Reverence For Communion Series

7 keys to revival – Sermon 4 – “Reverence for Communion”

Thesis: When the church starts to reverence communion then we are using another key to unlocking the door to revival in the church.

Introduction:

Meaning of the word reverence and communion:

REVERENCE Respect or honor paid to a worthy object. In Scripture, reverence is paid: to father and mother (Lev. 19:3; Heb. 12:9); to God (1 Kings 18:3, 12; Heb. 12:28); to God’s sanctuary (Lev. 19:30; 26:2); and to God’s commandments (Ps. 119:48). The failure to revere God (Deut. 32:51) and the act of revering other gods (Judg. 6:10) have dire consequences. Reverence for Christ is expressed in mutual submission within the Christian community (Eph. 5:21). Christian persecution takes on new meaning as suffering becomes an opportunity for revering Christ (1 Pet. 3:14-15) (From Holman Bible Dictionary).

COMMUNION Paul’s term describing the nature of the Lord’s Supper and thus the term used by many church groups to refer to their celebration of Jesus’ final, memorial supper with His disciples. Paul used the Greek term koinonia to express the basic meaning of the Christian faith, a sharing in the life and death of Christ which radically creates a relationship of Christ and the believer and of the believers with one another in a partnership or unity. See Fellowship; Lord’s Supper.

Today I ask the same question I have been asking you over the last few weeks, “How many want revival?” If you raised your hand then here is what we need to do to use another key to unlock revival here at New Life.

WE NEED TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT THE LORD’S SUPPER AND APPROACH IT WITH REVERENCE!

1 Corinthians 11:23-33 Message

Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,

“This is my body, broken for you.

Do this to remember me.”

After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:

“This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.

Each time you drink this cup, remember me.”

What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.

Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.

If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won’t have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.

So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord’s Table, be reverent and courteous with one another.

T.S. - The Corinthian church, and the church of the present, must get serious about the Lord’s Supper. We need to have reverence for Jesus when we partake of communion. We need to remember why we do it!

I. What are the reasons that we partake of the Lord’s Supper?

A. It is the one way that Jesus asked us to remember Him.

B. It teaches us that we are all saved the same way.

1. We have salvation by Christ and His cross.

2. There are no exceptions to this divine plan.

C. This is the greatest memorial service.

1. It looks back as a reminder of what Christ has done. It reminds us of the supernatural birth of Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross for us.

2. It’s about the reality and completeness of the cross- Max Lucado puts it well when he says, “And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven opened for you”(35).

a. He tells us that the message of Jesus on the cross is this, “I did it for you. I did it all for you” (151).

1. Hebrews 10:12, 14 “Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins’ and “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” (NRSV)