As the church entered a new year, the preacher reminded the congregation of Timothy Keller's observation that the gospel is not merely the ABC of the Christian life but the A to Z of it — we do not graduate beyond the gospel of Jesus Christ but grow ever deeper into the height, depth, width, and length of Christ's love (Ephesians 3:18). On this first Sunday of the year, the church would not only hear the gospel preached but experience it afresh through the Lord's Supper, engaging sight, touch, smell, and taste as the bread and cup were seen, touched, and tasted as signs of Christ's body and blood.

To underscore the weight of a right understanding of Communion, the sermon recounted the martyrdom of 288 Protestant Reformers under Queen Mary ("Bloody Mary"), including Hugh Latimer and Thomas Cranmer, burned alive for rejecting the Roman Catholic doctrine that the bread and wine are physically, materially, and locally transformed into Christ's body and blood. J.C. Ryle's framing of the controversy was cited: if the elements truly became Christ's flesh in a physical sense, then Christ would be re-sacrificed at every Mass, undermining the once-for-all sufficiency of His atonement (Hebrews 9:26-28) and requiring a human priest to perform the sacrifice anew each time — a view that also implicitly denies the true, localized humanity of Christ, since His body could not then be in two places at once.

Working from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, the sermon argued for the natural, non-literal reading of Jesus' words "this is my body which is for you" — just as pointing to a family photo and saying "this is my family" does not mean the photo becomes the person, Jesus' words at the table are to be understood as a sign, not a physical transformation, since Jesus was present in His own body as He spoke them. This was reinforced from John 6:51-63, where Jesus' hard teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood caused many disciples to fall away, until Jesus clarified in verse 63 that "it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." John 6:35 supplies the key: coming to Jesus and believing in Him is what it means to eat His flesh and drink His blood — a spiritual reality, not a material one. In the Supper, believers truly receive the body and blood of Christ, but spiritually rather than materially — what one pastor described as the "spiritual palate" tasting Christ.

The sermon then drew out three abiding purposes of the Lord's Supper. First, Communion recalls that Christ not only gave us life through His death but continues to sustain and nourish that life daily, calling believers to a life of self-denial and cross-bearing (Luke 9:23) lived at a sustainable, faithful pace — illustrated by a pastor's marathon analogy contrasted with the relentless, decades-long "squeezing" of time, talent, money, and life exemplified by an aged Reformed pastor's ministry, and by John Calvin's frail health notwithstanding his extraordinary labors for the Lord. Second, Communion calls believers to remember — Christ's willing self-surrender in Gethsemane ("not my will, but yours, be done," echoing Luke 22:42), His cry of dereliction on the cross ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", Matthew 27:46, the only time the eternal Son addresses the Father as "God"), and His atoning sacrifice, which should move believers to gratitude, diligence in the Lord's work, and sacrificial love for others as Christ first loved them (1 John 4:19). Third, Communion proclaims the Lord's death until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26) — not only His death but His resurrection and lordship, a confession of faith that in the early church could cost a believer's life, since to confess "Jesus is Lord" (Romans 10:9) directly challenged Rome's claim that Caesar alone was lord. The sermon closed by noting that Christ Himself, and no other — not Judas, Peter, the chief priests, Pilate, nor the soldiers — laid down His own body, for no one takes His life from Him; He lays it down of His own accord (John 10:18), giving thanks even as He broke the bread, knowing that death would not be the end but would give way to resurrection glory.

Bible verses used

• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 — the institution of the Lord's Supper ("this is my body... this cup is the new covenant in my blood... you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes"); the sermon's central text, structuring the call to remember, receive, and proclaim.

• John 6:51-63 — Jesus' teaching on eating His flesh and drinking His blood, culminating in "it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all," used to establish that communion with Christ in the Supper is spiritual, not material.

• John 6:35 — "whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst," the key that interprets "eating" and "drinking" as coming to and believing in Christ.

• Ephesians 3:18 (referenced) — grasping the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ's love, tied to the "gospel is A to Z" theme of ongoing growth.

• Luke 22:42 (referenced) — Gethsemane, "not my will, but yours, be done," illustrating Christ's willing obedience to the Father's cup of suffering.

• Matthew 27:46 (referenced) — the cry of dereliction, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", the only recorded instance of the Son addressing the Father as "God" rather than "Father."

• John 10:18 (referenced) — "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord," establishing that Christ Himself, not His betrayers or executioners, gave His life.

• Romans 10:9 — confessing Jesus as Lord for salvation, tied to the early church's costly proclamation of Christ's lordship against Rome's claim that Caesar alone was lord.

• 1 John 4:19 (referenced) — "we love because he first loved us," grounding the call to sacrificial love flowing from communion with Christ.