Introduction:
1. This morning’s sermon is a bit different. You may notice, that for a change this morning, there are no sermon notes in your bulletin. This is a sermon where later you will be able to participate. The Lord’s Supper will be a part of this sermon. I hope you will discover as we share in this special communion service together a special and refreshing connection to the Lord Himself.
2. I want to begin the message this morning by sharing a story that illustrates one of the challenges that always confronts us when we take the Lord’s Supper. In upstate New York a small church had a dearly loved pastor who served them for over 35 years. After he retired, he was replaced by a young pastor. It was his first church & he had a great desire to do well. He had been at the church several weeks when he began to get the feeling that the people were upset at him. He didn’t know what to do but he eventually called one of the lay leaders of the church and asked, "Have I done something wrong?" The man said, "Well, Pastor, I hate to say it, but it’s the way you do the Communion service." In that denomination they took the Lord’s Supper each week. They would come up front & receive the elements from the pastor. The young man had been trained & he was sure that he knew what he was doing. So he asked, "The way I do the Communion service? What do you mean?" "Well, it’s not so much what you do as what you leave out," said the layman. "What do I leave out?" asked the young pastor. "Well, just before our previous pastor gave us the cup he would always go over and touch the radiator. The young pastor was mystified. So he called the former pastor and asked about touching the radiator. The older pastor chuckled, "I touched the radiator to discharge the static electricity so I wouldn’t shock them." For over 35 years, the congregation thought it was a part of the Lord’s Supper.
3. Friends, the Lord’s Supper isn’t about the precise way we distribute the bread & juice. We’re not planning to change the way we do the Lord’s Supper & have you start coming to the front to receive it like they do in many other churches, but please hear me. The key issue when it comes to the Lord’s Supper is to have a fresh encounter with Jesus that leaves us awestruck at the magnitude of His great sacrifice for us. Frankly it’s possible to celebrate the Communion service, & never really understand what it’s all about. Let’s begin by reading our text this morning...
Cell #1—
17 But now when I mention this next issue, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.
18 First of all, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it.
19 But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that those of you who are right will be recognized!
20 It’s not the Lord’s Supper you are concerned about when you come together.
21 For I am told that some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk.
22 What? Is this really true? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace the church of God & shame the poor? What am I supposed to say about these things? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly do not!
23 For this is what the Lord himself said, and I pass it on to you just as I received it. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it."
26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
27 So if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup.
29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.
30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
31 But if we examine ourselves, we will not be examined by God and judged in this way.
32 But when we are judged and disciplined by the Lord, we will not be condemned with the world.
33 So, dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other.
34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.
Let’s Pray...
Cell #2—
I. The Challenge of the Lord’s Supper 17-22
1. Let me explain what I’m talking about. The challenge for those of us who know the story so well is on keeping the Lord’s Supper really the Lord’s Supper. After we’ve celebrated the Lord’s Supper as many times as we’ve celebrated it, if we’re not careful, we will fall into the trap of it becoming somewhat commonplace. To be very honest, that was the trap the Christians in Corinth had fallen into.
2. In those days believers took communion, or the Lord’s Supper every week when they got together to worship the Lord. We’re never told how often it’s suppose to be, weekly, monthly, quarterly or even yearly, so there’s not a required time when we are to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but it’s very clear that we are to celebrate it together.
3. Let me give a little bit of background about the way the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in the early church.
Cell #3—
A special meal was associated with the Lord’s Supper called the "Love Feast." It was a variation on a pot luck dinner.
4. Every week before they would celebrate the Lord’s Supper they would get together first for a pot luck dinner, or as one pastor called them, "multiple choice dinners." At least on the surface it sounds like a good idea. I enjoy our meals at church don’t you? The food is good and we enjoy visiting with one another. It’s just a good thing isn’t it?
5. While it sounds like a good thing, it had, in fact, become a bad thing, because the people who were there to celebrate Jesus sacrifice had become distracted by the meal. It had become primarily a social occasion. This is what happened...
Cell #4—
The "Love Feast" at Corinth was filled with division & drunkenness.
6. When they met, instead of being drawn together and becoming one family, they tended to divide up into separate groups. The rich members of the congregation sat over on one side, while the poorer members sat over on the other side. The picture Paul paints is that the rich families of the church would be enjoying quite a spread, while some of the poorer families were going hungry. What was meant to remind all of them of our common faith ended up separating them from one another. The result was that, [first blank to be filled in] "The "Love Feast" at Corinth was filled with division."
7. If that wasn’t bad enough, some of the people who came were having so much to drink that they ended up drunk. "The Love Feast" was also filled with drunkenness." In this atmosphere where celebrating Christ sacrificial death should have been front and center, Jesus had been forgotten. The special service intended to remind His followers of the sacrifice God made in sending His Son for our sins became a mockery.
8. The challenge of the Lord’s Supper is keeping the Lord and what He did for us the center of the celebration...
Cell #5—
The Lord’s Supper is to be a time when all of us remember what Christ has done for us & reflect upon how our shared need for salvation unites us. At Corinth it had become a time to show who had more than others.
8. We must never allow anyone or anything to become our focus when it comes to celebrating the Lord’s Supper. It’s the time when you should forget about everyone else but you & the Lord for a few minutes. Now, I want to skip to the final verses of the passage where we will discover...
Cell #6—
II. The Seriousness of the Lord’s Supper 27-34
1. To approach this special celebration in an unholy way was nothing short of sin. While that may seem harsh, it’s exactly what Paul says as he begins this final section of chapter 11. He says in verse 27, "So if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body & blood of the Lord."
2. He goes on to say that anyone who does this is in danger of God’s judgment. I hope you have your Bibles open and will look at Paul’s warning at the end of verse 29. If we eat or drink unworthily we are... "Eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself." It’s a serious warning, that none of us should ignore. In fact, verse 30 takes it a step farther & says that some members of the Corinthian congregation were sick & others had already died, that’s what he means when he says they are "asleep."
3. The key point here is that we must make sure we don’t take the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. But that brings up a key question, "What does it mean to take the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner?" Let me tell you what I think it means...
Cell #7—
To take the Lord’s Supper in an "unworthy" manner is to focus on something besides our great need for Christ great sacrifice or God’s grace in making Jesus that sacrifice.
4. To put it another way, God’s judgment comes when people who should know better take His Son’s death lightly. This caution shouldn’t make us quit taking the Lord’s supper. Instead, he tells us what we should do in verse 28.
Cell #8—
The key responsibility in this section is that we are to examine ourselves.
5. We are to make sure that when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we are focused on our sins and God’s great gift, not impressing someone else. We must never come to the Lord’s table lightly, what He did for us cost God too much! All of this brings us to the most important part of this morning’s service...
Cell #9—
III. The Significance of the Lord’s Supper 23-26
1. Though millions of Christians have celebrated the Lord’s Supper since that first night Jesus shared the bread & wine with the twelve, each time we take the bread & juice ourselves is special, because the sacrifice Jesus made wasn’t just for others, it was also for us. The sacrifice Christ made is so big, it was for the sins of the entire world, yet it was also so personal, because it was for each one of us. Here is the reason the Lord’s Supper is so special.
Cell #10—
The focus of the Lord’s Supper is on... the Lord.
2. It wasn’t on those who stood around watching Him die that day so long ago. It wasn’t on the Jewish leaders who were putting Him to death. It wasn’t on those who died with Him that day. It isn’t on us either. While it’s incredibly significant for us, we’re not the focus of the Lord’s Supper. Then what is? The answer is as simple as it is profound, it’s on the Lord. He must be the focus, it’s His death for us that we celebrate each time we take the bread & juice.
3. Our focus is to be on the Lord, but how are we to do that? How can we focus on Him as we should? That’s a reasonable question and there is a simple answer. In fact...
Cell #11—
The key word in this middle section is the word, remembrance.
4. Do you know what the key word is? A form of this word is found at the end of verses 24 and 25. Do you see what the word is? At the end of verse 24 Jesus gave these instructions, "Do this in remembrance of me." At the end of verse 25 Jesus gave a nearly identical instructions, He said, "Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it." Did you catch the key word in both places? Yes, that’s right it’s the word "remembrance." The way we keep our focus on Jesus is to remember what He did for us.
5. The Lord’s Supper in essence built upon the focus of the Passover. Jesus gave it to His followers on the night when they celebrated the Passover together in the upper room. Think about it for a moment.
Cell #12—
1) The Passover had been a means of remembering what God had done when He delivered them from Egypt.
2) The Lord’s Supper is about remembering what Jesus did when He went to the cross for us. It’s about recognizing His great sacrifice & our great need for that sacrifice.
6. They ate bitter herbs, they retold the story of what had happened to their ancestors, in fact, nearly everything about the Passover celebration was intended to refresh the memory of those celebrating by helping them to remember all God had done for them in the past. That’s one of the reasons it was so natural that this meal came out of the Passover.
7. Cell #12, part 2. The Lord’s Supper is about remembering what Jesus did when He went to the cross for us. It’s about recognizing His great sacrifice & our great need for that sacrifice.
8. Today we still use reminders to keep us from forgetting things which are too important to let slip from our memory. Take for instance this picture which Leigh is putting up on the screen now...
Cell #13—
(Picture of the Vietnam Wall)
9. Do you know what it is? Yes, it’s the Vietnam Wall in Washington DC. I put it up here to illustrate what I’m talking about. When people visit the wall, they remember the events that took place when we were fighting in Vietnam. Even those who weren’t alive at the time are moved as they see name after name of individual soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for our nation. Folks, that’s what the Lord’s Supper is meant to do this morning. It’s to help us remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. He went to the cross for us because we were sinners. He died there for you and me.
10. I’m going to ask our deacons to come now. (Go through the distribution of the bread to the church. While this is happening the Fernando Ortego song, "Come Ye Sinners Poor & Needy" plays along a picture of the cross. After the bread is distributed & the song finishes I lead the congregation in taking the bread.)
Cell #14—
Picture of the cross, or several pictures while song plays & bread is distributed. . .
11. A lot of people complained about "The Passion" after it was released last year because they said it was too violent. I understood their sentiment, but, if you take the blood out of this story, you have robbed the story of it’s central element.
12. The blood in the story of what Jesus did for us in required. You don’t have salvation, if you don’t have a bloody cross. Christians through the centuries, have been aware of that.
13. (sing) "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again: Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone— Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Naught of good that I have done— Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace— Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness— Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh! Precious is the flow That make me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
14. The deacons will return now & we will distribute the juice. As they bring you that little cup of juice, I want you to watch the screen as scenes from the crucifixion run, but I want you to see more there than just Christ death, I want you to also consider your sins that put Him there. After prayer the deacons distribute the juice while video clip from the passion runs. When the juice is distributed & song & clip are finished I lead the congregation in taking the juice.
Conclusion:
1. As we come to the end of the service this morning I must ask, have you accepted Jesus death as the substitute for your sins? I know it’s a serious question, but it must be asked. Have you made peace with God?
2. Jesus death in your place doesn’t do you any good if you don’t accept it & make it your own. How do you do that? Good question & one that we would love to explain to you. If you are here this morning & God’s dealing with you, will you respond to His compelling call on your life?
1) Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ, p. 325-327
2) Greg Mc Donald Sr. The Last Supper.
3) Todd Cogent, What Should I Be Doing During the Lord’s Supper?.
4) C Bouwman, Sinner Nourished at the Lord’s Table,
5) Ray Steadman, The Lord’s Supper.
6) Warren Wiersbe, Be Wise— I Corinthians, Victor Books.
