Sermon Tone Analysis

[February 13th, 2022, Sun.

PM]

I. Introduction

A. We Could Have Just Another Communion Service

1.

The first Communion with Jesus and His disciples

2. Our Lord's instruction for this to continue

The supper was for Paul primarily a memorial of the sacrificial death of the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:23–24); the observance of the ordinance involved a remembrance of love (11:24–25), a reiteration of the gospel (1 Cor.

11:26a),[5] and a renewal of hope (1 Cor.

11:26b).

The observance must be preceded by a self-examination.

Failure to do that had resulted in the sickness and death of some of the Corinthian believers.

For Paul the Lord’s supper also had other significances.

He called it a koinonia, a sharing fellowship (1 Corinthians 10:16).

Thus spiritual fellowship with Christ is also part of the supper.

Too, the ordinance reminds all believers of their oneness in Christ (1 Corinthians 10:17).

We are bound together because we are bound to Christ.

[(5) Whether this means that the elements of the supper silently announce the facts of the gospel or whether it refers to an oral explanation that accompanied the observance is difficult to decide.]

[Charles C. Ryrie, Biblical Theology of the New Testament (Dubuque, IA: ECS Ministries, 2005), 183–184.]

3. A Communion service can become formalistic, a [regular] ritual

B. Let's Have Communion

1. Definition of communion: a mutual sharing of thoughts, feelings: fellowship

The new community is called the ekklēsia, a term that we translate today as “church.”

This is highly misleading because the term “church” invokes the image of a religious community and its identity and even a building used as a sanctuary or assembly hall.

The term ekklēsia, however, is drawn from the political, not the religious, world.

Words commonly used for religious societies in the ancient world (koinon, thiasos) never appear in Paul’s writings.

In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible ekklēsia designates the political assembly of all Israel, and in the Greco-Roman world it is the term for the political meeting of all free citizens of a city.

The latter is the more likely background for Paul’s usage because he never uses the term for the church at large but always for the local assembly of believers: the ekklēsia that is in Corinth, or the ekklēsia in Christ that is in Philippi.

Hand in hand with this designation of the new community goes its description as “the body of Christ.”

This body of Christ is present in the celebration of [Communion].

“Not discerning the [Lord’s body]t” (1 Cor.

11:29) . . .

means not recognizing that the shared [unleavened] bread establishes and maintains a new community of equality and mutual care and respect; all its members are part of the body of Christ.

[Helmut Koester, Paul & His World: Interpreting the New Testament in Its Context (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007), 12.]

2. This dimension of communion is like many Bible experiences

a. Adam and Eve and the Lord before the fall

b.

Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus listening

c.

Moses at the burning bush and on Mt.

Sinai

d.

Jesus and "Emmaus disciples"

Here is what I imagine happened after the death of Jesus.

The disciples . . . of Jesus would have gathered again after Jesus had died and had been buried.

What did they do then?

They certainly did not form a committee that was charged to collect and write down everything that they could remember and gather, with pencil in hand like good journalists, including further information from eyewitnesses.

Note that all extant versions of the story tell that the disciples had fled and did not witness what happened!

Rather, the friends and disciples of Jesus did what they had always done in the company of Jesus: they gathered together, read the Scriptures, sang psalms, and prayed as they broke the bread and blessed the cup.

When they did this, they realized that Jesus was [somehow in their midst in a powerful demonstration of His presence among them].

This is told in a moving way in the story of the Emmaus disciples in Luke 24:13–31.

Two disciples of Jesus are on the way to Emmaus after Jesus’ death.

A stranger joins them and asks them about their grief.

When they tell [Him] what has just happened in Jerusalem, the [Stranger]—it is Jesus but they do not recognize [Him]—explains to them beginning with Moses and all the prophets that this had to happen to the [One] they thought was the Messiah in order to save Israel.

When they invite the [Stranger] to share supper with them, [He] blesses and breaks the bread, and they realize that it is Jesus—and [He] disappears before their eyes.

[This account] captures the essence of the actual events after the death of Jesus.

[Koester, 100–101.]

C. Why the Lord's Table Is Called Communion

Sub-intro:

The term “Lord’s Supper” is used only in 1 Corinthians 11:20.

The practice is also known as Communion (from 1 Cor.

10:16),

the Lord’s Table (from 1 Cor.

10:21). . . .

[Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).]

II.

Body

A. At the Cross: Communion with God Begins (vv.

23-25)

1.

The Lord's Table more than a meal: it is a message

According to 1 Corinthians, Paul was sent not to baptize but to preach the gospel (εὐαγγελίζεσθαι) (1 Cor.

1:17), [declared/]proclaimed (καταγγέλλων) the [testimony/]mystery about God (1 Cor.

2:1), spoke (λαλοῦμεν) the wisdom of God (1 Cor.

2:6, 7), fed (ἐπότισα) them the milk of the Word (1 Cor.

3:2), planted (ἐφύτευσα) the seed of the Word (1 Cor.

3:6), blessed (εὐλογούμεν) in the face of persecution (1 Cor.

4:12), begat (ἐγέννησα) the Corinthians through the gospel (1 Cor.

4:15), sowed (ἐσπείραμεν) spiritual seed among them (1 Cor.

9:11), preached the gospel (εὐαγγελίζομαι) (1 Cor.

9:16), passed on (παρέδωκα) the [ordinances/]traditions he had received from the Lord (1 Cor.

11:2, 23), showed (δείκνυμι) them a more excellent way (1 Cor.

12:31), prophesied (προφητεύομεν) to them (1 Cor.

13:9), wanted to [teach/]instruct (κατηχήσω) others (1 Cor.

14:19, wrote (γράφω) the Lord’s command (1 Cor.

14:37), preached the gospel (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐαγγελισάμην) (1 Cor.

15:1), passed on (παρέδωκα) (1 Cor.

15:3) and [preached/]proclaimed (κηρύσσομεν) the ‘tradition’ (1 Cor.

15:11), and testified (ἐμαρτυρήσαμεν) that God raised Jesus from the dead (1 Cor.

15:15).

[Robert L. Reymond, Paul, Missionary Theologian (Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2000), 593.]

a. "This is my body"

b. "This is my blood"

2. The word of Isaiah and Zechariah to be fulfilled

a.

He was to be wounded for us all (Isa.

53:5)

Note - LXX renders Isa.

53:6 as “And the Lord delivered him over to our sins.”

Same word Paul used for “delivered” and “betrayed” in 1 Cor.

11:23 (from Paradidomi)

Paradidōmi generally means “to give something to someone.”

It is translated in a number of ways in the New Testament, for example: “hand over, deliver up, be taken care of,” or “administered” (cf.

Matthew 25:14); or “to deliver, bring on” a tradition, testimony, doctrine, or commandment (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:2; 15:3; Romans 6:17).

It is also used with regard to handing someone over to the court (Matthew 10:17).

In Matthew 4:12 it is translated “imprisoned” and can also mean hand over to death (Matthew 17:22).

Furthermore, it can also mean “betray,” in the sense of “give over” (Matthew 10:4; John 6:64, 71).

In John 19:30 paradidōmi is translated as “Jesus gave up the ghost,” and in Ephesians 5:25 it is also said that Jesus “gave” himself.