THE CARDINAL CHURCH ORDINANCES: THE LORD'S SUPPER

THE CARDINAL CHURCH ORDINANCES: THE LORD'S SUPPER   April 26, 2009 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Before sermons, ordinations, organized churches, there was communion. Easy to see why: it was one of the few things Jesus expressly asked His church to do – remember Him with a regular event. Gospel stories replete with meals that Jesus shared with His friends and followers. Regularly He ate in the homes of disciples and outcasts: tax collectors & traitors, prostitutes & political activists, from the downcast to the outcasts. The night before He died He ate the Passover meal with His closest friends (and His deadliest enemy). Jesus used this sacred memorial meal as a teaching opportunity to drive home the somber reality of His approaching suffering and death. And the next week, following His resurrection, what did he do but drop in on them and eat meals with them. Can you imagine what those occasions were like? Here they are sharing a meal in exactly the way they did before Jesus died, breaking bread and drinking wine in precisely the manner He told them. The earliest church continued the tradition. Still wet from their baptisms, the first converts of the church ate together from house to house with glad & sincere hearts, breaking bread in the prescribed manner. See Acts 2:42 and 20:7-11. From the very beginning it seems God favored the idea of memorial meals as consecrated times of remembrance and, dare I say it? Sacrament. He just liked the idea of His people sitting down to a meal together, intentionally using it as a time of remembering His acts of deliverance for them. Illustration of Hampton family and the weekly “Grandma Call” dinner… The history of His covenantal relationship with His called-out people is bracketed with such memorial meals. See Exodus 20:17. There it was – a meal in special memory of the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage and set on their way to the promised land. Communion is our meal enroute to the promised land of heaven. Jesus made good and sure this dynamic connection between Passover and the Lord’s Supper. And guess what is waiting for us when we arrive in heaven? See Revelation 19:6-9. Yet today, as the church awaits the end of this age and the convening of the eternal kingdom’s perfect arrival, we still eat this meal, in obedience to the Lord’s express desire. I think it important that we be reminded of the central importance of this crucial observance, and I think it behooves us to consider afresh the revealed manner of this meal in the New Testament. See 1 Corinthians 11:23-32. Communion is a time of Celebration Re-read 1 Corinthians 11:23-25. Here we have the apostle Paul, the “Johnny come lately” apostle who learned the details of the Last Supper, not by being there in person, but by a personal interview with Jesus, who filled him in on the event (I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you…) Here he rehearses what we also have recorded in the gospels—Jesus’ establishment of the teaching that is to be emphasized in the communion. He says, Church, don’t forget—Jesus said “This is my body…” On what was arguably the most crucial night of His life, Jesus assumed the patriarchal role at the Passover celebration and told the disciples that everything about the Passover event were about Him. He stated emphatically, I am that lamb that our Jewish history points to. I will fulfill it all. But it was not to be just another celebration—just one more annual Passover feast. He taught that the meal they were sharing was transitional, and that from now on it would be different. He was to be the final summa cum laude lamb—the one and only sacrifice in all history that really mattered. His death would ransom them, and us, from the ultimate captivity: sin and death. This is my body, which is for YOU. He suffers and dies, we live. To never forget this sacrifice, do this in remembrance. Communion is a time of Rededication Re-read 1 Corinthians 11:26. The Lord told the disciples that just as the bread symbolized His body sacrificed in their behalf, so the cup, representative of His blood, stood for the new covenant He and the Father were making with those who trust Him. Without the shedding of blood, insisted the older covenant, there was no forgiveness of sin. The blood of the Son of God is the most extravagant gift ever given. Early in 1993 British police accused two ten-year-old boys of the brutal murder of two-year-old James Bulger. The two boys pleaded innocence. The young defendants responded to police questioning with noticeable inconsistency. The climax came when the parents of one of the boys assured him that they would always love him. Confronted with irrefutable evidence linking him with the crime and the assurance of his parents' love, the boy confessed in a soft voice, "I killed James." The miracle of God's love is that he knows how evil we are, yet he loves us. We can confess our worst sins to him, confident that his love will not diminish. Not only has He paid our debt of past sins, He ever lives to make intercession for us. In spite of the blessed presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we continue to fall victim to sin. But the love and the blood of Jesus will always continue to provide forgiveness and acceptance for us. That’s precisely the wisdom of the regular observance of communion. We need to rededicate ourselves to Him. Communion is a time of Proclamation The other thing verse 26 teaches us is that when we share the communion, we proclaim his death until He comes again. That simply means we ANNOUNCE His death and what it means to us. To whom do we announce it? To one another. Just before communion was passed the minister suggested, "Today as you pass the bread and cup, whisper to the person beside you, 'The body of Christ, broken for you.' And whisper, 'The blood of Christ, shed for you.'" An elderly woman went to pass the elements, but she couldn't remember the exact words. So she handed it to the person next to her, paused and whispered, "Take it. It's for sinners"! But we also confess or announce it before the Lord, restating our belief in the effectiveness of the saving work of Jesus. Let’s read, in advance of our taking the Lord’s Supper this morning, just what the gospel is, that we believe in. See 1 Cor. 15:1-8. But our proclamation is also to others: non-believers and the entire spiritual realm, including angels and demons. To take communion is to preach to everyone around that there is forgiveness of sin available because of the atoning death of Jesus! Does it change your approach to our weekly observance of communion to know that you are proclaiming the gospel when you eat and drink it? Our services would be far less mystifying service to non-believers if we just cut out communion! Communion is a time of Examination Let’s re-read verses 27-34. We’re told that we ought to “examine ourselves” (28) when we eat and drink this meal. Friends, there is no deep esoteric meaning to this. We are being told to do what David did when he cried out to God: Search me, O God, and know my heart: test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. I need a regular time of self-examination. We opened our pool this past week, and I had to back-wash my filter several times, purging the filth and dirt that the filter collects from the water. If I leave it in there it will fail to operate well, and the pool will not be clean. I need to purge my life of sinful thoughts and behaviors on a regular basis. And I think you do, too. Thank God for communion. Paul warns against partaking in this memorial in an unworthy manner. What does that mean? Well, at the very least it means purging. To not purge is to commune in an unworthy manner. But it means more than that. It isn’t just me & Jesus, you know. We are called to account before God regarding our relationships with one another. That’s what it means when it reads “recognizing the body”. Of course it is important to remember and recognize that the bread represents the body of the Lord. But any third grader who’s ever read 1 Corinthians knows what the “body of Christ” is—it’s the church. It is so important that we square away, not only our personal sinful thoughts and actions, but that we also consider the health of our relationships with our brothers and sisters. If there is anything wrong, unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousies, woundedness, anger, resentment, or offense of any kind—FIX IT! It’s in this context that some very strong language starts showing up in Paul’s letter: judgment and discipline. In a nutshell, we are being reminded this morning that if we are not using the occasion of sharing the Lord’s Supper to Celebrate, Dedicate, Proclaim and Examine our lives and repent, it is more than simply a missed opportunity. It is an out-and-out profaning of the body and blood of Jesus! And that will bring either discipline and/or judgment on (watch out!) a believer. One five-year old who was usually in Children's Church joined his parents in adult worship one Sunday, and he watched intently as his parents received communion. His mother noticed him looking at his daddy who, after taking the communion elements, was reverently bowed in prayer. She thought, "What a good parental example. Just then the five-year old leaned toward her and whispered: "What's in that stuff? You eat it and go right to sleep!" That’s exactly what you don’t want to do—go to sleep. We are to be quite vigilant about our lives, our thoughts and actions, our obedience and our relationships. That vigilance is what Paul calls judging ourselves. What kind of discipline will be applied to us if we refuse to come clean before God, repent and rededicate? Well, believe it or not, according to Paul our health will suffer. See verses 29-30. If that’s not what those verses are saying, then I must be an imbecile. It’s quite plain. Verses 31-32 take it to the next step. If we won’t judge ourselves and get right with God, then God, who like a loving earthly father, will bring discipline against us. You say you don’t like that? It doesn’t fit your idea of what God is like? I guess that’s just too bad. Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines (Hebrews 12). And why does He discipline us? He loves us and wants the best for us, and more importantly, He doesn’t want us to be condemned with the world. Now, you’ll have to work that all out in keeping with your own theology, as to what that means that a persistently non-repentant Christian might slip so far as to be condemned with the world. Just to be safe, I’ve decided to take it for what it says, and I neither want to go there, nor do I want any of my brothers and sisters in Christ to go there. The Lord’s Supper is a time of examination. Communion is a time of Rejuvenation When you were a kid, did you ever disobey your parents by staying out too late? You know you are going past your curfew, but being with your friends is so much fun… Then the moment of truth starts crowding you, your friends are going home, and there you are. It’s time to face the music. If it were possible, you’d like to not go home. You know what’s waiting for you there. But you finally make tracks toward home. When you arrive, a belt or a hickory switch then makes tracks on your backside. And when it’s all over and your parents somehow convince you they still love you, and you just need to learn to obey—at some level, all is right again. Communion is our coming, not to a mean and abusive parent, but our loving father. It’s asking him to let you know how you are displeasing him, and being genuinely repentant for those things. Then, receiving anew the grace and mercy that He faithfully extends through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, you hug Him and recommit to His loving purposes in your life. Communion brings us back to our senses, brings us back to the joy of our salvation, brings us back to our God. When Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong, one of the first things he did was to stop and take communion. He wrote, "I called back to Houston, 'Houston this is Eagle. This is LM (Lunar Module) Pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to ask each person who is listening in to give thanks in his own individual way." Later he said this meant taking communion. “I opened the little plastic packages that contained bread and wine. I poured the wine into the chalice. In the 1/6 gravity of the Moon, the wine curled gracefully up the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid to be poured on the Moon, and the very first food eaten there were consecrated elements. I read "I am the vine you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit for you can do nothing without Me." Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus gave us the communion because we need it. Let’s not waste this precious memorial meal ever, by not taking full advantage of the Spirit filled opportunity to Celebrate the salvation and hope that Jesus has provided for us through the gifts of His body and His blood in our behalf Rededicate ourselves to the One we promised in covenant is our Lord Proclaim to one another, God, unbelievers, angels and demons the beauty of the gospel we believe in, declaring the death of Jesus is the vicarious satisfaction for our sins, past and present. Examine ourselves to purge through repentance all that does not please the Master and let Him work His marvelous grace in our lives. And to be rejuvenated in Him, recovering the joy of our salvation. A lot of people like to debate the advantages and pitfalls of taking the Lord’s Supper weekly. I think we ought to consider more fully the danger of taking the Lord’s Supper weakly.     [Back to Top]