[0:00] Well, if you have your Bible, I invite you to keep it open to Matthew chapter 20, as we consider these words together.
[0:12] I was reading recently about a former Uruguayan Prime Minister, a man called Jose.
[0:25] Jose was quite different from many leaders, many world leaders, in that he lived a comparatively simple lifestyle. He eschewed the trappings of wealth and of status and of power that appealed to so many people.
[0:44] He gave away 90% of his salary so that he'd live on the same as most others in Uruguay. He didn't stay in the Presidential Palace, he stayed instead in his old farmhouse outside the capital.
[0:59] And he didn't drive around in a limousine all the time, he had a Volkswagen Beetle and a tractor, that was his main possession.
[1:09] And he was quite different from other world leaders, I don't think that he was a Christian. But he exemplified something of what Jesus teaches here in Matthew 21.
[1:22] Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, Christians. We are motivated not by wealth or status or power, but by the example of Jesus, the Lord who came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[1:42] The last couple of nights we've been thinking about the Gospel, we thought in our first study of Jesus' death and resurrection as the heart of the Gospel.
[1:54] And we thought of Matthew chapter 18 as taking us to the heart of the Gospel. In speaking to us of Jesus' identity, Matthew 16, sorry, his identity of the suffering Son of Man, his mission to die and rise again in order to save his people and his call upon our lives, to die to self and to follow him.
[2:22] And in Matthew 20, he takes us again to the heart of the Gospel and shows us what it means to be a disciple, to follow his example and to walk in his footsteps.
[2:38] And so we want to think about that under two headings. We're going to look at 20 verse 17 to 28 and we're going to look at Jesus as the suffering Son of Man.
[2:48] And then in chapter 20 verse 20, 9 to 34, we're going to see him as the sovereign Son of David. So we see the Lord as the suffering Son of Man and then we see him as the sovereign Son of David.
[3:04] And initially we see that the disciples really aren't listening to what he has to say. I wonder if you ever have that with those close to you. Maybe somebody says, you're just not listening.
[3:18] You're not hearing what I'm trying to say. Maybe we sometimes get the wrong end of this stick or completely miss the point.
[3:29] And that's what's happening here. Jesus and his disciples are quite literally at cross purposes. 20 17 tells us this is the final journey.
[3:42] Jesus is going up to Jerusalem. I think here you go up to Stornoway. Is that right? Jesus is going up to Jerusalem at the capital.
[3:52] But it's not a simple journey. He's explaining to them what is going to happen verse 18. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes.
[4:03] They will condemn him to death, deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged and crucified. He explains to them and this for the third time, what is going to happen to him.
[4:18] That he's going to be handed over to his own people. That he's going to be scourged by the Gentiles and put to death and then raised on the third day.
[4:32] And this is the third time Jesus has explained this to his disciples. We notice that his death is not an unfortunate and unforeseen accident.
[4:43] It's not an unforeseen martyrdom that he died, as Peter would say in Acts chapter 2, according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
[4:57] This is the reason he was sent into the world to save the world through his death and resurrection. He will suffer and die before being raised to life again.
[5:11] This is the trajectory of his travel. This is the path he's been treading all through his ministry. This is what the Old Testament has been looking forward to and pointing to, that the law and the prophets and the Psalms might be fulfilled in the suffering and resurrection of the Messiah.
[5:32] Matthew begins his gospel by announcing the birth of Jesus. And the angel says to Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.
[5:49] And as we approach the end of the gospel, we see how that salvation will be affected as Jesus goes to his death, dying to save his friends.
[5:59] But the disciples, well, they're not listening. Are they? They're not hearing what he has to say, verse 20, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, that is James and John the fisherman.
[6:12] She comes up to Jesus and they kneel before him and ask for something. What do you want? He says to them.
[6:22] And she says, well, these two sons of mine grant that one may sit at your right and one may sit at your left in your kingdom.
[6:33] She is looking forward to the future rewards that are promised to those who follow Christ. And she wants to ensure that her sons get the best of those rewards.
[6:47] The Lord in chapter 19 had been speaking of his return in glory. Look at verse 19, verse 28, in the new world when the Son of Man will sit on his glories throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
[7:06] Well, the disciples had heard that and their ears must have pricked up and they must have thought this is wonderful. We're going to be sitting in glory on these glorious thrones.
[7:19] And then they said, I wonder who's going to be sitting nearest to the Lord? Who's going to be sitting at his right hand, who's going to be sitting at his left?
[7:30] And the mother of the sons of Zebedee was obviously a very good mother. Like all mothers, she wanted the best for her children, good education, good jobs, happy home.
[7:43] And she wanted her sons to be seated in the places of honour when the Lord came in glory. She wanted them to be in the first class seats, them to be on the VIP list, them to be at his right hand and his left.
[8:01] There was a reshuffle in the Westminster cabinet just a couple of weeks ago. And some ministers got moved around it and some were moved out of the cabinet.
[8:13] But in the Westminster cabinet, they talk about the big four jobs. You've got the Prime Minister. Next door to him, you've got the Chancellor.
[8:23] There is the Home Secretary and then the Foreign Secretary. They are the big four. If you've got one of the big four, you stand a good chance of being the next Prime Minister.
[8:34] Well, the mother of the sons of Zebedee wanted her sons to be in the big four, the big two, to be at the right hand and the left in glory.
[8:47] So they weren't listening to what Jesus had to say. And as a result, the relationships between the disciples were damaged.
[8:58] We thought last night in our preparatory time of the importance of being reconciled to brothers and sisters. Sometimes people like James and John say or do things that are insensitive.
[9:13] And all through this section of Matthew's Gospel, there has been this jockeying for position among the disciples. We thought in chapter 16 how Peter understood first that Jesus was the Christ.
[9:26] And then Jesus took Peter and James and John up the Mount of Transfiguration. And maybe the other nine disciples were getting envious. Why does he take those three?
[9:37] Why are we left at the foot of the mountain? And so in chapter 18 there is a debate as to who is the greatest. And we see that in common with the world there was selfish ambition and rivalry.
[9:53] Jesus countered that. He told his disciples they have to forgive one another. Like the man who was forgiven a great debt by the king, they were to forgive others their debts.
[10:07] Like labourers in a vineyard, they were not to grumble about how much other people were being paid, but to thank the Lord that he was generous toward them. They were not to exalt themselves, but instead to humble themselves and become like little children knowing that the last will be first and the first will be last.
[10:29] And we see it here, the sons of Sepidia, they come, they want a quiet word with Jesus. And they ask him if they can be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
[10:43] And verse 24 tells us when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. Why? Because they wanted the best seats. They felt these brothers were trying to promote themselves over their heads.
[10:55] And they were still behaving in a worldly way. They were still looking for status. And they hadn't been listening to what Jesus had to say about service.
[11:11] They hadn't been listening. Jesus is speaking to them of his sufferings. And all they can think about is glory.
[11:22] Jesus is speaking to them of his death and rejection. And all they can think about is the reward that they cannot wait to get their hands upon.
[11:33] So they are behaving in a worldly way. But we notice that the Lord is very patient with them. Verse 25, verse 22, he says to them, you do not know what you are asking.
[11:49] Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? Say, we are able. And he says, you will indeed drink my cup. But to sit at my right hand and my left is not mine to grant.
[12:03] So they are thinking and they are talking about glory. And Jesus brings them back down to earth and asks them if they are willing to suffer for him who is soon to suffer for them.
[12:16] The Lord knows of his coming sufferings. And he knows of the sufferings that these two men will themselves face. And James in Acts 12 will be numbered among the first of the Christian martyrs.
[12:29] We are told that Herod had input to death by the sword. And James dying early in the New Testament era, John living right to the very end of the New Testament era, where he ends his days on the prison island of Patmos, imprisoned on account of his faith in Christ.
[12:51] And in the letter of the revelation, he says, Revelation chapter 1 verse 9, you are describing himself as your partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus.
[13:08] So these men preoccupied with the heavenly glory know that they will, they learn they will face earthly sufferings. They will drink of that cup themselves. But Jesus is not, is not his to grant who will sit at his right hand and his left.
[13:28] That will not be their experience. They will suffer. And that will be his experience as he shall go on to explain.
[13:39] But in the meantime, he says, Luke, verse 25, the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them. They are okay for position. They want to be in the big four in the parliament.
[13:51] I learned that the foreign secretary not only gets a nice house in central London, they get the access to an enormous Georgian mansion outside of London. That's how the world thinks, isn't it?
[14:02] Status and wealth and possessions. But he says it must be different in the church. Verse 26, whoever would be great among you must be your servant.
[14:14] Whoever would be first among you must be your slave. The Bible commentator Richard Franz says this, self importance, the desire to be noticed and respected, the ambition to make one's mark and to impose one's will on others.
[14:33] This is the value system of the rat race, nor of the kingdom of Christ. And yet those who profess to be people of faith often fall into that trap.
[14:47] Just over the page, Matthew 23, Jesus denounces the rabbis, the Pharisees of his day, because they love the places of honour at feasts and the best seats in the synagogue.
[15:00] And we in the Christian church can do the same. We can default to the value system of the corporate culture around us or the celebrity culture around us.
[15:13] It's very encouraging for me as I stand here to see your map of the world on the wall at the back there. And it's really encouraging to see all the different photos and places and names of people with whom you partner in global mission.
[15:31] And I have found possibly the most helpful resource in terms of thinking about and praying for mission is the book operation world, the one volume prayer guide to every nation in the world.
[15:44] It's quite a remarkable book full of detailed statistics and information about the Christian church. There's much to encourage us, stories of growth in Asia and Africa, but there are things to discourage us and things we are to pray about.
[16:03] And one of the things which the author identifies, one of the challenges facing the Christian church is when the leaders behave in a worldly way, when they fail to put into practice verse 26 and 27.
[16:19] So writing of two different countries, the author says this, one of the problems facing the church is hierarchical structures, power seeking, pride of position and misuse of funds.
[16:33] Speaking of another nation, he says this, one of the challenges is one man ministries, dictatorial leadership, empire building and an unwillingness to entrust responsibility to the upcoming generation are common weaknesses.
[16:50] The Christian church behaving just like the world concerned, not with service but with status, with wealth and status and power.
[17:02] And Jesus says that might be true in the kingdoms of the world, but in the kingdom of heaven it shall not be so among you. The greatest must be your servant, the first your slave.
[17:17] That's not to say, as we thought last night, that there is no place for leadership in the church or for authority to be exercised by the leadership.
[17:29] Hebrews 13 tells us that we are to submit to our leaders. But it means that authority is to be used in a distinctive way, distinct from the world and to be guided by the principles of servant leadership, not seeking status.
[17:47] And the supreme example of this, verse 28, is the Lord Jesus himself. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[18:06] At the beginning of our reading he spoke of his death. He reminded us that it's not a martyrdom, it's not an accident, not an unforeseen event.
[18:20] But he is going to the cross in order to save them and to give his life as a ransom for them.
[18:32] All the way through his ministry Jesus served. He welcomed the outcast, he fed the hungry, he healed the sick as he shall go on to heal the sick as he leaves Jericho.
[18:50] But the supreme demonstration of his love and of his compassion is in verse 28, when he gives his life in order to save the many, a life of selfless service and a life which terminates in a selfless sacrifice in order to save others.
[19:13] It's interesting that even in our secular culture the highest expression of love is self-sacrificial love.
[19:27] Remember every November, remember in Sunday and we honour those who gave their lives in order to purchase our freedoms.
[19:39] We often see it even in TV and cinema when the director wants to make a point about how much somebody loves someone else. They give themselves, they sacrifice themselves in order to save others.
[19:57] We see here verse 28, the fruist expression of God's love. The Lord Jesus Christ humbling himself to death upon a cross in order to save his people.
[20:15] Giving the glory of heaven, laying aside all authority and stepping into this world, not to be served but to serve and giving himself as a ransom for many.
[20:30] The word ransom, verse 28, is the language of redemption, buying something back. And theologians particularly in the middle ages debated who was this ransom paid to.
[20:43] Was it paid to God? Was it paid to the devil? But I think the language is the language of the slave market, the first century slave market.
[20:55] There were millions of slaves in the Roman Empire and you could buy and sell slaves like property but a slave could buy their freedom.
[21:07] If they had access to funds they could buy themselves out of slavery. They could be a freed man or they could be bought out of slavery. They could be redeemed.
[21:17] And the Bible says that Jesus dies to free us, to redeem us from our slavery to sin, from our slavery to the devil, from our slavery to death, our powerlessness in the face of death.
[21:37] The Bible think to be given our freedom to be freed from all of this, to be redeemed. But interesting in verse 28 it tells us that Jesus becomes a servant, becomes a slave in order to free us from our slavery to redeem us to pay our ransom.
[21:59] Though he was rich, Paul will explain later, for our sake he became poor that by his poverty we might become rich.
[22:12] Philippians 2 verse 6, Christ though in the form of God emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, a servant, humbling himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
[22:24] How will we be ransom from our slavery to sin and death? Because there is one who is willing to come and become a slave in order that we might be free.
[22:40] That is, Jesus says how it is to be among us. And that is, we learn in the rest of the New Testament, the supreme example of God's love, Christ's love, giving himself for us, humbling himself for us, that we might be exalted, that we might share in his glory.
[23:04] The disciples hadn't got there yet, they were still thinking about thrones and he was talking about crosses. They were thinking of glory and he was speaking to them of suffering.
[23:16] They were thinking of rewards and he reminds them of the importance of serving one another. And he points to himself and his coming sacrifice as the supreme example of that service, in love giving himself to purchase a people of his own possession.
[23:40] He is the suffering son of man. And secondly and very briefly, he is also the sovereign son of David, verse 29, they come out of Jericho and there's a great crowd following him because they'd heard about him, they'd seen his works.
[23:55] And there are these two humble men sitting by the roadside, these blind beggars. And when they heard that Jesus was passing, they cry out, Lord have mercy on us son of David.
[24:08] The crowd wants them to stop, stop troubling Jesus, he's on his way to the capital. But Jesus stops and verse 32, he calls out to them and he asks them what he asked the mother of James and John, what do you want me to do for you?
[24:28] Verse 33, they say, Lord we want to see, we want our eyes to be opened. They want to see Jesus.
[24:40] Verse 34, Jesus in pity touches their eyes, they recover their sight and follow him. He came into the world not to be served but to serve.
[24:51] And here he serves these two blind men, restoring their sight that he might see, they might see his face.
[25:01] And with great joy, verse 34, they recover their sight and they follow him. It's ironic that in this Gospel when so many people have been debating and discussing the identity of Jesus, it is these two blind men that see it all the more clearly, two blind men who get there ahead of so many.
[25:23] And they see him as the son of David, the long-promised, the long- prophesied Messiah. But they have the right attitude to him.
[25:35] They were sitting begging and when he walked past, they cried out to him and when he opened their eyes, they immediately recover their sight and follow him along the way. But James and John were following him along the road but they wanted to be sitting.
[25:52] They would much prefer to have been sitting on their thrones, not having to follow Jesus, not having to suffer in this world. And yet these two blind men sitting and they turn to follow Jesus.
[26:07] They see him as the sovereign son of David, the one of great power but also verse 34, the one who has great pity and compassion.
[26:22] What a contrast between the two sons of Zebedee and the two blind men. But Matthew wants us to see these two pictures together.
[26:33] He wants us to understand that Jesus is the son of David, the sovereign son of David, the one who will enter Jerusalem in triumph. But he wants us to know that he is the suffering son of man, that he came not to be served like an earthly king, not to sit on a throne and be fettered but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[26:59] The good shepherd coming to lay down his life for the sheep, the rich man willing to be impoverished in order that his people might be rich.
[27:11] Jesus the supreme example of Christian service. Jesus the supreme example and demonstration of the love of God, sending him into the world to die for sinners and to give us life.
[27:28] Well, let's pray now together before we come to the table and give thanks to God for the Lord Jesus Christ, our servant King.
[27:44] Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this portrait of your son in your word. We thank you that he is both the sovereign son of David, but also the suffering son of man.
[28:02] We thank you that he was willing to pay a ransom to free us from our sins. Now that we have been redeemed, not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect, that he gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people of his own possessions, zealous for good works.
[28:32] Lord we marvel at your grace and your mercy and your love. For we know that this is love not that we loved you, but that you loved us and sent Christ into the world as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.
[28:50] We know that greater love has no man than this to lay down his life for his friends. And we marvel that Jesus did not lay down his life only for his friends, but for those who were hostile to him, those who were opposed to him, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, while we were enemies, that we were reconciled to you through the death of your son.
[29:20] We thank you that we have been reconciled through his fleshly body through death in order that we might be presented holy and blameless before you.
[29:32] We thank you that he was willing to bear our sins in his body upon the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness and by his wounds we may be healed.
[29:46] That he has made us to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of your own possession, that we might proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and brought us into his marvellous light.
[30:02] We thank you, Lord, that we worship a living Savior, that three days later you raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, that you did not abandon him to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.
[30:19] But you made him both Lord and Christ, that he is the living one who is dead but is now alive forever and ever, holding the keys of death and of Hades, for death no longer has dominion over him.
[30:36] We thank you that he is our living prophet, that he has come to preach peace to those who are far away and to those who are near.
[30:47] We thank you that he is our living priest, he offered one sacrifice for sins for all time and he holds his priesthood forever, always living to intercede for his people.
[31:03] And we thank you that he is our King, that he is the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth and he has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve you our God and Father.
[31:22] Thank you that we have been buried with him into death and raised into new life through his resurrection, that we might come before you as your people, to worship you as our God, to love you as our Father and to serve you and to serve one another as you would have us to do.
[31:49] So we thank you for this time this morning, we thank you for this portrait of Christ and pray that as we share together in the Lord's Supper we would just be conscious of the presence of Christ, conscious of his pity and his mercy and his grace and his love, for we ask this in his name.
[32:12] Amen. Well before we come to the table we are going to sing together and the words will appear on the screen.
[32:26] We are going to sing Sam 118 verses 17 to 23 and if you are able I invite you to stand as we sing together to God's praise.
[32:40] Amen. Oh, say did he open up to me, for his over-righteousness, and will I enter into them, and I the Lord will bless.
[33:40] This is birth day, so Lord, by it, the judge shall enter in.
[33:56] He will I face for Thine ear, and has my faith lead me.
[34:12] And so it is made, and for her so great children's did despise.
[34:27] This is the doing of the Lord, and wondrous in her eyes.
[34:43] So the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[35:00] Jesus came as a servant to suffer in order to save his people and he spoke of the cup of suffering which he would drink in order to purchase our salvation.
[35:17] Soon after these words, Jesus was present with his disciples in the upper room and it was there he instituted the Lord's suffer which we are in a moment to celebrate.
[35:32] And as he reclined with his disciples, he spoke to them of what was soon to happen and he shared with them the bread and the wine.
[35:49] The bread was taken and broken and he had slowed that his body was to be given for the wine he shared and the wine which he actually represented his blood but blood the cup which would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
[36:10] And he was soon to go to give his life to drink the back cup, the good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep.
[36:21] And that evening he instituted the suffer to be a memorial, to be a remembrance through all generations, to have our feats on his flesh and to have our drinks as blood has a talon life and a bias in him and he in us.
[36:43] And so the Lord Jesus welcomes all who know and who love him, who have been baptised into his name and the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to come today and to eat and to drink, to come to him who is a friend of sinners and of tax collectors, to come to him who is one who came into this world to seek and to save the lost, to save sinners, to come to him whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light and who promises to give rest to our weary souls.
[37:30] He invites us to come to him knowing that whoever comes to him he will in no ways drive out. One poet puts it like this, he gave his life and self his love for sinners once he gave.
[37:46] He had no state of sin himself he bore in our guilt and shame. He took the cup of pain and death his blood was freely shed. We see his body on the cross we share the living bread.
[38:00] He did not come to call the good that sinners to repent. It was delaying the death, the blind for whom his life was spent. To heal the sick to find the lost it was for such a pain that round his table all may come to praise his holy name.
[38:20] So the Lord gives to us a welcome but as we shall read in just a moment we are also to heed a warning. And in the first Corinthians 11 which I will read briefly in the second Paul the Apostle writes this, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworldly manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
[38:45] Everyone to examine themselves before the heat of the bread and drink of the cup. We are to examine the confession of our faith and to ask whether we have genuinely believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, whether we have truly turned from sin and trusted in him who is the savior of all who will believe.
[39:09] We need to examine our conduct and our conversation, asking if we are walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, living no longer according to the flesh but according to his spirit.
[39:22] Our lives are characterised by deception or dishonesty or double mindedness but by holiness. And we are to examine our consciences whether we are truly in a right relationship with God, whether we are genuinely walking in faith and obedience, whether Christianity is just a formality or a front.
[39:47] And we need to ask as we asked last night whether we are in right relationship with the Lord's people and our relationships with our brothers and sisters are characterised by humility and love not by bitterness or wrath or unforgiveness.
[40:09] The Lord wants us to have peace with our confession, our conduct, our conversation and our conscience before we come to the table, before we share in this supper.
[40:23] But he welcomed us and he gives us a word of comfort through his five verses. God demonstrates his love for us in the while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
[40:38] First John, this is love not we love God but that he loved us and gave his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. So we are welcomed, those who know and who love the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, those who have faith in him as their living Lord and those who share in the hope of his Gospel, he welcomes us and bids us to come and eat and drink.
[41:11] Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, I receive from the Lord what I also pass on to you, the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my audio which is for you do this in remembrance of me.
[41:27] In the same way after dinner he took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in my life, do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.
[41:38] For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, so that wherever he eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworldly manner will be guilty of sitting against the body and blood of the Lord.
[41:52] Everyone to examine themselves before each of the bread and drink from the cup. Before we share the supper together we want to pray, we want to pray at the prayer of confession as we approach the Lord and come to the table.
[42:18] We do not presume to come to your table of merciful Lord trusting in our own righteousness but in your manifold and great mercies.
[42:29] We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs from your table but you are the same Lord whose property is almost of mercy. Grant us therefore gracious Lord so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ and to drink His love that we may ever more dwell in Him and hear us.
[42:50] Only a right it is in our joyful duty to give thanks to you in all times and in all places. Our Holy Father and Almighty and everlasting God.
[43:01] He created the heaven with all its hosts and the earth with all its plenty. You have given us life and preserved us by Your Providence. You have shown us the fullness of Your love and sent it into the world, Your eternal word.
[43:16] Christ Jesus our Lord who became man for us men for our salvation. For the precious gift of the Savior who has reconciled us to You we praise and bless You, God.
[43:30] Holy and righteous Father we commemorate in the suffer of perfect sacrifice once offered on the cross by our Lord Jesus for the sin of the whole world. The joy of His resurrection and the expectation is coming again.
[43:45] We offer to You ourselves as holy and living sacrifices. Send Your Holy Spirit upon us we pray. The bread which we break may be just the communion of the body of Christ and the cup which we bless the communion of His love.
[44:02] Grant us to be joined together in whom He attains the unity of faith and grow up in all things into Him who is the head, the Healer Christ our Lord.
[44:13] Amen. So according to the Holy Institution, the example and command of our Lord Jesus and from memorial to Him we do this.
[44:30] In the same night He is betrayed to bread. Where He blesses and given thanks we broke it and said take, eat.
[44:41] This is my body, do this in remembrance of Him. The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given to me was out of your body and soul and everlasting life.
[44:56] Take kindness in remembrance of Christ night for you and feed on Him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.
[45:09] In the same manner He took the cup and said this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Him.
[45:25] The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for you preserved your body and soul to everlasting life. Do this in remembrance of Christ what was shed for you and blessed in Your eye, and blessed in Your dismay, and blessed in Your시는 Our most merciful Father, we offer to you all praise, thanks and glory, that in your great mercy it is pleased you to grant us sinners as we are, unworthy servants as we are, so excellent a gift and treasure as to receive into the fellowship and company of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ. You delivered him to death for us, and now you have given him to us as nourishment for eternal life. We pray our Heavenly Father, you will never permit us to become so ungrateful as to forget your wonderful benefits, but instead to imprint them and lock them in our hearts so that we would grow and increase more and more in true faith each day, and we may continually use our faith in all kinds of good work.
[51:13] Lord, would you make us strong in every difficulty so that we may constantly stand in the confession of faith, glorifying you in our lives, you who are God overall and blessed forever.
[51:28] And we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who suffered for us, and who now lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.