The Significance of What We are Remembering
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Introduction:
Introduction:
There are things in life that, if forgotten, really do not make a big difference though we might act like it makes a big difference. For example, there were days when cell phones did not exists at all. People left their homes every day to go to work without cell phones in those olden times. Today, times are different. Have you left your home without your cell phone? The anxiousness that goes through you when you leave without your cell phone is palpable. The reality is that the risk that you may suffer for leaving a cell phone at home is not really as big of a deal as we often feel.
But, have you ever accidentally left a child somewhere? One year, my wife and I left one of our children here at the church. Consider the difference between leaving a child and leaving a cell phone. Morally, there are far different consequences; but it is not uncommon to feel heightened anxiety for a commodity equal to that of a child. This goes to show how often and easy it is to unconsciously slip into misappropriation of significance.
This is the way I sense that we often are regarding the Lord’s table. There is a sense in which we know that it is important, but for some, they could take it or leave it. For some, they really have lost the esteem for its’ significance.
What is the significance of what we are remembering in the Lord’s Supper?
1. It is significant because it is covenant - Matthew 26:28
1. It is significant because it is covenant - Matthew 26:28
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Covenant is not the same as a contract. With biblical covenants we are speaking of oaths which are solemn commitments. With contracts we are talking about papers that need to be signed. With biblical covenants we are speaking of commitments which are ratified or established with sacrifice. With contracts we are talking about mere agreements. Covenant carries a particular weight that a contract does not carry.
A person who has a “contract” mentality about the Christian life is one who lives their Christian life legally and compartmentally.
A person who has a “covenant” mentality about the Christian life is one who understands that the covenant is binding upon all of life.
Illustration:
My marriage is not a mere contract where I signed the dotted line. Rather my marriage is a covenant into which I have entered, for which I would sacrifice, and that is binding upon my entire living.
Are you remembering covenant this evening or merely observing the duties of a contract?
2. It is significant because it is the NEW covenant - Jeremiah 31:31-34
2. It is significant because it is the NEW covenant - Jeremiah 31:31-34
This passage of Jeremiah is a passage of consolation to the children of Judah. It is a passage of consolation because it tells them of future salvation of the Lord. It is also a passage of consolation because this promise of salvation is told to a people who are being judged by the Lord.
The significance of and central component of this passage is the covenant portion. It is here where (over 500 years before), the Lord announces that he is going to make a NEW covenant with his people. The portion of scripture is broken into three sections.
(a) a covenant of consolation that was foretold (Jer. 31:31)
(a) a covenant of consolation that was foretold (Jer. 31:31)
31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will make a new covenant With the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
(b) a covenant of consolation that was foremost (Jer. 31:32)
(b) a covenant of consolation that was foremost (Jer. 31:32)
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand To bring them out of the land of Egypt; Which my covenant they brake, Although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
What makes this foretold covenant to be foremost is when it is compared to the old covenant. This new covenant will be different than the Old Covenant to which Israel was unfaithful.
(c) a covenant of consolation that was featured by (Jer. 31:33-34):
(c) a covenant of consolation that was featured by (Jer. 31:33-34):
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, And write it in their hearts; And will be their God, And they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For they shall all know me, From the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: For I will forgive their iniquity, And I will remember their sin no more.
internal heart change
This New covenant will feature a true, supernatural heart change.
relational knowledge [of the Lord]
Everyone in this covenant will know the Lord — meaning, be in relationship with the Lord.
forgiveness of sins
This new covenant will provide a way in which sins can be forgiven eternally.
This not only a covenant, but it is NEW and provides far greater fullness than the OLD.
3. It is significant because of Christ - Hebrews 10:15-17
3. It is significant because of Christ - Hebrews 10:15-17
15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
The writer of Hebrews quotes the Jeremiah 31 covenant in two places. He does so in Hebrews 8, and he does so in Hebrews 10:15-20. It is in this latter passage, where the writer is climactically showing the superior priesthood of Jesus that we are reminded of how this covenant was accomplished.
blood - Hebrews 10:18-19
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
The forgiveness offered in the new covenant requires no more offering for sin. What offering gives us full and ready access to God now? It is the blood of Jesus Christ.
flesh
How was this way opened for access into the Holiest of All? It was opened by his body.
Note what the writer has done here in Hebrews. He has shown that the New Covenant where sins are forgiven and no longer remembered has given us direct access to God — by the blood and body of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the superior High Priest who offered himself as the superior sacrifice to fulfill the superior covenant.
Thus, we do not offer sacrifice for access to God. We offer sacrifices because in Christ we already have access to God.
Would you say that it is significant to remember this kind of access accomplished by this kind of sacrifice for this kind of covenant?
Applications:
Applications:
(1) How significant is covenant relatively-speaking?
This evening as we participate in the Lord’s table, we are participants as people who are in covenant, remembering covenant.
(2) How significant is the covenant with which you are associating?
To associate with the old covenant without really seeing how the old covenant brings you to the new covenant leads to a life of legal burdens where (a) you don’t have a new heart (b) you don’t have forgiveness of sins.
to associate with the new covenant is to understand and exercise faith in Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the old covenant. It is to have a new heart and to have forgiveness of sins — not because you did anything but because Jesus paid it all on your sinful soul’s behalf.
(3) How significant is the blood and body work of Jesus Christ?
If you want to be honest about answering this question, then take honest inventory of your thoughts, your desires, your activities. Are you really laying down your lives for one another? Are you really esteeming others better than yourself? Are you accessing the throne room with humble confidence? What do you anxieties tell you about your faith?
The significance of what we are remembering this evening cannot be overstated.
The new covenant promised by the Lord in the OT has been brought about and established in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Here the words of the Lord again: I Corinthians 11:25
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.