WHY TAKE THE LORD’S SUPPER WEAKLY?

WHY TAKE THE LORD’S SUPPER WEAKLY? 1 Corinthians 11 Hebrews 9   July 1, 2007 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Before he died a man of generous means told his wife he wanted to be buried with $50,000 of his retirement money. Eventually he did die. A week or so after the funeral service his widow’s brother approached her and inquired, “Helen, you didn’t really bury him with $50,000 in the casket, did you?” She said, “I most certainly did. I made a promise, and I kept it.” Then, with a wry smile, she said, I wrote a check for the entire $50,000 and put it in the casket with him.” Although Jesus left this world resurrected and alive, he still had two final requests which He left with His disciples. One was that they would be His witnesses, going and making disciples of all nations. This we know as the Great Commission. The second was that His followers would remember Him in a special way—by sharing a short memorial meal of bread and wine on a regular basis. This we know as The Lord’s Supper, or Communion. He actually conducted this service in keeping with the Passover Meal, the prophetic symbolism in which He fulfilled perfectly in His suffering, death and resurrection. We know this as the Last Supper. It was there that He took bread, broke it and said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28) Then he said the word that would memorialize that meal for the rest of the ages of time: “Do this in remembrance of me.” [webmasters note: Luke 22:19] What was in the mind and heart of Jesus, do you suppose, in that moment? We can be certain that this communion meal came to mean a great deal, and became deeply meaningful when, following His resurrection, Jesus shared meals with them. And He did, you know. On several occasions, the scriptures record, He ate with them in the days between His resurrection and His bodily ascension into heaven. Can’t you imagine that these disciples, so thrilled with the fact that Jesus was alive again and with them, when they sat down to dinner with Him, would wonder among themselves, “Do you think He’ll do that Passover thing with us? You know, the breaking the bread and sharing the cup? He said He would eat and drink it new with us in the kingdom. I hope He does! It makes so much more sense now!” The first time they ate together, maybe it was a fish dinner, they waited and hoped that at the close of the meal He would once more take the bread in His hands as He had before and remind them how His death on the cross has now fulfilled the promise. And then He would take the cup, give thanks and invite them all to drink, recalling the gruesome sacrifice that spilled His blood. I’m sure they wept as Jesus would tell them that it was for their forgiveness, and to forgive the sins of the world, that He went through it. I think they all repented of the cowardly way they ran away the night of His betrayal, and how they had all lost faith during those long hours after His death, until He was raised. I can just hear Jesus telling them they were forgiven—that these were the very things for which He died. What a mixture of sadness and joy these disciples must have experienced during those meals and those earliest communion experiences. And soon, perhaps on the evening of Pentecost itself, the apostles would gather with groups of new Christians and recount these occasions with them. What depth of emotion must have stirred within them as they told the stories. And then, solemnly they would pick up the bread like Jesus did and tell these new disciples about how the Lord’s body was mistreated for them. And again with tears they would take the cup and speak lovingly of the new covenant Jesus provided through His blood shed for them. I can imagine a holy silence fell on those groups as they experienced the emotion with their apostles. Can you imagine the sense of worship that hovered among them? A Time to Remember How much this memorial meal must have meant to them, and to the second and third generation believers after them. And yet today, the communion still causes us to wonder and to praise Him for what He has done for us. He said so plainly, “Do this in remembrance of me.” He knew us. He knew we would need a tangible reminder to draw us into renewed appreciation of our salvation in Him. He gave us a meal. How thoughtful. I’m so glad He didn’t write it on tablets of stone: “Don’t forget! I died for you!” I’m happy He didn’t ask us to memorize a page full of prose that we would recite to help us remember. He didn’t put together a photo album, or a slide show. Nor did He arrange to have one story teller recount the events to us. He wanted us all to remember Him, personally and profoundly. So He gave us a meal—a meal of memory. And notice, He didn’t ask the disciples to remember what the cross looked like or exactly where Golgotha was; He didn’t give us a shrine for an annual pilgrimage or relics to worship; He really isn’t concerned that we that our ritual is perfect. He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Our faith and trust is not in the bread or the wine; not in the method or the accoutrements of communion; the important thing is not our religion, or our traditions and our ceremonies. It is our relationship with Him He is interested in preserving. “…in remembrance of me.” Our memories are powerful tools. They stir us, remind us, motivate us, cheer us and sometimes even haunt us. When we lived in Hawaii for a year as a young family, one of our favorite places to visit was Kaneohe Bay. There was a military base there and on the base property was a wonderful park on the beach. Nice waves, lots of white sand and all the things that made our periodic visits there very pleasant. On the way to the beach there was an intersection where we would turn left. I always made sure I rolled my window down at that spot because there was the strong, distinct smell of brine from the salt water there. I loved that smell, because I loved the times we spent there. God gave me, I believe, a gift. For some reason, that same smell is captured in a roll of scotch magic transparent tape. No one else seems to be able to detect it—and Charlotte thinks I’m crazy—but I can pick up a roll of that tape, pull out a one foot length of tape, sniff it, and I am back on the beach in Kaneohe! It’s wonderful, really! Anytime I want to escape pressures and stress, I just reach in my drawer, grab the tape, and I am high in the memories of my Hawaiian paradise! Maybe Jesus had this same thing in mind when He arranged the apostle Paul to write this in his letter to the Corinthians: For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 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.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26) Brothers and sisters, when we take the time each Lord’s Day to meet around the tables of communion, we are not fulfilling a commandment; nor are we merely perpetuating a tradition; nor, for heaven’s sake, are we mindlessly involved in a perfunctory habit. We are coming to remember, in praise and wonder, our Lord Jesus, who snatched us from the fires of hell, purchased for us forgiveness and peace, love and life, hope and heaven! May we always to all we can to honor the Son of God who died in our place and asked us to Do this in remembrance of me. A Time to Rededicate But the Communion is more than only a time to remember. It is also a time for the Christian to rededicate himself to the new covenant God has given us in Christ. What God did in Christ was enormous in its implications. Hebrews 9 says that Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (9:15) The older covenant was marked by continual sacrifices on the part of the people to be forgiven of their sins and restored to a right relationship with God. The covenant, marked by the blood of bulls and goats to sanctify the people only cleaned them up on the outside (or superficially), according to Hebrews 9:13. But the sacrifice of Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse[s] our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God! (9:14) And He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. (9:26) In short, Jesus has done for us what we could not do for ourselves, and what the law and the old covenant could not do for us. He made us right with God! That’s why he said, “This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood.” There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. You are God’s people! What an awesome thought! What an awesome calling! We need to be committed to maintaining our devotion to that covenant. As we once gave our lives to Christ, in the Communion we come again to offer ourselves to Him and to reunite with His love and grace. Here we rededicate ourselves to the new covenant. And, as we drag our sins to the table with us, we are given a wonderful opportunity to repent and refresh our faith. I don’t know about you, but I need to take part in this sacramental act and devote myself to meaningfully thanking Him and renewing myself in this way at least once a week—probably daily would even be better. You know, when we really meditate on all that God has done for us, it makes us want to remember Him in communion every day! So important is this time of covenant renewal that the apostle Paul issued a most solemn warning against participating in communion flippantly. …whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:27-28) He goes on to say that participating in the Lord’s Supper in an unsuitable manner will bring the Lord’s judgment. In fact, some in Corinth had even become sick and died because they had not given due respect and honor to their relationship with Christ in communion. I don’t understand all that, I readily admit. But it does say to me that God considers how we remember Christ and renew our covenant with Him to be a very important thing. A few years ago I came up with a tongue-in-cheek list of “Six Ways to Ruin Communion”. I dusted it off and brought it with me this morning. 1. Be as lackadaisical as possible – Be sure to view the whole communion experience as drudgery—a cold and lifeless ritual. That will ensure that no spiritual challenge or unusual God-encounters will mess up your carnal day. And by no means should you ever show outward evidence of enthusiasm for the things of God, lest you provoke others to love and good works. Remember, GLUM is very chic for the spiritually unexcited. 2. Avoid self-examination at all costs – If you are committed to maintaining a spiritual status quo and avoiding any bursts of maturity into new levels of godliness and holiness, self-examination must be avoided like the plague. When it comes to secret sins and sinful motives, denial is the best policy for the spiritual wimp. If you want to maintain your carnal equilibrium, don’t look in the basement of your heart. It’s ugly down there! 3. Meditate on your grudges – as any spiritual slug knows, the most fun you can have in the mediocre, pseudo-Christian life is licking your wounds. Bring up old wounds and the hurts and insults that others dealt you. Meditate on them, grow in the art of feeling morose. That will guarantee a most unfulfilling communion experience. So, under no circumstances should you ever use your otherwise meaningless time at the Lord’s Table as an opportunity to forgive your brother in Christ, or worse yet ask forgiveness from any other member of the body of Christ you might have offended. Who needs all that harmony and unity? 4. Be as negative as possible – Use every opportunity to speak disparagingly of things. Remember the time-honored favorites: the music was too loud, bemoan the how the weekly observance of communion makes it lose its meaning, the juice was too warm, notice out loud how others don’t take communion seriously… 5. If you’re serious about dousing any spiritual fervor in the communion, you simply must not pray. Remember the rule: give prayer lip service if you must, but never get serious or genuine—you don’t want any kind of spiritual revival flaring up in your heart. When others are praying it’s best to bow your head and close your eyes so you can look spiritual (and it’s a great time to catch a few winks). 6. Be disruptive to others – to ruin communion there is simply no better tactic than being noisy, because you not only keep yourself from getting serious about spiritual matters, you can also distract others. You don’t want them to grow past you in their spirituality and make you look bad. Once you’ve had your early moment at the table, sabotage the meditation of others who are communing with some of the usual strategies: talk loudly, boisterous laughter is great, or grab someone and start talking about business matters. But by no means should you ever use this time to be quiet, talk with the Holy Spirit, reading scripture or making any vows to the Lord. By using these six tactics you can insure a communion experience for yourself, and others, that is absolutely void of spirituality. I would like to address a couple of practical issues concerning the way we practice the Lord’s Supper here at MECF. 1. Weekly – There are two reasons we practice weekly observance instead monthly, quarterly or annually. First, given our proneness to forget, we believe it is crucial to our personal and corporate faith that we take advantage of any opportunity to remember and celebrate the greatest demonstration of love and grace in human history as often and as meaningfully as we can. And this is the method the Lord Himself recommended to us. We take our second cue from the Scriptures. We notice the early church wasted no time in establishing the pattern of devoting themselves to the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42). And the only reference we have as to the frequency of sharing the Lord’s Supper is at Acts 20:7 where Paul met the young church at Troas and it says, On the first day of the week we came together to break bread, as if it were their practice to do so. 2. Variety – Given our proneness to make sacred things into empty rituals and perfunctory traditions, it is wise to do whatever we can to infuse meaning into our celebration of this God-given practice as much as we can. So, while maintaining our tradition of weekly communion, we do what we can to keep it as fresh and charged with purpose and meaning. Nearly every week someone different from the church family is asked to share a personally prepared devotional thought, Scripture reading, a power point presentation, a song or prayer, depending on the leading and preference of the person leading that week. It is designed to offer a fresh new perspective each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, helping us all to avoid thoughtless routine. 3. Community – The scriptural references to the practice of communion clearly impress us that it is a community event. That is, it is for the church family to engage in with one another. In keeping with our model of ministry we practice communion in small groups around the tables scattered throughout one room, emphasizing both the unity of the body of Christ and the key eloquence of fellowship that is interactive and avoids the “lostness” of being just a single cipher in a large crowd. I urge you to authentically engage the others you communion with, being spiritual encouragers of one another. This is the often hidden nuance of what Paul taught the Corinthians about “discerning the body” in 1 Corinthians 11:29. It is all about appreciating both the offered body of Christ in history and the very real sense in which we believers are today the body of Christ. So we celebrate our vertical union with Jesus and our horizontal unity with one another: COMMunion. 4. Inclusion – There is always the question of who is called to the table of the Lord. Is it only members of this local body or is it an inclusive call to all believers. We try our best to make it clear to our visitors that they are welcome to share in the celebration of communion if they are believers, practicing what we usually call “open communion”. Some may worry about an unbeliever naively taking part. But we shouldn’t. Why would an unbeliever want to take the Lord’s Supper? And if he did, the taking of bread and juice won’t hurt him; and his lack of faith would render the act void of any spiritual value. On the other hand, it might be a good experience for someone who is a seeker to witness this significant way of proclaiming the gospel. So, we invite all followers of Christ and turn no one away. A word about children. Some children are very young and have not yet come to genuine faith in Jesus because they have not reached what is commonly called the age of accountability. Should they be included? We leave this up to each individual family whether to allow their children, who are in a sanctified place as children of believing parents (1 Corinthians 7:14-15). Of course, those whose parents don’t allow them to share in the communion elements will always complain, “Well, so-and-so get to take communion—why can’t I?” Thank God that your children want to be involved in this sacred act, if for no other reason than other kids do or they want to know what the bread and cup taste like. They’ve noticed how important this is to the Christian community—and that is such a good thing! And what a marvelous teaching opportunity for parents, to talk with their children about the meaning and practice of their faith! We will close our service today with communion. Take a moment in silence to meditate on the goodness of God’s salvation. Bring a brief testimony to share with others at the table about what Christ means to you today. Please take whatever time you need, pray with others at the table. When you are finished, be mindful of others who are still sharing in this holy service. The children are being dismissed from Kid City to join you as families. You are dismissed as you finish communion. Prayer.   [Back to Top]