Together We Remember

Introduction

ILLUST - Things that have been said around the Dickinson table at mealtime:

“Please do not chew your toenails at the table.”

The Covenant Ceremony

Selection of Representatives

A representative(s) would stand for the group. Whatever happened to the representative was applied to the group.

Exchange of Outer Garments

Symbolizes my status is now your status. My authority is now yours.

Exchange of Weapons

Protection. If anyone gives you trouble, I will come to your aid.

Exchange of Token Possessions

All I have is yours, and all you have is mine — assets and liabilities.

Exchange of Names

My identity is now found in yours.

Exchange of Vows and Blood

My life is found in you.

Exchange of Places between Sacrificial Blood

My promise is good for life and breaking the covenant will cost me the same.

Exchange of Bread and Wine

A covenant meal was shared. This was when the covenant began.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV) — 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.

Lord’s Supper has three dimensions: Look back, Look forward, Look at the present.

Do this:

We remember God's covenant faithfulness.

The Lord’s Supper is a look back.

God’s faithfulness in the Old Covenant

the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed. . .

What night was that? Last supper, but more importantly, it was Passover.

Luke 22:7–8 (ESV) — 7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”

Luke 22:14–15 (ESV) — 14 And when the hour came, he reclined at 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.

Passover = event through which God rescues his people from slavery in Egypt.

Final of the ten plagues.

God would kill every firstborn in all Egypt.

Those who, by faith, believed in God’s Word and trusted in what God would do could escape this death.

A meal centered around a sacrifice that saved from death.

Lamb without blemish, killed at twilight, blood put on the doorposts and lintel. Eat the lamb.

Exodus 12:11 (ESV) —11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

Eaten with anticipation of God’s salvation, and later with remembering God’s salvation:

Exodus 12:1–2 (ESV) — 1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.

Exodus 12:14 (ESV) — 14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

In Hebrew understanding, remembering did not simply involve the memory, it involved participation.

(God remembered his people means he would act on behalf of his people.)

As the Jews would remember the Passover each year through this meal, it was as if they were not just remembering but reenacting and participating themselves in the Passover event. It was as if they were slaves in Egypt and needed to be freed by God.

This is the meal Jesus was participating in.

The context of the New Covenant is the Old Covenant.

Luke 22:19 (ESV) — 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them. . .

For the disciples, this would have been normal, expected. They would have experienced this many times before.

A the beginning of the Passover meal, the head of the family would issue the berekah, the blessing.

It was giving thanks to God for the meal and all that would follow.

This is where we get the word, Eucharist (Thanksgiving)

Jesus fulfilling God’s faithfulness in the New Covenant.

“ Do this is in remembrance. . . of me.”

What are we remembering? Jesus.

This meal took place the night before Jesus’ death on the cross.

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Just as the Passover meal was the founding ordinance in the Old Covenant, this new expression, the Lord’s Supper is the founding ordinance of the New Covenant.

Jesus is taking this meal remembering the old covenant and giving it new meaning for the new covenant.

Remember, blood needed to flow for a covenant to be created. Jesus is not requiring that cut ourselves as they used to in the ANE covenants, the way we participate in sharing the life found in the blood is through the cup, the wine, which symbolizes Jesus’ blood.

Every time we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we are renewing our covenant relationship through Jesus.

We anticipate Jesus' final victory.

The Lord’s Supper is a look forward.

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

Interesting, you don’t wait for dead men to arrive.

We eat together until Jesus comes.

ILLUST - wedding ring is not just a reminder of the day I started the covenant of marriage, it is also a reminder of all the relationship will mean in the future.

When Jesus comes we eat with Him.

Revelation 19:9 (ESV) — 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Remember the power of the middle school lunch table?

Where you ate was an expression of status and relationship.

You belong at the King’s table.

More than a lunch table, this is a wedding feast.

It’s the final party with Jesus!

We participate together in Christ.

The Lord’s Supper is a look at the present.

Rut, Rot or Revival: The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo Dictatorship of the Routine

The treacherous enemy facing the church of Jesus Christ today is the dictatorship of the routine, when the routine becomes “lord” in the life of the church.

Rut, Rot or Revival: The Problem of Change and Breaking Out of the Status Quo The Progressive Stages

I begin with what I will call the rote. This is repetition without feeling. If someday someone would read the Scripture and believe it and would believe what is sung in the great Christian hymns, there would be a blessed spiritual revolution underway in a short time. But too many are caught up in the rote, repeating without feeling, without meaning, without wonder and without any happy surprises or expectations. In our services God cannot get in because we have it all fixed up for Him. We say, “Lord, we are going to have it this way. Now kindly bless our plans.” We repeat without feeling, we repeat without meaning, we sing without wonder, and we listen without surprise. That is my description of the rote.

We have not shared in the Lord’s Supper in a little while, but we will today. My hope and prayer is that we do not fall into (or fall back into) a practice of participating in the Lord’s Supper by rote or routine.

Community in the Communion

The context and language is plural.

It is something very personal.

Done together.

That sets them apart from the rest of the world.

The context of our passage is a messy church fight.

Who is included?

“Recall that Christ chose to institute the Supper in the course of the Passover meal. The Passover meal was a family ordinance. God appointed families to gather together and to feed upon the sacrificed lamb.”

— The Lord’s Supper as the Sign and Meal of the New Covenant

Those who are a part of the new covenant through Jesus can be a part of the Lord’s Supper.

Presence in the Participation

“This is my body,

Not Transubstantiation

Roman Catholic understanding. When priest blesses the bread and wine they become the actual body and blood of Christ in essence.

Taking the elements is participating in Christ and thus gives grace necessary for salvation.

Not Consubstantiation

Luther very clearly distinguished his view from transubstantiation. There's no mystical change of the substance of the bread and the wine. However, when the church celebrates the Lord’s Supper, Christ is present in, with, and under the elements of the bread and wine.

Ex. sponge and water - they go together but are not each other.

(Zwingli — Memorial only)

Memorialized Real Presence

John Calvin — Spiritual presence — not empty signs but real presence through the Holy Spirit.

Something mysterious but real.

Luke 24 — two men walking on the road to Emmaus — talking about all the events (Jesus’ death, mysterious event at the tomb) — Jesus drew near and walked with them — but eyes kept from recognizing him.

Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus interpreted the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:30–31 (ESV) — 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.

These four verbs mirror Luke 22.

Luke 24:32 (ESV) — 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Luke 24:35 (ESV) — 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

When they experienced the presence of Jesus what happened?

Their faith was strengthened.

They better understood what Jesus had done for them.

As they had questions before, now, after experiencing the presence of Jesus, they were settled.

Their passion was renewed.

Luke 24:33 (ESV) — 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.

It was not the proper time to travel, but they went anyway, and made good time!

Their mission was motivated.

Luke 24:34(ESV) — 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

They HAD to tell someone about their experience with the risen Christ.

Where the Jews celebrating the Old Covenant through the Passover meal could only vicariously participate in the original event, we can directly participate through the Holy Spirit.

which is for you.

Take you

Bless you

Break you

Give you

Conclusion

ILLUST - the new Dickinson table.

It’s a place of blessing.

It’s a place of brokenness.

handprints - remind us of where we’ve been

It’s built for where we’re going.

It’s where we eat. It’s what brings us together. It reminds us of who we are and where we belong.

When we are here, we are family. There’s plenty of room. Come, be part of the family.