Lord's Supper-mid service

Introduction

Today is a special day. We are taking time in the middle of our service and observing the Lord’s Supper.

Some may ask, Pastor why right in the middle of the service.

We may not always observe the Lord’s Table in the middle of a service but today, today I believe it is important for us to do so because with the 90% completion of this auditorium project, it is important that we as a church family are unified in the gospel.

It is not preferences of music, architecture, design, or programming that unites it…it is Jesus.

Men come and pass out while I’m talking

II. The Elements of the Lord’s Supper

A. The bread

Paul told the Corinthians that he had received his teachings on the Lord’s Supper from the Lord himself and had previously delivered those teachings to them. In 1 Corinthians 11 he reminded the Corinthians about the correct understanding of the Lord’s Supper. His review took them back to the Passover night when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.

Jesus had told his twelve disciples to take and eat the bread that He was giving them. He explained: "this is my body." He also told them to drink the cup He was offering them. He explained: "this cup is my blood."Jesus was using figurative language. He wasn't saying that the unleavened bread was literally His physical body and that the juice was literally his blood.The bread and the cup only symbolized His body and His blood. Jesus also said, "I am the door" and "I am the vine."

Obviously, Jesus isn't a door with hinges or a plant with roots, branches and leaves. He was saying that the bread and the cup symbolized or represented his body and blood.Bread is an appropriate symbol for the body of Christ. In His earthly ministry He had spoken of Himself as the ‘Bread of Life’ Who came down from Heaven to give life to the world (John 6).

So He established bread as a visual reminder of His once for-all sacrifice for sin. His body was to be given or broken at Calvary.Although Jesus' bones were not broken when He died, His body was broken. The whipping broke the flesh on His back, the crown of thorns broke the flesh on His head, the nails broke the flesh on His hands and feet and the spear broke the flesh in His side. And so it was accurate for Him to say, "my body which is broken for you".

B. The cup

Paul told of Christ's teaching concerning the cup on the night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:25): "This cup is the new testament in my blood."

Again, our Lord was speaking symbolically. He did not mean that the cup contained His actual blood, for that was still flowing through His veins. The drink in the cup symbolized the blood of Christ, which would be shed to secure the New Covenant.Animal blood was used in the Old Covenant, but Christ's blood would secure this New Covenant.In the last part of these verses (1 Cor. 11:24, 25), Paul quoted what Jesus told His disciples. He instructed: "This do in remembrance of me."

This is the primary purpose of the Lord’s Supper. God designed the Lord’s Supper to help we believers remember the substitutionary death of Christ.1 Cor 11:26

1 Corinthians 11:26 KJV 190026 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Notice also the phrase "as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup" (v. 26). How often is this? The Bible does not identify the frequency. The pastor must decide how often a church will observe the Lord’s Supper.

The material elements, the bread and the juice are only symbolic of the body and blood of Christ and do not in any way become or join with His body. Some groups teach that the bread and the fruit of the vine actually become the body and blood when blessed by a priest. They call this "transubstantiation," meaning that the bread and juice actually "go across" (trans) or become the "substance" (substantiation) of the body and blood of Christ.

Others believe in consubstantiation, that the "substance" of Christ's body and blood are mystically present with (con) the bread and juice, although the elements remain unchanged. But there is just no Scriptural justification for either view.Again, the the bread and the juice are symbolic of the body and blood of Christ and do not in any way become or join with His body.

The partaking The bread and the cup are the material elements of communion, but by themselves they are simply a display of baked grain and fruit juice. In order to observe communion we must also eat and drink these elements. Christ instructed His followers to "eat" and to "drink ye all of it."As the bread symbolizes Christ's body, and as the cup symbolizes His blood, so the eating and drinking should symbolize the participant's previous, personal acceptance of Christ by faith. We receive food into our bodies by our mouths, and we receive Christ into our lives by faith. The eating and drinking of the elements of the Lord’s Supper appropriately picture trusting Christ.

No one here is exclusively the one who offers the Lord’s Supper. All of us are offered and receive the Lord’s Supper. The ushers offer me the bread and the cup in the same way they offer you the bread and the cup. Christ is our priest who offers salvation; we do not have another man exclusively as the mode of offering salvation, but rather all men are offered salvation and all believers are to be offering salvation to the lost.I do not lord over the Lord’s Supper; I received it just like you.

I sit down and receive the Lord’s Supper to properly symbolize that I need the same salvation everyone else needs.The Scripture doesn't simply encourage the believer to take the Lord’s Supper, it actually commands him to do so. The words "this do," given with both eating and drinking, are a command. Participation in the Lord's Supper is, like baptism, voluntary but not optional.

1 Corinthians 11:28 states that the believer is not given the luxury of not confessing sin and then refraining from communion. Rather, he must confess sin to the Lord and then participate in the service.

III. The Message of the Lord’s Supper

"Communion," perhaps the most common title for this ordinance, is derived from 1 Corinthians 10:16. "Communion" in this passage means "fellowship." Thus, we could also call this ordinance "fellowship." It is a time for sharing with God and with one another.ASK: What do believers share in common? What kinds of attitudes and actions disrupt fellowship? How does reflecting upon Christ's death make cliques among Christians appear unacceptable?

IV. Self-examination

It is impossible for any believer to be worthy or deserving of taking the Lord’s Supper, but it is possible to participate in a worthy or unworthy manner. In Corinth there was an abuse of the Lord’s Supper; some were eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. The unworthy behavior at Corinth included gluttony.They were going after the Lord’s Supper the way my family goes after popcorn in a common bowl.Everyone tries to get more than the next person.

Those that were eating and drinking unworthily were declared to be "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord," or "not discerning the Lord's body." The people were not honoring the great sacrifice that is symbolized by the Lord’s Supper. Every time we take the Lord’s Supper we should thoughtfully consider the tremendous sacrifice Christ made to pay for sin.It should make us sensitive to sinful attitudes and behaviors that we need to turn from.

We have a time of quiet meditation. This allows us to examine ourselves. We should confess our sin to God.Because some believers in Corinth participated in an unworthy manner, some were sick and some had even died. The means of avoiding these disciplines from God is for each believer to judge himself and deal with sin in his life. If one is willing to judge himself and forsake known sin, God will not have to judge. Remember that God does not chasten a believer to hurt him but to help him abandon his sin (Heb. 12:6).There are two prerequisites for participating in the communion service. First, the person must be a believer. An unbeliever cannot "remember" Christ's death for him, for he has never "known" Him. And it would be a lie for an unbeliever to eat and drink, symbolizing a past, personal taking in of Christ by faith. Second, the believer must examine himself before he participates. communion participants must be baptized believers.

It does seem correct, though, to regard Scripture as implying the prerequisite. Since baptism is a prerequisite for church membership and communion is a church ordinance, it seems likely that only baptized believers participated in the ordinance in the churches of the New Testament. The book of Acts refers to baptized believers breaking bread together, but it doesn't mention any unbaptized believers doing this.

Partaking

The Bible says, Luke 22:19-20 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. *Sit down and eat.*(20) Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.*Sit down and drink.*