I learned a new word this week – the word is “phubbing” – it’s a combination of the words “phone” and “snubbing.” One writer says that her students are so good at phubbing, they can be texting someone else while maintaining eye-contact with her.
And I want use that illustration as a reminder and a warning not to do that with Jesus here at this table. You can get good at phubbing, pretending to be present, pretending to be paying attention, going through the motions, all while attending to something else or someone else. And that really is snubbing the person standing right in front of you.
What else is there in all the world more glorious, more wonderful than sharing fellowship with the God of the universe and His people? I know it’s a little strange – isn’t it? We can’t see Jesus. We can’t see heaven opened up, with myriads of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. But they are here. We are there. We have not come to a mountain that can be touched. We have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 12). See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. Do not snub Him.
Remember, at the beginning of the service, I said: Lift up your hearts! And you said, We lift them up to the Lord! In many of the older services they would actually said that right here as they prepared to take the Lord’s Supper. We say it at the beginning of the service to emphasize the fact that our whole worship service takes place in heaven. But don’t forget. We’re still there. We can’t see it all. But we can see little glimpses of it. We can see it in the fact that we have been forgiven of all our sins. We can see it in the fact that we have been reconciled to God and to one another. What business do we have getting along so well when we’ve sinned against one another so much and so often. And we’re so different, and yet here we are, bound together in the love of Christ by His Spirit. Don’t look away. Don’t be distracted.
Take the bread and the wine, and eat and drink and believe.
So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
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