The Lord's Supper

I hope that you will have opened before you, 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 11, it's important I will pay 10, 20 and it's really just after the 4 Gospels, Acts, then Romans and then you have the 1st letter to the Corinthians. The Lord's Supper is really a very interesting thing, I've gone to church my whole life, I can communion like most of you since I was 11 or 12, just after the Communicance class as we called it in our home church, 6th grade, I don't remember anyone really sitting down and explaining to me exactly what I was doing, they very well may have in the class, but I don't remember ever really wondering what exactly was going on during the meal or really questioning it until college, and probably one until seminary that I actually got some real instruction in it, what do you do, do you ever ask yourself questions like that, what am I supposed to think about, what is the purpose, what is all of this signify, how should I prepare myself, in fact there are probably more people that are ignorant about the Lord's Supper than there are those that are not, very often all people know about the Lord's Supper is it just makes church last a little longer, you walk in and you see the place and oh well we're going to be here a little bit longer, which is really strange, if for no other reason the Lord's Supper is so very important and it is so very vital in the life of the church, it is the clearest expression that we have in the church of our union with Jesus, and not only so, but our union with one another, it's the expression that we are a body together, we are unified, and if it's so important why I wonder is there so much confusion, why is there so much even disagreement that surrounds it among denominations, you know it's been that way for a long time, the reformation was almost blown apart simply because, wingly and Calvin and Luther couldn't make, couldn't come to a agreement, they couldn't come to a consensus about what exactly is taken place during the Supper, what did Jesus mean when he said this is my body, and we feel the ramifications of that today, do we stand, do we sit, do we kneel, should we say in the pew and be served or should we come to a rail and kneel, or should we go to a table, is it one loaf of bread or is it mini-crackers, one cup or mini-cups, wine or grape juice, well my hope this is going to be a little bit more of instruction that it is of sermon or teaching but I don't want us to be ignorant here in our church and I certainly don't want us to neglect the Supper, the sacrament is just too, too important in the life of the church for it to be neglected, for it not to be partaken of frequently. Now let's discern first if you follow the outline, Romans number one, what it is, and if you look at your scriptures in verse 23, he says, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. What is it, bottom line, and you might write this out, beside Romans number one, it's the Christian Passover. What night was Jesus betrayed with Passover Eve? What was he doing? He was eating the Passover meal with his disciples. What specifically were they eating lamb? They were eating roasted lamb because the lamb signified the coming of the Messiah, the lamb represented the coming Christ, some familiar verses for you in Revelation 13 verse 8, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. John 1 verse 20, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Verse 1 verse 19, the lamb unblemished and spotless, but in the course of the meal Jesus took not the lamb, but he took the bread and he said this is my body. No longer lamb, but bread, no longer the blood of the sacrificial lamb, but now the wine signifying the sacrifice of the lamb of God even Jesus Christ himself was then the purpose. Why did he insist on it? Why is this in the ordinance of the church to this day? Why perpetual, as we say, and it will help us know what we should be doing in the midst of the Lord's suffer. Look at verse 24, little ways in the end, it didn't through verse 26, when he had given things, he broke it and said this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me in the same way he took the cup also after supper, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it and here's the second time he said that in just those verses in remembrance of me. What's the purpose? What's the purpose of the supper? What's the purpose of our coming together as a church body and partaking of this very meal this morning? First of all, it's remembrance. After all, he did say it twice in just the three verses. You might say that you could write across our past as this morning in all capital letters, remembrance. It's a matter of remembering the past, the Jews and the past are but they would have remembered their deliverance from me, just remembered their deliverance from that. So we, in the year 2000, come to this meal and we remember our deliverance from our sin. The focus is the past. So what do you do? Some of you may question very elementary, elementary. I do that all the time. What am I supposed to do and what am I supposed to think as the plate is being passed as the bread, the wine is being passed? Well, you can remember what was done for you. Brainstorm with me is I'll list some things for you to think about. You think about some things that you might remember as you take this meal. You would recall, for example, his suffering, bring to your mind the garden of Gethsemane and the agony and the sweating, the drops of blood is enduring that agony in the garden, the betrayal in the garden and he was deserted by everyone, betrayed by a chest. You want to remember as you take the meal, the mocking and the spitting and the the beating and the surging and how they mockingly threat him in those royal robes and and said, hey, all king of the Jews and they put the crown of thorns on his head and twisted it so they went into his head and blood came down his cheek, but that's the kind of thing that you remember and what about the cross itself that nailed into the hands and into the faith he was naked. He was shamed and it says in Hebrews it was a shame that he despised Hebrews 12 verse 2. You might remember the trawling of the crown and how he endured that and you might recall to your mind how he cried out my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? What about my most favorite hymns is O sacred head now wounded with grief and shame way down, now scornfully surrounded with thorns thy lonely crown. That's the sort of things we remember as we asked the bread and the wine. That's why some denominations refer to it as the Eucharist. Eucharist in the great it means thanksgiving it's a time of giving thanks for what Jesus Christ did for you. It's a time to thank him that you have been delivered from death delivered from your sin and you thank him that he who knew no sin became sin for you. You thank him that he was obedient to death even to death on the cross. You thank him that the joy that was said before him he endured the cross despising the shame. You thank him with Charles Wesley you say how can it be that thou my God would do this for me as you as you look at the bread and the wine that he would do that for me and that you're attitude at this table that thou my God should die for me the rebel the sinner the enemy of the cross the slave to sin and so as we eat the bread we remember that we remember the tortured body of this perfect land of God without spot without blinish as we pass the wine we remember the death we remember the blood and the acceptable sacrifice that it was to God and what do we do we give thanks for it. Don't you think that's something that we have the church and involve ourselves in frequently so that it's so vivid to us and we see it before our eyes and taste it and hear it smell it. That's what we want to involve ourselves in and so communion and all capital letter of remembrance and all capital letters and then secondly communion as well could be stamped across our passage not only the past but also the present and we have communion first of all notice we have communion with him he says this is my body and he is talking about real fellowship with himself this is a real fellowship with the body and the blood of our Savior not in the Roman Catholic understanding of its transubstantiation it's not a mass it's not a re-sacrificing of our Lord it's not that the the the bread and the wine actually transformed themselves and they become the actual body and blood of Jesus that's not what he meant it nor is it the Lutheran people who we call consubstantiation the idea that his physical body is somehow wrapped around that it's under a round and in and under the bread and the wine as you take it that's not what's needed but I'll tell you on the other extreme if you might call transubstantiation one extreme the other extreme is to simply view what we're doing here as a memorial service the Zwinglians present day Baptist the understanding that it's just simply it's no different than any other service it's a memorial service the emphasis being pay rather than the grace received the grace received in having a real fellowship with Jesus that's different than any other fellowship you have with him and any other part of worship that's the Calvinist you it's the Presbyterian view it's the understanding that we really do have his presence with us but it's not physical it's spiritual but it's still a special presence no less a real spiritual presence and fellowship with Jesus as I've said already a few times that you don't have anywhere else anywhere in all of your life so what does that mean to us it means that we have this fellowship with him a special presence and that means special blessing as I alluded to or said in the announcement if it's a means of grace is one of the three primary means by which I say it strengthens our character is built our law is inflamed when we partake of this suffer so I Calvin pushed to have it in his church every week nox advocated monthly communion it's why our directorate of worship in the PCA says that the communion should be partaken of frequently because it's a time when our Lord is enjoyed it's when blessings are received and grace is uniquely received at this table turn in your bullet into the first announcement at the top of the announcement page I wanted you to have these you might cut them out and stick them in your Bible at 1 Corinthians 11 but when I interviewed for this job and sat down with the session 18 session members and myself and the pulpit committee all agreed on that night that this was something that we wanted this church to do and that was to begin to take communion on a monthly basis and we talked about these 13 reasons why we should do it let's go through them quickly first of all it was the practice of the first century church which flows into the second one that evidence from church history that the Lord suffered was taken really not only frequently but weekly number three consistently with our other use of elements in worship if we're going to for example have communion once a quarter then why not just sing hymns once a quarter or read from the scriptures once a quarter preach the word once a quarter why would we why would we choose to pull out the Lord's Supper site but we're just going to do it more infrequently than we do the other elements of worship and here it is a vital means of grace that we're keeping ourselves from fourthly it always always brings us back to the basis you can't have the Lord's Supper without getting back to the very basic elements of the gospel message it appeals to the whole man if the only time in our worship services when you not only hear the gospel but you can see the gospel and you can smell it and you can touch it and you can taste it all five senses are a part of protecting of the Lord's Supper number six it's an opportunity for covenant renewal a time in your life when you when you repent obviously a renewal and not only repentance in your faith but in your relationships with others talk about that in a moment number seven it provides us with assurance of salvation number eight there's an identification with God's people this is not an individual matter it is a community matter you don't go home and sit down with great Jews and crackers and have communion by yourself it's an ordinance of the church you don't go out to the park and sit down with your family and take communion because it's an ordinance of the church it's under the authority of a session more to be said about that as well number nine it's used in church discipline many times hopefully not often but there are times when a person wanders from the church and a session will go to that person again and again and again and there's no repentance and there comes a point where you inform the individual and we cannot allow you to take the Lord's Supper done name very much if it's just every three months well I just won't show up that day but when it's monthly and you start realizing well I'm in this in church every every month they're serious about this you can say that it's it's it's better for church discipline when it's when you take the cup in the bread I am a Christian I'm a disciple of Christ number 11 the natural proclamation of the gospel to the unconverted it is spiritual nourishment why would we neglect spiritual nourishment we wouldn't do that physically we wouldn't say well I think I'll just eat every month I'll just eat every quarter that's not the case it shouldn't be the case and then realistic expectations very often when you have it less frequently that's when people leave think alive and get anything out of that because they were expecting so this is unusual experience in their lives also people will say what we have it too often it's not going to be a special whether you apply that to the rest of your life do you say well I'm not gonna eat food but every month because then it just be more special if I eat once a month and I do I shouldn't do this the best but what if I say well back I just think we ought to kiss every year that would really make our kiss very special they it's not the case right that's it hopefully nothing I don't agree with that that would not be a good day number two we have communion with each other not only Christ but with each other if we have fellowship with Christ we're in Christ and therefore we have fellowship with each other it brings unity to the church it is symbolic that we are one it is a covenant community meal you might jot that down as well to the right there of the outline is it not true that in the midst of this meal you feel a closeness with the person next to you the people seated around you is there not a sense in which you love the people in the church more because you've had communion with them is it not the case that you care more about their needs because you were taken of this meal together let me say if not the problem is not in the meals the problem is with us the problem is with what happens before the meal and what happens after the meal social barriers apathy this interest hurting other people having a wage come between us within this body all of that is a betrayal of the meaning of the meal in fact if there is a problem between you and another member of the church you should refrain from the slipper if you are harboring resentment if that person is harboring resentment toward you then you should go to that person refrain from the slipper and then go to that person and make sure that the relationship is restored before you take a seat again how good it would be for our church to have communion frequently so that you're always resolving those wedges that come in your relationship if that were true on any given sunny morning that we were taking the Lord slipper then by all means make sure you resolve the relationship before the next one if you eat the meal with the reason I'm saying this it want to be so strong about it is because when you eat the meal you are saying to everyone here into the watching world I am one with every person in this church and if you're not then you're lying you are bearing false witness in taking the supper don't do because that would be a stitch in our worship that would be letting poisoning poisoning into the leaven and we don't want that in our church not only remembrance and not only communion but a third in all capital letters to be the word anticipation not only past and present but also future we proclaim his death until he comes that's what this meal does spiritually it it feeds our souls until Jesus comes again we take our minds this is a perfect place to take our minds off the world and put them on the next world where we hasten the great marriage feet with the lamb it's at this meal that we hasten the meal that will recline at that table in heaven with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and not only so but with your loved ones who love the Lord Jesus who were in heaven today you now have a fellowship with them with the great cloud of witnesses that you don't have any other place in worship I for one like that I want that in my worship experience we look forward to the day when every knee would bow in tongues in fact that Jesus is lowered with the new heavens and the new earth are ushered in and we live in a world without sorrow and without pain when every tear will be white from our eyes that's what you think about when you're taking the Lord suffer not just the memorial not just the cross but communion with each other and then not only so but we're looking forward to heaven when we enjoy that meal with him when the weapons of warfare beaten in the plough shares we all look around and say you know the sufferings of that world we're not worth comparing to the glory that's revealed now to us it is an awesome place to be in this suffer it's a great privilege it is an honor that we would partake of it monthly on Sunday mornings that I'm hoping for periodically on Sunday evenings it's just too good it's too much too vital for the church is a place where we where we find calm and peace and comfort is where we realize that we're just passing through this world we're aliens here and we're looking forward to a better country as bad as it gets here we know that Jesus is going to take us out of this world and we're going to live with him there forever and that's what the meal reminds us of and then thirdly it's important for times sake I'm not going to reread the warning in 27 to 32 but have it there before you're very stern warning and rightly so because after all this is communion with none other than Jesus himself his body and his blood and that's why we fence the table if you're not familiar with that term you'll see it as it'll be in the bulletin every month invitation and stinking of the table and you shouldn't be offended by the word stinking it's a matter of putting up a stint not to exclude believers it's not that we become too exclusive enclosed communion our communion is open to believers but we put a fence around it we guard it because that's the job of the church the keys to the kingdom are given to the church and the session is the one who allows access to the table I merely represent him when I tell you who they protect and who may not we exclude those who are not repented of their sins those who don't understand the Lord suffer those who are being disciplined by the church because they will not turn from their wicked ways and this is why there has to be accountability it's why we always say if you're visiting our church we simply ask that you be a member in good standing in an evangelical church a church that teaches the true religion that the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice that Jesus Christ is the only mediator not marrying and not patron saint but Jesus Christ alone is the mediator and a religion of church that teaches that we're justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ not by works but by Jesus Christ alone so very very serious thing but once we've been to the table then we understand that it is for Christians it is for sinners it is for those who are repentant of their sins so with all of that let me move into now the invitation defensing even this very morning that if you are an unbeliever then please refrain from taking the sufferer and let me say this to us as a body as a church family Trinity because of the things that will be sad and because we will take it more frequently there will be those sitting around you who may not protect you shouldn't raise your eyebrows you shouldn't be looking to see who's protecting who's not it's none of your business okay that aspect of it is none of your business and so you concentrate on what you're involved in your prayers your own relationship to Jesus Christ those who are not repentance who are living in defiance to Christ commands they should refrain and those who do not understand perhaps maybe what I've been going through in these points of discernment so I just don't get I don't understand really what it all symbolizes in the seriousness of it that you should refrain as you'll notice in our paragraph of the invitation everyone is invited to remain it's just the use it's the time to use that you ask God to enlighten your heart and your understanding on the other hand it is for sincere believers those who are walking in obedience to Christ those who are accountable to a church in good standing might add it's not a predatory in table that's not why we've been to the table it's the Lord's table it's an ordinance of the church so this morning as sincere believers I invite you to come to this table and find ease and find refreshment and find strength for your weak and weary soul this is a meal this is food for your soul you will not walk out of here the same people as when you walked in