Teaching Sermon on the Lord's Supper

Last Sunday we had a teaching sermon about baptism.

In 2 weeks, on June 23, the Lord willing, we’ll celebrate with the Roelofsen family as little Lauren is baptized.

On Sunday, June 30, the Lord willing, Irene, Joe & Cindy, and Sam will publicly profess their faith. As part of their PoF, Joe and Sam will be baptized!

In the same service, June 30, we’ll celebrate the Lord’s Supper. We just read about that from Matthew’s gospel: how Jesus introduced the LS when he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. If you followed Crosspoint’s daily Bible readings this week, you read about the Passover in the Jewish tradition. It’s an annual celebration of how God rescued his people from Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

The Lord sent 10 plagues to convince Pharaoh to let his people go out of Egypt: plagues of gnats, of water turning ot blood or frogs in every single room in every single house. After a little bit, Pharaoh said, sure, we’ll let the people go. But then he would change his mind. So God said, Okay, then I’ll have to send another plague.

The 10th plague was terrible: one night, in every Egyptian household, the firstborn son died. Pharaoh and all his people were punished for their brutal oppression of the Israelites. They were punished for resisting God’s command “Let my people go.”

The destroyer went through the whole country and visited every Egyptian household, but the Israelites were spared. What did the Israelites do so the angel of death would pass over their homes?

Slaughter a perfect, year-old lamb,

paint lamb’s blood on top of the door frame and both sides w/ twig of hyssop plant

stay indoors keeping vigil all night feasting on roast lamb and flatbread, bread that didn’t rise b/c it’s made w/o yeast.

they kept vigil all night as the Lord kept vigil, protecting their houses from the angel of destruction

And then, from that point on, as explained in Ex. 12, it was an annual celebration they kept vigil every year at the Passover eating roast lamb, painting blood on the door frame of their house, eating unleavened bread and remember in vivid ways how God had rescued them out of Egypt and out of slavery.

The Passover is the foundation on which the LS was built. On the night Jesus was betrayed, his disciples prepared the Passover in a certain man’s house, slaughtering the lamb, dabbing the lamb’s blood on the door frame w/ a hyssop branch so they could spend the evening there eating and drinking and remember God’s might acts for their salvation - the salvation of God’s people.

It’s interesting when you compare the different gospels. Even more than Matthew’s gospel, John’s gospel highlights the connection between Jesus and the Passover lamb. Already in ch. 1, Jesus’ relative, John the Baptist, reveals Jesus’ identity:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 (NIV)

It’s an image that stuck with John. He used it often. We find repeatedly in the book of Revelation. John saw a vision of Jesus as victorious despite the kings and powers of this world. John writes:

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. Revelation 5:6a (NIV)

This is Jesus, the Passover Lamb who was slain and rose again. The Gospel according to John and the Book of Revelation show connections between Jesus and the Passover lamb.

Yet when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, it is not a sacrifice of a lamb or other living animal was. No blood is shed in the LS. Instead, the bread and cup remind us that Jesus’ blood was shed so God’s punishment for our sin passes over us. Jesus is the substitute. At the cross, God put all the punishment for your sin on Jesus the Christ, the Passover Lamb. His blood was shed and he died so your life could be spared and you can enjoy life in the Promised Land.

That’s the good news of the gospel, b/c: ever since our first parents rebelled against God in the garden, humankind has rebelled against God. I don’t know how you find it in your life. I see it in myself – I don’t always live up to God’s commands to love him w/ heart, soul, mind, and strength. I don’t always love my neighbour as myself. What about you?

Disobeying God carries a penalty – as the Egyptians discovered in the 10 Plagues – rebelling against God always leads to death and separation from God Most Holy. The only hope we have, like Israelite in Egypt; the only hope that they had was that something else was slain and their firstborn son was spared. The hope that we have as well is if there’s a substitute; someone to take the punishment in our place. That we can be spared and can live.

Eating bread at the Lord’s Table reminds us that Jesus was beaten and bloodied. How his body was nailed to the cross. He died and his body was buried in the tomb.

But the bread also reminds us that 3 days later, he physically rose from the grave. Jesus died, but he lives again. The disciples could touch his hands, see his wounds. Thomas could even put his finger in the nail holes. This was Jesus in the flesh and he was alive after he had died. And 40 days later he was physically lifted to heaven. Jesus’ glorified body is physically in the throne room of God most holy.

Just as in baptism, being washed with water demonstrates how the HS cleanses us from sin, eating the bread connects us with the body of Jesus. By faith, we die with Jesus and raised to life with Jesus. And the bread reminds us of that intimate connection with Jesus. That we are one flesh with him.

Through the LS you are assured that what happens to Jesus in a way also happens to you. In the NT letter to the Ephesians, it is written:

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:6 (NIV)

And so, sitting at the Lord’s Supper table is a reminder that we are actually sitting in glory with God most High. We are in communion with the risen and glorified Jesus Christ. I know it’s tough to imagine all that; to believe all that through the veil of these earthly elements, but that’s the reality of sitting atht he Lord’s Supper table with Jesus. Jesus is the one who is the host at the meal and who assures you that you are connected with him. His word assures you that you are seated with Christ in the Heavenly Realms in Christ Jesus.

Eating this bread makes your connection with the body of Jesus Christ tangible. The sacrament of the LS unites you with Jesus – and with all other believers – as one body. We find that word picture in the Letter to Ephesus too:

God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Ephesians 1:22–23 (NIV)

The connection between faith in Jesus and life with God forever is very strong.

There’s lots more that could be said about the significance of the bread. After feeding 5000 people from 5 loaves and 2 fish, Jesus makes startling statements recorded in John 6:

Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and

whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 (NIV)

A little later in the same discourse:

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:53–54 (NIV)

The crowds who first heard Jesus say this almost gagged as they argued about Jesus’ words: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” They aren’t the only people to find the imagery of the LS startling and off-putting. Yet it is hard to hear Jesus’ teaching in John 6 without thinking about the Lord’s Supper.

Jesus draws the connection b/t bread and his body at the Last Supper:

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.” Matthew 26:26 (NIV)

By faith, when we eat the bread at the LS, we receive Jesus’ body in the mystery of the sacrament and are assured of all the benefits of dying and rising with him.

The cup is also a powerful sign.

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:27–28 (NIV)

Partaking in Jesus’ blood is significant.

In the OT book of Leviticus, the Lord tells his people:

The life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Leviticus 17:11 (NIV)

That’s why the hymn says, “There’s power, power, wonder-working power in the blood, of the Lamb . . .”

When you drink the cup at the LS, the life-giving power of Jesus’ blood flows into you. Jesus’ blood makes atonement for your life. Jesus’ blood covers your wrong-doing and allows you to share in Jesus’ resurrection and his life. The cup is a visible sign of the invisible work God the HS does within your heart.

At Crosspoint, we no longer use wine in the LS. Do you know why we use grape juice instead of wine for Communion?

Out of concern for people who are addicted to alcohol.

The LS is a place where God demonstrates his hospitality and his generosity. All believers are invited to come to the Lord’s Table with faith.

Over the past few decades our denomination has discussed when the children of believers should participate in the Lord’s Supper. Just like covenant children are welcome at the Passover in the OT, covenant children are welcome at the Lord’s Supper. Parents and guardians are responsible for making sure their children understand the LS in an age-appropriate way and that they come to the LS with faith appropriate for their age.

The LS is a sacrament. Something changes in you when you eat and drink at the Lord’s Table with faith.

Brings you back in time to the cross and open tomb. You are invited to ponder Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. In the LS, you’re invited to marvel at how by faith you have died with Christ and are raised to life.

In the present, the LS connects you with Jesus – you are seated with Jesus in the heavenly realms. You are united by faith with the whole church of all time and all places. That’s why the elders and I go and celebrate the LS with people who are ill and can’t attend worship services. Celebrating the LS is a tangible sign that together we are Jesus’ body, part of the Church of all times and all places.

The LS gives us a taste of the future. The bread and cup are an appetizer for the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. At the Last Supper, Jesus said

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. Matthew 26:29 (NIV)

He will drink the cup with all his disciples in the coming kingdom.

That feast is described in the book of Revelation:

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:6–7 (NIV)