Hallelujah.
I will celebrate the Lord with my whole heart,
In the council of the upright, and in the assembly.
Let me repeat it:
Hallelujah.
I will celebrate the Lord with my whole heart,
In the council of the upright, and in the assembly.
Thank God, He gathered us together this morning to remember the Lord at His table.
The one thing that is upon my heart concerns this matter of the atmosphere when we come together. What kind of atmosphere do we enter, and what kind of atmosphere do we bring in? Because the atmosphere affects us very deeply.
You know, when a dear one passes away, we usually have a memorial service. But gradually, you find among God’s people that we do not call it a memorial service; we call it, instead, a celebration.
You know, when you come to a memorial service, you can be in an atmosphere of loss, sadness, depression—very negative—because we are thinking of what a loss we have.
But when you come to a celebration, the whole atmosphere is different, because it is joyful, cheerful, hopeful, and very positive.
So when we come to remember the Lord at His table, what kind of atmosphere do we enter, and what kind of atmosphere do we bring in?
You know, when our Lord Jesus instituted this Lord’s table at the Passover feast, so far as the disciples were concerned, they were sorrowful—very depressed. It was a big loss, because they realized they would lose the Lord. They were self-centered, thinking of their loss.
And our Lord Jesus came and said, “Cheer up. Let not your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
And He ended by saying, “In the world you have tribulation, but be of good courage, for I have overcome the world.”
Now that our Lord Jesus has accomplished this work of redemption on the cross, it is finished. He has risen from the dead. He is now at the right hand of God, waiting for all His enemies to be His footstool, bringing His own kingdom in, and ruling and reigning throughout the world.
As the church comes together to remember Him, I believe the atmosphere will be very different from when His disciples had the first Lord’s table.
Because we come together in the finished work of Christ, in the glorious victory of Christ, in His resurrection and ascension, and with the hope of His coming. So it is a celebration.
We remember Him by celebrating Him, and that is what we all do.
Now, when you come together to celebrate, what do you really do?
Everyone who comes to this celebration has a story to tell. Every one of us has a personal experience of our Lord Jesus.
Every one of us knows what He means to us and what He has done for us. How glorious, how wonderful, how faithful is our Lord Jesus to every one of us.
Not only throughout the days after we have been saved by Him, but even in the past week, there is much we can say of Him, much that we can praise Him for, and much that we can testify of Him. And this is what the Lord’s table is for.
Can we be silent in celebrating Him? Is there nothing to tell about Him, nothing to testify of His faithfulness and goodness to us, of what He has done for us? Is there no appreciation?
This is not a time for us to think about ourselves or to tell of ourselves. No. He occupies our hearts. We are here; our hearts are full of Him. What gratitude we have for Him. If it were not because of Him, we would not be here this morning.
So, brothers and sisters, let us celebrate our Lord with our whole hearts, in the midst of the upright. We are supposed to be upright by His grace, and in the assembly, in the church.
You know, this reminds me of the Shulamite in the Song of Songs, that virgin betrothed to her beloved. Her heart is all for him, and she was asked a question: “What is your beloved that is different from the other beloved?”
Now, brothers and sisters, this is the time we should tell the world what the difference is between our Beloved and any other beloved.
He is the chiefest among ten thousand.
He is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend.
Brothers and sisters, this is your opportunity to extol Him. Do not miss this opportunity.
Many brothers and sisters have never opened their mouths at the time of remembrance. Do you have nothing to remember? Do you have nothing to tell? How it must hurt the Lord.
Let the old and young strive for the opportunity to just express our appreciation and our love. That is the way to celebrate the Lord’s table.
Amen.