Services | The Lord’s Supper

Bulletin

Hymn # 83 “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

SCRIPTURE READING –
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate

Praise and Worship
“Who You Say I Am”
“How Great Is Your Love”
“Way Maker”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“The Lord’s Supper”

PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection

“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)”
Benediction “Egypt”

Sermon Notes
Lord Supper contained in Passover Seder
Matthew 26:26 – 30 Jesus initiates the Lord’s Supper

Elements are unleavened bread and wine/red grape juice
1 Corinthians 11:23 – 34 The remembrance of it as Paul wax taught by Christ

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

Some people say that it doesn't matter what you believe so long as you're sincere. I sincerely disagree with that. I think it's very important what you believe and only should you believe that you should have conviction in it. We're going to be talking about the Lord's Supper, something that was initiated during Jesus' ministry and his last Passover celebration with his disciples. It's funny in that initial celebration of what he has told us to celebrate, there are so many different views and doctrines on it. We're going to take a look at what the Bible says and take a look at some of the various views of it. But I want you to understand that conviction is important. There was a gentleman in the 13th century and the 15th century England who had a different view of what we're doing than the church. They imprisoned him for a year hoping that he would be camped. And then they put him on a stake to burn and gave him an opportunity to recount. And he did it because he believed with conviction his position on this celebration. So I'm going to encourage you to find out what the scriptures say what we're celebrating, and to talk about what other denominations and others teach so that we have a better idea of why it is we believe what we believe. So I want to start off with something that's really not per se in the Scriptures.

It's what's called open or closed communion.

Open communion is anybody can come and take. Closed communion is only the church can take it. So let me tell you what our church's position is.

It's a matter of conscience.

We're not going to tell you whether to take it or not because as we entitle it, it's the Lord's Supper. It's not Joe Davis' Supper in remembrance of the Lord, it's the Lord's Supper. And so if in your conscience you can take the elements, then we're not going to prohibit you. If your conscience says that you're not going to take the elements, then that's your conscience.

There are, for instance, if I went to a church that had a different doctoral position about the elements, then I definitely wouldn't take it because my conscience would say that that would be inappropriate. So we go with that. Now the next part, and it's amazing that for such a simple remembrance, there are so many views in such controversy over this.

And so one of the controversies is whether or not we take a look at this as being a sacrament or not.

What is a sacrament for those of you who don't have a Catholic background? It is an essential part of your salvation.

To be saved, one must take the sacrament of communion.

I reject that idea because the Scriptures say that we are saved by grace through faith and that not a result of works, and this would be works. It is a gift of God that none should boast.

They're also told that to inherit internal life, it is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that God sent him, and that he died for our sins and rose again on the third day. And so that has no place in sense of we do this. So we do not do this as a sacrament.

We do this, oftentimes Baptist churches will call it an ordinance. It's part of what churches do to celebrate, and so we don't view it as a sacrament. It is not a part of how you become or stay saved.

We do this, as we will see, for a different reason.

There's also controversy about the elements themselves.

That point of view is that the bread and the juice, the wine, actually becomes the actual body of Christ.

And so when the priest or pastor, whoever has this point of view, prays over the elements that it then becomes the actual body and the actual blood of Christ.

Now the only Scripture that I could actually see that that might come into being is when Jesus, not during this celebration, says, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have no part of me."

But I don't think that's what he's talking about, and we'll get into that in a little bit when we take a look at the Scriptures. But that is called transubstantiation, the ninth 50 cent word. You might want to write it down. Transubstantiation means that these elements actually become the body and blood of Christ.

The second view, which is generally kind of held by Lutherans and other, is it becomes consubstantiation. It becomes the element of the body. So the element of Christ is superimposed in these elements, and so they don't say that it's the actual body, but it's the essence of who he is.

Most Baptists and evangelicals and others view it as a part of what is called symbolic,

that it is the symbol of Christ's body and blood. That is the position I take, and I'll show you why I take that based on the Scriptures in a little bit.

But in case you think that that is somewhat unimportant, throughout the history of the church, people have been persecuted for positions I just took.

As a matter of fact, using an example, and just an example, it is to replay through history. In the early part of the 15th century in England, there was a gentleman, I believe his last name was Bad Day or something like that, he held the view that these elements were simply the symbol of the body and blood, while the church view was it was the actual body and blood. So they arrested him and put him in prison for a year, and kept giving him opportunities to rethink his position and to recant his position and adopt the church's view, and he kept refusing.

And so they condemned him to be burned at the stake, or what they do with a lot of heretics. And so that day they gave him several opportunities to recant his position, and he did it.

So they took him out, put a bunch of wood, put him in a stake, and then put a wooden

casket around him, by casket I don't mean like a wine barrel, around him, so that the flames, and they set it on fire. After putting him in, they gave him another opportunity to recant, he refused, so they set it on fire, and he started to burn and cry out. And they, who would ultimately be King Henry V, who wasn't king at the time, had them put out the flames, and gave him one more opportunity to recant, and being burned over much of his body and in great pain, he refused to recant, and they reset the thing on fire.

You see, what you believe is important, or it ought to be, and because he believed his position so strongly, he was willing to die a horrible, painful death.

So when we believe things, we should believe things with great conviction, because the world will try to tell you to just bow the knee to our position.

And so, they are, the view is that this becomes the symbol of it. So those are some of the controversies and different doctrines about what we're going to celebrate. Now what does the Scripture say, and that's the most important. Now I will give you some of what I consider my understanding to assist, but again, the reason why this gentleman was willing to die a painful death for his beliefs, because they were his beliefs.

They weren't his father's beliefs, or the pastor's beliefs, it was his beliefs.

And so, I want you to see the Scriptures, and I want you, hopefully to help you see it, but I want you to understand the Scriptures and come to your belief, so that no matter what the world may do, or what the church may do, not change your beliefs. So in Matthew, the context is this, Jesus has longed to celebrate the final Passover celebration with his disciples. And he told them, and he's made arrangements, and they went out and they found the place that they were supposed to set it up, and they all had it. And it was the day before the sacrifice of the lambs.

So they celebrated a little early.

Now the context is it was a Passover seder, a Passover celebration. Well Passover was a celebration where the Jews would remember their deliverance from slavery from Egypt, and that how God's told them to sacrifice the lamb to place the blood on the doorposts and the lentil, basically showing like a cross, and to eat the lamb completely and if they couldn't eat it, to burn it up. But they were given specific instructions, and they were told to have what was called unleavened bread, a bread of haste, one that didn't have leaven in it so that it wouldn't rise because they were going to be taking off after that evening in the morning. And so it was a bread of haste, and so they were to eat the bread of haste and the lamb and some bitter herbs to remember the suffering that they endured.

But the unique part of this is not only did God deliver them, but the Passover was just that. It said, God said, when the death angel comes, if they see the blood on the doorposts and the lentil, then the death angel would pass over, which is extremely important.

He didn't say, I'm going to have the death angel peek in, and if you are worthy, or you're sinless, or you're perfect, then we'll pass over. No, if I see the blood on the doorposts and the lentil, I will pass over. And that is why this particular celebration is so important for we believers, because it's going to show us something about what Jesus did in this Passover celebration. So he's there with his disciples, and it says this, "And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take ye, this is my body."

First off, this is during the Passover Seder time.

The Passover, they were going to have the symbolic meal with the lamb and the bitter herbs and all those types of things. And then Jesus is going to, after that full meal, is going to identify and say, I'm going to take this unleavened bread, and I'm going to identify it as my body.

So first off, one of the reasons why I think it's symbolic is he's still there.

It's not his body. He's not saying, "Eat my fingers." He's saying, "This is representing my body, because he's the bread of life. He's the bread of heaven." And instead of using, if you will, what I would have thought is the more, "Eat this lamb as my, because he is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." He says, "I want you to identify this unleavened bread." Well, unleavened bread is not only a bread of haste.

Leaven is viewed in the Scriptures generally as sin.

And Jesus is saying, "This body is mine. I am sinless, and it is broken for you."

And so Jesus, "In a few hours, I am going to die on a cross, and I'm going to give up my life for you."

So when you eat this, I want you to understand that you are identifying with my death, that my death is sustenance to you. Just as Jesus, when he was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan for 40 days, he said, "We don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." And so Jesus is saying, "I want you to identify that my body is your sustenance." So he goes, "This is my body. Take and eat."

Then he says, "And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it all of you.

For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out from any for the forgiveness of sins."

By saying, "I want you to identify this cup that I drink, that I give to you to drink, not only is my blood, but it represents a new covenant, which was spoken of in Jeremiah, that God was going to write a new covenant in our hearts, and that covenant was written by the blood of Christ." And then Jesus goes on to say, "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you and my Father's kingdom." There's going to come a time when we no longer just celebrate this, but we're going to celebrate it with Jesus. Now the disciples had the advantage because they were celebrating Jesus's with him that last Passover meal.

Because there's going to come a time that we're going to be sitting down at a table with Jesus, and he's going to be celebrating with us his bride.

What a wonderful idea that this comes, that we're going to be doing this thing with him.

And after singing to him, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And so that's kind of why our church, we sing something and then we leave. It's kind of a remembrance of that.

And by a hymn, it doesn't necessarily mean a hymn. In our hymnal, it was probably a psalm written and set to music or whatever, but they would sing something of that sort. Now Paul further tells us about this situation in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and we see this in starting with verse 23.

"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you."

Paul did not get what he's about to teach us from Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Zacchaeus.

He learned it directly from Jesus himself.

So this is important because Paul wasn't there. So Jesus teaches Paul what happened that night and the significance of what happened that night. So it says, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus took in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given thanks and said, this is my body which is for you, do this in remembrance of me." Now this is something that Paul adds that we didn't see in Matthew.

That part of the reason that this is his body, but we are to do it in remembrance of him.

So there are, if you will, one added dimension. There is the unleavened bread, there's the drink, and then there's the reason for it in remembrance of Jesus.

Not to be saved, it's not to get staved, it's not to become saved, it's to do it because of what he has done for you and for me. So he took this.

Okay.

The next verse which is not coming up, and then following he said, "They took this cup after supper."

There's a Pacific cup. There are four cups generally used in the Passover Seder. There is the two cups before the actual meal, then there's two cups after the meal. Jesus takes the third cup and says, "The cup after supper," and he says, "This is my blood,

the new covenant, and we are to take and drink that in remembrance of him."

So we take this, and again, thank you for getting around to this, and this cup is the new covenant, I will do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So again, when we take the bread and we take the drink, we do so in remembrance of him,

so that we understand what he sacrificed for us. That it was sinless, and it was pure, and it was effective.

Then Paul is going to further talk about the fact that we are to do this with great significance.

He says that we are not to do this unworthily.

Okay, now we've got it.

"Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord."

He now tells us we're to take the unleavened bread as an element, we're to take the drink as an element, we're to do it in remembrance of him, but we're not to do it in an unworthy manner.

This is very key. He did not say we are not to take it unworthily. If he said we are to take it, not take it unworthily, then we would all take a look and say, "Isn't that a nice matzah, and isn't that a nice drink?"

We all look at it and we'd all sing a hymn of ejection and leave, because not one of us is worthy to participate.

That's exactly what grace is all about. Grace is not being merited. It is unmerited favor. And so we come not worthily, but we don't take it in an unworthy manner. Well, what is the unworthy manner? He's going to continue to tell us. First off, it's not to discern the body and the blood of Christ, but it also says this.

"But a man must examine himself and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly."

So he says, "What we are to do when we come and take these elements is we are to take a look at ourselves. We are not to take a look at the person in the pew next to us or behind us or ahead of us. We are to examine ourselves to understand that, number one, we are sinners saved by grace.

And maybe to say, "Has my life, while I name and claim Jesus as my Lord and Savior, through my actions condemn me? Do other people know that I'm a believer or am I a hypocrite?"

And then we examine ourselves and judge ourselves and say, "Well, you know, in this instance I've been a hypocrite. Lord forgive me for my hypocrisy."

We examine ourselves to see where we are. And the amazing thing about holiness is the closer we become to being like God, the further away we understand that we're not like God.

You know, in the early days you say, "Well, I stopped lying."

Well, wonderful.

Have you been giving thanks in all things?

Have you prayed for it in every situation?

As we go along we see just how short we fall from the grace of God. Yeah, we may have stopped doing gross sins, but oftentimes do we love our brothers and sisters the way Jesus loved them?

There's all these things that the closer we think we get to God, the further we are away because we start seeing the farther we are from His glory.

So He says, "We're to judge ourselves to do this." Then He says this, "For this reason many among you are weak and sick and are never sleeping." By that He doesn't mean they're taking a nap. It means they're dead. But the reason He talks about being asleep is because a believer never dies.

And so He says, "There are those who haven't examined themselves or those who have not discerned the body and the blood of Christ, and so therefore they have become sick."

And even die.

And people will say, "Well, little pastor, you believe that it's a symbol, and if it's a symbol, what does it matter? God takes His symbols seriously."

Let me give you an example I always give.

Moses when he was walking in the wilderness with the people of God, and the people were wanting water, was told to strike a rock. And He struck a rock and water came forth.

Then later they had moved to a different spot, and He was told to speak to the rock.

But because Moses, being Moses, and probably you and I can identify with Him, got angry at the people of God because sometimes the people of God just make you angry.

They're not necessarily as pleasant and wonderful as we want to think. And so because He was angry, He didn't take the Word of God seriously.

And instead of speaking to the rock, He struck the rock. Now God was gracious and allowed water to come forth anyway. He didn't allow the nation of Israel to suffer because of what Moses did.

But Moses was told he could not go into the Promised Land because he didn't speak to the rock. And later we are told in the New Testament that rock was Christ.

You see, God takes His symbols seriously. When God says to do something, you do it. And when God says don't do something, you don't do it, whether it's a symbol or the actual.

And so they didn't take it seriously because there was what's happening during this period of time, they would do what's called agape feasts. And they would all bring, and some people would bring in our day equivalent, prime rib, and other people would bring hamburger helper. And some people, you know, didn't have much or anything. And the people who had the great food just scarfed it up and didn't care about their brothers and sisters who didn't have anything.

And Paul said, you're not supposed to conduct yourselves that way. So if you're going to do that, eat at home, then come and celebrate this meal appropriately. So if you're going to have an agape feast, then in essence, do what I don't like, do a tough luck, where everybody brings and everybody gets to eat from the various food.

I'll tell them myself, we would have a tough luck, and my wife would say, okay, I'll bring ham and somebody else would bring ham and whatever. And I would always go to the big, which one's yours?

So I could get her ham. Because I didn't want, you know, and so, but at least, you know, at least, and some of us are a little more discerning than others. But again, it was, let's all share in the same food and handle this appropriately. So that's why Paul was concerned with that. And so he says, that's why. And so he goes on and says, but if we judge ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

So he says, if you examine yourself, and you say to yourself, you know, I've been a hypocrite, and you've judged yourself correctly, then we don't get judged.

Maybe we should think about that.

Because being judged by yourself is a lot less hurtful than being judged by someone else.

Because when you're judged by yourself, you render your sentence, I'm going to not be a hypocrite in this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to confess my sins to the Lord, and we go on. But if someone else says, you're guilty of X, then the whole world knows you're guilty of X.

So it's much better to judge yourself than somebody else. So if we judge yourself rightly, we would not be judged.

But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

So again, I am taking these elements because I understand that I'm a sinner saved by grace. That it is the sinless body that was broken for me that allows me into my Father's house. It is the blood of the covenant that is written in my heart that says that I am His, that I will always be His, that I have determined that I am a sinner who has been saved by grace, that I am not perfect.

This says, "So then, my brother, when you come to eat, wait for one another.

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that you will not come together for judgment. For many matters, I will arrange when I come." So that's Paul's instructions that he learned from the Lord.

And so when we do this, we do this because it is something that Jesus Himself initiated for us to do to remember Him.

But to remember Him, if you will, in one sense of depression.

Lord that You would have to do that and that You would do that for me.

And not only that You would do it for me, but You did it for me in the sense of, "While You have been faithful to me my entire lifetime and even before I was ever born, I have been faithful to You several times."

And knowing the type of follower that I am of His, He still loves me. He still calls me His own.

So that I do this in remembrance of Him because I remember of His kindness and of His mercy and of His forgiveness.

And so yes, it's kind of depressing that He had to do that.

But it also says that we do so until He comes.

It is a statement of faith that says, "Yes, my Lord and my God was crucified and He was buried in a cave for three days and He rose again and He ascended to heaven and He promised us He'll return."

And so we do this to remember what He has done and declare what He has done and have faith to what He will do.

That is why these symbols are so important.

The bread of life, the sinless life broken for us.

The cup that was poured out for us.

Declaring and remembering what He did and making a statement of faith for what He will do.

The symbols are