Communion

COMMUNION

1 Corinthians 11:23-34

Intro

We do this twice a month

But we’ve not stopped to really reflect on what we are doing – what the bible says about communion

Once after a church service a woman’s son had complained to her that the adults had all been given a snack, but none had been given to the little children.

At first she was unsure of what he was thinking, but when she asked she discovered that he had seen the adults being taking bread and wine and simply assumed it was a snack.

The reason Paul was writing about this in his letter was that the Corinthians had allowed the other festivities of the day to crowd out the meaning and purpose of the Lord’s Supper.

They had lost the point of the meaning a this simple meal - which was not about eating and drinking, but primarily remembering!

Paul talks of examining our selves before we partake in communion -

So let’s do just that . . .

You know, our story started and ended with a simple meal

The start of our story.

First - Created . . . . Man in His image

Second - Given community

- companionship

- can work for good

- serve,

encourage,

fun together

but being with others can also pull us down.

Gen. 2:17 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

“Don’t take and eat - just this one fruit from this one tree. if you do you will die.”

Now this is not like the poison apple given to Snow White.

It’s not the apple - it’s the disobedience.

“You’ve got it ALL!!! - everything is yours, But in order to give you freedom, you have to have choice; so here’s the deal. Have it all, but leave that one tree.”

And you know what it’s like.

I say to you, “Think about anything, but do not think about a bar of milk chocolate. Anything - but don’t imagine a bar of milk chocolate.”

And what happens?

Or when you come back tonight and we talk about communion and what I said this morning, just forget I mentioned that I’ve got a blue belly button. Don’t think about it, ok?

Remember everything else I said this morning, but please not the blue belly button”

I can guarantee tonight there will be one thing you will remember from this morning, What?

So Adam was told, “Everything is yours to eat, but don’t eat from the tree of knowledge between good and evil - got it?”

Its the one thing God said, “don’t take and eat.”

So what did he do? He ate it!!!!

But by doing so, it brought sin into our lives.

It’s interesting then, that at the Last Supper, Jesus breaks bread, which represents His body on the cross, and he freely gives it out saying, -

Matt. 26 26 , “Take and eat; this is my body.”

It started with the “First Adam” given the choice, chose to ignore God

Romans 5 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned

Given the choice, we often ignore God’s counsel and go our own way.

Oh - We know best.

Eating fruit is good or you!

And we pick it!

Romans 3: 23 for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

But, as I’ve said before, we can’t go judging others, because we are climbing the same fruit tree.

Cant say “I was putting it back!”

The bible openly declares it - we have ALL sinned and fall short.

fall short of the pass mark. = 100% purity.

So we have all sinned, and the bottom line of that is:

Romans 6 23 For the wages of sin is death,

Sin has consequences - and any impurity in us means we cannot be in God’s presence - heaven. . . . .

but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have a marvellous gift - eternal life - in other words - God has given us the gift of being in His presence - even though we do not deserve to be in it.

why?

1 Cor 5:7b Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed

The very reason Jesus and the disciples were meeting in the Upper Room was to Celebrate Passover - the time when death passed over God’s people, because they put blood from a sacrificed lamb on the door posts.