When the very wealthy business man Howard Hughes died, he was honored in Las Vegas in a remarkably callous way. For sixty seconds the pit bosses held their dice at the crap tables; the roulette wheels were stilled and the casinos quiet. Then a man at Desert Inn yelled, “Ok, he’s had his minute, let’s deal ‘em.” Hughes had amassed a fantastic fortune in his hey day. He indulged his every fantasy and played with the worlds most expensive toys, but he had lost touch with people. They gave him what they thought he had coming – sixty seconds of respect. Then he was forgotten. Jesus on the other hand amassed no fortune, owned no properties or play things, wrote no books, held no political office, depended upon His friends for financial support, earned no academic degrees and died an apparent failure. What made Him so different? When Jesus gathered together with His disciples to eat the last supper with them this was by no means an entirely unusual event for them. They had eaten many such meals together. What made this time different from all the others was Jesus’ knowledge of what was about to happen to Him. Soon He would leave the upper room and head to the Garden of Gethsemane, there He would struggle and agonize over His appointed destiny. Then He would experience the degradation and humiliation in front of the Jewish court and Pilate. Then would be the cross. But 2,000 years later millions of His friends gather together and remember Him with a simple memorial. As we compare Jesus to Howard Hughes we realize that there is so much more than just the obvious differences. I think it is more the history changing difference Christ made, a change in the relationship between God and man. Today we want to take a good look at this simple memorial we take on a weekly basis and discover how the remembrance needs to look forward was well as back.
I. The change of the relationship between God and man is highlighted as blesses the cup and says, ““This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
A. His disciples immediately knew what He meant immediately by these words although they would not fully understand their implication until after His resurrection.
1. Being raised Jewish they had always been taught to believe that their God was a covenant keeping God.
2. When God promised to make Abraham a great nation the covenant was sealed with a sign, circumcision.
3. When God had Moses lead His people out of Egypt a new covenant was made between God and His people at Mount Sinai.
4. See how they sealed this covenant. (Exodus 24:4-8)
5. To the Jew blood was a sacred symbol of life.
6. In throwing the blood on the altar and then on the people, Moses was symbolically intermingling God’s life and His people’s lives.
B. When Jesus held the cup of wine before them as a symbol of a new agreement, they could have not known all that was coming; however they did understand that God through Christ was preparing to write a new contract with His people.
1. Once they had seen the victorious risen Lord, they realized what had taken place on the cross.
2. There upon the cross Jesus was delivering God’s new covenant to His people.
3. He who was called the Son of God and the Son of Man personally offered the life of man and the life of God upon the altar.
4. There He changed the terms of God’s agreement with His people.
5. The cross ushered in a New Covenant of grace and love supplanting the Old Covenant of law and sacrifice.
6. See how the Hebrew writer explains Jesus’ mediation of the New Covenant. (Hebrews 9:11-15)
7. Unlike the other high priests, he doesn’t have to offer sacrifices for his own sins every day before he can get around to us and our sins. He’s done it, once and for all: offered up himself as the sacrifice. (Hebrews 7:27, Message)
II. The Lord’s Supper commemorates this supreme sacrifice and this mediation of a new covenant.
A. As soon as Peter’s hears confessed their faith in Jesus Christ and were baptized on Pentecost, they eagerly sought out one another learn about Him.
1. They studied the Scriptures about Him and eagerly accepted all the apostles had to say about Him.
2. However when the time came to break the bread and to drink the cup all focus turned to Jesus Christ.
3. They remembered the cross and the freedom that He bought for them with His blood.
4. As a memorial feast the Lord’s Supper opened the way for us to have a relationship with God without the need for an earthly priest to mediate for us.
B. The Lord’s Supper may represent a lot of things to us but it was always Jesus’ appointed way for us to remember Him.
1. Before distributing the bread and the wine Jesus gave thanks, which was a Jewish custom at the Passover and other meals.
2. When we give thanks of the bread and the cup, not only are we imitating Jesus, we are expressing our gratitude to God for what He has done for us through Christ.
3. When a Christian matures in His relationship with God, his most characteristic quality is gratitude.
4. The desire to give thanks has always been one of the Christian’s greatest motives for partaking of the Lord’s Supper frequently.
5. We see in Acts 20:7 that at Troas the Lord’s Supper had apparently become at least something that was observed on a weekly basis.
6. The weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper has always afforded the Christian the opportunity to praise God and give thanks.
III. Communion represents our sharing together with one another in Christ.
A. We have met this word communion before, in the word fellowship.
1. Communion and fellowship share the common root word which means to hold in common.
2. Here Christians could share with one another regardless of their social or economic status, regardless of the cultural backgrounds or past religious differences; in Christ they were all equals.
3. The specific problem, according to Paul, is that this meal that is supposed to engender and reflect corporate unity has become completely individualistic.
4. If it were a true meal of the Lord the participants would partake in a way that manifested their fellowship in the Body of Christ.
5. When believers come to the table of the Lord, sharing the bread of His body and the cup of His blood, it is absolutely necessary that they leave behind all sin, all bitterness, all racial and sexual prejudice, all class pride, and all feelings of superiority.
6. The Corinthians soon found that it was impossible for them to celebrate unity and fellowship in one body because of their quarrels and selfishness.
B. The social aspect of Communion is not always fully appreciated.
1. Communion by definitions demands participation and sharing.
2. Although there does need to be lines of authority in the church there should never be any lines of superiority.
3. Competition never improves relationships.
4. The problem in the Corinthian Church was that this should have been a marvelous expression of Christian unity but due to their divisions it had been shamefully reduced to just the opposite.
5. We must partake of the Lord’s Supper with reverence for Christ and thoughtful respect for other believers.
IV. In addition to Communion being a memorial feast, a thanksgiving feast and common meal; it most certainly needs to be a celebration of hope.
A. Jesus said, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” How do we remember Christ in the Lord’s Supper?
1. By thinking about what He did and why He did it.
2. The remembering really needs to have both a backward look and forward look.
3. Not only are we to remember His sacrifice but we also must remember the fact that one day He is coming again.
4. If the Lord’s Supper becomes just pious habit or ritual it will be inevitable that it will lose its significance.
5. When we focus on His sacrifice and anticipate what He will do when He returns.
B. As Christians we must look forward toward His victorious return and the fulfillment of His ultimate plan for this world.
1. It testifies that Christ who died is alive and that we who have died in Him anticipate a resurrection like His.
2. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
3. Each time we come to His table we need to eat like pilgrims on our way to our heavenly destiny; never sure when He will return and tell us that our journey is over.
4. Until our journey is over each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we need to renew commitment to serve Him.
A Chinese Christian woman gave the following testimony of faith centered in the cross: "The cross has been the center of our meetings. This wooden cross, hand-carved for us by a kind young man, is our fifth...You see, we always begin our meetings, as in the old days, with the cross coming into our midst. This way we feel the heavenly Father is with us."
"Yes this wooden, I think, is our fifth. The first was silver, my family’s cross. It came in very useful when, towards the end of the fifties, Pastor Pi lost his church and asked my husband if he and others could use our home for prayers...With him the cross was always center...At some time during this period, the silver cross was stolen...I was able to locate another cross, an ivory one...We met around the ivory cross."
"Then the Cultural Revolution came upon us. One day, my neighbor’s 14-15 year-old son...came to my door and quietly tipped me off about ’a house confiscation’ visit by the Red Guards any time...My husband...told me to get rid of the ivory cross. So I hid it in the charcoal pile in the kitchen. The days later they arrived...They found my ivory cross with ease. The leader took it right in front of me, moved his young head in mock pity, let the cross fall and crushed it with his foot..."
"I decided to make small cross for myself...I carried it all the time in my pocket, touching it and remembering Jesus."
"There are now over forty of us in our Thursday meetings. And we’ve got a bigger cross, hand-carved by one of our young people. We let him bring in the cross."
These words from our Chinese sister in Christ remind us that the cross must always be at the center of our lives. She reminds us that, when we break this bread and drink this cup, we "bring in the cross," showing forth His death until He comes again. She reminds us that to touch the cross means to remember Jesus.
