Passion Week: Lord’s Supper

Let's read a text together. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, starting at verse 23.

The Apostle Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 11, 23. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 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. In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Let's pray. Open our eyes, Lord, to the grace, the mercy, the hope that you have bestowed upon us.

May we indeed be grateful people who give thanks for who you are and for what you have done for us. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. When our Lord gave us an observance to remember his days on earth, isn't it interesting, he did not give us an observance that would remind us of his great teaching. He did not give us a right to remind us of his compassionate acts of healing. He did not give us a ceremony to remember his miraculous birth. All of those would have seemingly been very positive things that we could have celebrated and remembered in some observance. But he gave us none of those things. When he gave us an observance to remember him, he gave us an observance to remember what many would call foolishness.

he gave us an observance to remember his death the death of the son of god on the cross and it is to that experience we're going to turn this morning and talk about it we celebrate it on what is now called maundy thursday we in the baptist tradition haven't always celebrated maundy thursday but for the last several years in this church we have celebrated maundy thursday And I'll explain a little bit more in a minute about what Maundy Thursday is. It's the Lord's Supper. It's recorded in a number of different places in the New Testament. I've given you in your outline several references where you can go read about this simple observance. Probably the earliest written account, though, is the account that I just read, written by the Apostle Paul, who wrote his writings, some of his writings, before the Gospels were actually written.

So here we have this earliest account from the Apostle Paul. There's a lot of debate. If you go read much in the commentaries about the Passover, there are all sorts of questions that scholars ask about the Passover. But most agree that on this night, on Thursday night, the night that Jesus was betrayed, the disciples along with the Lord actually observed the Jewish Passover meal. It was a ritualistic meal that was designed to remind the children of Israel of their past.

It is a meal that had been observed for almost 1,500 years, every year before this night on which the Lord was betrayed. It had become ingrained in the psyche of the Jewish people. They knew what this meal was about. They knew what it reminded them of. They knew what it meant.

to commemorate Israel's deliverance from the slavery of Egypt and the power of Pharaoh in the Old Testament. You ought to go back and read this week Exodus 7-12 if you want to remind yourself about those events. You remember, Moses at age 80 is called by the Lord to go and face the most powerful ruler on earth in that day, the Pharaoh of Egypt. He's a little worried about his speaking ability, Big brother, age 83, Aaron can go with you. And together, Moses and Aaron go to the Pharaoh and say, Thus saith the Lord, let my people go.

And Pharaoh looked at these two senior citizens, and he said, You've got to be kidding me.

So then came the plagues, when Pharaoh would not take the admonition of Moses and of Aaron, first the Lord turned the Nile into blood, killing all the fish in the Nile River. Then he sent the plague of the frogs, and then the plague of the gnats, and then the plague of the flies, and then the plague on Egyptian livestock, then the plague of boils the Egyptian skin festering with boils then the plague of hail then the plague of locusts did you hear Wilson talking about the locust this morning how even locust swarms sometimes would kill babies as the locust would attack not only plants but even little babies and kill them then there was a plague of darkness and it's interesting when you read the text the plague of darkness there was darkness for the Egyptians but somehow the Israelites could see interesting in the text but these nine plagues were not enough for Pharaoh he would not let God's people go time after time he had the opportunity God finally said, okay, I'm going to do one that will make him let my people go. And on the night of Passover, the death angel passed throughout the land of Egypt. And any home that was not protected with the blood of a lamb that had been spread across the doorpost, the door frames of the homes, every home that did not have the blood of the lamb, the firstborn died in that home. The firstborn of the Egyptian families, not only people, but the firstborn of the livestock, the cattle, the lambs, all the animals.

The firstborn died that night. And the text of Scripture says there was much wailing throughout the land of Egypt on that night. It was a horrific judgment of God, but it was a night of freedom for God's people at the same time. It was the night on which the power of the Lord overcame the greatest earthly power of that day, the power of Pharaoh. And Pharaoh finally relented.

It was during the Passover meal that celebrated this event that typically a question would be asked at the beginning of the meal or at some point during the meal. Often it was the youngest person present that would ask this question. And this became the ritual in the tradition in celebrating this meal. And the question would be asked, why is this night different from other nights? Why is this night different from other nights?

And it would then be that the host of the meal would begin to explain why this night is different from other nights. And he would tell the story of the deliverance of God of the children of Israel in ancient Egypt. And then he would begin to explain the different elements of the meal that reminded the people of what they went through back in Egypt. Now on this night, A.D. 30, April the 6th, the Last Supper for our Lord, it's likely, probably, many believe that the Apostle John asked the question.

He was the youngest present, many believe, among the disciples. Why is this night different from other nights? And it would have been the Lord Jesus Christ who probably then told the story of the ancient Passover. And then he began to explain the elements in the meal that they were celebrating. But then he added a twist to explain why this night is different than any other night.

But let me first tell you about the Passover meal itself. There were really six different elements in the meal that were all designed to be a teaching lesson. How do you teach children about the history of your people? Well, one way the Jewish people did it was through this meal. And the meal would have, to begin with, a Passover lamb.

The Passover lamb was to be a year-old lamb, unblemished. the lamb had to be cooked by roasting you could not break any of the bones in the body of the lamb that was directed by old testament law no bones broken in the land we know what that's getting ready to remind us about right christ had no broken bones when he was crucified you had to eat all of the lamb that one night and if any food was left over it had to be burned the next morning. It was as if you had to get the lamb that night. There was an urgency about it. You could not wait and eat later.

Only the circumcised of Israel were permitted to participate in the Passover and their families. Uncircumcised Gentiles were not permitted. This was a celebration for God's people and for no one else.

during the meal they would eat unleavened bread that is bread without yeast why did they eat bread without yeast why did they eat unleavened bread well just as the lamb reminded the people of the blood that was put over the doorpost the unleavened bread reminded the people that they had to leave Egypt so quickly when the Pharaoh finally said, you can go, there was no hesitation. They got up and they went without delay. So there was no time to bake bread to take on the trip, no time to wait for bread to rise. So they just took the unleavened bread and took off to leave Egypt. So the unleavened bread reminded of the haste to get out of slavery.

When you have the opportunity to be set free, do you hesitate? When you can be set free from the burden, do you wait? No, you grab it and you go.

This meal is going to teach us something for modern day times. Third element, bowl of salt water. a bowl of salt water at the meal. They would have a bowl of salt water to remind them of two things. To remind them of the tears that the children of Israel shed while they were enslaved.

And secondly, to remind them of the great deliverance when the Lord parted the sea and let them pass through the sea. The fourth element was bitter herbs. Bitter herbs were eaten to remind them of the bitterness of slavery. those bad tasting herbs, it was to remind them how bitter the slavery was when they were enslaved in Egypt. There was fruit pudding called karsheth.

This fruit pudding was a reminder of the clay that was used by the children of Israel to make bricks while they were enslaved in Egypt. That was their job. And then finally, there were four cups of wine drunk during the meal. It was a wine mixture, wine and water mixed together, but there were four cups of wine that would remind them of the promises contained in Exodus 6, verses 6 to 7, which I'm going to show you in just a second. And then the last element was singing.

They would sing before the meal began, Psalm 113 and Psalm 114, which begins, Hallelujah! Praise, O servants of the Lord! Lord. That's what they sang before the meal. And then when after the meal was over, they would sing Psalm 115 through Psalm 118. And Psalm 115 begins, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory because of your love and your faithfulness. That is a great verse, folks.

Psalm 115, 1, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory because of your love and your faithfulness.

Do you see how these elements remind us of our present day Lord's Supper, the Passover lamb, unleavened bread? Don't wait when the offer of salvation is given. Salt water and bitter herbs, the life lived in sin bitterness the fruit pudding can remind us of the burdens of being enslaved but then the cups of wine remind of the promises of god and the singing is the praise of god i want to make one point about the cups of the four cups of wine they would be drunk at four different times during the meal and they came out of the four promises in exodus 6. exodus 6 verse 6 says therefore say to the Israelites and here's the first promise promise number one when they drank the first cup of wine they would be reminded of God's promise I am the Lord in other words he is the one who has all power and all authority so when he tells us something or teaches us something we can trust that it's true and we can trust that he has the power to make it come true the second promise is this and it's a promise of freedom i will bring you out from under the yoke of the egyptians i will free you from being slaves to them the third promise in exodus 6 verses 6 and 7 is redemption i will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment the process of redemption in the old Testament, if somebody was enslaved, if you redeemed them, it means that you paid a price in order to get the slave freed. And God says, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. And he is the one who brought the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. And in the New Testament, he's going to be the one who pays the price to bring us out of slavery. And then promise four is a relationship.

I will take you as my own people and I will be your God, then you will know that I am the Lord your God who brought you up out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. These were the promises that were all part of the warp and woof of the Passover meal. Power and authority, freedom, redemption, and relationship. And these are the promises that are the warp and woof when we celebrate the Lord's Supper.

it's going to be interesting. Which cup of wine did Jesus use? On which cup of wine were they when he gave them the promise, this is my blood? Hold that thought. It was with one of these cups of wine that he would introduce the idea that it was his blood that would be given for the remission of their sins.

Was it cup number one, cup number two, or cup number four. Hang on to that thought, I'll tell you in just a second. Which one we think it was. It was during this meal that Christ puts a new twist on it. So we've got an old observance, this Passover meal, but then Christ puts a new twist on it.

And the first twist is of course with the bread. Where he takes the bread and says, this is my body broken for you. and it was in this symbolic gesture of breaking the bread that he was telling them that his body would too be broken but broken for a purpose, broken for them and I'm going to say more about that in just a moment. The second new element is the cup. They took the cup during the meal but he put a new meaning on it probably when they drank the third cup of wine.

It was when they got to the third cup of wine of redemption that Christ turns to his disciples and he says, this is the blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. And so the disciples understood, again, his blood was going to be shed for them for a purpose. But there's now a new covenant, a new promise, a new agreement that those who put their faith and trust in the crucified Lord will have the promised redemption.

And then the last new element is that the Lord commanded that this celebration, celebration of the cup and the bread, the Lord's Supper, be continued from that time until he returns. Some churches observe foot washing, they do foot washing ceremonies. The Lord never says that foot washing is to be done until he returns. That foot washing was an example of service. But with the Lord's Supper, he does give us a command that we are to do this in remembrance of him until he returns.

So do you get the picture? Everybody understand the ritualistic meal, the different elements, and then how the Lord put a new twist to it. Now here are my lessons for life. Lessons for life number one. My first three lessons come out of the names that we give to what we usually call the Lord's Supper.

The first lesson for life is let us remember. The name the Lord's Supper calls us to remember that this is a supper instituted by our Lord on the night he was betrayed. Let us always remember what Christ has done for us. The second lesson is this. Let us give thanks.

Some call the Lord's Supper the Eucharist. that means give thanks. So let us give thanks for what Christ has done for us. He has redeemed us from slavery. You know, all of us have been enslaved.

Did you know that? All of us at one time have been enslaved, bound in sin, with a disposition, an inner nature that caused us to sin. a leaning towards sin, but in Christ, in Christ we can give thanks. The bondage of sin has been broken. We've been given a new nature.

We are no longer slaves to sin. We can say we've died to that and we can live to Christ. We have the power now in us to overcome sin. We are no longer slaves. And the Apostle Paul says, just start living like it.

Quit living like slaves because you've got the power in you to defeat this thing. Give thanks to the Lord.

The third lesson is let us enjoy the communion. That's another name for this Lord's Supper. And the communion is a word that means fellowship. Because of what Christ has done, we can now have fellowship directly with our Lord. There is no longer the barrier between us and our Lord.

And because we are related to him, we have a relationship to one another. I can go anywhere in the world and find a relative if I can find somebody who's in Christ. I can go to Ethiopia, and I've got brothers and sisters right there. And there is a bond, a relationship there that transcends our racial differences. It transcends our language differences.

It transcends our nationality differences. It transcends our economic conditions. It transcends our social conditions because we are one in Jesus Christ. So let us celebrate the fellowship. I know so often it seems in my Christian life I'm not celebrating the fellowship.

In fact, I'm sort of heartbroken about the fellowship with one another. You know what I mean? I don't mean in this class. I mean within the church, our church, within the body of Christ as a whole. There seems Satan, I mean his tactic everywhere you turn is to divide.

He divides in churches, individual churches. He divides in the body of Christ. He goes at marriages to divide. He goes between brother and sister. His whole tactic is division because he hates us.

does not want us to celebrate the unity we have in Christ, the joy we have in Christ, the love we have in Christ. I'm going to submit to you, and I need to learn this lesson too. We have got to come to celebrate again the communion with one another. We need to love one another if we're going to be all Christ wants us to be. The fourth lesson is this.

let us be assured that Christ is who he claimed to be let us be assured that Christ is who he claimed to be Christ prophesied what was going to happen to himself he prophesied his body was going to be broken he prophesied that his blood would be spilled and it came true all of the gospel writers and the apostle Paul affirmed that prior to Jesus death he affirmed what was going to happen so we have another prophecy fulfilled in the death of Christ just as we have many old testament prophecies that have been fulfilled in the life and death and resurrection of Christ we have yet again right before Christ's death before it happens he tells the disciples it's going to happen so that when it happens they can say wow he told us about this we knew it was coming and yet confirm again who he was. Lesson number five, let us remember why Christ went to the cross. And would you add one phrase there? And let us repent. Let us remember why Christ went to the cross and let us repent.

There's been a lot of debate since the Passion of the Christ come out. Why did Jesus go to the cross? Whose fault was it? Who did it?

Did you see Mel Gibson in his interview with Diane Sawyer? I thought Mel handled this question very well. Jesus went to the cross not ultimately because of the betrayal of Judas. And he didn't go to the cross ultimately because of the hatred of the Jewish leadership. and he didn't go to the cross ultimately because of the decree of a Roman prefect named Pilate.

Jesus went to the cross because of our sin. This was God's ordained plan. He sent his son to die because of our sin so that we could be made right with him. in two or three a couple of weeks I think it's two weeks away two or three weeks away we'll be talking about some of those scenes from the Mel Gibson movie talking about what it was like to be flogged from historical evidence talking about what it was like to be crucified let us remember why Christ suffered so because of our sin and let us repent Wilson has called us to fasting prayer. And genuine fasting and genuine prayer starts with repentance.

Is Greer First Baptist going to be all Jesus Christ has called it to be? Are we individually going to be all Christ has called us to be? Then we must first repent.

The healing of the relationship with our Lord, the healing of relationships with one another, begin on our knees in repentance. And it requires a sober, honest assessment of where we stand in relationship to our Lord. And this is no fun. It is not very easy to genuinely repent because it means we must admit where we have fallen short. But I'm going to submit to you

that all of us, individually, but I want to submit as a church, as a body, it's time for us to let years of unrepentance change.

if we will repent the Lord will bless us but if we will not he will not

lastly let us remember Christ voluntary act

he humbled himself and died for us though he was the Lord of the universe and you know he knew what was coming Can you imagine that if you knew what was coming, that you would voluntarily submit to it if you had the power to avoid it? Jesus Christ knew what was coming. He has not yet disclosed to the disciples the means of his death. It's going to be more horrible than they could have imagined, probably. But he knew what was coming.

Yet, knowing what was coming, he voluntarily humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on the cross. And the Apostle Paul, when he thinks about that in Philippians 2, it's hard for him to imagine it. But he goes on to say, Therefore, God exalted into the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee would bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess Lord, the glory of God the Father. Why did God give Jesus the highest name? Why are we going to bow before him?

Why will every knee one day bow before him? Because he humbly submitted to death

and gave himself up for us. Lastly, it's Maundy Thursday. We need to remember his new command. The word Maundy comes from a Latin word, mandatum. and mandatum means command.

And on this night, after washing his disciples' feet, after disclosing to them that he would die, Jesus gives a new command. What was his new command? It wasn't new in a sense, but that Greek word means either a renewed command or a command that now has a new quality about it. Seeing the Lord of the universe on his knees feet, thinking of the Lord of the universe dying for us, he now gives a new command, a command that has greater and deeper meaning. The command is love one another. How will the world know who we are?

They will know by our love. Greer First Baptist, do we love one another? Those of you who love contemporary worship, do you love those who like traditional worship? Those who love traditional worship, do you love those who like contemporary worship? Those of you who may be richer, do you like those who are poor?

Love those who are poor. Sometimes we look at one another and we don't love the way we should.

The Lord's Supper calls us man to love one another. Wouldn't it be great if in the community everybody said, you know that first Baptist? Man, they love one another. When somebody doesn't have something they need, somebody gives to take care of it. Somebody sick, there's somebody there with them.

Somebody has a death, somebody's hugging and loving on them. Somebody loses a home in a fire, they find them shelter. Somebody loses a job they don't have to worry because it's a family that takes care of one another jesus christ calls us to sacrifice whatever it takes in the service of one another and in the love of one another because he has done that for us

Judas had left the meal before the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper Judas is now out there meeting with the soldiers who are going to lead who he's going to lead to arrest Jesus Christ the scenes are going to come quickly and swiftly now in the coming weeks we work toward the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So be ready and be here next week. Let's pray.

Lord, it's hard for us to grasp the width and depth and breadth of your love for us.

But I pray that you will help us to do just that. and I pray that you will impress upon us in our hearts and our minds that we should not be satisfied with lives that are half-hearted, lukewarm, playing with sin on the side, sort of toying with it. May we be a people who reject those things that offend you and may we be a people that embrace you, loving you, following you,

another. I pray that you will change us. Do not let us stay the way we have been. Do not let us be satisfied with the status quo. Change us to be different. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.