Luke 22:14-20 | The Wrong Idea
Notes
Transcript
Avoiding Prophecy
Avoiding Prophecy
Engage
I have made no secret of the fact that I am typically apprehensive about preaching on prophetic events. To some degree I feel that, I can focus on things in future once I have mastered the things in the present. But more than anything else I just have very little confidence that my understanding is going to be accurate.
I think we could look at a book or the movie of something as contemporary as Left Behind and conclude that as technology has changed and as political situations in the wold have changed, we could come to other conclusions.
It is interactions like what we find in our passage today that warn me to be cautious.
The passage is found In Luke 22:14-20
And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Our message this morning is entitled “The Wrong Idea”
Pray
Cups
Cups
Tension
This is a pretty common passage for us covering the Last Supper. But Jesus makes some statements that the Apostles just completely mis understand
In Luke 22:15-16 we read:
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
They are having the Passover meal or Sedar. In the Sedar they would drink of 4 cups. We find the meaning of these cups in the I will promises of Exodus 6:6-7
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
First cup
First cup
First is the Sanctification Cup. It represents that God will bring them out. Out of bondage, out of the oppression by the Roman Government. In context this cup reminds them that God separated them from Egypt to make them a unique people.
Second Cup
Second Cup
The second cup is the praise cup. God says in Exodus “I will rid you out of their bondage” and so they give praise for this with this cup.
Third Cup
Third Cup
The third cup is the cup of redemption and it is the cup that accompanies the breaking of bread. It follows God saying I will redeem you.
This is the cup it is believed that we are reading about taking place at the Last Supper.
Exodus 12:8 says
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
A tradition that they didn’t have a solid understanding for.
Jesus said of this :
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Jesus says it is remembrance of him and incidentally the Jews today still eat unleavened bread with the third cup and explain it as substitution for the Passover lamb that they can’t slay because the temple has been destroyed.
And so as Jesus says “This is my Body and this is my Blood” he is making a statement as to the nature of his mission. He is that third cup, the Redemption spoken of by the law and the prophets.
Fourth Cup
Fourth Cup
There is also a fourth cup. The cup of Acceptance, as God promises: I will take you to me for a people”
It is interesting that we only read of the Third Cup in scripture and after this cup all we read is that they went away singing, no mention of any other cups.
Some believe that the fourth cup was skipped. The four cups were tradition after all and some wiggle room could be afforded. But some believe, that the fourth cup will be taken in the Kingdom fulfilling what Jesus said:
For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Again, this is prophecy and not a hill I would like to die on. But it is a neat idea none the less.
No Idea
No Idea
Truth
The Disciples didn’t really get what Jesus was saying though, about not taking the meal again it is done in the Kingdom of God.
They knew that something big was coming, that a major change what on it’s way and that the Kingdom of God was at hand.
And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
They thought that the physical Kingdom was coming. The thought that this time next year, when they had the passover meal with Jesus he would be reigning over Israel in Jerusalem.
That is why they are jockeying for position. Trying to figure out who the greatest is. Who is going to get the best position when the Kingdom is established.
They really had no understanding, despite all of the times Jesus explained it. By this time on the next day, Jesus would be laying in the grave having been crucified by Roman soldiers at the will of the Jewish leaders.
The Best Outcome
The Best Outcome
Application
The Disciples heard what they wanted to hear. I think I can be guilty of that at times. My number one reason for holding to a pre-tribulation rapture is that I don’t want to go through tribulation. And I have to check that and make sure that my traditional and my desire aren’t clouding my objectivity when studying end times prophecy.
But people have a long history of reading scripture how they want, in order to serve their interests.
John MacArthur lamented in one of his sermons
The question of what Scripture means has taken a back seat to the issue of what it means "to me."
And this is a very relevant statement. As I review materials that can be used in Sunday School or Small Group settings, and as I look at evangelistic materials. I find that this is the question in Bible studies.
It’s like looking at a painting and asking “How does this painting make you feel?”
There has even been a pushback in this line of thinking in the art community. An article in the “Journal of Aesthetic Education” stated
Never ask students how an artwork makes them feel. If the work makes them feel happy or sad or whatever, that’s fine. But it’s not our concern as educators” — “What we care about as educators is how spectators are learning to think, not about their emotions which are subjective”
But that is how so much of Christianity is reading scripture. How does this passage make you feel. What does this passage mean to you. At the end of the day, we need to be teaching what scripture means to God, not validating how a passage makes us feel.
Sun Setting
Sun Setting
I remember years ago, when he was very early in his Christian walk, a friend and I were discussing Eph 4:26
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
And I had referenced this passage to say that we can’t let ourselves continue into the next day harboring wrath. We need to forgive before it festers into something greater. My friend however read that to mean that we were hold on to our righteous indignation and not let it fad out like the sun setting.
It would have done no good for me to affirm this misunderstanding of scripture. For me to say that this was his truth, who am I to contradict it. God meant something when he had Paul write it The context points to a meaning, Jewish colloquialisms point to a meeting, and similar phrases in the Old Testament all point to a meaning. And when our understanding of scripture doesn’t fit with the context we can’t afford to shoe horn in our understanding where it doesn’t fit. Instead we need to modify our understanding and to always be seeking out what God’s meaning is, not our own.
Inspiration
Inspiration
God says in Isa 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways,
And my thoughts than your thoughts.
See here is what I tend to find out. I might have a mistaken idea about some spiritual concept. And after study and prayer what I find out is that not only was I wrong but God’s truth is so much better than my misunderstanding. God’s truth shows him to be so much greater than i was giving credit for and so beyond my imagination.
I don’t want to take this too far, there is a very specific situation going on in the Old Testament when this is mentioned. But Joseph was confronting his brothers who sold him into slavery and he says:
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Is every hardship we go through going to turn out as great as it turned out for Joseph? Not likely. But we need to give place for God to work and to not be in despair when things aren’t going as planned.
When growing in your relationship with Christ you find that over time, as you have relied on God in this or that situation and you have seen how doing things God’s way ends up better off than doing things some quicker or easier way that we might have considered. That faith to turn things over to God, to surrender our will and follow his guidance. That kind of faith grows and we can become more and more faithful in how we handle situations that come up.
Breaking Bread
Breaking Bread
As the disciples sat around that table listening to Jesus speak of time coming where he would have the passover with them again. They had no clue what was in store for the next several days.
In their understanding of how things would play out. Something big was going to happen soon and Jesus was going to be made King of the Jews. Maybe they expected some sort of rebellion. Maybe they thought that this would be the time that Jesus would defeat their enemies and free Israel from the control of Rome.
But here is what happens instead: Jesus is apprehended in the garden, denied justice in a joke of a legal proceeding, executed on a cross, having the wrath of all sin poured out on him from God. Defeating sin and the devil and rising from the dead in three days.
They would walk with him and talk with him again and at Pentecost they would receive the Holy Spirit and perform great works in Jesus name.
The truth of God would spread by the work of the Apostles. Multitudes would follow Christ at their preaching. They would be prophets. Many of them would either write Holy Scripture or dictate it to be written. And at some point their names will be written on the 12 foundations of New Jerusalem.
So who’s plan was better. Theirs or Gods?
God’s Way
God’s Way
Action
It is sometimes very hard for us to let go of our preconceived notions. It is hard for us to put aside our pride and our sense of entitlement.
We come to these crossroads all the time in our life. Scripture gives us instruction that we should handle things a certain way, but, that isn’t always that easy.
Some folks like to make the quip “God said it, that settles it”. I think that works out really well on political issues or in taking doctrinal stands that we really aren’t challenged on. It can be a bit tougher when we apply that same standard to our personal life. When we apply that standard to our own hearts, when it is inconvenient.
But. Here is what I know. God’s plan is better than your plan. You will look back and be happy that you did things God’s way.
If you are struggling to do things God’s way. If it just seems inconvenient or interferes with the you reckoning of how things ought to be. If you are a Christian we can agree can’t we. God is smarter than we are! Stop wrestling with things an just commit today do things God’s way. I know it’s not easy, but in the end you will be better off.
And if you haven’t made a decision to follow Jesus. To turn from your sins and put your faith and your trust in him. When is it going to be. You can keep fighting your conscience day after day, or you can do things God’s way and have peace. I would love to talk about that if you want to come down and ask any questions you might have.
Closing Prayer