Table Talk

Table Talk

Luke 22:7-20

Communion is a very special day in the life of the church. Today we observe one of the most beautiful events of the church calendar… The Lord’s Supper.

Gourdvine celebrates communion once a quarter. Other churches do it more often and some, less often.

It is a service that is filled with visual messages. Every part of the service has a object lesson it it. Today, I want to help you to understand the lessons from each object.

We start with the TABLE

Fellowship!

This table is here to remind us that he Lord’s Supper is all about FELLOWSHIP.

Face to face… intimate… no barriers… no veils to hide behind.

But Adam and Eve destroyed that fellowship with their sin.

The whole OT is the story of God working to restore that fellowship with man. But in the OT the fellowship was cloak and dagger type… God had to hide from man and man had to hide from God.

Then Jesus came, God in the flesh and endured the miraculous birth, sinless life, vicarious suffering, substitutionary death, burial and resurrection so that he could seal the deal… restore fellowship.

This table says that God loves you and wants more than anything else to have a close, intimate, face to face fellowship with you.

Acceptance… worthy

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There is an inscription on this table… WHAT?

“In remembrance”

God wants us to remember and teach it to our kids.

Why remember? It was ugly, hideous, painful and we don’t like to remember painful things. We want to forget the bad and dwell on the good.

Let me use and example of why we want to forget.

Last Sunday a member of the church was talking to a child about the sermon. They told about the stripes on Jesus for our sins. And the child said, “Gosh, Now when I sin not only will I feel bad about doing wrong. Now I’m going to feel even worse because I will see those stripes for me.”

THAT IS WHY WE REMEMBER !!!!

2. The Bread

Remember, I said all of the elements have an object lesson in them?

This bread represents the earthly body in which Jesus lived for about 33 years on earth. It represents that body that was ripped by the Roman scurge, that was whipped and beaten and had pieces ripped out of it.

Jesus took a loaf of bread, held it up for everyone to see and broke it. Then as it went around the table from person to person each one broke off a piece.

That was a beautiful picture.

First, Jesus breaking the loaf, reminds us of what Jesus told Pilate… no man can take my life from me… I voluntarily lay it down.

As each disciple broke off a piece it was a lesson that each one of them was personally responsible for killing Jesus. It was their sins that caused Jesus to have to endure the beating and the death.

By his stripes they were healed… for their sins he was crucified.

When we use the neat little crackers or pieces of neatly cut bread… we don’t get the message of Jesus’ brokenness.

When we touch the bread we are reminded that Jesus was a real person

THE CUP

This cup reminds of the cup Jesus picked up that night. Jesus held up the cup and said, “This represents my blood, shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Hebrews 9:22 says, Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.”

If Jesus had not shed His perfect, sinless blood for us… we could not be forgiven and we would have no way to be saved from our sins.

The sacrificial lamb was required to be perfect, without any blemish.

No man is perfect. ALL HAVE SINNED… none is good no not one… we all have gone astray.

Jesus was perfectly sinless and the only one who could be our sacrifice. HE HAD TO DIE

HE HAD TO SHED HIS BLOOD

This cup reminds us of the blood of Jesus that he shed in our place.

The Covering

a. Coverings that covered Jesus body in tomb

folded to side

b. Our sins are covered by Jesus righteousness (white)

c. They are there… we don’t see them

d. Folded to side says HER IS ALIVE

We don’t celebrate death…. BUT LIFE