The Lord's Supper
Notes
Transcript
Before we begin, I want to make sure that everyone has received a cup of juice and wafer.
In our text today we are going to look at the last meal that Jesus would have with His disciples before His death. Have you ever thought about what you would want as your last meal here on earth. If you had a choice to choose your last meal before you died, what would you choose?
In our prison system, a condemned prisoner is usually allowed to choose what they will have for their last meal. Some of their choices are quite interesting.
Gary Gilmore, the first man executed after the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, chose hamburgers, eggs, potatoes and bourbon, which was smuggled into his cell.
Ted Bundy, a serial killer executed in Florida in 1989, had a burrito and Mexican rice.
Timothy McVeigh, executed in 2001 for his part in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK had two pints of Mint Chocolate Chip ice Cream.
John Wayne Gacy, a serial killer who murdered at least 33 young men and buried them under his house, had Kentucky Fried Chicken, fried shrimp, french fries, strawberries and Diet Coke.
Walter LaGrand, executed in Arizona in 1999, asked for six fried eggs, 16 strips of bacon, one large serving of hash browns, a pint of pineapple sherbet, a breakfast steak, a cup of ice, 7-Up, Dr Pepper, Coke, hot sauce, coffee, two sugar packs, and four Rolaids.
As we look at Jesus’ last meal, He does not have the privilege of requesting what He will eat for His last supper, but the meal He eats may just be the most important meal ever eaten.
The meal Jesus Christ eats on the eve of His death is a meal that was designed by God the Father to exalt God the Son. It is a meal that preaches the Gospel. It is a meal that displays the grace of God. It is a meal that signifies the creation of a new spiritual covenant between God and repentant sinners.
If you have your bibles with you today, please go with me to the book of Matthew. Go to chapter 26 and I want to begin reading at verse 17.
17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ”
19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
According to Luke and Mark it was Peter and John that were sent out to look for a place for the Passover meal. This was a traditional meal. It was a meal that had to be eaten before Jesus death. This was a symbolic meal. Look at verse 20.
20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.
21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”
Have any of you ever seen the painting of da Vinci’s The Last Supper? It is a picture of this meal. Except it is wrong because they weren’t seated around a table. During such an important meal as the Passover, everyone would recline at the table, symbolizing the freedom the people had gained after the very first Passover and their subsequent release from slavery in Egypt.
The meal was organized around drinking four cups of red wine, symbolizing the four-part promise of redemption found in Exodus 6:6-7
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
The four cups represented the four statements from this passage. 1. “I will bring you out”; 2. “I will rescue you from their bondage”; 3. “I will redeem you”; and 4. “I will take you as My people, and I will be your God.”
There was a traditional program for the meal. First would come a blessing of the festival and the wine, followed by drinking the first cup of wine. Next, the food would be brought out. Then the youngest son would ask why this night was distinguished from others. The father would answer with the story of the Exodus and would point to each item on the table as he explained its symbolic significance. This would be followed by praise to God for past and future redemption. This was taken from the Hallel in Psalm 113 and 114. Then the second cup of wine would be drunk. After the second cup, the bread would be blessed, broken and distributed, and then eaten with bitter herbs and a fruit-paste dish.
This would be followed by eating the meal. The Passover meal included roasted lamb that had been sacrificed in the temple. At the end of the meal, the father would bless a third cup of wine, which would be followed by singing the second part of the Hallel from Psalm 115-118. A fourth cup of wine would conclude the meal.
Jesus and the disciples were at the point of eating the bread with the sauce of herbs and fruit when Jesus begins to tell them that one of them would betray them. And each one of the disciples would begin to question, “Is it I?”
Look at verse 23.
23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.
24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.”
Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, so, why do you think Jesus chose Judas to be one of His disciples? We know that before Jesus chose His disciples that He spent all night in prayer. Choosing of the disciples was not a task that Jesus took lightly. We know that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. We know that He was all knowing. He knew everything that would happen before it happened. So, why did He choose Judas as a disciple?
I believe that there are two reasons. The first reason is simple. It had to happen so that scripture could be fulfilled. The prophet Zechariah speaks of being betrayed for 3o pieces of silver.
The second reason I believe is love. To love to be loved you must be vulnerable. We have all loved someone at some point only for them to betray us. I believe Jesus was teaching us a point. At some point in our life we will get hurt. Jesus picked Judas knowing what is coming. During this meal Judas was close enough to Jesus that he made the statement to Jesus, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” In order to be next to the host at this meal you would have to be invited to sit this close. So, Jesus invited Judas to be this close.
As we see this moment of betrayal, we can look at the betrayal that has taken place in our own life and know that Jesus still had a love for Judas. Jesus forgave all of the accusers as He was dying on the cross. He said...
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
We can look at Jesus’ life and know that we too can show forgiveness for those that have betrayed us.
After the conversation with Judas, Judas leaves and we get to the part of this story that we know of as communion. I want to spend the next few minutes on this part of the story and then we are going to take communion together as a family. Look at verse 26.
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
When Jesus told His disciples that the bread represented His body and the cup represented His blood, He was making a new covenant with His people that day.
In Old Testament times, God had agreed to forgive people’s sins if they would bring animals for the priests to sacrifice. When this sacrificial system was inaugurated, the agreement between God and human beings was sealed with the blood of animals.
8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
But animal blood did not in itself remove sin, and animal sacrifices had to be repeated day by day and year after year.
That day, Jesus instituted a new covenant, or an agreement between humans and God. Under this new covenant, Jesus would die in the place of sinners. Unlike the blood of animals, Jesus’ blood would truly remove the sins of all who would put their faith in Him. And Jesus’ sacrifice would never have to be repeated; it would be good for all eternity.
24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
The old covenant was a shadow of the new, pointing forward to the day when Jesus himself would be the final and ultimate sacrifice for sin. Rather than an unblemished lamb slain on the altar, the perfect Lamb of God was slain on the cross, a sinless sacrifice to forgive sins once and for all. Jesus explained that His blood would be poured out, referring to a violent death.
Those who accept Christ’s sacrifice and believe in Him receive forgiveness. Now all people can come directly to God through faith because Jesus’ death has made us acceptable in God’s eyes.
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
The Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s death on the cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins, and it points to the coming of His Kingdom in glory. When we partake of it, we show our deep gratitude for Christ’s work on our behalf, and our faith is strengthened.
This morning we want to do that. We want to partake of communion together. As you came in this morning you should have received a cup that has juice and a wafer for communion. We want to take a moment during this service and partake of these together. As we do this today, I want you to think about what Jesus did for you. Jesus gave up everything to go to a cross and die a very gruesome death for you.
So, can we stand this morning and take communion?
I have asked two gentlemen to pray over each emblem. Will you make your way to the platform this morning?
As they are coming, I want to read to you what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians concerning communion. The people of Corinth was abusing the practice of communion and Paul chastises them and explains to them how it is done. This is what he says.
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
David Cox would you please pray over the bread?
David Lawson would you please pray over the cup?
Close with a song.