Communion Easter 2021

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 (ESV)

The Lord’s Supper

17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

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

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. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

This evening, I would like us to think about verse 26.

Paul recalls what was revealed to him about what happened in the Upper Room at the last supper.

He recalls how Jesus broke the bread and passed the cup

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

And He said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And then Paul makes this comment about what Jesus told us to do.

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

You proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

When you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are making a proclamation.

We say, “Actions speak louder than words”. It doesn’t mean that words are never necessary, but it’s true that we can’t say one thing and do something else.

In the same way that we can’t do one thing and say something else. Our actions do have to be consistent with what we say we believe.

On Sunday, we talked about the issue of idolatry. How, if idolatry is contrary to the message of the cross, how can we come to the table and bring our idols with us?

And how can we live each day saying with our heads that the message of the cross is a vital part of how we live, yet taking our idols with us.

The words and the actions don’t line up.

So, in the same ways, in this passage Paul says, “By coming to the table and breaking the bread and drinking the cup, you are proclaiming a message”.

You proclaim. Think about that word

Your actions are proclaiming something

This is not just muttering to yourself. This is not just something clicking in your head that something might be true. This is not leaning over and whispering something to your neighbor.

This is a proclamation!

The Greek word means “to report, to tell with conviction, to preach and to advocate.”

It carries the picture of a herald who would pass on to the people of the land, the words or message of the King.

He would stand at a prominent place, often a trumpeter would would be with him and sound a signal, the herald would unroll a long scroll and say with authority, “Hear ye, hear ye!”

And then he would pass along with message of the king.

And to be a herald, you have to be 100% on the same page as the king. He can’t risk that he is going to send you out there and that you are going to proclaim your own message.

Kind of like the White House press secretary.

The press secretary has to be among the closest allies of the president. The president has to trust that he can send his press secretary out in front of the press and that he/she is going to accurately state the policies of the government and defend him at all cost.

Paul says, that is what you are doing when you come to the Lord’s Supper.

What we are doing here is far more than a tradition or a ritual.

This is a proclamation. A declaration. It is something that we do as people who are allies of the king. We support His work, we believe in what He has done, and he has given us the responsibility to accurately proclaim who He is and what He has done.

And in this case, we are proclaiming His death

So what does it mean to proclaim His death?

There are a lot of things that we could talk about, but here are a few:

When we eat the bread and drink the cup

We proclaim healing Isaiah 53:4–5 (ESV) 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

“With his wounds we are healed”

Doesn’t this statement grab you? He was wounded so that my wounds could be healed?

many folks would say, well, he was wounded so that we don’t have to get sick physically any more. Or, he was wounded so that my physical illnesses can be healed.

Now, God does absolutely heal according to His will. But that’s not the context of these verses. See what it says here

He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

Isaiah is talking specifically about sin here.

I am more and more aware of the brokenness and wounds and pain that sin brings

Sin is at the root of the pain that we cause each other.

I act in sinful, selfish ways which hurt you

You act in sinful and selfish ways which hurt me

It causes a tear in our relationship. It pulls us apart. It rips us, leaves a jagged wound.

Sin is what tears apart our relationship with God

Go back to the Garden of Eden and think about the awful pain that Adam and Eve must have felt as their guilt crushed them

And as they had to bear the punishment for what they had done

We are well aware that sin brings such wounds, such pain.

And wounds and pain cannot be hidden. They have to be healed. There has to be justice. There has to be a payment, some kind of resolution to what has been done. So that healing can happen.

Well, here’s the thing. Jesus took that dealing out of justice, that payment for the sin and wounds that had been inflicted on all of us because of sin.

The passage says, “We thought that he was being punished by God for something that He had done.”

Actually, he was receiving the wounds that our sin caused.

And because He is receiving those wounds, our wounds can be healed.

By His stripes, or wounds, we are healed.

The jagged wound that opened up between us and our Father is brought together. The cells and skin start to merge. That wound is gently closed and over time heals.

We can be healed from the emotional pain that is inflicted by our sinful actions toward each other.

When someone does something or says something to us that hurts, we can say, “Yes, but he took that pain to the cross. And we can carry our pain, that person who hurt us and their pain, all of it, back to the cross, lay it down and leave it there.

And for me, I have to do this multiple times. Sometimes multiple times a day.

And what this allows me to do is to live with grace and love toward that person who hurt me, even though that person may never come and ask for forgiveness.

I still choose to lay it down at the cross and ask for the healing that His wounds bring.

When we come to the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim this message.

His sacrifice brings healing!

We proclaim reconciliation

Again I say that the deepest questions in our hearts are all wrapped up in this one single question: “How can I be reconciled with my Father?”

Because this is what we were created for.

When I read how it was in the Garden of Eden, how God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day, it brings up a longing in my heart to go back there, to have it be like that again.

To walk and talk with my Father

This was the longing of the hearts of all the folks that we read about in the Scripture and this is what we long for today, whether we think about it or not.

That wound of sin that we talked about just now was like forcably removing a child from their parents’ arms our household, like we read about sometime.

It opens up a jagged wound that can’t be healed until that relationship is restored.

And this is why Jesus came.

This is why He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Here it is. I AM the way back to right and close relationship with the Father.

And when we are reconciled with the Father, that reconciliation should bring an increased desire to be reconciled with the Body of His son, Jesus.

Reconciliation and right relationships

When we come to the Lord’s Supper, we are proclaiming this message. We are proclaiming a message of reconciliation

Sometimes it’s a work in progress. I think it’s always a work in progress.

I want to be closer to my Father. I want to be closer to my wife and my kids. I want to be closer to you all.

In our world of brokenness, this will never be perfect. But when we come together for the Lord’s Supper, and whenever we eat of it, we are proclaiming that our hearts are moving toward our Father. Our hearts are moving toward each other.

We Proclaim the sufficiency of Christ

We proclaim the sufficiency of the Blood of Christ

Some liberal scholars would describe the blood of Christ as a metaphor for His death.

But we believe that His blood was shed and it was for a reason

Here is what the Scripture says about His blood

It redeems us—Ephesians. 1:7 “in Him we have redemption through His blood. 1 Peter 1:18 says that we were ransomed (being bought back from a cruel slave master)

We are cleansed—1 John 1:7 “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Also in Revelation 7:14, one of the Elders that John saw asked John, “Who are these who are dressed in white robes?” John said, “Sir, you know.” And the elder said, “These are those who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb

Kind of counterintuitive for us. In our mind, blood stains things. In God’s plan, Jesus’ blood makes us clean in His sight.

We are justified, made righteous—Romans 5:9 “Since, therefore, we have been justified through His blood, how much more will be saved by Him from the wrath of God”

We are reconciled—Col. 1:20

We enjoy access to God by His blood (Heb. 10:19)

We have victory over Satan (Rev. 12:11)

in revelation 1:5, the testimony of those who are redeemed on this earth exalts the blood of Christ

In revelation 5:9, the testimony of the redeemed in heaven also exalts the blood of Christ.

Why? Because the blood of Christ, is sufficient.

When we come together tonight, we are making a proclamation that the sacrifice of Christ, His death, His resurrection is sufficient for all that is needed to bring us back into fellowship with God the Father

And it is sufficient for all that is needed for our daily walk with Him and

And we will continue to make this proclamation until He comes.

Which means that one day, His work of redemption and transformation will be 100% complete when we are with Him.

So tonight, Let’s proclaim the Lord’s death