MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
TEXT: Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
A. In just 3 weeks we will be celebrating the events of Palm Sunday. We will recall the "triumphal entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem & the crowds shouting "Hosanna," & "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." (Matthew 21:9)
Then during the evening of what is generally called "Good Friday" our congregation will gather for a special communion service, commemorating the last Passover meal that Jesus ate with His apostles in the upper room.
It was during that meal Jesus took the Passover bread, broke it & gave it to them, saying, "Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you." In the same manner He took the cup after supper, saying, "Take, drink. This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you."
The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:23 26 that "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, & when He had given thanks, He broke it & said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.'
“In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'
"For whenever you eat this bread & drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."
That is the reason we gather each Lord's Day to remember & worship Him.
B. That is what the early Christians did, too. In Acts 20:7 Luke says that "On the first day of the week we came together to break bread." On the first day of the week Christians met together to partake what we call "the Lord's Supper" in remembrance of Jesus. And we are still doing that today.
ILL. Roger Rose wrote: "When I was a boy my younger brother was fatally injured in a tragic accident. A dirt road ran alongside our farm, & only on rare occasions would there be a car on it. But one day as my brother was crossing it on his bike, a car came roaring over the hill, & he was run over & killed.
“Later, when my dad picked up the mangled, twisted bike, I heard him sob out loud for the first time in my life! He carried it to the barn & placed it in a spot we seldom used. Father’s terrible sorrow eased with the passing of time, but for many years whenever he saw that bike, tears began streaming down his face.
"Since then I have often prayed, ‘Lord, keep the memory of your death that fresh in me! Every time I partake of your memorial supper, let my heart be stirred. Never let the communion service become a mere formality, but always a tender & touching experience to me.’” (Sermon Central Staff)
Paul goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body & blood of the Lord.
“A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread & drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats & drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats & drinks judgment on himself."
C. When Paul says to "examine" ourselves, what does he mean? Just how do we "examine" ourselves? What are we supposed to be doing as we meet each week to partake of this communion in remembrance of Jesus?
PROP. We know what Jesus has done. What are we supposed to do so that as we partake it will not be in an "unworthy manner," & thus be "guilty of sinning against the body & the blood of the Lord?"
I. WE MUST RECOGNIZE OUR SINFULNESS
A. First of all, I believe that we must recognize our sinfulness.
Whenever we come to the table of the Lord, we must recognize that even in our most holy moments we are still far from holy, & that our righteousness, the Bible says, is as "filthy rags" before God. And with Isaiah we cry, "Woe to me..., for I am a man of unclean lips . . . & my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5)
We must confess our sinfulness to God. Yet most of the time we tend to minimize or gloss over our sins.
Think about that. Have you been dishonest this week? Did you let anger get the best of you? Were you greedy? Did you harbor any immoral thoughts? I think we all must have some confessing to do. And we are all indebted to God.
B. But as we partake of this memorial God reaches down & says, "My child, I forgive! I tear up the debt. You don't owe me anything, because Jesus paid it all. His body was broken. His blood was shed, & your debt is no more."
ILL. Do you remember the story Jesus told about a man who owed an over-whelming amount? He went to the master to whom he owed the debt & confessed that he could not pay it. The master heeded his plea & forgave the debt.
Then the man who had just been forgiven went out & found another man who owed him a much smaller amount, & grabbed him, saying, "I will not let you go until you pay me what you owe."
As we are reminded again of this story, we must realize that sometimes we behave like that too!
So we come confessing our sins & asking God to forgive, & God says, "I do forgive." But then we find it difficult, if not impossible, to forgive one another. Remember, Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive me my debts my sins as I forgive those who sin against me.'"
C. Today we come with boldness to seek God's forgiveness, but at the same time we must make a covenant with God to forgive those who have sinned against us.
ILL. Dr. John Duncan was the Professor of Hebrew at Edinburgh University for many years. He was called affectionately by his students "Rabbi Duncan." He tells of a communion service in Highland Kirk, Scotland, that he attended.
As he was preparing to partake, he began to confess his sins silently to God. He writes that as he confessed them he realized how many & how awful they were. So he decided that he would not partake of the emblems that day because he felt so unworthy.
But as the plate of bread was passed down the row where he was seated, he noticed that the young girl next to him was weeping almost uncontrollably. As the plate of bread came to her, she held it in her hands for a moment, quietly sobbing, & then passed it on to him without partaking of it.
Prof. Duncan held it in his hand, & looked at the weeping girl. Then he leaned over & handed the bread back to her & whispered these words in her ear, "Take it, lassie," he said, "it's for sinners. It's for us."
SUM. The Lord's Supper is for sinners like you & me. We come confessing we come repenting we come asking God's forgiveness & promising in turn that we will forgive others. We are examining ourselves before we eat.
II. WE MUST PARTAKE WITH THANKSGIVING
A. Secondly, I think that communion should always be a time of thanksgiving. Not for the usual things we thank Him for, but for the gift of salvation. In the time of communion let us be thanking God for His gift of eternal salvation.
B. I tried to think of words that I could use to picture the hopelessness that must grip the one who has no hope of salvation, but words failed me. There are not words strong enough to describe what we would feel inside if that hope were gone.
ILL. I don't know if those of you who are older remember it, but some years ago in the early days of space exploration, the Russians sent up a cosmonaut whose capsule never returned to earth.
Something went wrong, & it just kept on going out into space, further & further away, carrying its helpless human cargo into the eternity of limitless space.
Maybe that is what it would be like to be lost, without the hope of salvation that we have through Jesus Christ.
SUM. I wonder how many times we gather together holding in our hands those sacred emblems & we never say "Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul"? Our communion ought to be a time of thanksgiving to our Lord.
III. WE DO PROCLAIM OUR FAITH
Last of all, did you notice that Paul teaches us also that when we partake of the Lord's table that we proclaim the death, burial, & resurrection of Jesus? We proclaim it to each other, & we proclaim it to the world.
ILL. C.S. Lewis said, "You have 3 choices when it comes to Jesus. You can believe Him to be a madman, or a liar, or God."
He can't be just a good teacher. And there is no way in the world that He can be just a man, because if Jesus is not God He is a liar & a fraud
By reaching for the emblems & taking them we affirm once again that we believe that God is who He says He is. And that His love for us is so great that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to live with us, & to die for our sins.
And He is coming again to receive us unto Himself, for He has prepared a place where we will live with Him through all eternity.
That is our faith. And as we partake we proclaim it again & again!
ILL. In Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of Christ” there is an obscure detail in the crucifixion scene that usually goes unnoticed, but actually says so much.
When Jesus is being placed on the cross, the camera comes close to watch as a large spike is positioned in the middle of Jesus’ hand. Then, a mallet comes into focus, & a rugged hand swings it to drive the spike. Those are all things you expect to see.
But there is something you don’t see. You never see the face of the one who drives that nail. You never get a glimpse into the eyes, or heart of the one who pounds away until the spike has passed through Jesus’ flesh & sinks into the wood of the cross.
The person who played that role in the movie was the director himself, Mel Gibson. But why did he never show the face of the one who was nailing Jesus to the cross? Why did he never identify the one who was putting the Son of God to death?
He didn’t show us that face because that face was his. And it is ours. We are the ones who put Jesus to death. It wasn’t just the Romans, or the Jews. It was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross.
(ADAPTED: Sermon Central Staff. Live interview of Mel Gibson at Saddleback Community Church, January, 2003.)
So when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we remember Jesus, we recognize our sinfulness, we give thanks for God's love, & we proclaim our faith in Him who gave Himself for us.
INVITATION
