The Lord's Supper

We are continuing our sermon series called “Being the Church” where we are taking an in depth look at what the Bible says the church is and how local congregations are to gather themselves to celebrate and proclaim the gospel.

Just to remind you of where we have been in this study, we started by saying the church are all those who are called out of sin through the gospel to be God’s holy people.

Then, we looked at how the Bible expects all those that are part of God’s holy people, to gather together in local churches so that they can grow in their discipleship.

And the way these churches are to gather is in church membership which we said is nothing more than the way we describe the mutual commitment we make with a local body of believers to help one another grow in Christ together.

After that, we spent a whole sermon talking about how if we are going to have membership at this church that actually makes a difference in our lives and helps us grow in Christ, then it must be a membership that is marked by fellowship.

And biblical fellowship is not just being friendly with one another. It is loving one another enough to help each other follow Christ.

Then last week, we started looking at how the church marks off and celebrates this fellowship by practicing the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

As Josh taught us about Baptism, we saw that baptism is how the church marks off those who have been called out of their sin through their faith in the gospel.

When someone gets baptized, it is a proclamation that they have died with Christ and now live for him, and it is the church’s way of affirming that this person has been forgiven of their sins and now follows Christ.

And today, we are going to spend our time focusing on the second and last ordinance given to the church, the Lord’s Supper.

The reason we call Baptism and the Lord’s Supper ordinances is because these are acts that were ordained, or instituted, by Christ.

And Jesus gave us Baptism and the Lord’s Supper because both of these acts symbolically proclaim the gospel, and by practicing them, we remember and celebrate our salvation as God’s people.

I. What is the Lord’s Supper?

Where Baptism is a one-time act in an individual Christian testifies that they have been justified and saved through faith, the Lord’s Supper is how Christians regularly and repeatedly celebrate that salvation together as God’s people.

The church, in baptizing us, recognizes us as one of God’s holy people, and we are gatheredt and are gathered with God’s people in his church.

It may be imperfect, but think of Baptism as the vows of a marriage ceremony, a one time event where a couple makes a commitment to one another.

The church, in baptizing us, affirms that faith and welcomes us as a member of their local body.

And think of the Lord’s Supper as the anniversary where we renew our commitment again and again.

Though in recent years, the Lord’s Supper has become nothing more than a religious ritual in many churches, it is of vital importance for every Christian and every church to recapture its meaning and purpose because it is a Christ ordained practice that allows us to celebrate the gospel and to worship him.

If we are going to honor Christ in this church, we must practice the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper biblically.

And my hope today is to show you the glory of the Lord’s Supper so that as we practice it in our church, it is rich in meaning for us as a body and builds us up spiritually instead of just being an activity we happen to do when we go to church.

I. What is the Lord’s Supper?

Now let’s start with what exactly is the Lord’s Supper? What I think will be most helpful in our time together, is to give you the whole definition and meaning of the Lord’s Supper up front, and then back track and show you how we come to that definition and meaning biblically.

Basically, to help you track with this, the sermon is going to be organized like this.

First, we are going to define what the Lord’s Supper is and exactly what it means. In this section we are going to take a 30,000 foot view looking at the basic theology of the Lord’s Supper.

My main goal here is to give you the big picture of what the Lord’s Supper actually is.

Then, in the second section of this sermon, we will look at what the we are doing when we take the Lord’s Supper. Here we will do a deep dive on all the biblical texts that inform our theology of the Lord’s Supper.

Basically, we will look at what the Bible says in regards to the Lord’s Supper and explain how that informs our definition from the first section and shapes the Lord’s Supper more explicitly.

Finally, we will look at how Christians should then celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

After we define the Lord’s Supper and walk through the passages that give shape to its meaning, we will look at how we should celebrate the Lord’s Supper so that it can be something that is spiritually beneficial to us as opposed to just being another religious ritual.

So to start, what is the Lord’s Supper?

As simply as I can say it, the Lord’s Supper is The church’s act of remembering Christ’s death and celebrating their union with him and with one another by renewing their commitment to the Lord and each other through receiving Christ’s benefits by partaking of bread and wine which represent Jesus’ body and blood.

Now some of you are thinking, I thought he said simple. So let’s walk through this line by line before we dive into how we come to this definition from Scripture.

The church’s act

What this means is that the Lord’s Supper is an act that is practice by an entire local church as one.

In Paul addresses the church and how they ought to take communion saying four times “when you come together,” implying that Paul understood the Lord’s Supper to be an act practiced when the church gathered together.

Now this does not mean that every time we take it, we need to take attendance of our membership roll and if someone is absent, we are unable to then celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

After all, every week we have volunteers who are serving in LM who are not present in our main service to where they can take which would mean we could never take the Lord’s Supper as a church.

All this means is that we only practice the Lord’s Supper at gatherings where it is understood that the whole church is gathering together.

So in other words, the Lord’s Supper is not a private meal that is able to be taken among friends or as individual families. It is also not something that even small groups of Christians can take even if that small group is a part of the church like CG.

The Lord’s Supper is a meal celebrated by the church. Take away the gathering of the church, we take away the Lord’s Supper because it is the church’s act.

of remembering Christ’s death

In giving the Lord’s Supper as told in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians, Jesus took the bread and the wine and said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

The act of partaking in the Lord’s Supper reminds us of Jesus’ death and its meaning.

Taking of the bread that is broken and drinking of the wine that is poured out dramatically portrays the events gospel to our sight and taste because Jesus’ body was broken to pay the debt of our sin and his blood was poured out to wash us clean.

Therefore, the Lord’s Supper is a meal where we remember what God did to save us and make us his people.

When we eat and drink, each of us says, together, “I eat this bread and drink this cup because of what Jesus did for me on the cross when he died for my sin.”

and celebrating their union with Him and one another

Not only is the Lord’s Supper an act in which we remember Christ’s death. It is also an act where we celebrate our union with him and one another.

In , Paul says that when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we participate in the blood and body of Christ.

Now what does it mean that we “participate in the blood and body of Christ?”

It means that when we partake of the bread and wine with faith, then we participate in what Christ’s broken body and shed blood obtained for us.

That means that we participate

It means that when we partake of the bread and wine with faith, then we participate in what Christ’s broken body and shed blood obtained for us.

That means that we get to share in and enjoy our forgiveness, reconciliation, adoption, and all the other blessings that Christ has given us.

In fact, the Greek word for “participate” is the same Greek word translated as fellowship in .

That is why the Lord’s Supper is often called “Communion.” In participating the Lord’s Supper, we commune, or have fellowship, with Christ because we share in the salvation he won for us on the cross.

In a very real sense, when we take communion by faith, we get to experience our salvation anew. Not that we are saved again, and again, and again, but that in remembering, we celebrate again and are reminded anew all the blessings of salvation.

Therefore, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we share in the body and blood of Christ. Now what exactly does that mean?

And the “we” is crucial there. As we commune with Christ and have fellowship with him together, we therefore have fellowship with one another.

The Lord’s Supper gives expression not only to our union with Christ as individual Christians who have died with him in his death, it also gives expression to our unity in Christ with one another.

It means that when we partake of the bread and wine with faith, then we participate in what Christ’s broken body and shed blood obtained for us.

It means that we participate

It’s not like we are a few dozen people who are having a private devotion to the Lord in the same room. We are actually one body in Christ. We are God’s family ,and we celebrate that in our meal together.

by renewing their commitment to the Lord and each other

As we saw in the last section, the Lord’s Supper is first a foremost a celebration of Christ’ finished work on our behalf to save us from our sins.

But just as much as it being an act that proclaims the gospel, every time we take the Lord’s Supper we also reenact our response to the gospel.

When we take the Lord’s Supper, we are effectively saying, “Jesus’ body was broken for me. His blood was shed for me.” By taking the elements of communion you are confessing, “This gospel is true, and it is true and effective for me. Jesus is my Savior.”

And to receive Christ as Savior is to submit to him as Lord. We can’t say, “Jesus saved me from my sins,” while we still walk in the very sin that he died for.

To be forgiven of our sin is to be given a new heart that wants to love Christ more than we desire our sin. God gives us new desires and fills us with his Spirit to walk in obedience as an act of worship.

When we take the Lord’s Supper as an act that confesses Christ is our Savior, we are also renewing our commitment to Christ and committing ourselves to live for him.

In addition, when we commit to Christ in partaking of the Lord’s Supper, we also commit to Christ’s people.

The Lord’s Supper is an act that says, we have fellowship with Christ through faith and share in his salvation.

And the Bible is clear, because we have fellowship with Christ in taking the Lord’s Supper, we also have fellowship with one another.

As If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

That tells us that when we take the Lord’s Supper, not only are we renewing our commitment to follow Christ, we are also renewing our commitment to love our brothers and sisters in the church.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Taking the Lord’s Supper entails that we are willingly taking responsibility for other members in our body. It is an act that says, because we love God, we are committed to following him together and helping each other on the way.

That being the case, if we claim that we As such, the Lord’s Supper

To sit at the family table so to speak is to sit next to and join all the brothers and sisters.

In the Lord’s Supper, we renew our commitment to both Christ and his people.

through receiving Christ’s benefits

So this remembering of Christ’s death and recommitment to Him and his people happens through receiving Christ’s benefits. What exactly does this mean?

Christ’s benefits are what he accomplished in his sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection. They are things like salvation. Forgiveness. Adoption. Grace. Freedom from Sin. Love from God. And everything else Christ has given us through the gospel.

And when we take the Lord’s Supper, believers receive these benefits.

This is what Paul meant in by saying that when we take the bread and cup we participate in the body and blood of Christ.

Does that mean that we don’t possess those benefits before or apart from taking the Lord’s Supper? Or does that mean that regardless if someone is actually a Christian, if they take the Lord’s Supper they are automatically given salvation?

Not at all. The Lord’s Supper is an act of faith. Christ and all the benefits of salvation are already yours through faith in the gospel.

All this means is that when you take the bread and the cup in faith, the physical signs of the Lord’s Supper actually support and strengthen your faith and walk with Christ because in commemorating the gospel, you get to enjoy all the benefits of your salvation anew.

Think about it this way. When you show up on Sunday, you are already trusting in Christ. You are already a believer in the gospel.

But as we preach Christ from the Scripture, you are convicted of sin and awed by his grace which leads you to trust in the gospel more fully.

In that moment you, embrace Christ anew. You submit to him with greater earnestness and you experience the forgiveness of your sin and peace with God afresh.

Taking the Lord’s Supper is similar to that. It doesn’t confer any spiritual benefit in and of itself.

It only provides spiritual benefit to us when we practice it in faith.

And when we practice the Lord’s Supper in faith, we grow in Christ, we are spiritually benefitted because in it we embrace the truths of the gospel all over again in its truth.

by partaking of bread and wine which represent Jesus’ body and blood.

At the last supper, Jesus took two elements, the bread and the wine, and he said they were signs of his body sacrificed for us and his blood poured out to atone for our sins.

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

Membership That Matters

Patton Shinall / General

Being the Church / Member; Fellowship; Church: Fellowship and Unity; Love; Brotherly Love; Humility; Loyalty; Commitment / Acts 2:42; Ephesians 4:1–6; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Hebrews 10:23–25; Colossians 3:12–14; John 13:34–35; 1 Corinthians 1:10; James 3:14–16; Philippians 2:1–4; Ephesians 2:19; 1 Corinthians 12:18; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Corinthians 13:1–7

Membership that matters requires biblical fellowship.

Intro

1. We are in our third week of our series called Being the Church where we are looking at what it means to be a biblical church and this is our second week focusing on what it means to be a member of a church.

2. Last week, we looked at how the Bible clearly instructs every Christian to join a local church and commit to follow Jesus with other believers.

a. The way God has designed the Christian life is that Christians need to live in community with others.

3. But church membership today is not a very popular term. Some people come from backgrounds where being a member of a church didn’t actually mean anything or make any practical difference in their daily life.

4. Still others come from backgrounds where church membership amounted to little more than blunt force trauma as abusive pastors wielded it in legalism.

5. When we talk about church membership here, all we mean is committing to a local body of believers to grow in Christ and share the gospel together.

6. Church membership is not a term that is found in the Bible. It is simply how we describe what it means for us to commit to each other and help one another follow Jesus.

7. As believers commit to one another, we submit ourselves to a body of believers who love us and are able to hold us accountable to follow Christ.

8. In doing so, we are able to guard the reputation of Jesus and his gospel before a watching world because we are able to affirm that those that claim to represent Jesus as his ambassadors actually do.

a. This guards the church from being labeled as religious hypocrites who are no different than those of the world.

b. Not only that, but it allows us to present a clearer picture of the gospel’s power to save because as members of local churches grow in Christ through other members’ ministry in their lives, we show that Jesus really does save sinners.

9. But what I don’t want to do is simply tell you, “Ok. The Bible says you should commit to a local church. Now go obey it.”

10. Instead, I want to spend this morning teaching you why committing to a local church is necessary and beneficial for your faith and for the work of the gospel.

11. It is so crucial for God’s people to commit themselves to a local body of believers in membership because without Christians joining together to follow the Lord, the church would not exist and the gospel would not be preached.

12. This is how the great Baptist Pastor Charles Spurgeon understood the need for Christians to belong to a local church because he said, If those who are Christ’s refrained, even for a generation, from numbering themselves with his people, there would be no visible church, no ordinances maintained, and, I fear, very little preaching of the gospel.

13. What Spurgeon feared was that if people who claimed to be a part of God’s people did not actually join together and commit to one another in local churches, that there would be no city on a hill.

a. There would be no beacon of hope for the lost.

b. And there would be no body of believers faithfully preaching the gospel so that more could be saved.

14. With the stakes so high for Christians to commit to a local church in membership.what I hope to show you this morning is that becoming a member of a church is not just a command that the Bible expects every Christian to obey.

15. Instead, I want you to see church membership is a blessing because in committing to other believers, we are joined together in fellowship to help one another to follow Christ.

I. What Is Fellowship?

1. When we say fellowship what exactly do we mean? This is another one of those Christian buzzwords that has become so diluted in overuse, that many Christians don’t actually know what they mean when they say it.

a. Some people call it fellowship, others call it community, but many Christians look at it as nothing more than friendship or having kindness with one another.

b. And those things are definitely present in our fellowship with one another, but having fellowship means so much more than just being friendly.

2. Biblical fellowship is being united together in love and committing to help one another grow in our discipleship to the Lord.

a. It is community with a purpose.

b. Being joined together fellowship is about being a part of the body where we are all committed to love one another and serve one another the best we can so that all of us can grow in Christ together.

3. We get the idea of fellowship from the very first description of the church in the Bible. The word used for fellowship is not found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, or even Acts 1. But after the church is born, here is how Luke describes the relationship early Christians had with one another.

Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

1. This verse describes the four activities that characterized the life of the early church.

i. These included the apostles teaching, which is the proclamation of the gospel, fellowship, breaking of bread which is Luke’s way of saying the Lord’s Supper, and prayer.

ii. Now these are all familiar to us, and we practice all of them together, but I want to focus on fellowship because that is probably the activity that is least understood by Christians today.

2. The word for fellowship comes from a Greek word meaning “partnership” or “sharing.”

a. So this tells us that having fellowship with one another involves celebrating and rejoicing in something that we share in common.

b. This of course refers to our common faith.

Ephesians 4:1-6 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

1. This is a picture of what it looks like to have fellowship. There is a kindness, affection, and brotherly love for one another that leads us have to unity in our body which we will discuss in further detail in a moment.

2. And as we continue Paul says the reason we share in this fellowship is because...

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

1. There is one name by which all people must be saved and that is the name of Jesus Christ. God Incarnate who lived a sinless life for us, and died in our place under God’s wrath on the cross, and rose again three days latter so that when we put our faith in him we are forgiven of our sins and are transformed from God’s enemies to his sons and daughters who have genuine fellowship with him.

2. In fact, 1 John 1:3 tells us that the reason we are able to have fellowship with one another is because we all share fellowship with God himself.

3. But this fellowship that we share is not just our fellowship with the Lord. It is also a fellowship, or a sharing, of a common life together as we all seek to follow Christ and put our sin to death.

4. Basically, to have fellowship with one another means that we, as a church, are a community of people who share a common faith in Christ who love one another and walk with each other in our Christian life so that all of us can grow in our faith together.

5. When we have fellowship, we are joined with with people of like mind and heart who are totally committed to Christ and to one another with the purpose that we love and serve each other so that all the members of our body are able to grow in Christ.

6. If I were to give you a single definition for fellowship, it would be Loving each other enough to help each other follow Jesus.

7. The Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation. It was never designed for someone to follow Jesus by living out a private commitment of faith.

8. It was meant to be lived in community with other believers who love the Lord and love one another enough to use their gifts and share their life together to disciple each other in the Lord.

9. True, biblical fellowship really is about committing to one another in a such a way that we are able to look one another right in the eye and say, “I love you and I’m committed to you and helping you grow in Christ however I can so that we can continue growing in Christ together.”

10. But without joining a church in membership, this kind of commitment is impossible because it needs to be a mutual commitment between the church as a body and its individual members.

a. Otherwise, you would have some people who are committing to one another in fellowship only to get burned by others who had no interest in making that same commitment to them.

11. Here’s the big idea. Outside of it being an act of obedience, becoming a member of a church is beneficial for you because it allows you to join in a community of believers who love you and are committed to helping each other live lives changed by Jesus.

Notice that Jesus commanded us to do this. The Lord’s Supper is not something that was invented by the church. It was instituted by Christ himself.

12. As Paul said in 1 Cor 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

a. You simply cannot live the Christian life without being a part of the body.

b. Someone that claims to be a part of the body of Christ without joining the visible body of Christ in a local church has radically distorted the Christian life.

c. You need the fellowship of other believers to disciple you, to encourage you, to correct you out of love for you if you are going to grow in Christ.

d. But not only does this tell us that membership is necessary for our Christian life as individuals, it also tells us something very important about our life together as well.

e. If we do not work for and guard our fellowship with one another, then membership in our church becomes meaningless.

f. Fellowship is the very blood that flows through the veins of the church to make us one body instead of individual parts.

g. Without fellowship, without a genuine love and concern for one another, and commitment to one another our body is nothing more than a corpse. We are lifeless and withering away.

13. If we are going to have membership that matters, that actually helps all of us to grow in Christ together, it is not enough for us to make some kind of formal commitment to membership. Our membership must be marked by fellowship with one another.

II. What Does Fellowship Look Like?

1. But being told what fellowship is, isn’t all that helpful. It is not something rigid that you can learn from a textbook or by a definition.

2. Fellowship is inherently relational. To know what it is, you need to be given a picture of what it looks like.

3. What then, should our commitment to one another actually look like biblically so that you and I can grow in our fellowship with each other?

1. Gathering Together

Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

1. The author of Hebrews instructs us to hold fast our confession of hope. What he is advocating is that we never lose our grip on the gospel. It is the foundation for all our spiritual life, and every Christian is called to remain faithful to Jesus because Jesus himself is faithful to save us.

2. And then in verses 24-25, the author tells us how we might stay faithful to our walk with the Lord. He says we need to gather with other Christians to encourage one another towards love and good works.

3. In other words, we are called to gather together to encourage each other to love the Lord and to love one another so that we can all obey the Word of God together which is just another of saying that we need to commit to have fellowship.

4. How can the people of God stir up one another to love and good works if they do not regularly gather together? Its impossible.

a. Now Christians are to meet together all kinds of ways. They can gather formally in Sunday services and small groups. They can also informally over coffee or dinner.

b. But I want to focus on our commitment to gather to worship together on Sundays because I think many Christians have forgotten the importance of the Sunday Gathering for their spiritual life.

c. If we forsake our commitment to meet together to worship, we forsake the fellowship of other believers and cut ourselves off from a key, God ordained source of biblical instruction, encouragement, accountability and spiritual growth.

5. We live in a day and age in which Christians have no problem doing the very thing the author of Hebrews warns us against. He says that we are not to neglect meeting together as is the habit of some.

6. Every Christian must be committed to gathering with the people of God on Sundays to worship the Lord.

a. Using the language from Hebrews, it is the habit of some to neglect the weekly gathering and look for any opportunity available to use as an excuse to not go to church.

b. Too many Christians approach gathering together on the Lord’s day as a duty or a task. Its something that is done out of obligation or quickly pushed aside if something better comes up, even if that something better is as trivial as staying home in our pajamas.

7. We need the fellowship of believers because lone sheep are easy prey for sin and wolves.

8. Being faithful to gather with the saints to worship the Lord, to hear his Word, to encourage and pray for one another helps to insulate you from the sin and false teaching that is always being pushed on you by the world.

9. Why would a Christian not take advantage of this protection so they can continue following the Lord faithfully.

10. Your commitment to gathering together with other believers in Sunday services, small groups, or informal get-togethers speaks volumes about who you are and what is most important to you in your life.

a. Especially in our culture where time is our most valuable commodity, what we give our time shows us what we worship.

b. If we are neglecting gathering together with other saints to worship theLord because we’d rather be doing something else, does that say we love the Lord and his people or some idol we’ve made for ourselves?

As such, the Lord’s Supper is something that every Christian should regularly participate in out of obedience to Christ because, as we’ve seen, it is an act that edifies, or builds up, or faith.

11. Your participation in church is so much more than a once or twice a week activity. Its our life together.

a. Its is gathering with the people of God who have been saved from their sin and are coming together to celebrate that salvation in worship.

12. We should want to be gathered with God’s people every opportunity we can get.

13. When we gather together, we get to share in our common love for the Lord and his gospel. We able to build and deepen friendships, bear one another’s burdens, comfort each other, encourage each other, see first hand what God is doing in the lives of our brothers and sisters. But that only happens if we are around each other.

14. So part of what it looks like to have fellowship with one another means that we actually get together. Particularly on Sundays to worship and also throughout the week in small group and informal get togethers so that we can stir one another up to love and good works.

15. My goal is not to guilt you in coming to church. You’re all already here. My goal is to help you see the blessing of gathering with the saints so that you can have a shift in mind where we don’t see gathering together as just another obligation, but an opportunity for fellowship and worship of the Lord.

2. Loving One Another

1. Number 2, fellowship also looks like loving one another.

2. For us to have fellowship with one another, not only do we need to gather together, but when we gather together we need to do so in love.

3. It’s not enough get a bunch of Christians into a room and call that fellowship. Fellowship is relational. That means how we interact and relate to each other in love is what marks us off as a fellowship of believers.

4. And this love is shown in how we obey the “one another commands” of the NT.

5. In the NT there are more than 30 one another commands that God gives so that we can live as his Kingdom people.

6. You see, through faith in Jesus’ sinless perfect life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection, we are forgiven of our sins and transferred from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son.

7. And as citizens of his Kingdom, we share a new life in Christ where we get to experience some of the blessings of living in Christ’s Kingdom here and now by living under his reign in our life together as the church.

8. And this life together is meant to marked by love, unity, and togetherness. There is to be a sense that we are genuinely, truly, and sincerely for each other’s good.

9. To be a true church, we cannot be satisfied with coming in, sitting down, hearing a little about Jesus, and walking right back out all while claiming that we are engaged in the life of the church.

10. Because The church is not an organization. The church is its members. That means to be engaged in the life of the church is to engage in our life together as God’s people.

That begs the question. How often should Christians take the Lord’s Supper? Now we will address occasions where Christians should not take the Lord’s Supper later in the sermon, but ordinarily, Christians should participate in the Lord’s Supper as often as their church practices it since part of the act itself speaks to us being a unified church body.

11. And when Hebrews 10 says we are to gather together to stir one another up to love and good works, this stirring up happens in our fellowship with each other.

12. Allow me to give you a partial list of what it looks like for us to have fellowship with one another:

a. Build One Another Up Rom. 14:19

b. Admonish One Another Rom. 15:14, Col. 3:16 which means to speaking into another believer’s life with the aim of changing sinful behavior

c. Bear One Another’s Burdens Gal. 6:2

d. Forgive One Another Col. 3:13, Eph 4:32

e. Comfort One Another 1 Thes. 4:18

f. Reprove One Another Tit. 1:3 which means to scold or correct one another with gentleness and love

However, the Bible gives no set direction as to how often churches are to do this. Paul only says in For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

g. Encourage One Another Heb. 3:13, 10:25, 1 Thes 4:18, 5:11

h. Confess Our Sin and Pray for One Another Jam. 5:16

i. Serve One Another Gal. 5:13, 1 Pet 4:10

j. Be Patient with One Another Eph. 3:2, Col. 3:13

as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This seems to imply that churches are able to make the decision as to how often they practice the Lord’s Supper as long as it is a regular practice of the church.

k. Be Kind to One Another Eph. 4:32

l. Be Humble Towards One Another Phil. 2:3, 1 Peter 5:5

So you have some churches that do it once a quarter, others do it once a month. Here we do it weekly because we believe it provides us all the opportunity to regularly examine our lives and relationships and repent of any sin or division before those things are allowed to take root in our hearts.

m. Live in Peace with One Another Rom 12:16, 15:5, Gal. 5:26

Now when it comes to the bread and wine, we need to answer two questions. First, why do we need use grape juice instead of wine, and second, what actually happens to the elements when we take communion because this has been long debated over the history of the church.

First, must we use literal bread and literal wine?

13. This is what our fellowship is supposed to look like.

When Jesus gave the Lord’s Supper, he was simply using the foods associated with the Passover. Wine and bread cannot be mandatory because the church exists in cultures where there are no grapes and wheat isn’t grown.

I think wisdom says that if you are able to match the Passover meal, you should do it, and in cultures where it is not available, you should use the most common foods of the culture which express as best as possible the symbolism of the Passover meal.

Now when it comes to using grape juice over wine, there is some history here about how churches have come to use grape juice instead of wine, but suffice it to say, in our culture, using alcohol causes more trouble then its worth.

Some people’s consciences do not allow them to consume alcohol. Even worst, what about the person who is recovering from alcoholism after finding faith in Christ? Should we spurn our brothers and sisters by making the Lord’s Supper impossible for them?

Of course not. To do so would cause our brother or sister to stumble which Paul explicitly condemns in 1 Corinthians, and also, it would make a division in the church which goes against one of the main purposes of communion in the first place.

So we use grape juice because it symbolically represents the same meaning as the wine.

And the word symbolically actually helps us answer the second question, what happens to the elements in the Lord’s Supper?

The Catholics would say that they become the literal body and blood of Christ through a process called transubstantiation. What that means is that they believe the sacrifice Christ again and again and again every time they take the Lord’s Supper which rejects the Bible’s teaching that Christ’s sacrifice paid for sins once and for all.

Instead we believe that the bread and wine only symbolically represent Christ’s body and blood. They stay bread and wine, but when we take them in faith, they become symbols for something more.

The Lord’s Supper is primarily an act of remembrance, and the bread and wine are symbols that help us to remember the literal body and blood of Christ that was broken and shed for our sins.

So in summary, the Lord’s Supper is The church’s act of remembering Christ’s death and celebrating their union with him and with one another by renewing their commitment to the Lord and each other through receiving Christ’s benefits by partaking of bread and wine which represent Jesus’ body and blood.

So if that is what the Lord’s Supper is, what exactly are we doing when we take the Lord’s Supper together as a church?

a. If you want to see what it means for us to have fellowship with one another, you need to look no further than how the NT commands us to share our life together and ask, is my life in the body marked by these things? Am I loving others in the way that Christ desires us to love one another?

14. In fact, the very bedrock of all the one another commands of the NT is the command from the Lord that we love one another.

Look what Paul said in Colossians 3:12-14 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

1. Notice that Paul is telling us to put on those things which embody the one another commands of the NT. He is telling us to put on those things that grow our fellowship. But then in verse 14 he says...

14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1. Love is the foundation that gives shape to all our life together as Christians. Without love, we cannot obey any of the one another commands.

a. We cannot forgive one another. We cannot be patient with one another. We cannot bear one another’s burdens because without love for one another, we will always choose to love ourselves instead.

b. Jesus said that all the commands of the Bible could be summed up in two commands. Love God and love others.

c. And it is crucial for us to love one another because without this love, Jesus says it is impossible to prove that we are his disciples.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1. Don’t miss what Jesus is saying. The way the world knows that we are Christ’s disciples is in how we love each other.

2. And Jesus even defines how we are to love one another. He says, just as I have loved you. Jesus loved us sacrificially. He gave himself to suffer for our sins for our salvation.

3. Therefore to truly love someone else, we must be willing to sacrifice. We must be willing to give. To serve them for their good and growth in Christ just like Christ did with us.

4. Loving others isn’t rooted in asking what good can these people do for me? It is rooted in a heart that says what good can I do for you?

5. When you start looking at the body and asking, “What can these people give me?” you turn fellowship upside down.

a. You invert it into something it was never meant to be and turn it into a self centered taking instead of a mutual giving.

b. This kind of attitude completely kills true fellowship because fellowship is about a mutual commitment for one another’s good.

c. Coming to others and demanding they love you just the right way, coming to them and saying that fellowship looks like them being your best friend and satisfying your relational needs, shows that you have no interest in actually loving them, but only loving yourself.

d. And this will always leave you disappointed because people cam never live up to your expectations, and in your disappointment you will be tempted to make excuses and say, “These people don’t love anyone. I don’t feel connected here. I’m going to go somewhere else” And you move on to the next group of people until they fail you and then you’ll just repeat the cycle.

6. Instead, we must all commit to sacrificing for the good of others. To seek not our own interests but the interest of others and if everyone in our body is committed to loving each other that way, we will experience biblical fellowship.

a. I think one of the reasons people are afraid to love one another sacrificially is because they are afraid of being taken advantage of and abused, which I totally understand. That’s why I think takers are wrong and abuse the generosity and love of the body.

b. However, if we are all committed to doing what we can to love each other like Christ loved us, then no one will be taken advantage of because our body will experience a mutual love and edification. Not a one sided monstrosity.

c. And again, this heart of sacrificial love is not built on a command to love one another. It is meant to be an expression of the same kind of love God himself as poured out on us in Christ.

7. The church must be a loving community whose members share their life and faith for one another’s good.

8. When we gather together and love one another with a sacrificial love, we show the world a picture of the gospel.

9. We show in real time that Jesus changes sinners into worshipers who are transformed from the heart and show that the message that we preach is as powerful as the Bible claims it to be.

10. The way that we love one another is meant to be a picture of how God has loved us in Christ. Therefore, the duty of every member of the body is to ask, “Do I love others in this body in a way that shows to the world that God is love and his gospel has the power to save?”

11. If we have nothing else, may we fulfill the law of Christ and love one another because without love , our fellowship is powerless to glorify Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1. And what does Paul say our love for one another should look like?

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1. If we are going to have membership that matters, we must have a fellowship that is marked by love for one another.

III. How Do We Grow In Fellowship?

1. So we’ve seen that when we commit to a church in membership, not only do we obey the Bible’s pattern for the Christian life, we also get to experience the blessing of fellowship.

2. Biblical fellowship is committing to live in loving community with one another and help one another grow in Christ.

3. And the way that we enjoy this blessing is by gathering together and loving one another sacrificially in an effort to stir one another up to love and good works.

4. So if having fellowship with one another is the difference between membership that actually matters and membership that is a title only, the question then is how do we grow in our fellowship with one another?

5. I believe there are three things.

1. Mutual Submission that Builds Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

1. Allowing division to creep into the body kills the fellowship and love we are called to have in the church because in division, we are no longer sharing mutual love and concern for one another’s walk with Christ we are looking out for ourselves.

2. And James tells us what causes this division.

James 3:14-16 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

1. James says that division comes when we harbor jealousy and selfish ambition in our hearts. When we are looking out for number 1 first and everyone else last.

2. This by definition, disrupts the unity of fellowship we have because true fellowship is to be marked by a sacrificial love for each other, not by self interested pride.

3. That’s why James says do not boast. He is saying that when we are more concerned about getting our way in our relationships with other believers, we boast in our pride because we say we are better than everyone else, or at least that one person.

4. In doing so, we are false to the truth. What truth? The gospel, because the Bible is clear that we cannot say we love Christ while hating our brother or sister.

5. James goes as far to say as this reflects a demonic heart and will result in sin upon sin, upon sin in the life of the body.

6. So how do we guard against this division? Well if James says the problem is selfish ambition, then we must follow Christ’s example and count other more significant than ourselves..

Philippians 2:1-4 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

1. True fellowship only happens as we mutually submit to one another saying, “Because I love you I want your good before my preferences.”

2. To have fellowship, we must be humble with one another. We must realize that we are most blessed in the the life of the church not when we get our own way, but when we love and serve others.

3. When we count others more significant than ourselves, it guards us from treating one another with pride which always leads to division.

4. Instead, we are able to build our unity together, and strengthen our fellowship because it puts teeth to our claims that we love one another and are committed to each other growing in Christ above everything else.

5. We must work for unity.

6. The second way we grow in our fellowship is by committing to loyalty to the body.

2. Loyalty

Ephesians 2:19 But you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

1. When we become a Christian through faith we are brought into God’s household. Another way to say this is that we are made a part of God’s family. Truly, the Bible even says that in Christ we are adopted as God’s very own sons and daughters.

2. And our inclusion in God’s family is expressed here and now by joining a local church as brothers and sisters.

3. That means we, as members of our church, are a family together, and unity within God’s family requires loyalty both to Him and His people.

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.

4. The consumer mentality that has taken root in the church today has no interest in loyalty and spurns God’s call to commit to a local body of believers.

5. The modern trend where believers excuse themselves to float freely from church to church without ever firmly planting in one place is a completely foreign concept to Scripture.

6. It is sad when people treat churches like consumers.

a. When they will go to a church as long as it is meeting their felt needs, but the moment they stop feeling their felt needs met, they unplug and move on to another body that they believe meets those needs better.

b. Many American Christians see themselves, whether consciously or unconsciously as consumers of religious goods and services that are provided by churches.

c. They “pay” for goods and services with their presence, participation and giving, but they retain the right to go somewhere else if they find a producer, or church, that offers a better deal.

d. They then justify leaving a body because “it just isn’t meeting our needs.”

7. But this is strikingly different then the pattern we see in the NT.

a. The church is a family and someone does not have right to simply leave their family when they find a better one. Why? Because you are apart of that family.

b. Joining a church is an expression of commitment to the fellowship of believers in that church. Not a commitment to having our needs met.

8. What this means is that if we are going to have membership that matters, then we cannot have a fellowship that is easily broken.

9. We can’t simply bail out whenever we want to go somewhere else.

10. To do so says that you were more interested in using others in the church for your own ends than actually loving them.

11. And ironically that mentality limits people from ever experiencing true, life-giving fellowship, because this heart follows them to their next church, yet they never wonder why they encounter the same exact problems.

12. To commit to a body means just that. It means you commit to be a part of that body and stick with those people in the good times and bad.

13. Sure there are legitimate reasons to leave a church.

a. If God moves you to a new city where you will no longer be able to attend your current church because of distance that’s a good reason.

b. If you are sent out by your church to join another gospel work in which you can play an important role that is a great reason and churches should be joyful to lose people that way.

c. Maybe your church has stopped teaching the Bible. And if you’ve tried to change it, or you aren’t in a position to help correct that, then you must leave for the sake of your discipleship.

14. But most people do not leave a church for a biblical reasons. They commit to the church conditionally, and the moment someone offends them or they don’t like a decision that’s made, they don’t stay and try to reconcile with their brother or sister or submit to church leadership.

15. They just say they are gone. And it leaves the rest of the body hurting and confused because a part of their body was violently cut off.

16. Quite literally when a member leaves for illegitimate reasons they are amputating a key part of the body.

1 Corinthians 12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

1. No Christian becomes a member of any body by accident.

2. When you commit to a local church in membership, God sovereignly places you in that body to serve the work of his Kingdom.

3. If someone leaves a church without solid biblical reasons they are subtly saying that God made a mistake in arranging the members of this body and you now need to correct it.

4. The Bible’s call is that we remain loyal to each other and biblically try to work through the hard times together.

5. We are to refuse to be cavalier about cutting ourselves off from the people who have stuck with us and loved us and poured into us.

6. And when we remain faithful to our church and work for love and unity with other believers especially when we sin against each other, we give the world a picture of God’s own faithfulness, love, and forgiveness to his people.

7. And when we have this mutual commitment to one another, our fellowship is able to grow and each part of the body is able to play their role in God’s Kingdom which allows as Paul said in Ephesians 4:16 the body to grow and build itself up in love.

3. Prayer

1. Number 3. To grow in our fellowship with one another, we must gather together, we must commit to loyalty to the body, and we also must pray that God will give us true fellowship.

2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

1. The gift of fellowship is a work of the Holy Spirit in our body.

2. We cannot manufacture it on our own.

3. Practically, this means that if we are going to have fellowship with one another, we must first pray that God would give our church this gift.

4. And then, as we see opportunities to love and serve one another we walk in those opportunities by faith.

5. And we need to pray for fellowship because our fellowship is what holds us together as the body of Christ.

6. Peter says that Christians are like living stones who are being built up as a spiritual house. 1 Peter 2:5.

a. Today God is building his people to be a spiritual house which is why the Bible calls the church the Temple of the Holy Spirit and Peter likens Christians to living stones.

b. When you build something with bricks and stone, you need mortar to hold them together.

c. What this teaches us is that because we are being built into a spiritual house, the mortar that holds us together is spiritual.

d. We are not held together by social bonds or personal affinities. We are held together by the spiritual bond of fellowship given to us by the Holy Spirit.

7. Our fellowship with one another is a spiritual work. Therefore, we must pray that God would give us unity and help us to love one another and commit help one another grow in Christ.

8. To think that we can do this in our own power and not by God’s grace forgets that Jesus promised that he would be the one to build his church.

9. We need to pray that God would work in our church to give us the bond of fellowship so that our body is a gathering where God’s Kingdom reigns and we grow in Christ together.

Conclusion

1. The only way to have church membership that actually matters is if our commitment to one another is rooted in biblical fellowship.

2. Without fellowship, church membership becomes nothing more than names on a piece of paper.

3. It is this precise reason that many churches no longer practice any kind of formal commitment because they never anchored that commitment with fellowship. You simply cannot have one without the other.

4. And in doing so, we’ve made Christianity a private faith. A wild wild west religion filled with lone rangers all trying to make it on their own.

5. But Christians were never meant to follow Christ alone. They need other believers who know them, who love them, and who are committed to helping them follow the Lord in good times and bad.

6. If we are truly going to be a church that follows Jesus, we need to have fellowship with one another.

7. And this fellowship is made possible as we commit to one another in church membership and gather together to love and serve each other.

8. Becoming a member of a church is beneficial for your Christian life because it joins you in the fellowship of believers so that you can grow in Christ and help others do the same.

9. If we are willing to do this. If we are willing to truly share our lives with others and commit to help one another grow in the Lord, then we will have church membership that matters.

10. And in having meaningful membership, we will get to experience what it means to be a church that is building itself up in love so that together, we are able to live lives changed by Jesus.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

1 John 4:7-11 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Page . Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:56 AM October 7, 2019.Passover

Act of Remembrance

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.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Renewing Sign of the New Covenant 31

Communion

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?

II. What Are We Doing When We Take the Lord’s Supper?

Celebrating The Gospel

First and foremost, when we take the Lord’s Supper together, we are celebrating the gospel and all that God did to save us.

16 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

Now it is significant that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper at the Passover.

You’ll remember that God gave this meal to Israel as a way to remember how he delivered them from slavery in Egypt.

God had sent Moses to Pharoah time and time again, saying “Let my people go.” And time and time again, Pharoah refused. So God brought judgments against Egypt in the form of plagues and eventually God promised to bring his most severe judgment that would finally compel Pharoah to let the people of Israel go. God was going to kill all the first born sons of all of Egypt.

But God was going to protect his people from the wrath he was about to pour out on the land of Egypt. To do this, God was going to mark off his people with the blood of lambs and goats who were pure and without blemish.

God instructed his people to sacrifice the lambs and goats and place their blood over their door posts. In doing so the Lord would not execute his judgment on any house that was covered by the blood of a holy sacrifice.

Basically, God was saying, take this lamb that is pure and perfect, and kill it. Then take its blood and mark off your houses so that when I let my wrath fall on the Egyptian you will be covered and protected by a pure sacrifice.

You are my people who I have called out, and my wrath will fall on Egypt but not on you.

So ultimately the Passover meal was a sign of deliverance for God’s people. It was a sign for the Jews that God had redeemed them and saved them from the wrath he poured out on Egypt.

And this passover foreshadowed what God would do for all his people. Where the Passover commemorated Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt and protection from God’s wrath poured out there, Christ is now our Passover lamb who delivers us from sin and death through his sacrifice on the cross who takes the wrath of God for our sins upon himself so that we can have our sins paid for and be forgiven.

The Lord’s Supper gives new meaning to the Passover meal. In giving it Jesus gave us a meal to celebrate again and again and again that retells the story of our salvation.

It brings God’s past act of salvation on calvary into the present and tells every Christian, that though we were lost in our sin and under God’s wrath, he delivered us in Christ who saved us.

This is precisely what Jesus himself said going back to .

17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Jesus said that his body was given for us. He said that the cup of his blood was poured out for us.

19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

And don’t miss that Jesus says the the cup is the new covenant in his blood. What this means is that the Lord’s Supper is the sign of God’s faithfulness to bring about his new covenant promises to his people.

Centuries before this moment, God had promised to make a new covenant with his people where God would write his law on his people’s hearts and filling them with the Holy Spirit to transform them from inside out to love what he loves and do what he commands.

In the new covenant, all of God’s people would know the Lord, and God would forgive them fully, absolutely, completely of their sins and remember them no more. And Jesus says this all came to pass through his death and resurrection, and the Lord’s Supper is the sign for God’s people to remember that he has saved them and forgiven them of their sins and they now worship him as their heavenly Father.

As such, the Lord’s Supper proclaims the gospel as the very meal of sustenance for all the Christian life. Just as the bread and wine nourish and refresh our bodies, the gospel nourishes and refreshes our spirit so that as we remember the gospel, we continually renew our commitment to follow him.

Passover/New Covenant/justificationvsanctification 282

And this is actually the second thing we are doing in taking the Lord’s Supper. Not only do we remember the gospel, but we renew our commitment to Christ.

Renewing Our Commitment to Christ

The word translated remembrance in this passage has a much stronger and richer meaning the mere recollection of a past event.

It is remembering an event with such vividness and power that it actually effects our present.

Thus, when we remember Christ death in faith in taking the Lord’s Supper, we remember clearly, vividly, that Christ suffered and died for us. That his body was broken for us. That his blood was poured out on our behalf. That he suffered the wrath of God so that we would never have to.

And in remembering this way, all of Christ’s benefits are brought to bear on our lives here and now. We remember anew his salvation. His forgiveness. His grace, love, and mercy. In that moment, in remembering Christ’s sacrifice in taking the Lord’s supper, we can’t help but renew our love for him, our thanks to him. and our worship of him.

This is exactly what we talked about earlier in receiving Christ benefits from...

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?

In taking the Lord’s Supper, remembering the gospel, we participate and share in our salvation all over again. Not in a way where we are “re-saved," but in a way that overwhelms us with gratitude so that we are able to say to Jesus all over again, “Lord, my whole life is yours.”

Celebrating his death For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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.”

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Renewing Our Commitment to One Another

Not only do we renew our commitment to the Lord in taking the Lord’s Supper, we also renew our commitment to one another as his body.

This meaning of the Lord’s Supper is probably the least known aspect of the ordinance by a majority Christians, and in losing this aspect, we lose something essential to the Supper itself.

-25For 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.”

Just as Baptism symbolizes our commitment to Christ and his church, The Lord’s Supper serves as a renewal of that commitment.

The word translated remembrance in this passage has a much stronger and richer meaning the mere recollection of a past event.

It is remembering an event with such vividness and power that it actually effects our present.

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? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Here Paul links the Lord’s Supper to the unity of the body.

He talks about the vertical fellowship with Christ we enjoy in the Lord’s Supper, and he draws a straight line to how that effects our fellowship horizontally with one another.

Paul’s central claim in verse 17 is that we are one body and he supports that claim two times by saying that we are one body because we all partake of the one bread.

Of course this doesn’t mean Paul is telling us that we need to use literally one loaf. This is shorthand for the church’s corporate, all-together gathering where they celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Therefore Paul’s point is that because we all share in fellowship with Christ when we take the Lord’s supper, this unity in Christ actually creates the unified body of a church.

In a very real sense then, taking the Lord’s Supper together is the act that makes a church a church.

God makes a local church in two steps.

First, makes Christians by sending preachers and missionaries to proclaim the gospel. Through faith, individual believers commit to Christ and become his disciples.

But in order to make a church, these Christians have to commit to one another. A local church doesn’t spring up every time to Christians bump into each other at the grocery store.

A church is more than simply a group of Christians in the same place. A church is a group of Christians who are committed to one another to help each other follow the Lord.

But how does the church express this commitment? Through the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is where faith goes public. Its how a new Christian says “I follow Christ and belong to his people,” and allows the church to say to the world, “This one follows Jesus and is a part of our fellowship!”

In the Lord’s Supper, we renew that commitment to the Lord and his people, but different from baptism, it is something that we all do together. Where Baptism marks off an individual as a follower of Christ, the Lord’s Supper marks off an entire group of Christians as one body.

Therefore, the ordinances draw a line between the church and the world. They are how it is possible to point to something and say “church” as opposed to just saying “Christians.”

The NT is clear that there is no such thing as a churchless Christian. Every Christian should belong to a church and commit to a body of believers in whatever way they express that commitment whether it is in common law membership or formal membership like we have.

This is why we believe that a person must be a member of a gospel preaching church in order to take communion.

First, the Lord’s Supper is only for Christians and belonging to a church is how other believers affirm the faith of another person.

Second, how can someone say they are renewing their commitment to the body, if they have never commited themselves to any body of Christians in the first place? They cannot renew a commitment they have never actually made.

Now some people use this to argue for closed communion which means only members of that individual church can take communion together.

Here, we allow what is sometimes called close communion or visiting communion where any member of a gospel preaching church is able to take because we are all part of the universal body of Christ and members of churches, wherever they may be, have had that fact affirmed by other believers.

Plus, there are some instances in Acts that point to this being practiced in the early church.

The NT’s pattern is for a Christian to be a part of the body of Christ, they must be a part of a local body of Christ. To do otherwise radically distorts the Christian life.

So before someone can enjoy the fellowship of the body in taking the Lord’s Supper, they need to come into the body. They need to join the family, before they sit down at the family table. We must commit to a church before we can renew that commitment.

And it is crucial that we understand the Lord’s Supper to be an expression of our unity with one another because to fail to do so can actually lead to judgment.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

What does it mean to “discern the body?”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

This is not referring to the bread of the Lord’s Supper, nor to Christ’s own flesh. Rather it is referring to the church as the body of Christ.

In this section of Corinthians, Paul is condemning the church for abusing some of the members of their body in the way they practiced the Lord’s Supper.

Some of the wealthier Corinthians were cutting in line to eat all the food and get drunk while the poor of the church were left with nothing.

And Paul said this practice led some of them to be sick and even die because the way they practiced the Lord’s Supper did not reflect their unity as Christ’s body.

The Lord’s Supper is about the whole body coming to gether to declare and celebrate the gospel. Therefore, it is not only the meal in which we renew our commitment to Christ, we also renew our love and commitment to one another.

Renewing Our Commitment to Live for the Kingdom - committing to walk in obedience

So far, we’ve seen that in taking the Lord’s Supper we 1. Remember the Gospel, 2. Renew our commitment to Christ, 3. Renew our Commitment to one another, and lastly, we renew our commitment to live for the kingdom.

In , Christ promised that he would not share in the Lord’s Supper until he returns and in Paul wrote,

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The fact that the Lord’s Supper is connected to the Lord’s return reminds us that is a foretaste of the great marriage supper of the Lamb from the book of Revelation 19.

It serves as a reminder not only of our justification accomplished in the past in Christ’s death and resurrection, nor our sanctification here and now as we renew our commitment to Christ and his people. It also serves as a reminder of our glorification when Christ will return for us and give us new resurrected bodies to live forever in heaven with him.

With that hope in site, when we take the Lord’s Supper we proclaim Christ’s death and renew our commitment to live for the Kingdom proclaiming Christ’s death to anyone who will listen until our faith becomes sight.

So the Lord’s Supper is not only a solemn occasion where we remember our sin and the gospel, it is also a celebration where we rejoice in one day the Lord returning and making all things new!

Living for the gospel in our obedience and our proclamation

III. How Should Christians Celebrate the Lord’s Supper?

When we take the Lord’s Supper, we are Celebrating the Gospel, Renewing our Commitment to Christ and his Church, and renewing our commitment to live for the Kingdom.

This is what it means to take the Lord’s Supper. Now that we have examined its meaning, how does that meaning give shape to our practice. Or to say it another way, how should Christians celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Look Back to the Cross and Repent of Sin

The bread and the cup that you eat and drink are the signs that Jesus gave himself for you. Jesus died for your sins.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

And the Bible tells us that it is the Lord’s kindness to us leads us to repentance. So the Lord’s Supper is an opportunity to remember just how much God has and will forgive us in Christ and to confess all our sins so that we may be forgiven.

Not confessing as a way of saying, “God, now will you please love me,” but confessing our sins as a way of saying, “God thank you for loving me in Christ.”

The bread and the cup that you eat and drink are the signs that Jesus gave himself for you. Jesus died for your sins.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Its his kindness that leads to repentance. Not please love me, but thank you for loving me.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

But I would also encourage you not to allow the Lord’s Supper to become an occasion to compound your guilt. If it is a practice that produces guilt, shame, and condemnation, then you have missed the point entirely.

The Lord’s Supper proclaims that all our guilt is gone. All our debt is paid. All our punishment taken to forgive us of our sins. So confess and be forgiven.

Then as we confess our sins and take of the Lord’s Supper receiving forgiveness anew, we must determine to obey Christ and go and sin no more.

Confessing our sin with no intention of putting that sin to death is not repentance. Is presuming and scorning the grace of God. As Paul said in...

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Look Around at the Fellowship

As we’ve seen, the Lord’s Supper is the church’s meal. It is the sign and seal of our fellowship with Christ and one another.

The Lord’s Supper is not a private meal of devotion that happens to take place with a bunch of other people. It is our meal together to celebrate and worship the Lord. So revel in the fellowship with have as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Also, remember what Paul said in...

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

Use the regular occurrence of the Lord’s Supper to examine your relationships and consider whether you have sinned against someone else and need to confess. If there are any divisions between you and another member of the body that you need to heal.

And if you discover something that has disrupted your unity within the body, deal with it immediately even if it means a quick, quiet conversation in the middle of church.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

It is better to not partake that Sunday, than to take the Lord’s Supper with division in your heart.

Take of the Lord’s Supper as a family, and rejoice that in gaining Christ as your savior, he also gave you these people as your family.

Ins

Look Ahead to the Kingdom

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Lastly we must look ahead to the coming Kingdom.

I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

A day is coming when Jesus will spread a feast for us and celebrate with us.

Today, Jesus has conquered the grave and is seated at the right hand of God waiting to return and gather his church.

This is why Jesus promised on the night before his death And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Celebrating the Lord’s Supper anticipates the hope of this return.

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

All the riches that we enjoy today in the Lord’s Supper are only a foretaste of the fellowship that we will have with Christ and his people in the Kingdom.

The Lord’s Supper is an appetizer for the greatest feast ever enjoyed!

In Jesus’ death and resurrection, God made good on his promise to save his people and forgive them of their sins. And God will also make good on his promise to return to us, remake the world, destroy sin and death once and for all, and live with us forever.

So as you eat the Lord’s Supper do so with hope, joy, and eager expectation that Christ will return and bring his Kingdom.

Conclusion

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

My hope today is that we recapture the meaning of the Lord’s Supper and once again enjoy all the spiritual benefits that God gives us in this meal.

That we stop treating it as just an act of tradition that we perform when we are at church, but to see it as a weekly proclamation of the gospel.

To remember Christ’s sacrifice and enjoy anew all the benefits of salvation.

In the Lord’s Supper, we celebrate the gospel and renew our commitment to Christ, the church, and to his Kingdom.

The Lord’s Supper is so much more than a religious exercise.

It is the church’s act of remembering Christ’s death and celebrating their union with him and with one another by renewing their commitment to the Lord and each other through receiving Christ’s benefits by partaking of bread and wine which represent Jesus’ body and blood.

Let’s Pray

“Hallelujah!

Scripture Reading

For the Lord our God

the Almighty reigns.

7 Let us rejoice and exult

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

and give him the glory,

He leads me beside still waters.

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready;

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

8 it was granted her to clothe herself

with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Related Media

Related Sermons