The Lord's Supper
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Introduction
· My Grandparents - a reminder and renewed love
· Many of you have things that remind you of people, events, etc. Pictures
Sermon Goals
· To learn the Biblical way to participate in communion
· What it isn’t
· What it is
· Who can partake
· How to partake
What it isn’t - False Truths of Lord’s Supper
1. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox – Transubstantiation
· Priest’s words about the bread and wine are then miraculously transformed and become Christ’s actual body and blood – The Lamb of God, Light of the World, The Word of God, The Good Shepherd, The True Vine.
· They believed every time they participated, they would be forgiven and saved again.
· This would mean that Jesus would be sacrificed again and again.
· Bible says believers are justified by grace through faith in Christ once for all.
· Hebrews 10:10,12
2. Lutheran View – Consubstantiation
· The bread and wine don’t become Christ’s actual body and blood. But the body and blood of Jesus are present in addition to bread and wine.
· The believer receives a spiritual benefit, a renewed grace that can only happen with communion.
· The fact is that Jesus is ever present with us through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at what the Bible has to say - Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 – Hebrews as supporting Scripture
Exegesis
1. Reason for Letter
· Serious problems in church – Sexual immorality, Theological confusion, Divisions in Church: Elitism, arrogance, pride, selfishness and self-centeredness looked down on and mistreated those who were poor.
· Their behavior reflected the sinful culture in Corinth rather than reflecting Christ.
· This division in the church was not in step with the Gospel nor Christ’s purpose for His church
With regards to the Lord’s supper:
· The early church celebrated the Lord’s Supper in the context of an actual meal together.
· We will be doing it the last Sunday of every month in conjunction with our potluck meal.
2. Vs 17-22
· Vs 17: Paul introduces the problem with the way they participated in the Lord’s Supper.
· When the church gathers, we should build each other up.
· We should put other’s needs ahead of our own.
· We should share our talents, treasures, and time with others.
· Reflect a loving family.
· A church member should be better off because of assembling together as the church.
· But when the Corinthians celebrated the Lord’s Supper, Paul says the church was worse off.
· Vs 18:
· Instead of being a unified body, the church was divided by social status, they had a better than attitude with arrogance and pride.
· Vs 19:
· Sometimes controversy is necessary to reveal who the spiritually mature believers were and how they handled controversy in a Christlike way.
· Genuine (Dokimos) means tested and approved by God
· Others learn from them and show them a model to imitate.
· Vs 20-22: Paul’s rebuke
· Paul directly addresses the social elite in the church.
· Lord’s supper was not even being celebrated
· Self-centered disregard for fellow brothers and sisters as they did not share their food with those who were in need. Even getting drunk.
· The social elites separated themselves from the poor. Ate in separate areas
· Despise the Church of God/humiliating: Their actions and attitudes are contrary to Christ’s teachings regarding the church.
· Contrary to Jesus’ nature as a humble servant; unselfish sacrifice for all believers regardless of social status.
· We all meet on the ground is level at the foot of the cross. No Christian is inherently better than another.
3. Vs 23-26 - Paul explains what the Lord’s Supper is all about by repeating what Jesus said at the meal’s institution. Event in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22
· The bread and wine symbolizeJesus’ death
· Body: Represents Jesus’ as the perfect sinless man who shouldered our sins in his sacrificial death
· Blood: His blood poured out for the forgiveness of sin which inaugurates the New Covenant.
Take time to explain because of it’s importance in the Biblical narrative of the Old Testament that all points to Jesus
· Old Covenant – God’s covenant with the Israelites in Old Testament
· Original Passover: When God delivered the Jewish people from their slavery to Egypt.
· God declared that every firstborn child in the land of Egypt would be killed.
· But He instructed Moses and the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb without blemish and put the blood on the lintel and door posts of their house and angel of death passed over them, not killing their first-born child.
· which Israel remembered God’s deliverance for the Jews out of Egypt.
· From then on, the Jewish people celebrated the Passover each year in remembrance of God’s delivery
· Exodus 12:14
· They celebrated by sacrificing an unblemished lamb as well as shared a Passover meal together.
· Another part of the Old Covenant was the day of atonment
· This was also a yearly observance for the forgiveness of sin for the people of Israel.
· In this, there was spiling of blood as they sacrificed animals for atonment
· Hebrew 9:19-22
· These yearly sacrifices were only a copy, a shadow of what was to come.
· Because the problem was blood had to be spilt every year. It could never offer forgiveness once for all and free us from the slavery to sin.
· Toy illustration
· Jesus was the true fulfillment of these copies.
· New Covenant inaugurated with the blood of Jesus
· Hebrews 9:12-14
· Jesus became for us our Passover Lamb
This is what we are celebrating when participating in Communion.
· Jesus tells us twice that when we eat the bread and drink the wine, we are to do so in remembrance of Him.
· The bread and wine are an outward symbol of an inward reality.
· As we take the bread and wine, we center our focus on Jesus as precious memorial to remind us of Jesus’ sacrificial death giving us salvation through Christ’s atoning work on the cross forgiving us our sins.
4. Vs 26 :
· Verse 26 tells us that every time we participate in the Lord’s supper, we proclaim the Gospel of Salvation until Jesus returns.
· By sharing in the Lord’s Supper we give public evidence to all unbelievers present that the gospel centers on the Lord Jesus and his saving work on the cross.
5. Vs 27- 32
· Vs 27-29:
· An “unworthy manner” in this context refers to sinful attitudes and actions that fostered division in the church of Corinth
· When we despise, hurt or humiliate one another, we sin against Christ Himself.
· More generally, we are also guilty when we participate while living in willful sin.
· Paul says that if we take communion in an unworthy manner:
· We eat and drink judgment on ourselves
· In the church of Corinth, God’s judgment led to some growing weak and sick. Some even have died.
· This doesn’t mean that every instance of sickness or death is evidence that God is judging a person for sin.
· But we must realize that God will sometimes us this as judgment.
· In contrast, Christians would not experience God’s judgment if they did not participate in an unworthy manner.
Very important to know the difference between judgment that punishes and judgment that disciplines.
· God’s punishment condemnsnon-Christians.
· But he disciplines believers.
· Punishment of unbelievers upholds justice with God’s wrath because of sin
· Whereas discipline transforms character to be more like Jesus because believers have been forgiven for all past, present, and future sin.
· So, Paul tells us to examine ourselves before taking communion.
· To discern whether or not we understand that Christians are the body of Christ.
· That we are united to Jesus and united to each other and should treat each other like Christ treats us when we gather.
· Also, to discern whether we are recognizing and understanding the purpose of Communion; Christ’s work on the cross.
· We can examine ourselves by answering these questions:
· Do I have any animosity towards a fellow church member? Any broken relationships?
· Am I treating the members of our church with love and kindness? Treating each other as God’s family?
· Is there any sin I need to confess before God before I participate?
· Am I living in willful sin, not willing to give up?
· Am I dishonoring Jesus by disregarding what He accomplished on the cross?
· Do I truly understand what we are celebrating, our washing away of sin by Jesus’ unselfish, sacrificial death?
· How we answer these questions will determine whether we should participate or not.
· There are 3 Biblical reasons that people should not participate in communion:
(1) Not a Christian
(2) Willful persistence in sin
(3) Mistreatment and conflict with a fellow church member.
6. Part 4 – Vs 33-34
· Paul summarizes our text with the solution to the problem in Corinth.
· Instead of fostering divisions when celebrating the Lord’s Supper, the Corinthians must welcome and receive everyone by sharing their food and drink with each other as the united body of Christ.
Application: What do we do when we take Communion
When a church celebrates the Lord’s Supper, a Christian should look in six directions, itemized below.
1. Look Within: Examine whether you are living in willful sin. Examine if there is any animosity towards a fellow church member. Any broken relationships?
· Look at the answers you have from the earlier questions to determine whether to participate or not.
This is very important to understand:
· As we examine ourselves, if there is any unconfessed sin, it does not mean we shouldn’t participate.
· We confess our sins and He is faithful to forgive before we participate.
· We also don’t confess our sin to make ourselves worthy to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
· We already know that no one is worthy.
· This is the whole point of the gospel, that forgiveness is a gift of grace not something we can earn.
· And this is why the Lord’s Supper celebratesthe good news of the Gospel.
2. Look Back: Remember Christ’s work on the cross and exult in what He’s accomplished
· We obey Jesus when we take communion “In remembrance of Him”
· We center our minds on Jesus and His once for all forgiveness of sin.
3. Look Up: Celebrate your union with Jesus
· This is vertical Communion. We are celebrating with Jesus because He is present with us through the Holy Spirit.
· Our hearts should overflow with thankfulness to God in celebration.
4. Look Around: (Go ahead and look) Celebrate your union with each other as one body
· This is horizontal Communion. We celebrate our relationships with each other as God’s family.
· 1 Cor.10:17: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread”.
5. Look Outward: Proclaim the Gospel to unbelievers who are present
· Remember, that every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we “proclaim the Lord’s death”.
· This proclamation includes building each other up and evangelizing non-Christians
· It doesn’t magically convert unbelievers.
· But as they observe us taking communion, they see our thankfulness and joy for Jesus and what He’s accomplished for us on the cross as we take communion.
6. Look Forward: Anticipate that Jesus is coming back
· Christ is spiritually present with us as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper here on Earth.
· And when He returns, He will be fully present with us as we share with Him the marriage supper of the Lamb in eternity.
This has been a lot of information, but I think I can sum up the celebration of the Lord’s Supper
God took our jacked-up lives and said, “This is my plan from before the foundation of life and it all centers on My Son.”
· Jesus lived the perfect life for us.
· Jesus was beaten for us.
· Jesus died for us.
· Jesus washed us as white as snow.
· Jesus forgave our sins.
· Jesus freed us from our slavery to sin.
· Jesus brought us from life to death.
· Jesus made us Holy and Blameless.
· Jesus made us a new creation in Him.
· Jesus says I love you with an everlasting unconditional love.
· Jesus called us His own.
· Jesus defeated death for us.
· Jesus said, “Be with me in Eternity”.
Prayer