is the “fundamental and original form of the church, for it is through this gathering that the church expresses to itself and to the world its nature, its purpose, its mission, and its role in history.” I believe both are correct!

A few years ago, followers of Jesus from around the world worked together to create a document called “Worshiping the Triune God” that attempted to explain the amazing potential of worship through a series of contemporary ‘proverbs.’ I was asked to write a commentary on these, and the book Wise Church: Exploring Faith and Worship with Christians Around the World came into being. We will be using some excerpts from this book as the basis for our small group study throughout this series.

Each week there will be different types of questions. Some might be better for longer-term small groups and others might be more useful for the new groups formed through Taste & See. Leaders may pick and choose what they want to focus on depending on the make up of their small group. May all we say and do over these next weeks encourage us all in our lives of grateful worship! ped

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WEEK FIVE INTRO:

At this point in our conversation on worship, we switch from a focus on words to actions. The Sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, “…are visible, holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that, by our use of them, he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise. And this is God’s promise: to grant us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ’s one sacrifice accomplished on the cross.” (Heidelberg Catechism, answer to Q-66) In our Reformed Tradition, God’s Word and the sacraments are united as one. John Calvin wrote, “First, the Lord teaches and instructs us by his Word. Secondly, he confirms it by the sacraments. Finally, he illumines our minds by the light of his Holy Spirit and opens our hearts for the Word and sacraments to enter in.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.14.8) Put another way, to the extent that we believe what we have heard through Bible study and preaching, and that we mean what we have prayed, the baptismal font becomes a visual reminder of the covenant God has made with us (and our commission to share God’s promise), and the communion table takes on new meaning as we celebrate, with eager joy, Christ’s victory over death and his promised return. Do you see the Font and the Table this way? These visual reminders are a good reason to always have the Font and Table present in worship, even if we don’t celebrate the sacraments weekly. They are much more than furnishings, used only on special occasions (when, seeing them, we’re pretty sure worship will run long!) We will always find time for what is important to us. While both Baptism and Communion are central to our faith, Communion is the focus of this session. No other act of worship holds the central place of the Lord’s Supper. Instituted by Jesus himself, the words and actions that take place around the Table define us and our worship as “Christian.” This sacrament instituted by Christ is known by many names:

Eucharist, from the Greek eucharistia, means thanksgiving, from “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." (I Corinthians 11:23-24)

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Lord’s Supper is a term used in the early Church. “When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.” (I Corinthians 11:20-21) Communion (or Holy Communion) from communio, the Latin translation of koinonia which means fellowship with God and with one another. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (I Corinthians 10:16)

No matter how often Communion is celebrated (or what it is called!), this sacrament remains the greatest moment of our unity with Jesus Christ and with all of his followers across continents and centuries. “[A]t the Lord’s Table, we do not merely remember the passion of our Lord as an isolated date from nineteen hundred [sic] years ago. Rather, we remember it in such a way that we know by the grace of God we are the people for whom our Savior died and rose again, we are the people whose sins Jesus confessed on the cross, we are the people with whom God has made a new covenant in the blood of Christ, we are the Israel of God to whom God has said, ‘I will be your God and you will be my people.’ … We are what we are today by the grace of God because of what God did for us then.” James Torrance, Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace One way to visualize what is going on in this sacrament is to ask whether it is primarily God’s action (), or our response to what God has done (), or perhaps primarily sharing a symbolic meal with our fellow believers (↔). In this sacrament, we experience union with Christ and each other in a distinctly different way from the “conversation” of preaching and response that has taken place up to now in the worship service. Remember that the sacraments are actions, not just words(!) Perhaps the best way to “diagram” this covenant celebration is with an arrow that goes both ways; yes, we are united with Christ (↕ ). But there is more, because we should never consider this a private moment between “me and Jesus,” but as our communion also with each other in the Body of Christ (↕↔) Overlay those two arrows: we are shaped by the cross to become cross-bearing followers of Christ together.

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There is the deep connection of baptism, communion, and preaching in worship. Baptism is initiation into the covenant community; dying and rising with Christ to new life (Romans 6:3-4). Baptism happens once, but we need continuing nourishment that comes through the preaching of the Word and communing at the Table. At the Table, we have the opportunity to celebrate our fellowship with our risen Lord, and to be nourished by him to live out the call God has placed on our lives.

Proverbs

Blessed is the congregation that announces that their true identity is found in Jesus Christ.

Blessed is the church that regularly celebrates the Lord’s Supper as a feast of

thanksgiving, communion, and hope. Blessed is the congregation that not only gratefully remembers God’s creating

and redeeming work in Jesus Christ, knowing his presence in the breaking of the bread, but also gratefully receives the gift of union with Jesus Christ and Christ’s body, and looks forward to the feast of the coming kingdom.

Blessed is the congregation that shares this meal by “discerning the body of

Christ” in its manifold oneness, by expressing hospitality for one another with grace and truth, and by reflecting God’s hospitality for us in ministries of hospitality in the world.

Questions for Discussion

Communion Questions: 1. Do baptism and the Lord’s Supper help you understand more clearly the

promise of the gospel? Why?/Why not?

2. Is Communion a joyful time or a somber time for you? Why?

3. The James Torrance quote is profound. Do you think about this connection with God and with other believers in different times and places when you come to the Table?

4. If you grew up outside the Presbyterian/Reformed Tradition, what is different about the way we celebrate Communion and the emphasis we place on Communion? How has that difference impacted your spiritual life?

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Select from Questions about Psalm 34: 1. What does it mean to you to “praise the Lord at all times”?

2. Do you see the connection between v. 3 and Communion?

3. What was one time when you “prayed to the Lord and he answered you…”? Was his answer what you expected?

4. We have based this entire series on Psalm 34:8. What does this verse mean to you? Has this study impacted that meaning in any way?

Look at v. 9. The “fear of the Lord for people who do not yet believe is the very real fear of eternal separation from God because of sin. For followers of Jesus, however, the “fear of the Lord” is much different. It is reverence, awe, trust, and the kind of love that is more wonderful the more you experience it.

5. How would you summarize the teaching of vv. 9-22 to someone who was exploring following Jesus for the first time?

6. How do vv. 9-22 impact the way you read v. 8?

7. At this point in the study, what has been the most interesting or important thing you have learned or realized about our worship?

Scripture

Psalm 34

I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. 2 I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. 3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together. 4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. 6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles. 7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

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8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! 9 Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. 10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. 11 Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord. 12 Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? 13 Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! 14 Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. 15 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help. 16 But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil; he will erase their memory from the earth. 17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. 19 The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. 20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken! 21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished. 22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.