The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? (v. 16a)

The Christian faith at times expresses itself in strange ways. It talks about persons losing their life to find it. "Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:25b) It talks about persons finding strength through acknowledging their weaknesses. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) It talks about persons finding their freedom through bondage. "Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free."

Today, as we come to the Lord’s table, I would like to employ similar paradoxical imagery to express an important truth of the Christian faith. I would like to etch deeply in your minds and hearts as you come each week to worship and as you come to the Lord’s table this question: What kind of cup do you bring? The answer you are able to give to that question greatly determines what you will receive of God’s grace as you gather for worship and the Lord’s Supper.

What kind of cup do you bring? The cup I am talking about is the receptacle of your life which is able to receive the grace and gifts God desires to give you.

What kind of cup do you bring? Some people bring a full cup. Some bring a partially filled cup. And others bring an empty cup. Let us look at what this imagery means.

I. Some people bring a cup that is already filled

It does not take much imagination to see that nothing can be added to a cup that is already full. And yet many people come to the Lord’s table just that way.

Some people come with cups so full of themselves that God cannot possibly pour anything more into them. If persons perceive themselves as self-sufficient, they feel they really do not need anything from the Lord. They have all they need. Their cups are already full.

And thus it is that some people come to worship and the Lord’s Supper and receive nothing. Thus it is that some people leave the sanctuary disappointed that they did not "get anything out of" the worship service. They are engaged in an exercise of futility. You cannot add anything to something already full.

What kind of cup do you bring? Is it already full?

What kind of cup do you bring?

II. Some people bring a partially filled cup

The imagery of the partially filled cup is a bit more subtle. Let me illustrate it this way. If you come to my home for a drink of iced tea and you bring your own cup already filled with a mixture of salt and alum dissolved in water, what will be the result? The iced tea will be contaminated by what is already in your cup and will not quench our thirst. Indeed the resulting mixture will bear little resemblance to the iced tea I offered you in the first place. Now this is a patently homely and ridiculous illustration; none of us would intentionally do such a thing.

And yet many of us come to worship in this way. We come with our resentments, our animosities, our bitterness, our unforgiving spirits. And we are content to let these concoctions of our spirits contaminate the gifts God pours in our cup. This is what Jesus was getting at when he advised his disciples: "If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24) Jesus knew that our acts of worship were useless if we allow our partially filled cups to contaminate God’s gifts.

Notice that I have changed from talking about "some people" to talking about us. I belive that many more of us are guilty of coming to worship and the Lord’s table with cups partially filled. It is a blind spot of people to consider themselves religious. Many things in our cups can contaminate the gifts God desires to give us - pretense, spiritual pride, selfrighteousness.

What kind of cup do you bring? Is your cup partially filled?

What kind of cup do you bring?

III. Some people come with empty cups

These persons realize their radical need for God’s grace. They realize you cannot stockpile or store up God’s grace. They realize that their sufficiency rests in God, not in themselves. They realize how many things in their lives contaminate the grace and gifts God desires to give to them. They realize that in order to live, and love, and serve as God intends them to do, their cups need to be constantly refilled by a never depleted source.

And so they come - we come - bringing, expecting, desperately needing our cups to be filled. And we will not be disappointed. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God and his way of life, for they shall be satisfied." (Matthew 5:6) Those who know themselves to be empty will be filled.

What kind of cup do you bring? Is your cup empty, waiting to be filled to overflowing?

- Carl B. Rife