Fellowship in the Supper
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Life together in Fellowship
Life together in Fellowship
We are not meant to walk in Christ alone, we are meant to walk in fellowship with one another and to share with others to bring them into fellowship with Christ. This morning we will be looking at the fellowship of Supper.
Previously in this series we have looked at:
We are to have fellowship with one another
We are to be an intimate, relational family (fellowship)
We all are part of the body and the body does the body good!
We share in fellowship when we share in our giving
We are in this series at the point where we are looking at the various acts of worship (Act2:42) after looking at our giving is an act of worship.
42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Breaking of bread, aka the Lord’s Supper also known as Holy Communion.
It was instituted and commanded by Christ (Lk22:14-20)
14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the 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 say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken some bread and 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 in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
Paul called it communion (1Cor10:16)
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
Communion: (N) - the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level. also: the service of Christian worship at which bread and wine are consecrated and shared.
When we celebrate this communion it is intimate between you and the Lord but also between us collectively. There are those who ask why we do it weekly, and what does this have to do with fellowship?
So, this morning we are going to look at
The meaning of the Supper
The fellowship of the Supper
Preparing for as well as protecting the Supper
The meaning of the Supper
The meaning of the Supper
The Supper is a reminder to most, but maybe to some it is a question on why along with other questions.
It is a memorial (1Cor11:23-25; Mt26:26-28)
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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 He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
According to (v.24) it is a memorial that we are commanded to do. I will go to the words of Jesus on this issue too.
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
It is a reminder, a memorial, to us now that His blood was shed for the remission of sins.
It is a proclamation (1Cor11:26)
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
A proclamation until he comes, which also makes it a promise that He is coming again.
It is a proclamation of the sufficiency of His acceptable sacrifice on the cross.
It is a time of reverence, and self -examination (1Cor11:27-29)
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
It’s a time for us to take in a reverent manner because we know we fall short and are not worthy, but because of His sacrifice and the sufficiency of His sacrifice we can take it. We can take it because of our faith in the totality of his sacrifice for us and His worthiness.
It’s a time to reflect on our own spiritual condition and come to Him to be reminded of His sacrifice, His mercy and His grace.
A time to remember the Lord’s grace given (2Cor5:18-6:1)
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1 And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—
Reconciled so we might become the righteousness of God in Him, by receiving and walking in His grace.
A time to commit to living for Him because of His given grace (2Cor5:14-15)
14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
The faith of the apostles recorded for us so as to become our faith so we too no longer live for selves but have died and rose again too. We accept God’s grace when we die to self and live for Him.
It is a communion (1Cor10:16)
I already mentioned it is a communion earlier, but it is a part of the meaning so needed to bring back in. In this version it uses the word participation
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Without a doubt I’m confident that you can see the vertical part of the fellowship, between you and the Lord when you take the Lord’s Supper. Now we move on to the fellowship together.
Fellowship of the Supper
Fellowship of the Supper
Fellowship together when we celebrate the Supper. Let’s look to see horizontally how it impacts us since we have already looked at vertically.
It is fellowship together as one body (1Cor10:17)
17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.
Though we are many parts that make up the body (1Cor12:12), when we partake together we are reminded that we are one body in unity doing it together in the pattern seen in the N.T.
Partaking together strengthens our oneness and our fellowship
It is a vertical act of worship - between us personally and God
It is a horizontal act of worship - fellowship, communion, when we do it with each other.
It is a key act of worship that we do on a weekly basis (expand briefly)
It is fellowship together when we wait for one another (1Cor11:33)
33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
Notice it says when we came together, that is the optimum time for us to do it, and they in the early church would come together on the first day of the week. Well, maybe you can’t make morning service, so we make it available at evening service. Maybe you are sick or home-bound and cannot get out, we try to make it available to you too to bring it to you. We should make the effort to come together as a family, in fellowship with one another on the Lord’s day in the morning so we can do it all together.
So here we have meaning, we have fellowship, so now how do we prepare and protect this act of worship?
Preparing and protecting the fellowship of the Supper
Preparing and protecting the fellowship of the Supper
We prepare for the day, we prepare for a meal, and we should take time to prepare for our fellowship in the Supper.
We try to prepare by directed songs about the Supper; to prepare our heart
We prepare by special talks to bring focus via the scripture to the Supper
We prepare by special directed prayers regarding the Supper
Prepare by remembering it is a reconciliation that happens (Eph2:13-16)
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
Reconciliation between man and God and man to man when we fellowship in the Supper together.
Prepare by remember His worthiness for we all fall short (Mt26:20-22; Rom3:23)
20 Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. 21 As they were eating, He said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.”
22 Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, “Surely not I, Lord?”
Here are the apostles and Jesus says one will betray and they all wonder is it them? Well the answer is yes, we all can betray Him, for we all fall short
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Communion - Lord’s Supper)
Are we a betrayer of Jesus - We are when we break his commandments, so we need to remember and celebrate the Supper together because of His faithfulness and worthiness
We betray Jesus when don’t take Him at His Word, at His promises - so we need to remember the Supper and take it because of His sacrifice, because of His truth!
Think about that dreadful night, he washed the feet of the one who was going to betray him, the one who would deny Him and the ones who would scatter from Him and yet He longed to have this Supper, this Passover with them, as He does with us when we fellowship with Him and with each other when we take the Supper.
May we reflect on these things as we take the Supper this morning and I will come back for just a couple of minutes when we are done.
(Lord’s Supper slide-Stop recording) Prayer, Supper, Offering, (Lord’s supper opening slide again) give invitation (invitation slide) Song, Prayer (exit slides)