Thanksgiving Communion
John 6; I Corinthians 10:16-11:31
16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
At our Thanksgiving dinner, we all had one thing in common: we couldn’t wait to be told: “Come to the table!” This morning, Jesus has set the table and is inviting us, “Come to My Table.”
John 6:27 Jesus is speaking to a group which followed Him because He just fed them. He points out the fact that there are better reasons to follow Him than just for a temporary fill.
27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.
33 “For the bread of God is that which acomes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
41 Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.”
47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
48 “I am the bread of life.
49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
58 “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
They didn’t get it in Jesus day, but we do now! It’s not about really eating that flesh and drinking that blood. Jesus said these elements before us today are SYMBOLIC of His body and blood. There’s no saving power in these elements, and none will be saved today by partaking. This is a time of remembrance.
But first, there are several things we need to bring to the table:
1. Before we sit down to a meal, we need clean hands. You don’t sit down, and eat dinner without washing. This is why the Bible tells us to examine our lives before receiving Communion. Turn to I Cor. 11:28
We may see something that needs to be confessed and cleaned up. When we come to Jesus with remorse and repentance, we find forgiveness, restoration, and an invitation to His table. Some people get so burdened by their sins, that instead of asking forgiveness, they figure they’re too unworthy to participate, and they pass the tray without partaking. None of us are worthy, but if we’ve trusted Christ, we are eligible. He invites and authorizes us to come to the table.
2. Also before dining, we need a good appetite. What would happen if you were invited to someone’s house for dinner and an hour before the meal you ate a bag of chips, a Coke, and a package of Twinkies? After all this junk food, you’d have little appetite for the good stuff! Paul tells us, “you can’t drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you can’t have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons”
That’s in I Cor. 10:21, look at it: God offers us a substantive meal—the Bread and Cup won’t fill us up physically, but they will satisfy our spiritual hunger. When we stuff ourselves with the junk food of sin we lose our appetite for the good food God has prepared for us. We need to “taste and see” the satisfying goodness of the Lord (Psalm 34:8).
Dr Leroy Creasy of Cornell University has identified a chemical in grapes that reduces the risk of heart disease. He reports in the Journal of Applied Cardiology that grape juice lowers cholesterol and cleanses the heart of life-threatening impurities. At the Lord’s Table grape juice represents the blood of Christ, which cleanses our spiritual hearts of sin’s deadly effects.
We are in the world, but we don’t have to be of the world. Do we get an appetite for what God has for us, when we’ve been dwelling on things below, rather than things above? When our perspective is fixed on temporal things, we can get caught up in that which has no lasting value. Jesus promises, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” [Mt. 5]
What does Jesus mean when He says we’ll be “filled”? Many people live their lives on EMPTY. They go day-to-day without much purpose or meaning, and when they reach the end they wonder what the point was in living. They are starving spiritually. Well Jesus is what we’re truly hungry for, and good news—He’s inviting us to His table!
3. When we’re dining, we also need patience--time to enjoy the moment. We
4. We also need harmony at the meal table—it is important. I heard about a family who got together for a meal, and before long the table conversation got controversial. We can’t expect everyone in our congregation to agree on every issue, but we are expected to get along.
10:17 Paul makes a point of saying that “we are one body” and we “partake of the one bread.” Conflict, tension, disharmony, can all ruin a perfectly good meal. One thing we don’t bring to the table is divisiveness. We don’t have to agree on absolutely everything, but rather focus on Christ. What unites us is greater than what divides us.
5. We need gratefulness for this meal. Jesus gave thanks, and so should we!
When we come to the Lord’s Table, we need to eat with gratitude, to not take it for granted. We need to appreciate the cost of this meal. Jesus has prepared a meal for us that cost Him His life.
6. We also need to come to God’s Table with loyalty. Paul is talking about how people try to eat at the devil’s table, yet also come to God’s. We serve a jealous God (vs 22), Who will not be replaced with substitutes. He demands our undivided loyalty. The Christians at Corinth were tempted to revert to the idolatrous practices of their former lives. Our partaking of Communion indicates that we are undivided in our commitment to Christ.
7. We need to leave the Lord’s Table with purpose. This is spiritual nourishment and strength for us…but strength for what? God would have us to be energized for a purpose, and that is to serve Him with all our strength. “Take it in, burn it up.” But many Christians are content to sit back and relax. It’s like there’s a spiritual tryptophan in what they hear from their preacher that lulls them to sleep until they next time the bell rings and it’s time to eat again!
The best food and drink we could ever partake of is on the table, and we are invited to come and partake. Let’s make sure and bring the right stuff with us, the right attitudes, and the right spirit, and let’s be prepared as we leave to prove and demonstrate the real spiritual strength and health we have by the way we serve and work for our Lord!
10:16 This verse asks 2 rhetorical questions to which the answer is yes! Gentlemen, please approach the table and prepare to serve the people.
11:26-31 Then give thanks to the Lord for His body and blood, for your salvation as a result, and ask Him for strength for the journey of service ahead!
Communion
26 Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;
28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
Leviticus 17:11
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Blood is life. And when Jesus’ blood was shed, His life was being poured out, and all who kneel at the foot of that cross receive that life in a sin cleansing, life giving bath. Are you washed in the blood?
The first is that thankfulness forces us to focus on what we have had rather than what we want. In our materialistic culture, we can succumb to a consumerism of the soul that reduces our prayers to shopping lists. Thankfulness looks outwards, not inwards. It realigns our lives so that they revolve around God instead of trying to make God revolve around us.
The second is that thankfulness highlights grace. To give thanks is to admit that you are dependent, to say, ‘I couldn't have done this on my own, but you helped me.’ Thanksgiving removes the temptation to boast and strengthens the only basis on which we can relate to God: that of accepting our own unworthiness and God’s free grace in Jesus Christ.
The third is that thankfulness encourages a positive attitude. It forces us to think about what is right with our lives rather than what is wrong. This is important in an age when many feel depressed. Thanking God is a proven way of piercing the gloomiest of clouds.
A fourth is that thankfulness develops hope for the future. Looking backwards to the past with thanksgiving actually helps us to look towards the future with anticipation.
A fifth is that to practice thankfulness regularly ensures that gratitude will spill over into every area of our lives. We cannot thank God for difficult colleagues, relatives, or neighbors for long before finding that we express a positive attitude towards them. Grumpiness and irritability do not grow well in a climate of gratitude. Those who regularly give thanks to God find they are ready to give to others. Gratitude and generosity go hand in hand.
