The Lord’s Supper

Last week we spoke of charity. We concluded like this: to do for another just as we would do for us because God loves us and therefore the other. This is the law of charity. I know it’s impossible to always be genuine, especially for the benefit of somebody other than us, but what we can always remember is that God’s charity for us is never indifferent, nor does it ever cease or waver like our own. That God is relentless in His determination to provide charity for us through the sanctification of our souls from our sins at whatever cost to Himself. It is in that understanding of love, that we freely love and give love even though people don’t deserve it, nor are they recognizable enough to deserve any our attention. So we move on to this week a tradition that we hold dear to us—that is of communion, or the Lord’s supper. And the reason we hold this tradition so tightly is simple—because it is a constant reminder of everything we spoke of this year. The prescribed ritual of the Supper has three levels of meaning for participants. First, it has a past reference to Christ’s death which we remember. Second, it has a present reference to our corporate feeding on him by faith, with implications for how we treat our fellow believers (1 Cor. 11:20-22). Third, it has a future reference as we look ahead to Christ’s return and are encouraged by the thought of it. Preliminary self-examination, to make sure one’s frame of mind is as it should be, is advised (1 Cor. 11:28), and the wisdom of the advice is obvious. Let’s go to 1st Corinthians 11. 17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. There are a few things that are going on here in this first part of this paragraph that needs to be addressed in light of our series. You see how every progressive week in January tended to try to get back at all of us reconciling with other people the way God was reconciled to us, through Jesus Christ, well, Paul is saying the same thing to the Corinthian church. The church, not as a physical building, but as a group of people must constantly be in the act of reconciling. It is through reconciling with each other that we become true believers and sanctified believers. Let me give you an example. So a big problem facing churches today is that people get pissed off at other people because of he said, she said drama and then they split up. The reason they split is not because they fought and did a childish he said-she said bit, it’s because both parties or how many ever parties that were involved decided they were above humble submission. As long as one party doesn’t humble themselves, there is nothing but faction to be had or said or seen. In verse 19, Paul says “factions” are what shows people (outsiders) who has faith and who doesn’t. You see, my second outline point, which I mentioned earlier, so I guess this is point number one and not number two in terms of pedagogy is this: communion that we do is symbolic of our faith being fed. If we were factious, we would be conjecturally feeding ourselves or starving others if our faith aren’t mutually fed. The implications for how we treat our fellow believers. Here’s where Christianity, as an institution, gets it so wrong: we believe that we are the focus of the feeding. We feel that nobody else matters in relationship between God and me. However, it is super clear here that our relationship with God is affected by our relationship with other people. If we’re having factions. What I mean by factions, doesn’t necessarily have to be warring within a church, but even a misconceived neglect, then we have to understand that by default, we are sinning against God. If you don’t know what I’m getting at, I’m getting at what I preached last week on charity—if we are being factious in our hearts, that is uncharitable, then we cause problems. We come to church, we bring people to church, and we are the church to be reconciliatory and charitable. Let’s go to Luke 14 because the idea of communion, while its origin is not here, the premise and idea behind it is. 12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brother or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” 15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” – Luke 14:12-15 Verse 13 and 14 describe an act of reconciliation. Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. You’re fighting with somebody in the church over, let’s say how the other person is planning out the annual church budget. Now, with all topics of money involved, especially during low economic tide years, such as this, you fight—and there is name calling, and then there are some d-bomb droppings, because we all Christian and don’t cuss, when it’s curse. Now this escalates into a full fledge “I’ll meet you in the parking lot.” Yeah, that’s how bad it is, we can all imagine this right. People’s faces redder than cherry tomatoes. Now, if one person were to humble himself or herself lower and apologize, even though their economic argument was correct, then other people, who are being factious would follow suit and apologize. It is easy to humble yourself when other people are being humble and they humble themselves. Yet, who does that? That’s right. It usually takes a mediator or lots of time to get there and most of the time only because people had forgotten because they have the memory of a flea. But Jesus says, when you give a dinner, such as what our gathering is, a dinner party with God, that is hosted by our singing, and conversing and serving, because that’s what happens at parties. Are we only inviting the people who can come and balance us out? Or are we truly being charitable by loving the people we wanted to take to the back of the parking lot and bury under concrete? He specifically targets people that, at the time, were thought of as having factious tensions with not only the rest of the Jewish community, but with God. There was nothing that they could offer. It is this notion that brings us to communion with God. This is exactly what is being shared with us when Jesus passed us this tradition of the Lord ’s Supper. You see when we are brave enough to invite people into our communion through charity, we are displaying authentic faith. This is what faith is: faith is a being satisfied in all that God is for us in Christ. Christ has given us the Lord’s Supper to feed us spiritually with himself. I’m not just talking about the Lord’s Supper that we do every single month now. I’m talking about every single time we get together for God at the church building. We’re getting together like it’s a party, we’re preparing like it’s a party, we’re decorating like it’s a party and we’re inviting people that most of the time have nothing to offer us. And we do all of this freely, lovingly and generously. This is what Jesus did when he invited us into his world changing party. Let’s go back to 1st Corinthians 11:23. 23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. We see verse 24: “This is my body,” means, as you eat this bread and drink this cup come to me and believe on me. That is, sit with me at table and trust me to be your life-sustaining food and drink. Let the proclamation of my death and remembrance of all that I am for you awaken faith and draw you into deeper communion with me. “This is my body,” and “This is my blood,” mean eat spiritually, that is, eat by faith. That is, feed your soul on all that I am for you. Nourish your heart on all the blessings that I bought for you with my body and blood. Every single time we come to church and part-take, I know we don’t celebrate it enough at our church, but we do try for at least once a month, we’re doing so reflecting on our lives and see how God had really moved us until this point. At the same time, we’re putting our hope in Jesus to guide us in the future. I want to finish this, let’s go to verse 27 and read until verse 33. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— Verse 27—what is unworthy? Think back to factions and divisions of the heart. That is—when we come to church and do the work of the church and take part of the church activities, not just in the Lord’s Supper, but the being together with other Christians in a church building on any given Sunday, what is our intention? Are we making a mockery of what Jesus means to us? Are we finding ourselves intending to be forgiving and charitable and using every opportunity of meeting together an act of reconciliation between the people inside these walls, but also the people on the outside? Is being at church being transformative despite the fact that we have to deal with people who will no apologize for their apparent evil and wrong. This is what I ask myself every single Sunday. This is what I ask myself every time I have to write a sermon and come to church. The question is always begged, and this is why I’m so unbearable on many Sundays—was this act of communion with God—this supper with Him at church, eating of the bread or not eating of the bread type of Sundays, was that my spiritual act of worship? Was it worthy of a party thrown for God, remembering of God, leaning on God? This is what we ask ourselves every time we do something as a church—every activity, big or small. Verse 33. This is the verse I want you to memorize when we are upset that things aren’t going our way, or when our plans are foiled and bothersome– when you come together to eat, wait for one another. I know this was supposed to be about the Lord ’s Supper and the doctrinal meaning of it. But I think it would behoove us if we limited the significance of the Lord’s Supper to simply the monthly communion we serve here at this church. I think our Lord’s Supper is every single time we go and teach Sunday school. Every time we sing songs in this small circle around us. Every single time we take the kids ice skating on our holidays. We commune with each other, but most importantly, we commune with our savior who died on the cross and rose to show us that He is able. Let’s pray.