Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: I Corinthians 10:15-17

Theme: The ordinance of the Lord's Supper is a celebration of worship which proclaims our oneness with Christ, our oneness with each other, and is a visual display that remind us of His sacrifice for us.

Date: 01/16/20122 File name: 1_Corinthinas_20.wpd

ID Number:

As most of you know by now, I do not preach during the service where we are observing the Lord’s Supper.

Many years ago I read an article entitled A Sermon in Living Color that spoke of Evangelical Christianity’s ho-hum attitude toward Communion ... how it had become a ritual that held little meaning to most Evangelicals tacked on to the end of a service (and usually made us late for lunch).

It was something we did because ... well, the Church is just supposed to.

The article transformed my thinking about Communion.

I came under conviction that the Lord’s Supper is the message — the Gospel in ‘living color’ — and ought to be the focus of the service when we observe it.

That said, we do from time-to-time, need to preach about the Lord’s Supper to explain it’s importance.

Simply: It is a memorial that commemorates our loyalty to Christ and his Church.

In the first-century Roman Empire, a Roman soldier was obliged to take the sacramentum militare.

It was his oath of allegiance to the emperor and was administered annually, on January 3.

The soldier — regardless of which nation he considered home — was to salute the Roman colors , and pledge fidelity to the Emperor or be guilty of treason.

It strikes me, that the Lord’s Supper is essentially our renewed oath of allegiance to the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

When Jesus took the bread, and took the cup and said, “This is My body ... this is my blood ... which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me,” (Luke22:19), he was establishing a memorial that the church was to continue until he returns.

Attendance at the Lord’s Supper is the Christian’s salute to the blood-stained banner of the Savior.

This morning, I’d like to take a few moments to talk to you about some of the spiritual elements of the Lord’s Supper.

I. THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATES OUR UNION WITH CHRIST

1. the Bible teaches us that we participate in the Lord’s Supper because we have received grace — not to get grace

a. the bread and the cup contain no mystical or saving properties

b. when you were born again, you got all the grace you’ll ever need in this life or the life to come

c.

God does not divi out His grace piece-meal through various church rites or religious ritual

1) when I ask a deacon to bless the cup, when he’s done praying – it’s still juice

2) when I elevate the bread and say, “The bread represents the body of Christ broken for us, do this in remembrance of him” the wafer remains bread

2. the spiritual significance of communion for the believer is three-fold ...

a. 1st, the believer is being obedient to the will of His Savior when they eat the bread and drink the cup — Jesus said, Do this ... it’s a command

b. 2nd, the believer is worshiping the Savior when they eat the bread and drink the cup — Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of me ...

c. 3rd, the believer is anticipating the second coming of the Lord — Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of me until I come again

d. that’s it — the bread and the cup contain no mystical or saving properties

3. when you received Christ through repentance and faith, God covered your life with the blood of His Son, and credited your spiritual account with the righteousness of Jesus Christ

“The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

(Romans 4:23–25, NIV)

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV)

ILLUS.

The ancient legend of the Holy Grail tells how, supposedly, Joseph of Arimathea, the one who received permission from Pilate to take the body of Jesus down from the cross and bury it, caught, the blood which flowed from the wound in our Savior’s side in a golden cup.

The legend says that this was the same cup that Jesus had held at the Last Supper.

Joseph of Arimathea then carried it to Somerset in England.

There he formed an order of Knights whose work it was to protect the cup and the precious blood it contained.

The bravest of these knights was made their king.

At certain times the king unveiled the golden cup that held the precious blood, at which times a glorious and radiant light fell on the faces of all who stood about, filling them with rapture and enduing them with strength from on high.

Only the pure in heart could look upon the cup and behold the wondrous light which streamed from the precious blood.

a. friends, the story of the Holy Grail is a myth, but there is a profound truth in the story — the precious blood of Jesus makes the sinner pure in heart

4. the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of remembrance — instituted by our Savior — as an act of worship that is meant to remind us of His substitutionary atonement, and our union with Him

5. when we participate in the Lord’s Supper we are preaching a congregational sermon about our faith relationship with Jesus

a. the question is, What are we preaching?

b.

I m glad you asked, let me tell you

1) we are acclaiming our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ

2) we are proclaiming that Jesus is Savior of our life and Lord of our church

3) we are reclaiming our hope of being glorified with Christ

A. WE ARE ACCLAIMING OUR FAITH IN THE DEATH, BURIAL & RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

1. the word acclaim means to praise enthusiastically in a public way

a. when the believer participates in the Lord’s Supper, he is unashamedly telling everyone around him, “Praise the Lord, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

He was crucified.

He was buried, but he rose again.

This is the core of my faith and I don’t care who knows it!”

ILLUS.

One of the hymns in our hymn book is, "I'll Tell the World That I'm a Christian."

The first verse rings out ... "I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian – I'm not ashamed His name to bear; I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian – I'll take Him with me anywhere.

I'll tell the world how Jesus saved me, And how He gave me a life brand new; And I know that if you trust Him, That all He gave me, He'll give to you.

I'll tell the world that He's my Savior, No other one could love me so; My life, my all is His forever, And where He leads me, I will go."

2. the Apostle Paul writes to remind us that the Lord’s Supper is our participation with Christ in his death

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?

And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16, NIV)

3. the historical background of Christian Communion is the Jewish Passover

a. you know the story — it is rich in symbolic meaning for us

b. during that original Passover in Egypt, each Jewish family was commanded to sacrifice a lamb

1) they drained its blood and applied it to their door mantels of their homes in anticipation of God’s judgment upon Egypt

2) the evening came and with it the angel of the Lord went throughout the land smiting the firstborn of every home that was not protected by the blood

3) the blood represented deliverance from bondage that comes only from God

4. Jesus gave new meaning to the Passover

a. Jesus communicates to his disciples that he is going to be the Passover Lamb

1) he is the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world

b.

just as when the death angel passed over the homes with the blood on the door posts, so too does God pass over us in His righteous judgment when He sees the blood of the Lamb of God in our lives

5. when we participate in the Lord’s Supper we boldly acclaim to the world our eternal faith in Christ to save us from judgment

B. WE ARE PROCLAIMING THAT JESUS IS LORD OF OUR LIFE

1. all believers are worthy to participate in the Lord’s Supper not because of who you are, but because of whose you are

2. once we were dead in trespasses and sin, but now you have been made alive in Christ

a. because we are alive in Christ we are worthy in the sight of God

3. 1 Cor.

11:27 has always caused some difficulty for some believers

a. the word unworthy is an adverb and describes the way that some believers in the Corinthian Church celebrated the Lord’s Supper

ILLUS.

In the early church, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated by the congregation coming together for a supper.

In the church at Corinth this time of fellowship and worship had degenerated into an excuse for gluttony, drunkenness and self-centeredness.

b. now, I normally don’t use some of the more modern translations of the Bible, but let me share with you 1 Cor.

11:20-23 from The Message

1) it gives you an idea of what was going on at the church in Corinth

"And then I find that you bring your divisions to worship—you come together, and instead of eating the Lord’s Supper, 21 you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves.

Some are left out, and go home hungry.

Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk.

I can’t believe it!

22 Don’t you have your own homes to eat and drink in?

Why would you stoop to desecrating God’s church?

Why would you actually shame God’s poor?

I never would have believed you would stoop to this.