Lord's Supper

Introduction

It’s always a blessing and privilege to gather as a church family and sing songs of praise to the Lord, to pray to the Lord, as we continue in our time of worship this evening it’s a blessing to be able to study from His Word, but tonight is a special evening as we’re going to “see” the Word as we observe the Lord’s Supper later in our worship service. What makes this ordinance so special? What does it mean? Why do we observe it? All of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) mention Jesus and the disciples observing passover and Jesus inaugurating or starting the Lord’s Supper. This is something that we see in God’s Word in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. What exactly makes this ordinance so special? The Baptist Faith and Message says this, “The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.” We remember what Jesus has done and we anticipate His promised return. This is something that we do not take lightly because God’s Word commands us to not take it lightly. Further, Jesus said that we are to do this in remembrance of Him. Jesus set this up so that we would remember Who He is and what He has done for us… while also remembering what we have done. It was our sin that held Him there, as the song How Deep the Father’s Love for Us reminds us. We remember, but we also realize that this is a privilege to partake of this as a congregation of believers. This is something that we cannot do by ourselves as every time it shows up in the New Testament, it is with the gathered assembly of God’s people. Tonight, our text of Scripture will look at why we are able to partake of the Lord’s Supper in the first place and we’ll close with a few implications for us tonight. Let’s read from Galatians 4 this evening

Galatians 4:4–7 CSB

4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

God sent His Son to redeem and adopt sinners like you and me! I pray that is your story this evening, let’s pray as we ask God to speak to us through His Word.

What Christ Has Done

What does Galatians 4 tell us? When the time came to completion, God sent His Son. What does it mean when time came to completion? Whenever it was the right time according to the Father’s plan. We read in God’s Word that God had a plan to save sinners before the foundation of the earth and that plan included Jesus coming to live a perfect life and to die for sinners like you and me. 2000 years ago, it was the right time and, sure enough, God sent His Son in order to (v 5) redeem those under the law. What does it mean to redeem someone?

To redeem means to purchase or pay for something. Jesus redeemed us - He bought us. How did He do this? We deserved to be separated from God because of our sin… but Jesus redeemed us. Meaning this: Jesus lived the life we were supposed to life and died the death we deserved to die in order to give to us the victory that we could never achieve ourselves.

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He wins the battle for us by living a sinless life and dying for sinners - this is good news! How is it granted to our accounts, though? See you and I need more than just forgiveness… Forgiveness means that we become neutral, but that still doesn’t bring us into the family. That just means that the judge says that we’re forgiven and not guilty. We need a perfect righteousness to stand before our God and this is what Jesus gives to us. We can think of it like this. Jesus not only forgives us of our sins, but whenever He died for us, He gave us His righteousness so that God treats us as if we had never sinned - we are justified and purified. But Galatians 5 takes it a step further and tells us that we are adopted. To be adopted means that the Judge in the courtroom not only declares you innocent of all crimes, but He becomes your Father who welcomes you into His living room. How does this happen? Only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for sinners like you and me. This is what Jesus has done!

Why This Matters Tonight

Because Christ paid the price for our sins and redeems us and brings us into God’s family, we are called God’s sons. As members of His family, tonight is a night of confession as we confess our sins and we ask the Lord to convict us whenever we go against His Word. It is also a night of conviction as we remember the pain that Jesus endured to save us from our sins and reconcile us to God… but tonight is also a night of celebration as we remember that we have access to our Father through the finished work of the Son. We know that sin and death do not get the last word or the last laugh… we have been set free and saved through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ

Hebrews 10:14 CSB

14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

This truth must lead the people of God to celebrate. JI Packer once put it like this, “What we need more than anything else at the Lord’s Table is a fresh grasp of the glorious truth that we sinners are offered mercy through faith in the Christ who forgives and restores, out of which faith comes all the praise that we offer and all the service that we render.… For this everlasting gospel of salvation for sinners is what in Scripture the Lord’s Supper is all about.… At the Holy Table, above all, let there be praise.” Why does Galatians 4:4-7 matter as we prepare to partake of the Lord’s Supper? Because we see what Christ has done and this leads us to prepare our hearts and praise His name. Absolutely, we partake of the Lord’s Supper in a serious manner because that’s what God’s Word tells us to do. But we must not think that this is a joyless time. Whenever we observe the Lord’s Supper, it should be the most joyful celebration in the life of the church! We celebrate the Gospel truth and we fulfill God’s prescription to remember that our sins are forgiven. The lyrics of the song I shared this morning come to mind once again in the 3rd verse,

To this I hold, my sin has been defeated Jesus now and ever is my plea Oh, the chains are released, I can sing, "I am free" Yet not I, but through Christ in me

This is our shout for joy - Christ has come. Sin is defeated. Chains are released. Joy is ours. Salvation changes everything… all because Jesus came at the right time to redeem sinners under the weight of the law that we couldn’t bear. Through His sacrifice we are able to come to our Father with boldness and call Him “Dad.” Not through our works and goodness… not by coming to church for years and years and being a nice person. But through the finished work of Jesus on Calvary.

Tonight we remember, we rejoice, and we retell the story of Jesus as we proclaim this truth until He returns. As we do this, we know that not only do we look back at His death and look forward to His return, but we also remember that He is with us tonight through the Holy Spirit. That He promises to never leave nor forsake us. That’s He’s with us tonight - not physically in the elements as some denominations might argue for - but spiritually, He’s present with His people and that is especially true tonight as we follow in the command He gave to His followers.

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How do we observe the Lord’s Supper?

Lots of people ask “who can take the Lord’s Supper?”

I do not know your spiritual standing before God. I am responsible for the flock of FBC Salem, and as a result of that, I have to close the table as Scripture does and say this: The Lord’s Supper is for born-again believers. In the New Testament church, we see churches doing this - not individuals, and not people who weren’t apart of the flock. If you are here and you are not a born-again believer, Biblically speaking this is not something that you can partake of - my prayer is that this would cause you to consider why the Bible says you can’t do this and that the Lord would use this to draw you towards Himself and one day, adopt you into His family so that you CAN participate in the Lord’s Supper

Some of you might be here and you are not a member of this church. Again, I am responsible for the flock of FBC Salem and will be held accountable for how we handle worship matters like this. I want to be as “charitable” as I can be and will say this as was laid out by Justin Martyr nearly 1900 years ago, “You must have belief in the church’s teachings, have been baptized as a believer, and you must be living a God honoring life that is not marked by unrepentant sin.” The 2 people explicitly denied access to the Lord’s table in Scripture are those who are not saved and those who are living in unrepentant sin. If that is where you are at today then, right now, we’re going to take one more minute to pray and seek the Lord’s face. To confess sin and repent if there is anything preventing us in our walk with Him.