Lord's Supper Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Impressive gifts are impressive all on their own
It’s not impressive giving a gift to the people I love
The entire experience is made more significant and impactful when a gift is given to somebody who is completely undeserving of it
When considering the Lord’s table we need to not only understand what’s on the table, but who’s sitting around it
What’s On the Table
What’s On the Table
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Context: Passover
Remembering God’s great deliverance from Egypt
Culminates in the tenth plague
Passover feast keeps Israel safe
11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 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. 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. 14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
This is the event that takes Israel from slavery to full statehood
The people looked forward to a new exodus
They weren’t slaves, but they weren’t free
14 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
This is why the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus - people saw him as a new Moses
Jesus redefines this event around himself and the new exodus he is leading
The Bread
The Bread
Jesus taking bread and breaking it would be perfectly normal and followed by an explanation of the symbol
Unleavened because of how quickly they had to leave
Leaven becomes a symbol for the old ways of life hat are left behind in pursuit of God
It was dipped in bitter herbs that reminded them of their bitter years of slavery
Mark doesn’t record any of that story, if Jesus even told it
The broken bread becomes a sinister symbol as Jesus says “This is my body”
He’s declared his death several times - now he enacts it
The basis for this new exodus is his death
We remember that he gave himself to us
The Cup
The Cup
The blood of Jesus
Again, noting the horrible death he’s about to endure
A new covenant
Just as the Passover was the even that created the nation of Israel, Jesus’ death is going to create a new people centered around him
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The old covenant has been broken
What’s different about this one
It gets straight to the heart of the believer
It causes people to know God
Jer 22:16
Jesus is offering more than forgiveness
He’s offering a recreation
Forgiveness by itself doesn’t solve the problem of sin
We’ll just run off and sin again and again
This operation of God helps us overcome sin
It makes us more like God
And it only happens through his death
Blood is necessary for a covenant to be made
6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
It was the binding agent that brought man and God together
Jesus binds us to God through his own blood
What we need to remember
This is about more than forgiveness - it’s about transformation
Through this act we bind ourselves to God through the death and blood of his son
We need to remember not only what’s on the table, but who’s sitting around it
A gift can become greater or lesser depending on who it’s given to
Jesus gives himself, and he gives it to some really crummy people
Who’s Around the Table
Who’s Around the Table
Betrayers
Betrayers
18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
One of the twelve will betray him
One who was chosen to be with him
One who was chosen to preach the gospel and cast out demons
One who the other disciples would have looked up to
One who he’s eating with
Not another way of saying one of you twelve who happen to be around the table right now
Sharing a table was a sign of your relationship
Similar to the stereotypical high-school cafeteria. Who’s a part of your group?
Paul doesn’t condemn Peter and the Galatians for simply being rude - they made a statement that Gentiles didn’t belong
As Jesus is affirming his relationship to the twelve, one of them is about to betray him
But Judas isn’t the only one around the table
Cowards
Cowards
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
Jesus offers his death and the disciples run away from it
Peter can’t even stand in front a a servant girl
The gift that gives us everything is denied
We need to remember how undeserving we are of this gift and how often we reject it
This feast has the Passover as its roots
When God saved a bunch of slaves
A bunch of stubborn and rebellious slaves
5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.
It’s the same story for us
If we think we’re any different we sound just like the disciples
31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.
Don’t just remember the gift - remember who it was given to
