Title: Communion: A Time to Refocus
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-24
Date: February 19, 2012
Place: Washington A/G
Introduction
I. Revival & Communion
A. The Table is spread
1. What were your thoughts?
2. Will you stay?
B. Every communion ought to bring personal revival
1. Jesus said, “do this in remembrance of Me.”
2. As we remember our Lord; His sacrifice, through the receiving together the elements symbolic of His body broken for us and His blood shed for us it should be a time that ushers in for us a personal time of revival.
II. What Communion is not
A. It is not a religious incantation and ritual through which we earn, attain, or achieve salvation
B. It is not simply a form we go through to fulfill our religious duties.
1. To many communion has been reduced to this; it’s just a part of the routine
2. To many it has become like church attendance, church work and giving to the church of our time, talents and tithe without ever stopping to consider the true significance of the act.
III. A Time to Refocus
A. In every act of communion for us there is a call:
1. Back to our first love (looking backward)
a. We look back to the cross and behold the price, the great extravagant price that was paid for us
b. We are reminded in this that we did not love Him first, but the reason we love Him at all is because He first Loved us.
2. Repentance (looking inward)
a. It is a time to examine ourselves honestly before the Lord
b. It is a time with all sobriety to measure our lives and conduct against the price that was paid to redeem us and ask “am I living in a manner befitting of one who has been redeemed?”
3. Evangelistic Fervor (looking outward)
a. We behold the love extended us that declare, “Freely I have received”
b. We are reacquainted with the responsibility then to Freely Give
4. Expectation (looking upward)
a. We remember the Words of the angels
b. “This same Jesus, in like manner as you have seen Him go away, He will return again.”
B. I want us to take a few moments today before you are served these emblems of communion to refocus on these four perspectives.
Body
I. Communion is a time for looking Backward
A. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (1 Corinthians 11:23-25 NKJV)
B. Looking back to the cross
1. The Cross is the message of the church
2. Paul, earlier had written to this came church and said, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” ( 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 NKJV)
3. Make no mistake about it, in a day and hour when the messages pouring from pulpits across this land seem to sound more like a self-help pep talk than the preaching of the Gospel, the message of the church of the living God is still the cross.
a. It is not a message of worldly riches
b. It is not a message of finding the good life through positive thinking
c. It matters not how esteemed by this world a prophet is, His popularity in this world means nothing in the sight of Almighty God, and if His message does not in some way point you to the cross it is weightless in light of eternity.
d. The true message of the cross is life abundant, life eternal, that is only found in Christ Jesus and made possible through the finished work of Calvary.
C. Other messages are temporal
1. Through the years I’ve heard a lot of people say, “I came into the church during this movement or that…”
2. Thank God for movements, but movements are not the message
a. Movements move in
b. Movements move on
c. The message remains, and must continue as the bedrock of faith
3. The winds of doctrine blow and sometimes in strange ways, and it matters not what wind of doctrine you blew in on, if it did not blow you to the foot of an Old Rugged Cross there to repent and find forgiveness for your sins then the fate of your eternal soul rests in a passing fad for fashion that will gain nothing in eternity
4. Many religions today have no orthodoxy
a. No set truth
b. You can ask as many people as you want about the truth of the matter and get as many different answers
c. The true message of the Church is the same for every kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue is the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world.
5. Paul lets us know that even some of the teaching we hold dear from the Word of God are one day going to vanish, “But whether there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away….”
a. The message of the cross will last forever
b. “Love never fails”
1) Love’s greatest expression was upon the cruel cross of Calvary
2) That message is the same today as it was in the days of the apostles
3) It will be the same tomorrow
4) When all other teaching has ceased the message of the cross will resound throughout all eternity
5) Read Revelation 5:1-14
6) The message of our Great Redeemer will be heralded throughout eternity!
D. Communion is a time of looking back and remembering the time that it became personal to you.
E. What does Christ’s death mean to you today?
1. Does it seem a given; something taken for granted?
2. Do you esteem it but a light thing?
3. Do you need a renewed perspective of the cross in your life?
4. Is the story of the Cross sweeter to you than ever before?
5. Is your love for Him deeper than ever?
6. Does He mean more to you today than yesterday?
II. Communion is a time for looking inward
A. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:27-32 NKJV)
B. The Case of Corinth
1. There were those who were taking communion lightly
2. Some were using the occasion of the Lord’s Supper to allow divisions and discord to enter the body.
3. Paul had earlier called them carnal, in other words they were walking after the flesh and not after the Spirit.
4. Because of this Paul says that there were some among them who were sick and even some who had died
C. When we partake of the Sacraments of this covenant with sin in our lives the Bible expresses to us that we are just as guilty of the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the Soldiers who drove the nails
D. Before you eat the bread, before you drink the cup there needs to be a searching of the heart.
1. There needs to be a time that we look to the inner man and check our motives, thoughts, and deeds
2. We need to pray as the Psalmist
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT)
E. Communion is a time for breaking down barriers in our hearts and letting go of those things we harbor in our hearts that we know to be unpleasing to God.
1. We lay our pet peeves with one another on the altar
2. We let go of grudges before the Lord
3. We allow the Love of God to erase the hurts of the past.
III. Communion is a Time for Looking Outward
A. After the Cross came the commissioning
1. How can we hold in our hands symbols of the great expression of His love for us and not hear His voice?
2. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:7-8 NKJV)
3. "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:15 NLT)
B. Every Communion should compel us to reach out to the lost.
IV. Communion is a Time for Looking Up
A. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26 NKJV)
B. Jesus Is Coming
1. This simple thought should pull the Body of Christ together in unity and solidarity as we realize that we all are one in Christ.
2. As we partake these elements representative of the body and blood of Christ and are reminded of His coming our hearts should be filled with a sense of urgency for all of the previously mentioned things
Conclusion
I. This experience we all call life is a busy one
A. It’s easy to lose focus in the bustle of life
B. Our Priorities can get skewed
II. Won’t you take a few minutes today to slow down before the Lord’s table and refocus your inner man on the things of God?
