One of the glorious transitions from the Old to New Covenant is the pouring out of the Spirit on all of God’s people, anointing all of God’s people as priests and kings and prophets in Jesus Christ. While access to the presence of God was strictly guarded in the Old Covenant and only certain people had limited access on various occasions, in the New Covenant, all those who have been anointed in the waters of baptism and walk in obedience to the call of Jesus, all of you are called into the presence of God. And here you are welcome to sit in His presence to hear His Word to you, to respond in thankful hymns as well as petitions and prayers, and finally to sit here to share a meal in His presence.
But this means that by sharing in this meal week after week, we are confessing to God and one another that all of us are ministers in this house. All of us are priests in this temple. Paul uses the image of a body: we are all members of the same body, and the body needs all of the members to function properly. By sharing this meal every Lord’s Day, we confess that we are all in this together and that we need one another. The Spirit has been poured on all of you with particular gifts, strengths, talents, and this meal is regular reminder to use them. And this means that if you have particular interests, gifts, concerns, in so far as they are for the edification and building up of the body, you are called upon to use them, do them. Pastors and Elders and Deacons are a few of many of the gifts in the body, but the Body doesn’t run on just those three gifts.
The wonderful thing is that many of you are constantly seeing opportunities for hospitality, service, and ministry, and you jump in faithfully, and so this is just an encouragement to do so more and more. And this meal is not only your authorization to use your gifts in the body of Christ, but here Christ promises to nourish you by the working of the Spirit, perfecting your gifts, strengthening you for ministry, equipping you to love your little ones, honor and bless one another, and look for those who are hurting and needy to befriend and care for. This meal is for the kings and priests and prophets of the Triune God; you are those kings and priests and prophets. You belong here. You are loved, and you are needed. So come and give thanks.
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