The Lord's Supper
As we remember the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we are to use the
freedom God has given us to make this
a meaningful memorial experience
in our particular cultural situation.
Here's Gene:
Ever since the church was born,
believers have practiced what we call
communion, or the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist.
Various words are used to describe it.
But basically, it all goes back to that meal.
The Passover meal that Jesus had with
the twelve shortly before he went to the cross.
And Luke records this event.
And this is what he said in Luke 22, verse 7:
Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came
when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ...
Now let me just simply say that the
time of unleavened bread was actually
a seven-day period. The festival of unleavened bread.
But within that seven days was one day
that was the Passover.
And so this is what Luke is referring to
on that 24-hour day within the feast of
unleavened bread.
...Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came
when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
Jesus sent Peter and John, saying,
"Go and make preparations for us
to eat the Passover."
Now when we talk about the Passover meal,
when Luke refers to this, it takes us all
the way back to when the
children of Israel are in Egypt.
And you remember the story how God delivered them.
And sent those plagues on Egypt.
And the final plague was God coming
through the land of Egypt to take the
life of the eldest of humans as well as
animals who are firstborn.
But God had a protection in relationship
to what they should do
to be saved from this plague. That is the Israelites.
And we read about this in Exodus 12,
the origin of the Passover meal:
I will pass through the land of Egypt [God said]
on that night and strike every firstborn male in
the land of Egypt, both people and animals.
I am the LORD; I will execute
judgments against all the gods of Egypt.
The blood on the houses where you are staying
will be a distinguishing mark for you;
when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
Now that brings back memories growing up
as a believer, singing a song, and
the words went like this.
Christ our Redeemer died on the cross.
You remember that?
Died for the sinner. Paid all his due.
Sprinkle your soul with the blood of the Lamb.
And I will pass, will pass over you.
And then the chorus goes:
When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
So really what was happening there
in Egypt was a prophetic event
in terms of the blood of Jesus Christ
that would be shed as the Lamb of God.
The perfect Lamb of God.
It takes away the sin of the world.
So basically communion, the Eucharist,
the Lord's Supper is to be a
remembrance of what Jesus has done
for us by shedding his blood.
Now picking up the story in Egypt.
God said through Moses that this is to
be a memorial to Israel and in Israel.
And this is what was happening when
Jesus was having this Passover meal.
We read in Exodus 12:
This day is to be a memorial for you, and you
must celebrate it as a festival to the LORD ....
He's talking plurally to all of those who are in Israel.
...You are to celebrate it throughout your
generations as a permanent statute.
Now unfortunately, many times Israel
failed to do that.
And if you read through the Kings, for example,
you'll find that frequently, not as often as should,
some of the godly kings restored that
Passover meal. Israel forgot that.
But that's the foundation of what we
actually practice when we take communion.
And it relates to this Passover meal.
So here's what Luke recorded about this event
when Jesus had the Lord's Supper, Luke 22:14:
When the hour came, he reclined at the table,
and the apostles with him.
[And] then he said to them,
"I have fervently desired to eat this
Passover with you before I suffer.
For I tell you, I will not eat it again until
it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." ...
And there obviously, you cannot interpret this,
I don't believe in any other way.
So that he is saying: Someday I will
come back as king, your king.
I will serve as king.
Not just in your hearts but someday
I will come back.
And literally eat the Passover meal with you.
Ezekiel, I think, talks about that in the new temple.
...[And] then he took a cup,
and after giving thanks, he said,
"Take this and share it among yourselves.
For I tell you, from now on I will
not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God comes." ...
Again saying basically the same thing.
And by the way, this was probably the
first cup in that Passover meal.
...And [then Jesus] took bread, gave thanks, broke it,
gave it to them, and said,
"This is my body, which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way he also took the cup
after supper and said, "This cup is the
new covenant in my blood,
which is poured out for you."
And this experience
that is described here, that Jesus had.
He is laying the foundation for what we call
the Lord's Supper or the communal meal.
Or remembering the Lord with the
bread and the wine.
Now what happened when the church was born?
See they're coming into insight.
Again we go back to what?
The unfolding story. Because the apostles
didn't understand what Jesus was talking about.
They didn't even believe at that this
moment he's going to die.
They were still ignorant even of that truth.
But when the Holy Spirit came, the church was born.
Notice what happened to the believers
who came to Christ, 3,000 initially,
right there in Jerusalem:
Every day that devoted themselves to
meeting together in the temple,
and broke bread from house to house.
[And] they ate their food with joyful and
sincere hearts, praising God and
enjoying the favor of all the people.
Now I believe that basically what
happened when the church was born.
That Passover meal, which was a very
complicated meal, became a simple communal meal.
And every time they broke bread--
and which was a part of their meal.
And drank the cup, which was a part of their meal.
They remembered the Lord from house to house.
And of course, this was a visible phenomena
because they had favor with all the people.
Unbelievers in Jerusalem
because many of these people saw what
was happening and understood that
Jesus Christ had shed his blood for them.
His body was bruised for them.
And many, many came to Christ.
So we have a simple communal meal,
which existed for a number of years in
the New Testament. It's called the agape.
Because you see in the New Testament,
they never separated the bread and the cup
from the meal. Just as at the Passover meal.
Because Jesus broke the bread,
which was a part of the meal.
Then they had their supper.
And then after the supper, he took the cup,
which is probably the fourth cup.
And said: This is my blood--
represents my blood.
So we have then, the Lord's Supper.
So let me review the Principle:
As we remember the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we are to use the
freedom God has given us to make this
a meaningful memorial experience
in our particular cultural situation.
Isn't it interesting that today when we
take communion, generally speaking,
we have a little piece of bread or a little
cup of juice?
We still call it what? The Lord's Supper.
No way it's a Supper.
When you go to 1st Corinthians. And Luke--
and Paul refers back to what Luke recorded here.
He says: Jesus first took the cup and
then after supper.
Well, first he took the cup.
Then he took the bread.
Then after the supper, they took the cup.
So it was all integrated.
It was a communal meal, eating together,
and praising God together. But at the same time,
remembering the Lord.
But when persecution hit, it drove
Christians to have to go to a token meal.
And that's okay because it's not the amount.
It's what it means-- the broken body of Christ
and the shed blood of Christ.
And we're remembering that event.
And by the way, there are those of course
who believe that Jesus said:
Unless you eat my body and drink--
eat my flesh and drink my blood--
they literally mean that this becomes
miraculously the body of Christ, the blood of Christ.
And I think that's a very false interpretation.
I think what Jesus is simply saying with that:
Unless you receive me into your life
just as you take bread and it becomes a part
of who you are.
You take the cup, it becomes a part of
who you are physically.
And when you receive Jesus by faith,
he comes into your life and becomes
a part of who you are.
And that's the symbolism when we take communion.
And so we have a question here that
I think is very practical and that is:
What are some of the creative ways we
can remember the death of Lord Jesus Christ
in order to worship and fellowship
with one another, and at the same time
proclaim the gospel to those who
have not received it?
Well let me say something and I want
to say it very kindly.
But there are some churches that basically,
they will not have communion except by believers.
And they won't let unbelievers even be a part of watching it.
They ask them to leave
if they don't believe in Jesus.
Well if they ask them to leave,
how are they going to know that Jesus
died for them and shed his blood for them?
It is one of the most wonderful ways
to communicate what Jesus did.
And we explain it.
We explain it right there and then.
If you have not come to know Jesus Christ
as your personal Savior, here's what
we're going to illustrate about the
blood of Christ and the body of Christ.
And you share the gospel.
And I've seen people come to Christ right then.
And then are able to take that
experience in a meaningful godly way.
So why did they have favor with all the
people in Jerusalem when they were doing that?
Because people could see what was happening
as they went from house to house.
And so let's keep that in mind.
But we must always, I think, also explain the purpose.
To believers. This is a time to remember Jesus.
What he did for us.
And it's a time for self-examination
to make sure that we're walking in the will of God.
We'll say more about that in the next Principle.
Another thing I'd like to say is this can
be a wonderful family experience.
Very creative family experience
where the father in the family--
and if the father is not present, the mother.
Where you have a meal and part of that meal
is to break the bread which is a part of the meal.
And to thank God for his broken body.
And at some point in the meal,
is you take the cup of whatever juice you're using.
To say: You know, this helps us
remember the blood of Christ.
Doesn't matter what the substance is.
You go to other cultures,
they don't even have grape juice.
They have other juices, fruit of the vine.
In other words, God's given us creative
opportunities as a family.
And I think this was happening in the
New Testament world.
I remember basically when I was a
full-time pastor with our elders and
their wives. We'd gather in our home.
And one of the things that I loved to do
was to gather around the island in the kitchen.
Where we had the food that was brought.
But sitting there was a loaf of bread.
To be frank, I love sweet bread.
Now you can eat any kind of bread--
unleavened, whatever.
But to me sweet bread helps me think
of the sweetness of Jesus.
Not just his death. And you can break that loaf.
And as everybody breaks off a piece,
it is part of the meal that they're going to finish.
They can finish eating what they broke off
or take from the loaf that are maybe out
there on other tables.
But remembering the Lord and then
having the supper and eating.
And then at the end, we would have
pitchers of juice on each table
where people were gathered.
And the last thing we did after we had
the supper was to take that cup--
The cup we'd been drinking from--
and remember the Lord Jesus' blood
that was shed for us.
Now we were not duplicating exactly
what happened in the New Testament.
But one of the things it does, it shows you creativity.
And it shows you can create that
opportunity in that situation where you don't
separate the bread and the cup from the meal.
Or from the fellowship that you're having together.
And to me that's one of the most
creative things that we can do
in relationship to the Lord's Supper.
It can be a wonderful creative
experience remembering the body of Christ
that was broken and the blood that
he shed in order for us to be saved.