Reformed & Expository Preaching

Our Lord gathers together with his disciples to celebrate passover. It is during this passover feast that Christ and the disciples have the first communion or Lord’s Supper. It would seem that if the Lord’s Supper is instituted at passover that the Lord’s Supper and passover would be the same thing. However, reformed people have not seen them being the exact same thing. How can we make a distinction between the Lord’s Supper and the Passover? What has Christ stated that helps us understand this disinction?

The Lord has created human beings to be creative. This is good because it enables us to create, to build, and to live out what it is to be in the image of God. However, the down side of this is that we are creative in how we apply the law of God. If we are seeking to use the law lawfully that is great, but the problem is that we can set up our own standard that is not intended in the law of God. We might wonder why we would do such a thing, but we find that answer when Christ lays out the intention of the law. How can we be faithful disciples when the Law of God is impossibly rigorous?

Paul lays out the declaration for the Lord’s people to judge themselves prior to coming to the Lord’s Supper. What does this judgment look like? Paul warns the Corinthian church that some people have actually died because they failed to judge themselves. How do we know if we have judged ourselves appropriately?

Jesus enters history to fulfill the law and the prophets. Christ summarizes his mission as the messiah who has entered history fulfill rather than to abolish. Why is this important? What does this definition of his mission tell us about Jesus living up to His name?

Paul, the apostle, gives a very stern warning to the church communicating a warning to Corinth that some people have died in the congregation because they have not appropriately approached the sacrament. This is a passage that can make someone approach the supper with great caution. In fact, someone might not want to come to the supper at all considering that there are people who have died in the past. Why would we come to the Lord’s table when there is such a stern and fixed warning in Scripture?

Jesus tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and they are to be the light on the hill. This sounds like Jesus is giving us very strong directives, but what does it mean to be salt and light? What do these commands imply about our Christian life? What does it look like for us to live out this ethic?

Jesus takes his stand on the mountain to teach the crowds and his disciples. This should be a sermon that is full of good news. This is expected to be a sermon where Christ promises absolute victory. However, Christ talks about mourning, oppression, and persecution. How can Christ’s message truly offer us hope? Has the kingdom failed in some way?

The Lord’s people have been enslaved for 400 years and doubt whether or not the Lord is really with them. The Lord promises that his people will not remain in slavey. So, what how is the Lord going to deliver His people from this time of slavery? What is Israel going to do in light of this deliverance that the Lord promises? How does this deliverance pave the way for the Lord’s Supper?

Moses lays out the expectations for the sacrificial system with Israel. Moses communicates essential points of this sacrificial system from Leviticus 7. This chapter teaches us that there are feasts anyone can eat, other feasts only the priests, and then there are offerings that are not eaten at all by the priests. Why does the Lord have some meals with his people? Why does the Lord have some meals with the priests? What does any of this have to do with the Lord’s Supper?

Jesus announces that the kingdom of heaven is present. This is great to hear, but what do we do with John the Baptist being arrested? What do we do with Christ retreating to Galilee? The issue then: how can Christ say that the kingdom is present when the context of this chapter seems to contradict His message?