Sharing the Lord’s Supper
Matthew 26:14-30
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - January 29, 2012
BACKGROUND:
*This morning we will worship the Lord by sharing the Lord’s Supper. Think back to the scene on the night before the cross. Jesus was gathered with His disciples to eat the last Passover of His earthly life.
*That night the Lord gave the Passover much greater meaning than it ever had before. Now it would become the Lord’s Supper symbolizing the new covenant and the sacrifice Jesus was about to make. Let’s read about it this morning in Matthew 26:14-30.
INTRODUCTION:
*So much has changed since that darkest of nights. But the Light that shined in that darkness shines just as bright today. And as we look at the Lord’s first followers, we will see that we have much in common with them. In fact, as believers, we are like them in the most important ways.
1. First: We share the same Friend.
[1] I am talking about our best friend, Jesus Christ. And one of the things our Friend gives us is His Leadership.
*That’s what the disciples needed here in Matthew 26. They had known for months that terrible things were going to happen when they went back to Jerusalem. Jesus had told them many times.
*About 9 months before this night, Matthew 16:21 says, "From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."
*Now so close to the cross, the disciples were troubled to the max, even wondering in these verses if they would be the one to betray Jesus. On top of all of this, it was time for the Passover, the most important Feast on the Jewish calendar. What were they supposed to do?
*This was the question on the disciples’ minds in vs. 17, so they asked for the Lord’s leadership: "Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, 'Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?'"
*They wanted some guidance, and in vs. 18, the Lord told them just the right thing to do: "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."'"
*Mark 14:12-16 gives us more detail:
12. Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?''
13. So He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.
14. And wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, `The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?'''
15. Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.''
16. And His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.
*Those two disciples took off to find this man carrying a picture of water. That was a very unusual thing to see in that day. But I like what Mark’s Gospel says at this point. They "came into the city, and found it just as He (i.e. Jesus) had said to them."
*Church: You will always find it just as Jesus says. He always tells the truth, because He is the Truth, and He cannot lie. And the Lord’s truth is timeless. It is just as good today as it was 2,000 years ago, and it always will be. As Jesus said in Luke 21:33, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."
*Jesus told His friends exactly what to do. And we can always depend on the Lord to tell us the right things to do. Our Best Friend gives leadership.
[2] But much more important, He gave His life.
*This is the life-changing, soul-saving message of the Lord’s Supper in vs. 26-28:
26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body.''
27. Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
*On this same night, in John 15:13, Jesus said: "Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends." There is no greater love, no greater Friend than Jesus!
-Christians: We share the same Friend.
2. And we share the same fellowship.
*There they were, gathered together with Jesus. And so are we. By His Holy Spirit, the Lord is here just as surely as He was there with the first disciples. Except for Judas the betrayer, this Passover meal was a time of close fellowship.
*Most of us know that the Passover was instituted by the Lord in remembrance of the night that the Jews were delivered from bondage in Egypt. They took the blood of a spotless lamb and spread it on the door posts, so that the Lord would pass over their homes when He delivered the judgment of death on all of the first-born of Egypt.
*This meal was a time of great worship, and they had the great privilege of spending it in fellowship together with Jesus. And though it was a night of great trouble for them, in their darkest hour they had the fellowship of the Lord. They were sharing their troubles together. So can we. There is a special bond between us, because we belong to Jesus.
*One of the most high and holy times I ever had in Ukraine was the Lord’s Supper service we had at the children’s camp in Kaniv. They have these camps all over the country. They were built by the Communists when they were in brutal control of that country for 70 years. The children were hustled off to camp every summer, where their minds could be poisoned by daily doses of atheistic, Communist propaganda.
*The wonderful thing is that now many of these camps are used to share the gospel with Ukrainian children. We were upstairs from the craft room that afternoon. Junk and dirty clothes we scattered everywhere around the room. Some people sat on rough benches, some sat on the floor, and many stood around the edge of the room. I gave my testimony that day, and Pastor Sergei preached. Then we took the Lord’s Supper.
*I had almost nothing in common with those people. We spoke a different language. We lived on opposite sides of the world. Most of them had grown up in poverty under the heavy hand of Communist oppression. I grew up with almost everything I ever wanted, in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
*We had nothing in common. But we had everything in common, because of Jesus. Christians: We share the same fellowship.
3. And we share the same forgiveness.
*We all need forgiveness. Three key verses from the Book of Romans make this clear:
-Romans 3:10: "As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one.'"
-Romans 3:23: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
-And Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
*We all need forgiveness. But not everyone at the table that night was forgiven. Think about Judas. We see him first here in vs. 14-16:
14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
15. and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?'' And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
16. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
*Verses 20-25 tell us more about the man who betrayed Jesus:
20. Now when evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.
21. Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.''
22. And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?''
23. Then He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.
24. "The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.''
25. Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?'' He said to him, "You have said it.''
*There is a great warning here for anyone who is so foolish as to oppose the Lord. Like Judas, you may think that Jesus isn’t worth being trusted, worshipped and obeyed. You may think that you will be better-off on the other side. You may even choose a little money over the Master like Judas did in vs. 15.
*But in vs. 24, the Lord said: "The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." What could possibly be worse than never being born? -- The answer is spending all eternity in hell.
*I read about an arrogant young man who went up to an old preacher just after he finished preaching one day. The young man mockingly asked, "Can you tell me where hell is?" And the old preacher replied, "Yes, young man. It is at the end of a life without Christ." (1)
*Oh the loss of never trusting in the Lord, never giving your heart to Jesus, forever and always being unforgiven. Without Jesus Christ, all of life is worse than pointless. But there is forgiveness with Jesus.
*In vs. 27&28, Jesus:
27. . . took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
28. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission (i.e. the forgiveness, pardon, freedom) of sins.”
*Jesus was about to die on the cross for our sins, and He did die so that all of our sins might be forgiven. Today we remember that Jesus gave His life, so that we could be forgiven. He took the death penalty for our sins.
-Christians: We share the same forgiveness with these first disciples.
4. And we share the same future.
*In vs. 29, Jesus said: "I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." What a future we have together, because of Jesus!
*William Barclay explained: "Here is divine faith and optimism. Jesus was going out to Gethsemane, out to a sham trial, out to the cross. And yet he is still thinking in terms of a Kingdom. To Jesus the cross was never defeat. It was the way to glory. He was on his way to Calvary. But he was also on his way to a throne. (2)
*Jesus was looking into His future, and it is a future in eternal fellowship with His friends. It is a future that all of us can look forward to, if Jesus is our Lord and Savior.
*Ten years ago, some good friends of ours lost their son Jeff. He died in his prime, after years of terrible heart trouble. They made a last-ditch effort to save him in Shreveport, but Jeff didn’t make it through the surgery.
*His mother called to let me know that they had gotten home from Shreveport. And she told me some things about Jeff’s final hours. She also told me that before surgery, Jeff wrote a letter to his wife, Angela, and their 8-year-old daughter, Kayle. In this letter, Jeff told them that if there were problems with the surgery that he didn’t want to be kept on life support for a long time. "And if I don’t make it," he said, "I will see you in Heaven."
*Those were strong words of faith. In his time of greatest trial, Jeff remembered his everlasting future with Jesus, and so should we. What a Savior!
*Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
INVITATION
LORD’S SUPPER
*As we observe the Lord’s Supper this morning, remember that the Lord’s Supper is for everyone who has received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. So, if you know Jesus, we invite you to share.
*The Apostle Paul told us how to take the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. There Paul said:
23. 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;
24. 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.''
25. 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.''
26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.
27. 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.
28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
29. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
*Paul tells us here that before we take the Lord’s Supper, we need to examine our hearts. Listen to it again in vs. 27-29:
27. 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.
28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
29. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
*The only way to properly receive the Lord’s Supper is to search our hearts, repent and confess our sins to the Lord. All of us need to do this, of course, because all of us have sinned. Please join me in a time of silent prayer, as we search our hearts before the Lord.
DEACONS COME FORWARD TO SERVE THE ELEMENTS
*The Lord’s Supper is to remind us of the high price that Jesus paid on the cross for our sins.
1. Jesus wants us to remember His body.
-And we remember His body with this bread, because Jesus is the Bread of Life. As He said in John 6:
35. "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
47. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
48. I am the bread of life.
49. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.''
PRAYER TO BLESS THE BREAD
PASSING OF THE BREAD
*The Apostle Paul said:
23. 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;
24. 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.''
TAKING THE BREAD
2. Thru the Lord’s Supper, we remember the Lord’s body and we remember His blood.
*In 1 John 1:5-7, the Apostle John tells us:
5. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
*We remember the Lord’s blood, because "the blood of Jesus Christ (God’s) Son cleanses us from all sin." The Blood of Jesus Christ paid the price for every single one of our sins. This cup represents the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Blood that He shed when He died on the cross for us.
PRAYER TO BLESS THE CUP
PASSING OF THE CUP
25. 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 Cor 11:25)
TAKING THE CUP
1 Cor 11:26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. -- He’s coming again!
BENEDICTION:
“Blest Be the Tie That Binds”
(1) Original source unknown
(2) BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay - Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay. First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - HIS BODY AND HIS BLOOD - Matthew 26:26-30
