2, June 2002
Dakota Community Church
Body and Blood
Introduction:
Communion Sunday Again – What’s it really all about?
One of the most misunderstood of the Christian Traditions
- The Corinthians abused it.
- The Romans misunderstood it. Persecuting Christians as cannibals.
- Roman Catholics misused it. A Requirement for salvation.
- Today many Christians trivialize it. “Crackers and Juice”
The fact is that if you don’t really understand this whole communion thing you are not alone. This week I want to look at reasons why we practice this tradition. My hope is that it will add a demention of understanding and joy to your experience.
What’s It All About?
1 Corinthians 11:23-27
23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
1. Communion is about submission.
“…Do this in remembrance of me”
- Obedience is primary in our relationship to God
Matthew 7:21-23
21"Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
- Obedience always brings about reward
John 14:15-16
15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
2. Communion is about commemoration.
“…Whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me”
A. Until now the observation of the "Passover Supper", was done in remembrance of what God did to deliver Israel from the captivity of Egypt.
B. The feast was now to be a feast of covenant and remembrance. The covenant was that of fellowship. Jesus was saying that their receiving of these portions were symbolic of their participation in His death. Furthermore, they were now to remember His death as deliverance from eternal captivity to eternal life.
C. Jesus picked up the cup, filled with wine, set aside for the anticipated messiah. He was proclaiming to them that He was the fulfillment of everything they had been waiting for.
About 1930, a Communist leader named Bukharin journeyed from Moscow to Kiev. His mission was to address a huge assembly. His subject, atheism. For a solid hour he aimed his heavy verbal artillery at Christianity, hurling argument and ridicule. At last he was finished and viewed what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men’s faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. A solitary man arose and asked permission to speak. He mounted the platform and moved close to the Communist. For a while he slowly scanned the audience. At last he shouted the ancient Orthodox greeting, "CHRIST IS RISEN!" The vast assembly arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of an avalanche, "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
3. Communion is about proclamation.
“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death”
A preacher’s son was a little concerned when his father didn’t come home by the time he usually did, and the boy asked his mother, “Is Dad going around visiting all the sick people?”
His mother replied, “No honey, he’s giving blood.”
He paused in thought for a moment and then said: “But we know it’s really grape juice, don’t we Mom?”
When we partake in communion we are declaring ourselves to be covenant children of God.
Hebrews 8:6
6But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.
Mark 15:37-39
37With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and[1] saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son[2] of God!"
4. Communion is about anticipation.
“…You proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words.
We’re like the little boy who was sitting in church one day. The preacher was going on and on about how great heaven would be. He talked about the streets of gold and the angels and about seeing God face to face. He concluded his message by asking the members of the congregation to raise their hands if they wanted to go to heaven. All hands went up into the air, except for one little boy. He sat there looking scared. The preacher bent down and asked, "Son, don’t you want to go to heaven one day?"
They little boy said, "Oh, yeah, one day I do. I thought you were gettin’ up a load to go right now."
Conclusion:
Not Hocus Pocus!
The people coming to mass could not have spoken Latin, much less read it. But, they knew the priest taught them something magical happened to the bread and cup when he prayed and said the words, "Hoc est corpus meum," meaning "this is my body."
The people couldn’t explain it, but they knew that when the priest prayed, he said that the bread and cup changed into the body and blood of Christ Himself. They still tasted like bread and wine; they couldn’t tell the difference. Since they couldn’t really understand the words the priest said when he made the "magical" change take place, the words became corrupted when the spoke of it.
Today, we too speak of something that’s "hocus pocus" if it is supposed to be magical, but we’re suspicious about what really happened.
