Sermon Notes, November 6, 2016 AM
What Does the Lord’s Supper
Mean to You?
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A.
When I was growing up we had two tables in our home.
1. The kitchen table was used for every day
purposes. We usually ate meals through
the week at the kitchen table. The
kitchen table was where we did homework or
would play games. Occasionally, the
kitchen table was the place for a serious
family discussion.. I have wonderful
memories of our kitchen
table.
2. The dining room table was reserved for
special occasions. Nearly every Sunday
after church my mother would serve a
delicious meal at the dining room table. The
table was always covered with a white
table cloth. We always used the good china
and good silverware. I can still
remember the smell of the pot-roast or fried chicken.
I still recall the taste of the mashed potatoes,
green beans and dinner rolls. I can
picture the chocolate or coconut cake we
would have for dessert. What precious
memories these are.
B. Have
you ever considered the importance of meals in the Bible?
1. When the people of Israel were delivered
from slavery in Egypt God instructed
them to prepare a meal that would serve
as a reminder of the occasion. The feast
of Passover was observed annually.
2.
During Jesus’ last Passover meal with His disciples He gave new meaning to the
bread and the fruit of the vine.
a. Matthew’s account is in Matthew
26:20-28.
b.
Mark’s account is in Mark 14:22-24.
c. Luke’s account is in Luke 22:14-23.
d. John does not record the supper
itself but gives us the details of Jesus’
conversation with the disciples in
the upper room where they ate the meal.
e. Paul recalled this scene as he wrote
to the church in Corinth beginning in
1 Corinthians 11:17-30,
C.
Isn’t it amazing how God uses simple things to convey profound truth?
1. In the Lord’s Supper God takes two
simple things – bread and fruit of the vine and
communicates the profundity of His love.
2. Why do we partake of the Lord’s Supper?
Why do we partake each week? Why is
it important? These are valid questions.
There are three verbs (action words) that
should be in our minds whenever we
partake of the Lord’s Supper.
I. REMEMBERI
A.
When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth he challenged them to think about the
real purpose of the Lord’s Supper.
1. As you read the context it is obvious
that the people had become divisive and
careless as they partook of the
supper. Paul wrote in verses 20 and 21,
“Therefore when you meet together, it is not
to eat the Lord’s Supper,
21 for in your eating each one
takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and
another is drunk.”
2. The Lord’s supper is to provide us
with a lens that focuses our thoughts on
Christ. In verses 23 -25 Paul wrote,
“For I received from the Lord that which I
also delivered to you, that the Lord
Jesus on the night in which 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 He
took the
cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My
blood; do this, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”
B.
The purpose of the Jewish Passover meal was to remember God’s deliverance of
His people from bondage. Each of the
foods represented a part of that history.
1. The lamb was a reminder of the blood
on the doorposts which had saved their
lives as the Lord passed over them.
2. The unleavened bread reminded them of
the haste with which the meal was
eaten as they prepared to flee from
Pharaoh.
3. There was a bowl of salt water into
which a piece of parsley or celery was
dipped to remind them of the bitter
tears that had been shed.
4. There were bitter herbs to remind
them of the bitterness of the slavery in
Egypt.
5. There was a paste called Charosheth
made of apple, dates, pomegranates
and nuts with sticks of cinnamon
mixed in to remind them of the mud and
straw used to make bricks in Egypt.
6. There were four cups of the fruit of
the vine to remind them of God’s promises to
bring them out from the burdens of
Egypt, to rid them of their bondage, to
redeem them with his outstretched arm
and to keep them as His people.
C. As
Jesus ate this meal He took the bread and the cup and gave them a new
meaning. They were a reminder of His
body and His blood.
1. One of our most meaningful American
holidays is Memorial Day. This day
traces its origins to the mid-1800’s
during the Civil War when people would place
flowers and decorations at the
graves of soldiers killed in battle. For many years
(particularly in the south) it was
called “Decoration Day”. Today we know it as
“Memorial Day” with the purpose of
remembering those who died in service to
our country.
2. From the earliest days of history God
established memorials for various reasons.
a. In Genesis 9:16 He set a rainbow
in the clouds and said, “Whenever the
rainbow appears in the clouds, I
will see it and remember the everlasting
covenant between God and all
living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
b. In Joshua 3 and 4 when the
Israelites crossed the Jordan River into Canaan
God commanded the priests
carrying the Ark of the Covenant to go before the
people and step into the water.
The moment they did the flow of the Jordan
stopped and the riverbed was
dry. After the people crossed over God told
Joshua to select twelve men (one
from each tribe) to pick up stones from the
dry riverbed. Joshua used these stones
to build a monument to the power of
God. “These stones are to be a
memorial to the people of Israel forever”
(Joshua 4:7).
3. The supper is a memorial to His
sacrifice.
D. I was cleaning out my closet the other
evening and ran across a small wooden
box. In the box were several items that
would not mean anything to you. A pair of
sunglasses, a wallet with a driver’s
license and a social security card. An employee
badge for Sears department store. Those items are special to me because they
belonged to my parents. The sunglasses
and employee badge were worn by my
Mother. The wallet with the driver’s
license, and social security card were my Dad’s.
As I hold these items I remember my
parents in a very intense way.
II. PROCLAIM
A. Paul also wrote that when we partake of
the Lord’s Supper we are proclaiming a
very important truth. In verse 26 he wrote,
“For as often as you eat this bread and
drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s
death until He comes.”
B. What are we proclaiming?
1. That Jesus died so we might live.
2. That the Old Testament has been
fulfilled and the New Testament has been
put into effect.
3. That Jesus is coming again and we are
looking forward to that day.
C. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we proclaim
something about ourselves as
the body of Christ.
1. We tell the world that we are one.
2. Does your family ever have
differences, disagreements or arguments?
3. It is not unusual for the dinner
table to be the place where those disagreements
are resolved. Garrison Keillor on
“The Prairie Home Companion,” told of two
uncles who were arguing. Finally they
were called to the dinner table. As they
ate the smell of the chicken and
gravy reminded them of their mother telling
them when they were boys to, “hush, act
right and eat your dinner.” Slowly but
surely they apologized to one
another.
4. Around the table we boldly proclaim
to the world, “We are one!”
III. EXAMINE
A. In verse 28 Paul wrote, “But a man must
examine himself, and in so doing he is to
eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
1. One of the hardest things for us to
do in our noisy, action-packed, fast-paced
world is to stop and think.
2. We want to be “doing.” Many years ago
I read a small book entitled, A Little
Exercise for Young Theologians
by Helmut Thielicke. In the book is the story of a
little boy watching his grandfather
sitting on the front porch. “What are you
doing?” asked the boy. “I’m
thinking,” said the grandfather. “No,” protested the
boy. “What are you doing?” The boy
was convinced that thinking wasn’t doing
anything. In reality the disciplines
of thinking and reflection are two of the
greatest things we can do.
B. When you visit the doctor the first thing
the nurse does is check your vital signs.
How is your blood pressure? What is your
heart rate? Is your temperature high?
What symptoms do you have? When we
partake of the Loed’s Supper we need to
examine ourselves spiritually.
1. What is the condition of our
spiritual heart?
2. Are we hot, cold or lukewarm in our
love and devotion to the Lord?
3. Do we know the “great physician” who
is capable of curing the malady of sin?
C. Paul continued the idea of examination
in 2 Corinthians 13:5 when he wrote,
“Examine yourselves to see if you be in
the faith.” When we partake of the Lord’s
Supper we must examine ourselves in
light of all God has done for us.
CONCLUSION:
A. In
1984 there was a film called, “Places of The Heart” starring Sally Field. The
film
portrayed a widow named Edna living in
Texas during the depression of the 1930’s.
Her late husband had been the sheriff who
was killed on duty. A mortgage payment
was due on the farm and Edna desperately
tries to pay it but came up short. She
realized the only way to save the farm was
to raise a cotton crop and produce the first
bale of the season. With the help of a stranger
named Moses and a blind man she
took in as a border a crop was raised even
though some of the local business leaders
did their best to defeat her. The most
poignant scene in the movie comes at the end
as everyone is seated together in church
partaking of communion. Black, white, rich,
poor, good and bad as the trays are passed
from person to person.
B.
Each Sunday as the trays were passed there is something profound occurring.
1. The broken bread reminds us of the
broken body that hung in agony on the cross
for you and me.
2. The sweetness of the fruit of the vine
reminds us of the sweetness of salvation
found in Christ.
3. The participation of every Christian
reminds us of our shared experience of
redemption.
C. We
invite you to come to the table of God’s mercy this day as we stand and sing.
