On Sunday July 4th, 1848 a cornerstone was laid for the Washington Monument. It was made of pure white marble weighing 24,500 pounds and had been dragged through the streets of Washington from the railroad station to the site. It was a dramatic event - attended by a crowd of about 20,000 people. The President (James K. Polk) led the parade to the site and his carriage was followed by members of his Cabinet, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, military units, and patriotic organizations. There was 2 hour speech given by the Speaker of the House, after which items were placed in the time capsule that was imbedded in the cornerstone. Among the items inside that time capsule were: copies of the Declaration of Independence, copies the Constitution, a portrait of George Washington, various US coins that were used at the time,an American flag, newspapers from 14 states, and a copy of the constitution of the first organized temperance society in America. (http://npshistory.com/publications/wamo/history/chap2.htm)
According to “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” somehow, somewhere along the process of building the monument,the cornerstone disappeared and hasn’t been seen since. (Ripley's Believe It Or Not-Great and Strange Works of Man). Speculation is that it was covered up (buried) during the construction of the monument.
APPLY: Now, you’d think that, with all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the laying down of this stone that this would have been a highly valuable and historic part of the monument. It was meant to be a stone that they would remember forever… AND YET THEY LOST IT!
In Acts 2:42 we read: (the first Christians) “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread (the Lord’s Supper) and the prayers.”
This is how the early Christians worshipped. Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, prayers… and COMMUNION. THEY DEVOTED themselves to these things.
Jesus established His Supper (the Lord’s Supper) on the night he was betrayed. He gathered His disciples in an upper room where they ate the Passover. Now, the Passover was one of the MAJOR feast days of the Jewish people, and God had built into that MEAL large amounts of Messianic imagery. So, toward the end of the meal we’re told that “Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” Matthew 26:26-28
This meal (which became the foundation of the Lord’s Supper) was important enough to Jesus that it was the last thing He did with His disciples before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion. You might say, Jesus intended this meal to be the Cornerstone of the church.
Acts 2 tells us it was so important that the early Christians DEVOTED themselves to this activity. And Acts 20 explains that it was the main reason the church gathered “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” Acts 20:7
Communion, if you will, was the CORNERSTONE of the church. And yet, just like the cornerstone of the Washington Monument, there’s always been the risk that … it might get lost, because folks tend to bury it under other stuff.
For example, a lot of churches and Christians bury Communion with ritual. They just “go through the motions” and believe they’ve done a good thing.
ILLUS: A read the true story about a couple of High School students that volunteered to take communion out to the shut-ins one Sunday. They stopped at the Nursing Home and visited the room of one of the members. But the member was kind of “out of it” on his bed and they didn’t feel right waking him up. So the two boys looked at each other, then at the communion box they’d brought. Then they said a prayer, took a wafer and placed it between the man’s lips and he ate it! Then they took the cup of juice and put that to the man’s lips… and he drank it! And then they quietly left the room. That man in the Nursing Home had no idea that they were there… and he had no idea he’d taken communion. But those two High Schoolers were satisfied because they’d done everything right.
Now there are churches and Christians who are like that. They go through the motions. They say all the right words in the right way, at the right time… they just put the wafer in their mouths and the cup to their lips… and they’re satisfied because they’ve done everything right.
Be careful about that. Because going through the motions can kill what Communion is all about.
The word “Communion” shows up only in 1 Corinthians 10:16 (KJV & NKJV) “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the COMMUNION of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the COMMUNION of the body of Christ?”
That word “communion” - in the Greek - is “koinonia” which literally means “fellowship”… a very close fellowship. It’s the kind of fellowship that is shared by good friends and a loving family. So, communion is the time of fellowship when we share the cup and the bread with each other. That’s why this Lock-down has been so rough on so many churches. Communion is best done with your church family.
But at the Lord’s Table you’re also communing with Jesus. Communion was called “the breaking of bread” in the New Testament. Nowadays you can go down to the grocery store and buy a loaf of sliced bread. But sliced bread was invented in 1928. Before that, if you wanted to share your bread with someone else you cut it with a knife. But it was quicker and easier to just “tear it”, or “break it.” Breaking YOUR loaf of bread meant you liked someone enough to share your food with them. You were sharing something IMPORTANT and VALUABLE with someone.
And do you remember what Jesus did at the Last Supper? “As they were eating, HE TOOK BREAD, and after blessing it BROKE IT and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’” (Mark 14:22) Every time you take of communion Jesus is sharing something VALUABLE with you. He’s offering you His BROKEN BODY. And this makes this a critical time in worship - it’s a time when you are as close to Jesus as you’ll ever get. So don’t take this lightly. Don’t “just go through the motions.” Don’t bury the Lord’s Supper by making it a mere ritual.
Another thing - who’s Supper is this? To whom does communion belong? (Hint: it belongs to Jesus). This is the LORD’S supper, it is not the CHURCH’S supper. (I Corinthians 11:20) It doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to Him.
ILLUS: Back in 2008 a Florida college student named Webster Cook was attending a Catholic mass at a church on campus. While he was there received the Eucharist, (small wafer blessed by priest) Mr. Cook, had gone to the church with a friend who was apparently not a Catholic, and Cook wanted to show his friend the Eucharist. So instead of eating it immediately like he was supposed to he took with him it back to his seat. But as he was on his way back to his seat, a number of the church members tried to physically stop him. Cook, who planned to eat the wafer immediately after showing it to his friend, was understandably upset by the rough treatment, SO he held on to his Eucharist to prove a point.
The church demanded he return it but Cook wanted the church to apologize for becoming physical with him and to promise not to use physical force against church members anymore. The church responded by pointing out that Cook was holding the wafer “hostage”. (http://www.calladus.com/2008/07/webster-cooks-cracker-pzs-cracker).
Now why did the church get so upset? They got upset because they OWNED the wafer… it belonged to THEM.
ILLUS: I’ve heard of churches that only offer communion on Sunday Nights so that only dedicated members would be able to partake. Why would they only do it on Sunday Nights? Because they OWNED the table… it belonged to THEM, and they didn’t want strangers or the uncommitted to partake.
ILLUS: For decades a lot of churches police who gets to take of the Lord’s supper. Back in the 1800s, one denomination would ask new members to take a test. If they passed the test then they could take of communion. It was called “closed communion” and was only offered to members in good standing. Why did they do that? Because they OWNED the table … and it belonged to THEM.
Now, I can understand this. The Lord’s Supper is a serious time. You don’t really want people disrespecting the loaf and the cup. And you don’t want people behaving in a way they shouldn’t behave. So it’s natural not want JUST ANYBODY taking of communion!
Now think about this: On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He met His disciples in an upper room. How many disciples were with Jesus that night? (Answer: 12) There was Peter, James, John, Nathaniel, Andrew… etc. And then there was (pause) a man named Judas Iscariot. Judas was a con man and a thief, and of course he betrayed Jesus that very night. And yet Judas joined the others in the upper room and shared in the Passover meal with the rest of them.
Now do you suppose, if Peter had known what Judas was about to do, that he would have allowed Judas to sit at the table with them? Of course not! Peter was the self-appointed protector of Christ and there is NO WAY he would have let Judas sit there had the truth come out!!
But Jesus knew! And Jesus let Judas sit at the table. Why? Because it wasn’t Peter’s table… it was Jesus’ table. We’ve got to be careful about trying to police who takes communion. It’s not our table… it’s not our bread… it’s not our cup. It all belongs to Jesus. We don’t want to bury Communion because we’re trying to be too protective.
Lastly, the Lord’s Supper is the central focus of worship at Church. It’s the time when Jesus wants to CONNECT with you. That’s why we have the communion table right down here - front and center.
Now, I’ve heard of churches that don’t think that way. They’ll offer the Lord’s supper in a side room, or only on Wednesday nights (rather than Sunday). And I’ve been told that many of them do that because they think communion “interrupts the flow” of worship.
You see, a lot of these kinds of churches are “seeker-sensitive” congregations. They do what they do to draw people into their “worship experience.” They try to create an atmosphere where outsiders will feel comfortable. And they can tend to think that Communion makes people uncomfortable. I mean, it speaks of death… Christ’s death on the cross (kind of downer), and it speaks of the fact that you and I are sinners… and seekers generally don’t like to hear that they’re sinners. And so, churches like those BURY communion. They cover over the cornerstone because it’s inconvenient.
The problem, of course, is that Jesus doesn’t think like that. Jesus never worried about His Supper interrupting the “flow of worship”… because Communion IS worship. And - even more than that, Communion is the main time Jesus reaches out to “the seekers.”
1 Corinthians 11:26 tells us “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” You see, in any given church, on any given Sunday, the singing can be a little off; the preacher can be a little boring; the overall atmosphere and experience can be out of sync - BUT the Lord’s Supper will always be the same. The Lord’s Supper will always proclaim that Jesus died for us. He cared enough for us that He gave His life to offer us forgiveness.
ILLUS: Years ago, there was a “seeker” named Robert Tinsky. He was raised as a Jew - but became dissatisfied and began to visit churches. He stopped in at one of our sister congregations and was astounded when they took of the Lord’s Supper. It puzzled him, so he asked some young people next to him what it all meant. So, right there in church, while everything else was going on, they explained all about the Gospel – how Jesus died and been buried and rose again, and how the loaf and the cup represented his broken body and spilt blood. And as they explained it… it shook him. He was amazed that there was a God who loved him enough to give His Son to die for him.
That one church visit changed his life. He was baptized into Christ, and later became a faithful preacher of the gospel. All because Communion was Jesus’ way of being seeker sensitive. (Donald A. Nash Christian Standard 1/30/00)
INVITATION
