Introduction
How many of you have examined a well-cut diamond? I looked at one last Wednesday, using a magnifying lens. It was a small gem, only one carat, and it cost me two months' salary forty years ago. It sits on the ring I gave Lety - our engagement ring! It is small but beautiful. Only one carat. I can only imagine what the Kohinoor diamond must be like! The Kohinoor is part of the crown jewels of Queen Elizabeth II. It is 106 carats. It must be incredibly beautiful, sometimes looking emerald green, at times ruby red, at times topaz yellow, depending on the lighting. The Lord's Supper is like the Kohinoor. It is even more beautiful than that diamond. The reality is so rich we may describe it in five complementary ways. The Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion is a Thanksgiving. It is a Fellowship. It is a Memorial. It is a Proclamation. And it is an Anticipation.

1. Thanksgiving
The table of the Lord is the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks (1 Cor 10:16). It is the eucharist, and that may jar our ears because our Roman Catholic friends think of the mass as a eucharistic sacrifice. However, eucharist means thanksgiving. Charis is grace and eucharistia is thanksgiving. We thank GOD for his amazing, wonderful, incomparable grace, demonstrated in the cross of Christ. We give thanks every time we partake of the Lord's Supper. I have no problem calling the Lord's Supper a sacrament, which Augustine defined as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." Baptists prefer to call the Lord's Supper an ordinance, but sacrament is a good word. The sign is the symbol; the inward grace is the reality. We should not confuse the sign with the reality. To say that in the eucharist, Jesus is being offered as a sacrifice, and the bread turns into his body and the wine into his blood is to confuse the sign and the reality. This Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation also contradicts what the writer of Hebrews so clearly says, that Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice only once - once-for-all-time on the cross of Calvary. His sacrifice is non-repeatable. Heb 7:27; 9:25-28; 10:10, 12, 14, 18! What can be clearer? We give thanks, when we partake of the Lord's Supper, for God's indescribable gift of his Son! (2 Cor 9:15). The Lord's Supper is a Thanksgiving.

2. Fellowship
The table of the Lord is a fellowship, a sharing, a participation (1 Cor 10:16-17). All who belong to Christ share a common life, eternal life, life in the Son. We have fellowship with the Father, and with the Son. The common life is shared in the common meal. In the NT the Lord's Supper was part of a larger meal, called the agape or love-feast, provided by the wealthier Christians for the benefit of the poorer. The consecration of the bread was during the meal; that of the wine after the meal. Early in the 2nd century the eucharist and the agape were separated. There is only one body, represented in the one loaf. The Lord's Supper is an expression, a demonstration of the unity of all true believers. I remember the Holy Communion at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism in Switzerland in July 1974. Three thousand participants, from more nations than the membership of the United Nations, in what was described by TIME magazine as the most representative gathering in the history of Christendom, sharing in the table of the Lord. What an expression of our unity in Christ! Incredible! At DCBC we welcome to this table all true believers in Jesus. You don't need to be a member here but you have to be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus. As we receive the elements - the bread and the wine - we feed on the Lord Jesus by faith and we enjoy fellowship with one another. This is why it is important that we have right relationships with our brothers and sisters. To partake without recognizing or discerning the one body is to eat and drink judgment on oneself (1 Cor 11:29). The table of the Lord is a Thanksgiving. The table of the Lord is a Fellowship.

3. Remembrance
The table of the Lord is also a memorial. Every time we celebrate it, we remember the Lord Jesus, particularly his sacrificial offering, how he offered his body, and poured out his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. In particular the cup signifies the blood of Jesus that inaugurated the New Covenant. A covenant is a relationship of grace between God and his people. The OT speaks of God's covenant with Noah, his covenant with Abraham, with Moses, with David, and so on. In the NT covenant is closely related to the Lord's Supper. The Last Supper took place during the Passover season, when Israel was celebrating her deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12). While the angel of death caused all of Egypt's firstborn to die, he "passed over" all the homes of Israel because they had their doors painted with the blood from a sacrificial lamb. Christ is our Passover lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. Jesus referred to his body as the bread and his blood as the wine to be eaten as a Passover meal. Just as Israel was delivered from bondage in Egypt, so Christians are delivered from their bondage to sin, to Satan, and to death, by the death of Jesus. The Lord's Supper is a Thanksgiving. It is a Fellowship and it is a Remembrance.

4. Proclamation
The table of the Lord is also a proclamation of the good news. The good news of deliverance, of liberation, of salvation. This salvation was secured or purchased by the Lord's death. In both OT and NT, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. But the blood of the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament did not really result in the forgiveness of sins. Those sacrifices were only shadows of the reality of Christ's sacrifice. Only Christ's one perfect sacrifice can take away sins. As the hymn says, "What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." Hebrews 10:1-4; 11-14. The good news, says Paul, is the Word of the Cross (1 Cor 1:18). Every time we partake of the Lord's Supper, we proclaim the Gospel. To ourselves, because we need to hear the glorious Gospel of grace again and again. And also to our friends, who may not participate in the table of the Lord, but have come to join our worship service. The table of the Lord is a Thanksgiving and a Fellowship. It is a Remembrance and a Proclamation.

5. Anticipation
Finally, the table of the Lord is also an anticipation. We eagerly await the coming of our King! Come, King Jesus! He who first came as the Savior from sin, is coming again as Lord of all. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord of all - to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-11). Until He comes, we celebrate the Lord's Supper regularly - every week for some churches, every first Sunday for DCBC. When we do, we give thanks, we enjoy fellowship with Him and with each other, we remember his great sacrifice for us, we proclaim the good news of salvation, and we anticipate the coming again of our King! Thanksgiving, Fellowship, Remembrance, Proclamation, and Anticipation - the Lord's Supper is all that. When He comes, there will be no more need for the Lord's Supper because it will be replaced by the Wedding Feast of the Lamb! (Rev 19:5-9a) What a joyous celebration that will be! "Thou art coming O my Savior…" We will no longer need the diamond of great beauty because we will all see Jesus face to face, our Lord, in blazing splendour! That will be far more wonderful! Marana tha (1 Cor 16:22). Come, O Lord!