Imagine if you would it’s thanksgiving dinner. You and your loved ones are sitting down to eat. The turkey is delicious – so is the mashed potatoes and the gravy and everything else. In the middle of the meal, your host stands up with a loaf of French bread and begins breaking off pieces, saying “Take and eat – this is my body which I’m giving for you.” You take the bread and wonder if you’re really supposed to eat it. Then he sends a goblet of wine around and tells all his guests to drink it, for it is his blood. About this time you’re wondering what exactly was in your host’s drink. Because that is STRANGE!
Have you ever considered that the Lord’s Supper, which seems so “normal” to us today, was a revolutionary – even strange – part of worship to the earliest disciples of Jesus. some of the earliest persecutions of Christians sprung up over misunderstanding of what exactly these people were doing eating flesh and drinking blood.
Why do we have what we call the “Lord’s Supper”? What does it mean – and how should we use it as a meaningful part of our worship of Jesus Christ?
In our continuing journey through 1 Corinthians, we’re going to study Paul’s instructions about these very issues. Let’s listen to what Paul has to say – so that after this message is finished we will all be able to partake of the Lord’s Supper together with greater meaning and understanding. Turn to 1 Cor. 11:17…
1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (NIV)
17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
CULTURAL BACKGROUND: The church in Corinth evidently had more food together than simply the bread and the wine. It appears that either before or after the actual Lord’s Supper (with the broken bread and shared cup of wine), the church enjoyed something similar to a potluck dinner. Only there were problems with it. Some people were being gluttonous and eating or drinking more than their share. Some were actually getting drunk! And some had to go hungry because of those who were at the front of the line.
Paul tells them when they do this they are NOT really partaking of the Lord’s Supper, for the Lord’s Supper has nothing to do with a potluck! (I’m not against potlucks – they just need to be differentiated from the Lord’s Supper!)
So, Paul continues by giving them (and us) instructions on what the Lord’s Supper really is, and how they should go about using it as an important part of their spiritual life.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV)
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.
The Lord’s Supper is a time to celebrate the New Covenant. (1 Cor. 11:19-26)
What is the NEW COVENANT? In short, it was an entirely new way for humans to relate with God almighty, which began with the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus.
You know your Bible is divided into 2 “testaments” – the Old and the New. These correspond to the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In the Old Testament, therefore, you find that God is unapproachable except on one day each year, and even then only by the High Priest. On that day, known as the Day of Atonement or in Hebrew “Yom Kippur”, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the temple, and sprinkle blood from a bull which had been sacrificed. The blood was required for the forgiveness of the Israelites, and year after year the sacrifices were made.
These sacrifices were effective in bringing forgiveness from sins committed, but could never do anything to take care of the sin problem inherent in all people since Adam.
Thus, when Jesus gathered with his 12 disciples on the night of his betrayal and told them that he was instituting a New Covenant, it was significant that he said the wine they were drinking was symbolic of His blood. The New Covenant, or new way of relating to God, is not based upon animal sacrifices which need to be repeated again and again. The New Covenant was based upon a one-time sacrifice to cleanse people from sin. This one time sacrifice was given by Jesus of His own blood. We’re told about this in Hebrews 9:25-26…
Hebrews 9:25-26 (NIV)
25[Christ did not] enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
This New Covenant that Jesus made possible through his shed blood also brought about a fundamental change in the way humans could relate to God. Rather than God being totally separate from humankind as under the Old Covenant, God opened Himself up to having a much more personal relationship with everyday people like you and me. You’ll remember what happened in the temple when Jesus shouted out “It is finished!” and died on the cross. At that moment, the thick curtain separating the holy place from the holy of holies was torn from top to bottom, as if the very hand of God took that barrier and ripped it in two.
Under the New Covenant, we can relate with God on a personal way, because he comes to dwell within his people who come to him by faith.
As Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper that he was instituting the New Covenant, he was fulfilling a promise that had been foretold 600 years earlier by the prophet Jeremiah. That scripture is quoted and explained in Hebrews 8:7-13.
Hebrews 8:7-13 (NIV)
7For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8But God found fault with the people and said:
"The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
10This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
13By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
So we see that God promised, when the “new covenant” would be enacted, that he would “put His laws in their minds and write His laws on their hearts”. He would forgive humankind’s wickedness and forget about their sins. Some pretty awesome promises – and with the words of Jesus at the Last Supper we are told that that time has now come.
TRANS: So whenever we partake of communion, we are to celebrate the fact that our sins – all of them – have been paid for in full, and that we now have access to God in a way never possible under the Old Covenant. And it’s all because of Jesus! And so the Lord’s Supper is a time of joy and thanksgiving, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
But Paul goes on to instruct the Corinthians that even though it is a time of joy and thanksgiving to God, the Lord’s Supper is not to be taken lightly. Let’s go back to 1 Cor 11 and read on from verse 27.
1 Corinthians 11:27-34 (NIV)
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. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
The Lord’s Supper is to be taken with a reverent and repentant heart. (1 Cor. 11:27-34)
Paul says no one should take the Lord’s Supper without first examining his heart. He warns that anyone who partakes of the Lord’s Supper without recognizing Jesus’ sacrifice for them actually stands in danger of bringing judgment upon themselves.
God gave his very best – at extreme cost – to save each of us, and he demands our utmost respect and sincere hearts of worship when we partake of the Lord’s Supper.
WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS…
During the war in Vietnam, a young West Point graduate was sent over to lead a group of new recruits into battle. He did his job well, trying his best to keep his men from ambush and death. But one night when they had been under attack, he was unable to get one of his men to safety.
The soldier left behind had been severely wounded. From their trenches, the young lieutenant and his men could hear him in his pain. They all knew any attempt to save him – even if it was successful—would almost certainly mean death for the would-be rescuer.
Eventually the young lieutenant crawled out of hiding toward the dying man. He got him to safety but was killed before he could save himself.
After the rescued man returned to the States, the lieutenant’s parents heard that he was in their vicinity. Wanting to know this young man whose life was spared at such a great cost to them, they invited him to dinner.
When their honored guest arrived, he was obviously drunk. He was rowdy and obnoxious. He told off-color jokes and showed no gratitude for the sacrifice of the man who died to save him. The grieving parents did the best they could to make the man’s visit worthwhile, but their efforts went unrewarded.
Their guest finally left. As the dad closed the door behind him, the mother collapsed in tears and cried, “To think that our precious son had to die for somebody like that.”
That’s what Jesus did. He died for every person’s sins – and now God asks for reverence and repentance from those sins by those who will remember Jesus’ sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper. We dare not come to the Lord’s Supper with unrepentant sin or a casual attitude about what Jesus did.
CONCLUSION:
And so we’re about to do what Christians have done since the beginning of the church 2000 years ago. We are going to remember the sacrifice of our Lord that ushered in the New Covenant. (Invite worship team to the front). The ushers are going to serve the bread and juice to you as you sit, and as Paul instructs, we’re going to wait for each other to all be served and partake of the elements together.
If there are sins you need to confess to God and repent of, do that in the quiet moments while the elements are being served. You need not be perfect to partake of the elements – but you do need to be repentant and reverent toward the suffering of our Lord to pay for your sins.
As Paul wrote, let me remind you that if you are not a disciple of Jesus or if for some reason you have some unfinished business with God regarding some sins, it would be better not to partake today.
But the invitation is to all – to celebrate the New Covenant now. I’m going to have the worship team play softly as the elements are served. Once everyone has been served and had time to pray silently, I will lead us in partaking of the bread and juice together.
