Communion: A Time to Refocus

Summary: It is not without purpose that the Lord gave us the ordinances of the church. Communion offers us a special time to refocus the inner man.

Introduction

I. Revival & Communion

A. The Table is spread: What were your thoughts? Will you stay?

B. Every communion ought to bring personal revival: Jesus said, “do this in remembrance of Me.” As we remember our Lord; His sacrifice, through the receiving together the elements symbolic of His body broken for us and His blood shed for us it should be a time that ushers in for us a personal time of revival.

II. What Communion is not

A. It is not a religious incantation and ritual through which we earn, attain, or achieve salvation

B. It is not simply a form we go through to fulfill our religious duties. Too many communion has been reduced to this; it’s just a part of the routine. Too many it has become like church attendance, church work and giving to the church of our time, talents and tithe without ever stopping to consider the true significance of the act.

III. A Time to Refocus

A. In every act of communion for us there is a call: Back to our first love (looking backward. We look back to the cross and behold the price, the great extravagant price that was paid for us. We are reminded in this that we did not love Him first, but the reason we love Him at all is because He first Loved us.

2. Repentance (looking inward): It is a time to examine ourselves honestly before the Lord. It is a time with all sobriety to measure our lives and conduct against the price that was paid to redeem us and ask “am I living in a manner befitting of one who has been redeemed?”

3. Evangelistic Fervor (looking outward): We behold the love extended us that declare, “Freely I have received”. We are reacquainted with the responsibility then to Freely Give

4. Expectation (looking upward): We remember the Words of the angels. “This same Jesus, in like manner as you have seen Him go away, He will return again.” I want us to take a few moments today before you are served these emblems of communion to refocus on these four perspectives.

Body

I. Communion is a time for looking Backward

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 NLT

23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”

B. Looking back to the cross:The Cross is the message of the church. Paul, earlier had written to this came church and said,

1 Corinthians 2:1–2 NLT

1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.

Make no mistake about it, in a day and hour when the messages pouring from pulpits across this land seem to sound more like a self-help pep talk than the preaching of the Gospel, the message of the church of the living God is still the cross. It is not a message of worldly riches. It is not a message of finding the good life through positive thinking. It matters not how esteemed by this world a prophet is, His popularity in this world means nothing in the sight of Almighty God, and if His message does not in some way point you to the cross it is weightless in light of eternity.

The true message of the cross is life abundant, life eternal, that is only found in Christ Jesus and made possible through the finished work of Calvary.

C. Other messages are temporal: Through the years I’ve heard a lot of people say, “I came into the church during this movement or that…”. Thank God for movements, but movements are not the message. Movements move in. Movements move out. Movements move on. The message remains, and must continue as the bedrock of faith

The winds of doctrine blow and sometimes in strange ways, and it matters not what wind of doctrine you blew in on, if it did not blow you to the foot of an Old Rugged Cross there to repent and find forgiveness for your sins then the fate of your eternal soul rests in a passing fad for fashion that will gain nothing in eternity

Many religions today have no orthodoxy. No set truth. You can ask as many people as you want about the truth of the matter and get as many different answers. The true message of the Church is the same for every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue is the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world.

Paul lets us know that even some of the teaching we hold dear from the Word of God are one day going to vanish, “But whether there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away….”

The message of the cross will last forever. “Love never fails”. Love’s greatest expression was upon the cruel cross of Calvary. That message is the same today as it was in the days of the apostles. It will be the same tomorrow. When all other teaching has ceased the message of the cross will resound throughout all eternity

Revelation 5:1–14 NLT

1 Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. 4 Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. 5 But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. 7 He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. 8 And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. 12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” 13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” 14 And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.

Worthy Is the Lamb

E. What does Christ’s death mean to you today? Does it seem a given; something taken for granted? Do you esteem it but a light thing? Do you need a renewed perspective of the cross in your life? Is the story of the Cross sweeter to you than ever before? Is your love for Him deeper than ever? Does He mean more to you today than yesterday?

II. Communion is a time for looking inward

1 Corinthians 11:27–32 NLT

27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

B. The Case of Corinth

There were those who were taking communion lightly. Some were using the occasion of the Lord’s Supper to allow divisions and discord to enter the body. Paul had earlier called them carnal, in other words they were walking after the flesh and not after the Spirit. Because of this Paul says that there were some among them who were sick and even some who had died When we partake of the Sacraments of this covenant with sin in our lives the Bible expresses to us that we are just as guilty of the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the Soldiers who drove the nails

C. Before you eat the bread, before you drink the cup there needs to be a searching of the heart.There needs to be a time that we look to the inner man and check our motives, thoughts, and deeds. We need to pray as the Psalmist -

Psalm 139:23–24 NLT

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Communion is a time for breaking down barriers in our hearts and letting go of those things we harbor in our hearts that we know to be unpleasing to God.

We lay our pet peeves with one another on the altar. We let go of grudges before the Lord. We allow the Love of God to erase the hurts of the past.

III. Communion is a Time for Looking Outward After the Cross came the commissioning. How can we hold in our hands symbols of the great expression of His love for us and not hear His voice?

Matthew 10:7–8 NLT

7 Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

Mark 16:15 NLT

15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

Every Communion should compel us to reach out to the lost.

IV. Communion is a Time for Looking Up

1 Corinthians 11:26 NLT

26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

Jesus Is Coming. This simple thought should pull the Body of Christ together in unity and solidarity as we realize that we all are one in Christ. As we partake these elements representative of the body and blood of Christ and are reminded of His coming our hearts should be filled with a sense of urgency for all of the previously mentioned things

Conclusion: This experience we all call life is a busy one. It’s easy to lose focus in the bustle of life. Our Priorities can get skewed

Won’t you take a few minutes today to slow down before the Lord’s table and refocus your inner man on the things of God?