The Amens of Holy Communion

Psalm 23 | 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

We Amen Jesus - 1 Cor 11:23-31

Gospel accounts of the 1st Communion: Luke 14, Matthew 26, Luke 22

The Passover Meal, instituted in Exodus 12, was the main meal of the week-long feast of the Passover, sometimes called the feast of unleavened bread.

This was the meal that Jesus ate with His Apostles before establishing the New Testament Ordinance we know as The Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion.

It is Jesus Himself who overtly changed observance from the Old Testament Passover to the New Testament Supper by making clear statements about the bread and wine as representing His body, even calling the wine “The New Testament in My blood.”

Whereas the emphasis on Passover was the remembrance of the Exodus (an Old Testament picture of salvation), the emphasis of Communion is, as per Jesus’ words, to remember Jesus and His crucifixion.

We Amen our faith - 1 Cor 11:27-32

Deuteronomy 30:15–18 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.”

Paul echoes Moses in setting out a choice: blessing or cursing.

Unworthy Manner > Cursing

Outward:

Unworthy Manner: not regarding this meal as a holy rite, not sharing, not waiting on one another, drinking to drunkeness and eating to gluttonous excess, showing partiality and humiliating those with less/nothing

Inward:

All of this is summarized as not eating and drinking in faith.

Worthy Manner > Blessing

1 Corinthians 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

The Holy Communion is where we restate our faith in Christ.

We don’t all get re-baptized together with a new convert, but we do all get to share in a visible, tangible ritual with them.

1 Corinthians 10:16 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”

When we take the elements in faith; believing the gospel, it is blessing to ourselves, our homes, and our church.

We Amen our Communion

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

This High and Holy Ordinance was intended to be observed by every local, visible church.

In 27 verses (1 Cor 11:17-34), Paul uses the phrase “When you come together” in a letter addressed to a church.

The offered blessing we see in 1 Cor 10:17 is that when we as a church partake in faith, He is building or maintaining our unity.

When we partake the elements in faith, we are also renewing our connection and love toward one another as members of this church.

Today, we solemnly and faithfully observe the Holy Ordinance of Communion. May God bless our observance, our lives, our families, and Mt Juliet Church.