Communion Part 1

Portrait of the gospel in Communion part 1.

At MEFC, on the first Sunday of each month we eat a piece of bread and drink from a cup.

Eating the bread and drinking the cup is known as:

Communion (1 Corinthians 10:16, KJV)

The Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20)

The Eucharist (1 Corinthians 11:24; Greek: eucharistia, “thanksgiving”)

This practice goes back all the way back when Jesus and his disciples gathered in the upper room on the night when he was betrayed. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke write about this account.

Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper:

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 “23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when 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 also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.””

Communion is a portrait of the gospel:

The bread represents the body of Jesus

The cup represents the blood of Jesus.

The Lord Jesus established two ordinances for the church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

While believer’s baptism is an ordinance that is practiced once by each believer, the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance that is practiced continually together as church.

Transition: The Lord’s Supper was established on the night when the Lord Jesus was betrayed. That is, the night before his crucifixion.

I want to show you something powerful. The Lord’s Supper is connected to the Passover meal in the OT.

Luke 22:7–8 “7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.””

What is the Passover and how it is connected to the Lord’s Supper?

Come with me to Exodus 12.

Background:

The people of Israel are slaves in Egypt.

God sends Moses to go before Pharaoh, “Let my people go.”

9 plagues -

10th plague is coming. God is going to bring judgement in the land of Egypt.

The Passover meal is a time of remembrance:

“This day shall be for you a memorial day.” (Exodus 12:14)

“It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” (Exodus 12:27)

In the Passover, God is remembered and celebrated as the deliverer of his people from bondage.

Lessons to remember from the Passover:

1. Remember, God offers a new beginning.

The Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron while they are in Egypt:

“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.” (Exodus 12:2)

This the beginning of Israel’s life as a nation.

The name for the book of Exodus comes from the Septuagint, a translation of the Hebrew OT into Greek. In Greek, Exodus means, “a way out” or ‘departure.”

The nation of Israel is about to depart or exit Egypt. God himself will deliver them and God himself will guide them to the Promised Land.

The Passover is going to mark a new beginning. The name of the month is Nisan. The Jewish calendar begins with God’s deliverance, the exodus from Egypt reminding them that they are no longer slaves, but children of God’s promises to Abraham.

2. Remember the lamb.

“5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.”

The Passover lamb is what is going to give them a new beginning.

Describe the lamb from vv 3-6:

Each household is to select a lamb on the tenth day of the month. In the Hebrew calendar this month is called Nisan (March/April)

The lamb had to be without blemish or defect.

The lamb had to be a one-year-old male lamb.

The lamb was to be kept in the home for five days and then be sacrificed at twilight on Nisan 14th.

Here’s something amazing:

When you study the gospel accounts, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey on what is typically known as Palm Sunday. But did you know that the date when entered Jerusalem is also Nisan 10th, the very same day when the Passover Lamb would be selected.

John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

1 Peter 1:19 “[you were ransomed] with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Jesus the Lamb entered Jerusalem on Nisan 10th and five days later he was killed on the cross on Nisan 14, also known as Good Friday.

The Passover is all about Jesus. He is the perfect sacrifice who alone can cover our sins. Jesus, our Lamb is our substitute.

3. Remember the blood of the lamb.

After the lamb was killed at twilight on Nisan 14, God’s people are instructed:

Exodus 12:7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.”

Why do this? Moses explains this further:

Exodus 12:21–23 “21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.”

Amazing! The people of Israel escaped judgment and death through the blood of the lamb.

Hebrews 11:28 “By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.”

By applying the blood of the lamb to the lintel and the two doorposts of their houses, the people of Israel were declaring, “We are placing ourselves under God’s protection found in the blood of the Lamb.”

Friends, there is power in the blood!

Fourth, the Passover is also a time to:

4. Remember the bread.

Exodus 12:8 “They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.”

The people of Israel are supposed to eat the lamb along with unleavened bread the bitter herbs.

Bitter herbs to remind them that life was bitter in Egypt.

Exodus 1:11 tells us that the Israelites were afflicted with heavy burdens.

Exodus 2:23 tells us that the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery.

Notice that the Israelites are supposed to eat the Passover with unleavened bread.

The reason is simple: There is no time to wait for the bread to rise.

Exodus 12:39 “39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.”

The New Testament connects leaven with sin.

In Luke 12:1, Jesus tells his disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

Galatians 5:9 “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 “6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Leaven is a symbol of sin and corruption. Sin spreads

The unleavened bread is a reminder to God’s people that they have been rescued from sin in order for them to live lives of holiness for the Lord.

“Yet this is no simple moralism on Paul’s part. He is not telling them to give it their best try to live right. If that were the case, he would be using a strange passage to support such a notion! Rather, the basis for their morality is twofold: Christ’s death has atoned for their sin and, perhaps more important, in Christ, the people are already a new batch without yeast. They are to act like what they are, which is not the result of their own efforts but the result of Christ’s efforts.” Peter Enn, Exodus

Fourth, the Passover is also a time to:

5. Remember God’s judgment.

A sentence of death has gone out.

Exodus 12:12 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.”

God executed judgement in Egypt because God is a righteous judge:

Egypt’s oppression of Israel through slavery and the murder of all the male babies.

Pharaoh’s hardened heart. Pharaoh willfully rebels against God. He was indifferent to God’s Word.

Proverbs 28:14 “14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”

The teaching of God’s judgment is found in both the OT & NT.

Romans 14:12 “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

In Acts 24, we see Paul shares about his faith with Felix the Governor. “And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.”” (v.25)

Now, here’s where the gospel comes in (the good news).

6. Remember God’s mercy.

Exodus 12:13 “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

The story of the Passover and the story of the Lord’s Supper is all about God sparing his people from death trough the blood of the lamb, the substitute.

Will you receive judgement or salvation from God? It all depends on what you do with the blood of the lamb?

“God would make a distinction with Israel, but this was not to say that Israel was innocent. Israel was not innocent here based on their bloodline. They were found innocent because of the applied blood of the substitute. God judged Egypt, but He also judged Israel. The Passover demonstrated that apart from blood of the lamb, Israel would be found guilty. Why? Because God is holy. All are sinners and deserve to be cut off from God. We are all like Pharaoh, even if we do not have the title. But God in His grace provides a way of salvation through the blood of a substitute.” Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Exodus

7. Remember the next generation.

Exodus 12:26–27 “26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’”

Each generation of parents is expected to teach each generation the story of God’s salvation.

One simple way to do this is by simply asking the question, “what was one thing you learned from today’s sermon?”

When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we remember:

Jesus gave us a new beginning.

Jesus took the Passover meal and revealed that the Passover is about him: This bread is my body. This cup is my blood.

When we partake of the Bread and the Cup, we remember what God has done to save us from sin.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

It’s a time to renew our commitment to follow Jesus in sincerity and truth.

Get rid of “the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:8)

It’s a time of thanksgiving for the blood of the Lamb applied to us.

I love the fact that in the story of Exodus, God didn’t tell Moses, “When I see you, I will pass over,” but rather, “When I see the blood of the lamb.”

In Revelation 12:11 we find these powerful words: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

Brothers and sisters, there is power in the blood of the Lamb, not only to save us from sin but to sustain us until the end.