Ex 12:17, 'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 
We continue, today, with our deliberation regarding the importance and the preeminence and the reverence that should be part of our communion service. While this is not an exhaustive study, it is still deserving of sufficient emphasis to cause us to think about what is entailed in our weekly commemoration and remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection work covers you and me and every one who has been redeemed because of His glorious and perfect and eternal sacrifice, expressing God’s complete heart of love for His creation. 
On that basis, we will look at two quotations from The Biblical Illustrator, and one from Barnes Notes, as a means of our framework for this morning. The first is from J. R. Macduff, and details the responsibility and requirement of the redeemed to participate in and more fully and reverently esteem the communion service. 
Quote, The obligation of Christians to observe the Lord's Supper: -- Let us keep this feast because --
I. ITS OBLIGATION RESTS ON THE REDEEMER'S DYING COMMAND. An injunction is always rendered more binding --
… When it comes from the lips of one we love, and who has shown a deep interest in our welfare. We naturally pay a respectful deference to the request of a neighbour or acquaintance; but what is this in comparison with the command of a parent? The observance of the Lord's Supper is the solemn injunction of One who has proved Himself to be infinitely more than the best and fondest on earth.
An injunction is always rendered more binding…When it is conveyed at some exceptionally solemn or momentous season. Surely if there be a time more sacred or impressive than another it is at the hour of death. "Do this in remembrance of Me" was as much Christ's dying legacy as the "Peace I leave with you." 
I pause the quote at this point to give this some further emphasis. We are to take our communion service with all seriousness and with sincere diligence because we have been so commanded to do this by Our Lord Jesus, Himself. He is the One Who told His disciples to do so in remembrance of Him. He made this directive on the eve of His death, with all the knowledge of what was to come. In our hearts, we should be consciously honoring Him in our obedient observation of this, His Supper, each time we so partake.
Continuing with J.R. Macduff’s quote then concerning the Lord’s Supper, Let us keep this feast because…IT IS A BEFITTING PUBLIC DECLARATION OF OUR CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. Beautiful must have been the spectacle when Israel assembled to give public testimony on the slopes of Ebal and Gerizim. More solemn and interesting still when, year by year, they went to celebrate the appointed feasts. The Psalmist puts special emphasis on paying his vows "in the presence of all God's people" (Ps 116:14 I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people and verse 19, In the courts of the Lord's house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!). Let none of us be guilty of false shame in shrinking from an open declaration of the infinite debt of gratitude we owe to redeeming love. Even the soldiers of pagan Rome gloried in ascending the steps of the Capitol to the Temple of Victory, with their votive offerings, swearing by the gods allegiance to their imperial master. And shall we Christians be found cowards to Christ? "Whosoever is ashamed of Me," …Mark 8:38, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." And again in Luke 9:26, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 
Again, interjecting outside this quote, our participation in the communion service is a direct and corporate means by which we join our hearts together and declare for all to see that we, as a whole, celebrate the salvation grace and mercy of God. This is a united means of expressing unto God the singleness of heart that has been created through His miraculous work in the giving of His Only Begotten Son. It is our way of shouting from the highest heights to all the realm of creation that Jesus Christ is the Risen and Glorified Lord of all and that we belong fully and manifestly to Him.
We will now finish this quote of J.R. Macduff, with his observation of the reasons that we are to hold fast to the corporate practice of our communion table.
Let us keep this feast because…BY NOT KEEPING IT WE INCUR SPIRITUAL LOSS. We never can be careful enough in discarding the unscriptural idea that there is any peculiar grace or virtue in the Sacrament. All grace flows from Christ…But we must not undervalue the ordinance as a means of grace. It is doubtless one of the Divine channels for the conveyance of spiritual good. God works by instrumentalities; and if we neglect those of His own express appointment we cannot expect otherwise than to suffer spiritually. Conclusion: You object, We are not warranted to approach the table of Communion, because -- We are not prepared for it. My answer is, The same reason which makes you unfit for the Communion renders you unmeet for death. Is it not because we are sinners, and unworthy, that we are invited to come to the feast, and there to celebrate the infinite worthiness of "the Lamb that was slain"?
You object, We are not warranted to approach the table of Communion, because -- Some venture who have no right to be there. But your duty is independent of any such intruders. You are not responsible for the sin and presumption of others. End quote. (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)
	When we refuse to partake of and esteem the communion service, we are basically telling God that we do not think the sacrifice of His Son and His own commandment to share together is sufficient for us. 
We are apt to make numerous excuses for not supping together in remembrance of Christ’s atoning work. Sometimes, we have hard feelings for others. Sometimes we feel too sinful or too neglectful of our Christian calling. Sometimes we are critical of others who do partake. However, the simple reality is that none of us are worthy to do so of ourselves. We are all in utter need of God’s grace and mercy to even come together as His fellowship of believers. Our participation is not centered in who we are, it is centered in Who Christ is! It is centered on what He has done to become our righteousness and our holiness and our sanctification in order to share together in this communion as His Body of Believers! 
	This, then brings us to our second quotation of the morning. It concerns the way in which we come to the table to commemorate all that Christ has accomplished. According to W. Atherton, the following needs to be in our hearts as we join together in our Lord’s Supper. 
Quote, Let there be --Purity. "Purge out the old leaven." Every one who would receive Christ as his Saviour, and receive worthily His supper, should put away the "old leaven." The leaven of the Sadducees was error, that of the Pharisees was hypocrisy; these must be purged out; so must the old leaven of every besetment and sin.
Let there be --Compunction, typified by the bitter herbs with which the paschal lamb was to be eaten, and which fitly describe the sorrow of a broken spirit. Without eating these bitter herbs we shall never feel the appetite of strong desire which hungers after Christ, nor taste the sweetness of His salvation.
Let there be --Sincerity. We must embrace Christ, not merely that we may escape from future condemnation, but with sincere desire to enjoy Him savingly, to know Him experimentally, to love Him supremely, to submit to Him cheerfully, and devote ourselves to Him entirely.
Let there be --Unreservedness, i.e., Christ must be taken wholly. Every family, under the law, was required to sacrifice a lamb, and that family must use or burn it; not even a bone was to be broken. So every soul needs a full Christ for himself -- all His power to save; all His merit to cleanse; all His wisdom to guide; all His grace to invigorate; and all His sacred presence to fill the soul and constitute its heaven.
Let there be --Promptitude. The Israelites partook of the passover in haste, their shoes on their feet, and their staves in their hands. Now, as everything depends on the present moment, receive Christ in haste. Just now, "What thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
Let there be --Joy. The Jews kept their passover as a season of great joy, because [it was] instituted in memory of their greatest deliverance. So should the Christian commemorate the death of his Lord as the greatest deliverance earth ever saw or heaven ever witnessed. End quote. (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)   
As is evident, there are aspects to our communion that take deliberate steps on our part in our preparation for and in our reflection of and in our attitudinal adjustments about communion. We do not just come to His Table with a laissez faire outlook and expect that He or we will find any blessing or any joy or any celebratory fellowship in it. It is a reflection of our relationship with Jesus Christ! At the heart of that relationship must be our humble and joy-filled thanksgiving for Jesus Christ, Himself.
This leads to our final quote of this morning, from Barne’s Notes. It is a study of how we are to always examine ourselves before God in reverence and honor of Him, in preparation for our participation together in communion, based on 1 Corinthians 11:28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Quote, [But let a man examine himself] Let him search and see if he have the proper qualifications—if he has knowledge to discern the Lord's body (note, 1 Cor 11:29, For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.); if he has true repentance for his sins; true faith in the Lord Jesus; and a sincere desire to live the life of a Christian, and to be like the Son of God, and be saved by the merits of his blood. Let him examine himself, and see whether he have the right feelings of a communicant, and can approach the table in a proper manner. In regard to this we may observe:
(1) That this examination should include the great question about his personal piety, and about his particular and special fitness for this observance. It should go back into the great inquiry whether he has ever been born again; and it should also have special reference to his immediate and direct preparation for the ordinance. He should not only be able to say in general that he is a Christian, but he should be able to say that he has then a particular preparation for it. He should be in a suitable frame of mind for it. He should have personal evidence that he is a penitent; that he has true faith in the Lord Jesus; that he is depending on him, and is desirous of being saved by him.
(2) This examination should be minute and particular. It should extend to the words, the thoughts, the feelings, the conduct. We should inquire whether in our family and in our business; whether among Christians, and with the world, we have lived the life of a Christian. We should examine our private thoughts; our habits of secret prayer and of searching the Scriptures. Our examination should be directed to the inquiry whether we are gaining the victory over our easily besetting sins and becoming more and more conformed to the Saviour. It should, in short, extend to all our Christian character; and everything which goes to make up or to mar that character should be the subject of faithful and honest examination.
(3) [This examination] should be done because:
…It is well to pause occasionally in life, and take an account of our standing in the sight of God. People make advances in business and in property only when they often examine their accounts, and know just how they stand.
[This examination] should be done because…the observance of the Lord's Supper is a solemn act, and there will be fearful results if it is celebrated in an improper manner.
[This examination] should be done because…self-examination supposes seriousness and calmness, and prevents precipitation and rashness-states of mind entirely unfavorable to a proper observance of the Lord's Supper.
[This examination] should be done because…by self-examination one may search out and remove those things that are offensive to God, and the sins which so easily beset us may be known and abandoned.
[This examination] should be done because…the approach to the table of the Lord is a solemn approach to the Lord himself; is a solemn profession of attachment to him; is an act of consecration to his service in the presence of angels and of people; and this should be done in a calm, deliberate and sincere manner; such a manner as may be the result of a prayerful and honest self-examination. End Quote. (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
	The commemoration and the celebration of the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ is not something which should be approached in a careless and sloppy and haphazard or habitual manner. His sacrifice for you and for me is the pivotal turning point of all eternity for the whole of creation! Everything, and truly we mean everything, is centered in what Jesus Christ did on the cross! Therefore, He deserves our utmost and earnest diligent preparation as we seek Him, through His Holy Spirit, to work in us that which will continually bring forth His honor and His glory in lives that are lived to please Him. Our partaking of the communion table together represents our partaking of Jesus Christ’s everlasting life as His Redeemed Body of Believers. So be it! 
'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 96:11-13. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the Lord, for He is coming; For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, And the peoples in His faithfulness. Amen.