Commune with Him
Notes
Transcript
What is it about communion that He would want us to remember?
What is it about communion that He would want us to remember?
Each time we take part in the communion service the Lord has asked us to remember Him. But, are we all in agreement on what we are to remember? Or is this a tradition that has been passed on and on and we take part in it ignorant as to why the Lord instituted this?
The Upper Room and the Last Supper
The Upper Room and the Last Supper
Let’s go back in time to the upper room here Jesus is with His disciples preparing for the Passover, here is a time of fellowship and remembrance of the Israelites exodus out of Egypt.
Jesus takes the bread and breaks the unleavened bread and passes it to His disciples. Why is that? Why didn’t Jesus use the Passover lamb which would have been a better representation of Himself?
The unleavened bread
The unleavened bread
Unleavened bread doesn’t bleed? How is unleavened bread a representation of taking away our sins? Was Jesus thinking about the vegetarians and vegans in the 20th/21st centuries?
In Luke 22:7 it tells us:
7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.
This was the festival of Unleavened Bread, the Passover Lamb was not ready because the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed and roasted on the Friday and eaten on the Sabbath.
And such, the Passover lamb was not available, only the unleavened bread was all that was available to eat because anything leavened was removed on Thursday night and destroyed on Friday.
So Jesus takes the unleavened bread, breaks it and gave it to His disciples and tells them:
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
For the disciples, they were unaware what was to happen to their Teacher until a few more hours later, but it would be a roller coaster of emotions that they will experience.
Jesus the bread of life!
Jesus the bread of life!
Here Jesus tells the disciples that the unleavened bread represents His body that is to be broken, the gospel of Luke is the only gospel to say “Do this in remembrance of me” where as Matthew and Mark only shows Jesus saying “Take, eat; this is My body”.
When we take the unleavened bread, how should we remember what Christ has done for us? The unleavened bread or the broken body of Jesus isn’t meant to bring shame or guilt upon us for what our sins has done to Him.
When the Jews partook of the Passover meal, they were to remember and meditate on how God lead them out of Egypt.
When we as Christians partake of the bread we should remember how Jesus saved us out of the slavery of sin through His broken body.
For we were once lost sheep, we were slaves to sin, it is through His body, His sacrifice that we have salvation.
For we were once lost and now we’re found!
Soon we will partake of the unleavened bread and remember what He had done to Himself for our sake.
The bread doesn’t save us but faith does!
The bread doesn’t save us but faith does!
The bread alone doesn’t saves us, it is the faith in Jesus by partaking in this unleavened bread we acknowledged what He has done for us and as we recognise who we are as sinners, we take the bread and we remember that we are healed by His broken body.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
So, when you take of the bread, do you feel healed? Are you aware of what the Lord had to endure that you can be saved? Are you aware of the body that must be broken to know that you are loved?
The new covenant through His blood
The new covenant through His blood
But His body wasn’t the only part of this institution that He wanted us to remember.
The Lord’s blood that He shed reveals to us an agreement and a bond that cements your relationship between Him and you.
The gospel of Luke says:
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
However in Matthew 26:27-29 it says:
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
And Mark 14:24-25:
24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. 25 Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
The blood that Jesus shed...
The blood that Jesus shed...
This covenant is an agreement and promise through His blood that is shed for many, and according to Matthew, Jesus’ blood is shed for the remission of sins.
But what is interesting is the gospel of Mark and Matthew’s version of the wine.
Jesus tells them that He will not partake of this wine until we are with Him in the Kingdom of God.
Not only is the wine a symbol of His blood that was shed for many and for the remission of sins. But it is something for us as Christians to look forward to as we put our faith in the promise that we will have this cup with Him when He comes again.
By taking this up, by drinking the wine that symbolises His blood, we are looking forward to that day when we will drink this cup with Him. Are you looking forward to that day?
And again, the grape juice, is just grape juice, it doesn’t change into the blood of Jesus when you drink it, but it is a symbol and a reminder of the blood He shed for our sins and wrong doing to make us right because He loves us.
22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
When we take of this cup, we acknowledge Jesus died for our sins, for our wrong doings, and rather than punish us for our naivete, Jesus shed His blood and by faith as consume this cup of wine, we accept His cleansing blood for the remission of our sins and come before Him justified.
Everything that we see here, displays imagery of death and destruction. The broken body and the blood, this is a constant reminder of the results of sin and who we are as sinners.
However, the great saving grace is the message that we all can learn from the Lord’s supper and that message all points to Jesus.
God loves you, that He gave His only begotten Son to bare our sin and give His body and His blood so those who believe will be saved.
To wash thy foot
To wash thy foot
But there is another component that we shouldn’t neglect when it comes to communion service. A component that is equally important and that is the service of humility.
Because not only has the Lord given His broken body and shed His blood to redeem us but He has shown to us how we should serve one another in His love.
Here we have the Creator and King of the universe, in John 13:4-5 it says that Jesus
4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Jesus could have called the maids or the servants to wash the feet of the disciples, but Jesus, their Rabbi and Master did what those servants should have done and washed their feet.
I want you to imagine that scene, how dirty were the feet of the disciples as they walked from town to town wearing those sandals, what their feet picked up?
Then Jesus with His bare hands removes the dirt and the filth found on those feet by water and dries them up with the towel girded around His waist. Those same hands that formed humanity is the same hands that cleaned the feet of man.
What about us? I am hoping our feet are clean or have been cleaned, but they would be far cleaner than the disciples feet.
What can we learn from the service of humility?
What can we learn from the service of humility?
What does this service of humility represent for us as we take our socks off and our $100 or so shoes?
As Jesus removed the filth from the soles of the feet of His disciples, so we should wash the feet of our brother or sister, this symbolises that we serve each other and that their filth (whatever that may be) is of our concern and that we are to help each other as we clean one another.
No one is alone when it comes to our Christian journey for we are all one in Christ’s body.
We are the be servants to each other, helping one another as it says in Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
The Passover and the Exodus
The Passover and the Exodus
The bread, the wine and the service of humility are all interlinked, and serve a greater purpose.
Jesus instituted these so we may grow in faith and grow and walk together as we walk with Him.
There is something fascinating as I reread the story of the Israelites before they embark on their Exodus and it is something as a reminder for all of us here.
In Exodus 12 we find the God institutes the Passover, He tells the children of Israel how to prepare and eat the Passover lamb, but He also instructs them to do something else.
In Exodus 12:11
11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
God knew that after the last plague the children of Israel will be set free so He told them to ready themselves as they make their exodus to the Promised Land.
My friends, as we partake of this service, as you commune with Him, are you ready to walk with Him in your exodus to the Promised Land?
