The Jewish Roots Of The Lord’s Supper

The Jewish Roots of the Lord’s Supper

(I Corinthians 10:1-5 and chapter 11:23, 26, passim)

1. A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars:

The first worm was put into a container of alcohol.

The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup.

The fourth worm was ! put into a container of good clean soil.

At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following

results:

The first worm in alcohol - Dead.

The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead.

Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead.

Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive.

So the Minister asked the congregation - What can you learn from this

demonstration?

A little old woman in the back quickly raised her hand and said,

"As long as you drink, smoke or eat chocolate, you won't have worms!" [upjoke.com]

2. Today, however, my main sermon illustration will be a video clip from Jews for Jesus. Sometimes explaining something does not make the point as well as seeing something.

3. This is especially true with the Jewish Roots of the Lord’s Supper.

4. When we talk about what the Jews did, or, for that matter, what the early believers did, we need to make a careful distinction between prescription and description. Prescription is what God commands us to. Description means what the early church or Jews or people in the Bible did. Not the same thing.

Acapella, sat on one side, read in Greek, met in homes, no organ, no hymnals, men greeted on another with a kiss, etc.; a lot of things that would probably surprise us.

On the other hand, it is helpful to see how they implemented God’s commands (prescriptions) in their culture and times. The same is true with the Jewish people.

When I talk about Jewish Roots, I mean two things. Most importantly, the Old Testament and its use in the New. Secondly, the cultural practices of the Jews that help us understand the religious and social context of the New Testament. Today’s sermon incorporates both.

Main Idea: The Lord’s Supper is rich with meaning, but best understood in its original context. We can move in that direction by looking at the Jewish Roots of this meaningful ritual.

I. A MIDRASH from the Wilderness Wanderings (I Corinthians 10:1-5)

A. The ASSUMPTION is that God works in patterns, and that He SEEDED the Old Testament with examples for New Testament believers.

B. Paul is going to show that partaking of God-ordained RITUALS does not exempt one from God’s condemnation; our faith is not MECHANICAL.

The Corinthians, from their pagan backgrounds, had a mechanical view of religion. It didn’t matter how they lived or if they worshipped other gods…as long as they performed their rituals. Paul is arguing that this is not consistent with the Christian message.

1. Passing through the mist and water parallels BAPTISM.

2. DRINKING from the Rock and eating the manna parallels the Lord’s Supper.

C. The Rock WAS Christ, and the Bread IS Jesus’ body, the cup His blood in the same sense.

Both forms of the verb “to be,” and much broader than the term “to become.”

“Our God is a consuming fire.” “I am the door.” [I am like a door]

When we say that the Rock was Christ, we mean that the rock symbolized and was associated Christ’s presence. Christ did not become the rock, nor did the rock become Christ.

D. None of these rituals PROTECTED the Israelites from God’s wrath (6-12).

E. Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Prayer – these are MARKERS of one aligned with Christ. But without regeneration, they are lifeless; without obedience, they are hypocrisy.

II. The Passover and the Lord’s Supper: The NIGHT He Was Betrayed (11:23, 26)

If Christianity is truly trans-cultural Messianic Judaism (adapted for cultures other than the Jewish culture), we would expect to see certain elements of Judaism retained for gentile believers.

A. We, as the church, celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which is a PORTION of the PASSOVER celebration.

According to the Christian History Institute, “In the first century, the Lord’s Supper included not only the bread and the cup but an entire meal…Early Christians continued to observe the Jewish Passover.”

B. The text describes it as the BREAD and the CUP.

The cup, not the wine, is the second element of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus certainly used wine, but why did He say, “The cup?” To demonstrate the significance of the predictive symbolism of the Passover. Not bread and wine, but the Passover Matzoh and the Passover Cup, which contained wine.

The Cup of Sanctification

The Cup of Deliverance

The Cup of Redemption