Back to the Basics - Communion
ME
When I was growing up most of you know I went to the Lutheran Church. For those who have been here I’ve talked about that several times. Of course there are many differences between the Lutheran Church and the Christian Church. Baptism is one of those things which we talked about a few weeks ago. Another big difference between the two churches is communion or the Lord’s Supper.
I remember taking communion in the Lutheran Church. This is something you could not do until after you have had your confirmation and the day you were confirmed was the day you got to take your first communion.
But in that church when you took communion everyone would get up and go to the front of the church where the priest would place a wafer on your tongue and then you would drink from a big cup. The same big cup that everyone else who took communion would drink from. And the liquid inside the big cup was not grape juice but it was wine.
Honestly this is some that I don’t think I could do today. Not because of the wine but because everyone drank from the same cup. I love you guys and all, but I really don’t think we need to be sharing our germs with everyone else.
ILLUS: I remember my mom taking communion one time and when she came back to her seat she said she would never take communion after a certain man again because the man had a big burly mustache and when he took the cup his mustache went down into the wine just before my mom drank out of the same cup. I’m so thankful we don’t take communion that way!
WE
For those of us in the Christian Church it is common and in no way abnormal to take communion on a weekly basis. But I have talked to many people when they first come to MVC who find it very unusual that we take communion on a weekly basis.
Some people think it is strange for us to do that. Some people think that because we take it every week that it would become too common place for us and therefore have less meaning to us. Yet other people simply ask why do you do it every week and then I tell them the verses we have been using for this Back to the Basics series and they are like, Ok, I get it. Those verses are Acts 2:42-47
GOD
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
The breaking of bread — communion, was a part of what the early church did as part of their weekly worship of God. We see not only that they broke bread together which included eating together as well as communion, but we also see later in Acts that they broke bread together on the first day of the week, Sunday.
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. Acts 20:7
While there is no direct command in the Bible that tells us to take communion every week we take it weekly because we see that when the early Christians came together they participated in the Lord’s Supper together. Matter of fact Acts 2 says everyday they came together in the temple courts and they broke bread in their homes and ate together.
With that as the background it would not at all be out of line to partake of communion not only on Sunday morning, but when we meet together as small groups and when we meet together on Wednesday nights. I’m not suggesting that we do that, but only that if we did it would be perfectly fine.
The Acts 20:7 passage I read a few minutes ago suggest though that the first day of the week was a time when the early church participated in the Lord’s Supper. Hence we take communion every week.
And even though we take communion every week it is not something for me or for anyone else I have talked in the Christian Church that get mundane or so common place that it holds no meaning for us. Matter of fact the most common thing I have heard from people is that because we take of communion weekly it holds more meaning for them. I know it does for me.
For a time after my first time in Bible College back in 1987 and I dropped out. Maria and I attended a community church. I was embarrassed after dropping out of college so I did not return to the Christian Church. We also did not attend church very often really as I have talked about before.
But when we attended that church, and we attended there for a few years. That is where Brent was baptized, I only remember taking communion one or two times. We could never figure out when they took it — it might have been every 5th Sunday or something, but I remember when we did get to take it — it was very special because it was something that I was starving for.
I was starving for it because I missed taking communion every week. Communion is not something the church leaders should hold back from their congregation, but as the early church did, to offer it when we come together. We would never starve the congregation of the Word of God, why then would we starve them of the Lord’s Supper especially because of what it is. Let’s look at 1 Cor. 11:23-29
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
25 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.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 1 Cor. 11:23-29
And let’s also look at 1 Cor. 10:16-17, 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? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
In these passages we get a good picture of what communion is and why it is that Jesus instituted it for Christians to take.
The first thing communion is — is a remembrance of Jesus. Jesus knew what was about to come His way, matter of fact long before this point in Jesus’ life we see Him making His way to Jerusalem where He knew He would be crucified on the cross. And Jesus knowing He would not be with them for much longer gave them and us something to remember Him by.
And this is something that was not a material possession, but rather an act of which we partake in and whenever we partake in this act of taking communion He asked that we remember Him.
ILLUS: My grandfather before His death, matter of fact a several years before his death gave me and single shot shot gun. When he gave the gun he told me to never sell it so that every time I looked at it or used it I would remember him. I’m sorry to say that I don’t have that gun anymore. When times got tough I did sell it.
Material possessions don’t last, something happens to them. We could sell them, they could get stolen, they could get burned in a fire or lost in a tornado or a flood. There is a reason Jesus did not give us a material possession to remember Him by because those can disappear and fade away. Because it could become an object of great wealth to someone, because it could be an idol people worship.
Instead He gave us something that is an act of remembrance and this can never be taken away unless people stop practicing the act. Again a great reason to take communion weekly because when you take it less often it can become less important and eventually if we are not careful can become something we no longer do.
But communion is for the remembrance of Jesus and the bread represents the broken body of Christ and the juice represents the blood of Christ. Unfortunately the bread representing the broken body of Christ and the juice representing the blood of Christ is a controversy among believers in Christ.
Both in the Lutheran Church and in the Catholic Church they believe the bread and the juice is the actual body and blood of Christ. They believe a little differently as to when they become the body and blood of Christ, but they both believe it is. The Catholic Church calls this Transubstantiation. Try saying that 10 times fast!
Catholics don’t understand why we don’t believe as they do. I have had talks in the past with a catholic about this where I have argued that it is obvious that what Jesus gave them was not actually His body and blood, but it is only symbolic. Just take a look at John 10:7.
In that verse it says Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. John 10:7. If that is true then why don’t Catholic believe that Jesus is an actual gate. Again, like with the bread and juice the gate is only symbolic. The gate represents that the sheep must come through Jesus to be saved. As the bread and the juice represent the body and blood of Jesus.
Another thing communion is — is a proclamation of the death of Jesus. 1 Cor. 11:26, For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
This is a time when we come together to remember Jesus and to proclaim our salvation through His sacrifice for us on the cross. And this proclamation is done in public, in corporate worship for everyone around us to see.
ILLUS: I love doing the worship service at ABMD’s for a few reasons. We get to expose ourselves to public worship on the square and others get to see what we do on a weekly basis. I get to preach to people, some of which are very possibly non-Christians and we take of communion together and proclaim what Jesus did for us through His death on the cross.
When you take that bread and juice you are saying to the world, “I believe Jesus died for me, I’m not ashamed to be a Christian and I’m not ashamed to tell the whole world what He did for me and could do for you.”
Communion is also a prophecy. We not only proclaim His death — but we proclaim His death until He comes back again.
Communion also proclaims that we are one in the Lord. Look at 1 Cor. 10:16-17, 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? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
When you partake in the body and blood of Christ you are proclaiming oneness with Christ and oneness with your fellow believers and followers of Christ. This is a tremendously important aspect of taking communion together with fellow followers of Christ.
You are saying I love my fellow Christians and I am united with them. I’m united with them in the hard time and good times and through the body of Christ nothing can break us from each other.
Earlier in the 1 Cor. Paul writes this, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Cor. 1:10
Unfortunately this was not the case in the 1 Cor. Church and unfortunately way, way too many time today this is not the case either. Because there were division among them Paul writes 1 Cor. 11:27-29
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
Paul goes on to say in the next verse, That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 1 Cor 11:30
We don’t normally consider communion and the manner is which we take it the cause of sickness and death, but Paul did. Do you think this could still be the case today? My assumption is that if is was true then — it is true now. Honestly, why wouldn’t it be?
Coming to communion in an unworthy manner is to come to communion with a heart that is not right with God or right with your fellow man. While we cannot ever be worthy on our own, we can be with Christ and he can make our hearts right. But we need to examine our hearts and our minds and set them right with God and with others around us.
My suggestion and Paul’s warning is don’t partake of communion as long as there are grievances between you and God, and between you and your brothers and sisters in Christ.
When Paul says, “That is why many among you are weak” in verse 30 I’m not so sure he is just talking about just physically, but I would suggest he could be speaking spiritually as well. It takes a strong Christian to forgive when they are wronged and to rectify division. When division happens it only serves to weaken us both physically and spiritually.
YOU
So in what manner did you take communion earlier this morning? Are you wishing you heard this message before you took of it? Or do you have yourself right with God and right with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
The act of communion is to remember Jesus, to proclaim his death, to proclaim Jesus is coming back, and it is saying I am untied in oneness to Christ and to my fellow followers of Christ.
Do you see why communion is a basic of the church? Because a church without communion — without the Lord’s Supper wouldn’t be Jesus’ church at all.
WE
Here is my challenge to you this week. I have given many challenges that are easy, well this on is not. Come to church next week ready to partake of communion in a worthy manner.
Do you have a grievance with God? Then get on your knees before the cross and work that out. That could be with sweating, pain, anguish and tears. Secondly, do you have a grievance with a brother or sister in Christ? If you do go and work it out with them so that your conscious is clear and you know you love them in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If you not able to do that this week, then you will be not prepared to take communion next week. And my suggestion to you is that you don’t take communion until you can rectify the divisions you have.
