A New Kind of Supper

Bookmarks & Needs:

B: Luke 22:7-20

N: Elements for myself

Opening

Good morning, and thank you for being here in person and online for this very special day in the life of Eastern Hills Baptist Church. We are going to take the Lord’s Supper together for the first time since December 29, 2019. We had intended to celebrate the Supper on March 29, but we went to online-only services on March 22. So this moment is really exciting for me, and I pray it is exciting for you! We’re going to take a little one-week hiatus from our study of the book of Amos, kind of catch our breath from the message of judgment and justice that God has brought to us through the prophet, and focus on the Lord’s Supper this morning.

Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read our focal passage from Luke 22 this morning, and then as we prepare our hearts through prayer.

Luke 22:7–20 CSB

7 Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him. 10 “Listen,” he said to them, “when you’ve entered the city, a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters. 11 Tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished room upstairs. Make the preparations there.” 13 So they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 Then he said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

PRAY

We’re going to dive right in and face the elephant in the room (can an elephant be on the Internet?) this morning. This morning feels different. It feels strange. It doesn’t feel like the Lord’s Supper. About half of our fellowship isn’t here in the building, and while they can see some of us, we can’t see them. I have entitled this morning’s message “A New Kind of Supper.” This is largely because we have never had a Lord’s Supper like this one before. There’s no big table and pretty plates holding the elements. Here in the building, you picked up your cup and wafer when you came through the foyer. Lots of you are holding the elements right now in your homes, because you came and picked them up or had them delivered. It’s weird, and we aren’t big fans of weird. We like things normal, predictable. And this is kind of anything but that.

Generally, the practice of the Lord’s Supper here at Eastern Hills has been the same for as long as I have been here… and not just here as pastor, or as youth pastor, but the whole time: 31 years. I don’t remember it really ever being different. We might have tried some other things once or twice, I guess… but it’s been the same. My entire framework on the practice of how to serve the Supper has been shaped by how Eastern Hills Baptist Church has served the Supper. Eastern Hills has always been very reverent and respectful of the Supper, and I always want us to be. I admit that this online hybrid Supper thing is kind of stretching my thinking about the Supper and about the church body and how things might need to work, at least for a time, in a pandemic-facing world.

So this Supper is unlike any before it. And for some of us, that might be bothersome or upsetting. Would it help if I told you that we are in very good company in this whole idea of this Supper being different? While it is a “new kind of Supper” for us, imagine being there at the first Lord’s Supper. Isn’t the “first” of anything, by definition, different? At that first Supper, the Lord Jesus changed some things about the Jews’ very traditional celebration, redefining it with a new act to remember, a new meaning to the elements, a new covenant between God and His people.

So our title this morning is a little bit of a double entendre, because while we admit and accept that this is a new kind of Supper for us, we will also look at the Scriptures and see that it was a new kind of Supper the first time as well.

First of all, it was a new Passover.

1) A new Passover.

According to the Gospels, the first Lord’s Supper occurred at the time of the Passover festival. Jesus and His disciples were to eat the Passover meal together, and it was to be the last meal that He would eat with them before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion.

Luke 22:7–14 CSB

7 Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him. 10 “Listen,” he said to them, “when you’ve entered the city, a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters. 11 Tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished room upstairs. Make the preparations there.” 13 So they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him.

For those of you who might be a unfamiliar with the concept of the Passover, it was a celebration that was given by God to remember how He had worked on behalf of His people in order to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. The reason that it is called the Passover is that God brought judgment on Egypt and deliverance to His people through the same act on the same night, when He “passed over” the houses of the Israelites that had had their doorposts marked with the blood of a special lamb. The lamb was sacrificed and its blood was put on the doorposts and lintel of the doorways of their homes as a testimony and as an act of faith.

Exodus 12:1–7 CSB

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ families, one animal per family. 4 If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each will eat. 5 You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. 7 They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them.

Exodus 12:13 CSB

13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

That night, God judged Egypt by striking down the firstborn of the Egyptians, and in doing so, broke the will of Pharaoh, who finally agreed to let the Hebrew people go. The first Passover was a release of God’s people from the physical bondage of slavery, and to most Hebrew people was to that point the single greatest event in Israel’s history, even in the time of the Gospels.

The reason that I say that the Lord’s Supper is a new Passover is that the original Passover lamb was a type, or a prefiguring, of Jesus Himself. Paul even wrote that Christ is our Passover Lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7, clearly connecting the two together.

1 Corinthians 5:7 CSB

7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

The lamb’s blood was shed so that the people that were under the blood would be protected from the wrath of God as He poured it out in judgment. And Jesus does the same thing, but rather than Him protecting us from the wrath of God as His judges a nation holding us as slaves, His blood covers us from the judgment of God upon us for our sin, which holds us in chains stronger than any nation could have every conceived or created. And He did this not because we deserve it, not because we earn it, but simply because He loves us.

1 John 4:9–10 CSB

9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Since Jesus is the “atoning sacrifice” or propitiation for our sins, He took the wrath of God that our sins deserve upon Himself, paying the full penalty for us, and dying in our place. This is how He is our Passover Lamb. His blood covers those who trust Him in faith, and rather than passing over in the sense of skipping judgment on our sin, it’s that our sins are “passed over” to Jesus Himself, to His account, and He is punished instead of us.

And this is how the first Passover was new: instead of a lamb dying so the Hebrews who acted in faith would be protected from judgment and set free from physical bondage, Jesus died to provide anyone who comes to Him in faith protection from the punishment we deserve, and to set us free from the power of sin that enslaves every single person.

So Jesus instituted a new kind of Passover at the Lord’s Supper. But He also imbued it with a new perspective.

2) A new perspective.

As these Jewish men came together that night, they had a particular expectation about what was going to happen at the meal. The sharing of the Passover meal was a very traditional thing, even down to a script that was to be followed, especially in families with children. The Passover was remembering the most important thing that had happened to God’s people in their history. It was a perspective of looking back to the past work of God on their behalf. But at that first Lord’s Supper, Jesus was going to give a new perspective… a perspective that for the men around that table, was about something that God was in the midst of doing, not something that He had already done.

Luke 22:15–19 CSB

15 Then he said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus tells them clearly that He is about to suffer, and that this Passover would be His last, until the fulfillment of everything that God is in the midst of doing—until His Kingdom fully comes. When He takes, blesses, and distributes the bread, He does so saying something that for most Jews would have been extremely controversial, even blasphemous.

He tells them that the bread is His body, given for them. And we see this from our perspective and it’s not shocking at all. It might not have been particularly shocking for His disciples, given what Jesus had said about Himself earlier in His ministry, as recorded in John 6:

John 6:47–51 CSB

47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

However, the thing that would have been perhaps the most shocking, even to His disciples, is that Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Jesus takes this festival which was given by God to commemorate the Exodus, and He tells them that rather than using it to focus on that deliverance, use it from that moment forward to remember what Jesus was about to do for the world. I believe that for these Jewish men, this would have been mind-blowing. A meal that had been tradition for 1300 years was now going to be given a new vantage point to view it from, a new act of God to reflect on and celebrate, a new meaning that even in that moment, they didn’t fully comprehend.

And that’s what we do this morning: we come together to take the Supper in remembrance of what Jesus has done, and continues to do in our lives as we walk with Him by faith. This Supper is a celebration of our Savior, and how He shed His blood so that we could be set free. And it brings us together as a family in Christ, as His body and bride, even as we can’t all be together in person. I’m so grateful for the technology that allows those family members who cannot be here in person this morning to connect to the life of the body in this way.

So they had a new Passover, a new perspective, and it all came down to a new point.

3) A new point.

The point of the original Passover was to bring God’s people, whom He had covenanted with through their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, out of their bondage in Egypt, so that He could fulfill His promises to them and renew His covenant with Him so that He could fulfill His purposes through them. We’ve talked about this in Amos for the past couple of weeks. Moses was the mediator of that renewal of the covenant. The men around that table would have again understood that to be the point of the meal together.

But now Jesus comes and says that this cup would create a “new covenant,” one that would be “in [His] blood,” which would be “poured out” for us.

Luke 22:20 CSB

20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

The idea of a new covenant was something that the Jewish people had been looking forward to for about 600 years by the setting of this passage in Luke. God had promised it through the prophet Jeremiah in the 6th century BC.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 CSB

31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. 33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

No longer would sacrifices be necessary to cover the sins of the people, because God would provide the means of forgiveness in His new covenant. He has done this through Jesus’ death on the cross in our place.

No longer would He be separated from His people, but He would write His teaching on human hearts, and give us the opportunity to KNOW Him personally. He has done this by giving His Holy Spirit to those who belong to Christ by faith.

And as Moses was the mediator of the first covenant, now Jesus would be our mediator, our intercessor, because He lives forever having defeated death and having overcome the grave. The author of Hebrews writes:

Hebrews 9:15 CSB

15 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

And before we take the Supper together, I must ask: Do you need Jesus? Are you trapped in your sin and shame? Do you need a Savior to set you free? Do you know God? Is your relationship with Him right? Because God loves you, Jesus died so that you could be forgiven and set free. And if anyone trusts Jesus for their forever, surrendering themselves to Him as Savior and Lord, they will live forever with Him in heaven. Scripture affirms this over and over again. Jesus is the only way. I pray that there is someone hearing this right now, who is trusting Jesus for the first time.

This is the point that Jesus gave the Supper that first time, and the point that remains to this very day: He died so that we could be saved, and be in a right relationship with God through faith.

The Supper

If you belong to Jesus, if you are a Christian, even if you just surrendered to Him, then you are welcome to eat and drink at the table of the Lord this morning. Since this Supper is the remembrance of something that Jesus has done for each of us, if you do not belong to Jesus, if you have never trusted Him as Savior and Lord, then please do not take the Supper. I don’t say this to judge or guilt you. I say it because I love you, and I love Jesus. I would love to talk to you about that if you have any questions.

Let us take our cups and open the tops. Take the wafer, and let’s pray together.

PRAY and ask the Lord’s blessing the bread.

Jesus said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Carefully open the tops of the cups. The Scripture says that Jesus blessed the cup as well.

PRAY and ask the Lord’s blessing on the cup.

Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Please place all of your cups in the little cupholder circles in the backs of the pews in front of you, and they will be collected later.

Closing

We have just experienced something new for us. We took part in the Lord’s Supper in a way that none of us ever have before. We joined together the congregation here in the building with our brothers and sisters who couldn’t come in person this morning. We are actually embracing the difference of this time, rather than running from it. We want to worship our Lord together as a church family, even though we can’t all be together, because we love one another and want to encourage one another. I’m so grateful for everyone’s understanding and participation this morning. I’m so thankful for our church family.

This has been a family gathering. And if you’re looking for a church family and you live in the Albuquerque area, ask the Lord if He might be leading you to come and be a part of Eastern Hills through formal membership. If that’s you, and you’re here in the room, please stay after we release everyone, and we can talk a little more about that.

We have one couple who has come this morning, believing that God is leading them to make that very step. Aaron and Krystal Ward have been attending Eastern Hills since before COVID, but have had to hold off on church membership until now. I have met with them and heard their hearts and their testimony of faith in Christ. We’ve discussed the Statement of Faith of the church, and they are in complete agreement. They believe that God is leading them to join Eastern Hills as their church home. If you will celebrate this decision with me and will pledge, as members of the body of Eastern Hills, to walk with them, encourage them, serve alongside them, pray for them, and receive them as family in this body, would you please raise your hand and say AMEN? Give them a hand. Unfortunately, we can’t do the meet & greet time down front with the Wards.

Earlier, I gave everyone a chance to respond to the Gospel message before we took the Supper together, and if you did respond by surrendering your life to Christ before we took the Supper, would you please stay behind for a few moments after the others leave? I want to be able to talk to you and pray with you, and most of all to celebrate with you. But perhaps even in the midst of our taking of the Supper, you have been convicted of your need for Jesus, or you have questions about salvation. Please feet free to stay in your seat after we release everyone, and we’ll talk afterwards.

Finally, if you feel you need to come and pray on your knees at the steps, they are available to you. Donna is going to come and play a song of reflection while we pray. If you would like to use this time to give your offering online, you can do that as well. If you want to give in person, you can do that in the plates as you leave the sanctuary this morning.

PRAY

Closing Remarks

Thanks again for being here this morning. Again, if you want to talk about salvation or about church membership, just stay in your seats as everyone leaves. We’ve had a great time for the last 22 days reading a section of Psalm 119 all together. I hope that’s been a blessing for you, as I know it has been for me. So many have commented that it was great to know our whole church was reading in the same place each day. Since that’s the case, we’re going to have another Bible reading plan. The Gospel of Matthew has 28 chapters, which would take us four weeks if we read one chapter a day, every day. So we are going to start reading the Gospel of Matthew together beginning tomorrow, and ending on Sunday, September 27. There will be reminders on Facebook and there is a schedule you can save or print on our website on our “What’s Happening” page. This will take a little more time a day than Psalm 119 did, but a couple of extra minutes shouldn’t be a problem!

Give instructions for leaving.

I’m going to ask the Wards if they’d like to go and head out to the courtyard, and if anyone would like to make a COVID-safe introduction out there, you can do that. God bless you, my church family. Have a wonderful week.