Today is the first Sunday of the month, and this is the Sunday which we will observe the Lord’s Supper. We will do that at the end of the service today, so I thought it appropriate to talk about Communion so that all would understand what it is, what it means, and that we can be on the same page in our understanding.
Important events and experiences make a lasting impression on the lives of both the individual and the family. The child’s first day in school, a person’s first day at work, the day of marriage and many other events all contribute to a person’s wellbeing. The most important event in life, however, is being born again. This event, not only determines our eternal destiny, but our way of life as believers. We cannot afford to forget this most important event and to help us remember Christ instituted the sacraments.
There are two sacraments:
1. Baptism to mark the act of beginning the Christian life and
2. The Lord’s Supper to mark the act of belonging to Christ.
The observance of the Lord’s Supper is not a request or a suggestion. The words of Christ “This do in remembrance of me” is a direct command.
First of all, we need to know how the Lord’s Supper came about. We must remember that the entire nation of Israel was being held as slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. It was a severe time for them and they were feared and hated.
Exodus 12:1-14
The Pharaoh hated them and kept them impoverished. And finally, after 400 years of this treatment, the entire nation called out to God and when that happened, He began going about the work that would lead them to their freedom. But it took the whole nation to do this.
Exodus 12:13-14
“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever”.
What is the Passover Meal?
It is called the Seder, and is Seder is a religious ceremony with a carefully prescribed ritual that makes this dinner different from any other dinners a family might enjoy. The dinner is a ritual and is laid out in a book called the Haggadah.
The head of the family begins the ceremony by the passing of the bread, and then sanctifying the holiday with a benediction over a cup of wine. In all, four cups of wine will be consumed, each at certain intervals. In turn, after the cleansing of the hands, different foods are served, after which a second cup of wine is poured.
In the Passover meal, the bread had a particular significance.
When the Hebrew women made their household bread, they took a piece of fermented dough they saved from a previous day and mixed it into their fresh flour. With time, the yeast would overtake the dough and she could then make her family’s daily bread. (After saving a piece for future baking, of course.) When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, there wasn’t time to bake bread or hassle with yeast. They ate their bread unleavened.
Eating unleavened bread became a reminder of the time when God delivered the children of Israel out of bondage.
This Passover Meal celebrates how God passed over the Jewish homes and spared them from the death of the first born and it also celebrates God’s leading them out of slavery.
Matthew 26:20-30
It was at this meal that Jesus changed the meaning of the Last Supper as it pertains to believers in Him. For the Jews of today, they still follow God’s command to eat that meal every year in celebration of His leading their ancestors out of slavery, but Jesus is now telling all the Christians to eat this meal in remembrance of Him and what He has done for us.
And ever since then, Christians have observed this meal. The early Christians met secretly in homes to remember the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and since then, the church has been celebrating the Communion Service.
Why Communion is Important:
1. Communion is a remembrance: (Luke 22:19).
Jesus did not tell us to remember His birth, even though we do celebrate it. He didn’t tell us to remember the day He arose from the tomb, but we celebrate that, too. The only two ordinances that Jesus commanded us to remember are baptism and the Lord’s Supper, or what we refer to as Communion.
2. Communion is an Identification: (Exodus 13: 8, 1 Peter 1:18-19)
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
3. Communion is Transforms life: (1 CORINTHIANS 11:27-30)
