Hope Church LV Sermons
Communion :: 12.19.10
Well, Gallup News Service recently did a survey, they conducted a poll across America concerning Christmas. Let me tell you a couple of things that they learned in studying Christmas. Here's the first insight. Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. Ninety-six percent of all Americans celebrate Christmas. Now, that probably doesn't come as a major shock. It seems like everywhere you go, everybody's celebrating Christmas. But the second statistic or the second insight that I learned through studying that poll that they did was a little bit awakening for me. Here's the second one. Ninety percent of Americans know that Christmas is a celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. That's a lot of people. A lot of Americans know and understand that Christmas is about commemorating. Now, it may not necessarily say that they agree with that, but they at least acknowledge and understand and know that Christmas is a celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus. Now, the problem in that statistic is that I'm afraid that is the limit of what many people know about the person of Jesus. For a lot of Americans, the only thing that they understand about Jesus Christ is a baby and a manger, when you even mention the name Jesus, what comes to their minds is an image on a Christmas card with Mary and Joseph and a stable and some shepherds and wise men. And they have that picture or that image in their mind when you even talk about the person of Jesus Christ. Now, the incarnation is what we call the celebration of the Christmas event, that God became a man and the incarnation is a glorious truth of the Bible. I am grateful for the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the reality that God became a man, the creator, the one who spoke everything into existence that we can see, taste, touch, feel, or smell. The creator at a point in time took on human flesh and became a part of the creation that He had made. I believe personally, the doctrine of the incarnation may be the most awe-inspiring truth that we understand in the Bible. I can't even wrap my head around the reality that eternity took on humanity and lived as a man, so much so that nobody even recognized anything extraordinary about it. He chose to live as a common human being. The Bible describes it this way in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1, "Behold, the virgin, shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name, say it with me, Emmanuel, which translated means, say it with me, God with us." God, among us, God in human form with us, and on Christmas Eve, we're going to unpack that reality just a little bit more and talk more about it, but I want you to understand something this morning as wonderful as the doctrine of the incarnation is, and as imperative as it is for us to experience salvation. If all Jesus did was become a man born of a virgin and live among us, we are still hopelessly lost in our sin. You see, what we celebrate at Christmas, the coming of God among us, is only part of the real Christmas story. A baby in a manger is a wonderful theological truth that leaves us with great sense of all and wonder at a God that would choose to become a part of its creation, but if all he did was come as a baby born of a virgin, we are still separated from a relationship with God, but there's more to the Christmas story. The Bible goes on in Matthew 1 to say this, "She will bear a sign, and you shall call His name," say it with me, "Jesus." Now read the last part with me, "for He will save His people from their sins." He's more than a baby and a manger. He's a Savior on a cross that took all of my sins. Now what qualified Him to be the Savior on the cross is that He came as a baby in a manger. He was a sinless son, but on the cross Jesus took all of our sin on Himself. Everything that I'd ever done or will do. He took it on Himself on the cross, and on the cross Jesus died for my sin. He died for your sin. The Bible says not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And He died, but He didn't just die. The Bible goes on to tell us that He rose again from the dead as the testimony that God has accepted His sacrifice for our sins. And now because of Christ's death and resurrection, you and I can be forgiven of our sin and be given by God's wonderful, amazing grace. What we could never have left to ourselves, a relationship with God. That is the totality of the Christmas message. And although once a year we celebrate at Christmas the incarnation that God became a man, Jesus gave us a practice that we celebrate several times throughout the year that gives us the opportunity to marvel at the entire scope of the gospel message. We call it communion or the Lord's Supper, depending on the church that you grew up in and the terms that they used. But it refers to this simple practice, and we thought here this weekend it would be very appropriate as we walk into a week celebrating the incarnation, the birth of our Savior, to really set our hearts for the celebration by coming around this table together and reflecting upon the truths that Jesus gave us. So if you have your Bible, I want you to turn this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and I want to begin reading in verse number 23. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23, if you don't have a Bible with you this morning, these words are going to be on the screen so that you can follow along as I read. The Bible says, "For I received from the Lord," Paul saying, "that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus and the night in which he was betrayed took bread." 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 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." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. "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." But a man must examine himself and in so doing he is to eat 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. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep. Before we take this supper together, I want to share with you three insights, three things that Paul tells us about this practice, and here's the first one, this practice was given to us by Jesus himself. This practice was given to us by Jesus. Paul says in the very beginning, "I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you." Paul is saying, "I personally received this from Jesus and now I'm personally giving it directly to you." You could say from Jesus to Paul's hands, from Paul's hands to the early church, and from the early church it has been passed down to you and to me. As we come around the Lord's supper table this morning, we are not simply practicing a tradition of the church. We are taking part in a practice that was given directly from Jesus to his followers and it's a practice that has been taking place now for over 2,000 years. For 2,000 years in every corner of the globe where you found followers of Jesus Christ, they've been coming together and doing the very thing that we're going to do this morning. We did this while we were in Egypt. When we were in Egypt just a couple of weeks ago at our conference that we had there in North Africa, what an amazing event. We started that conference three short years ago with about 120 pastors. This year we had almost 600 pastors at that conference there in Egypt, some of them from varying countries surrounding Egypt countries, some of them where it's illegal to preach the gospel. And as we saw all those pastors come together three years ago, best we know it's the first time it's ever happened in the country of Egypt and now we've done it three straight years in a row with all those pastors from all these different denominations. It had never been done before but we took the Lord's Supper together. What we're doing today is not a tradition of the church. It's a practice that was given straight from the hands of Jesus to his followers. And Paul tells us a couple of practical things about this practice. He says first of all it's not a suggestion, it's a command, Jesus didn't throw this out as an idea. He said do this. It's a present act of imperative meaning that it's a continual command. It's not something they were just to do once. It was to become a regular part of their gathering together, the Lord's Supper. He tells us secondly that it was to be done as often as you like. This is where a lot of people divide over how often you should do this. Some people are very adamant you should do it once a week. That's why some churches do this every weekend as they gather the worship. Some churches do this once a month, some churches do it once a quarter. Some people are very adamant that it's to be done once a year as a replacement for the old Passover and the Old Testament. So depending on which Christian you talk to you get a lot of varying opinions about how often we're to do this but let me read you what the Bible says about how often we're to do it. Those two simple phrases are all the Bible ever says about how often we're to do it. And the implication is we're to do it as often as we like. Every local New Testament gathering of believers can determine for themselves how often they decide to practice this separate hope. We do it about three or four times on an annual basis because when we do it we do it like this where we dedicate the entire service to the importance of this principle. We're going to talk about that a little bit more in just a moment. But the third thing Paul tells us is just to be done in order, the bread first and then the cup just like Jesus did it. Now other than that, that's all Paul tells us about how we're to do it. Now what's unfortunate is Christians spend a lot of time arguing about the how when the Bible has very little to say about the how but the Bible has very much to say about the why. And although we spend a lot of time debating and arguing about the how we don't spend much time at all talking about the why. And that's the second thing that Paul points out to us here is that this practice has a significant purpose. It has a significant purpose. The word purpose means the reason for which something exists. And Paul in these verses gives us three reasons. Three wise if you will as to the reason we celebrate the Lord's Supper. The reason we take communion together. I want to share them with you this morning before we take the communion. The first reason that we do this, the Bible says, is to remember our Lord's death. To remember. Jesus said twice in these verses, do this in remembrance of me. The word remembrance is a Greek word that we get an English word from. It's the word memorial, a memorial. It means to remember. It's a word that describes calling back into memory a vivid experience from the past. This last spring I had the opportunity to preach all across the state of Virginia. I started on the western edge of Virginia on a Monday and preached at Liberty University and then began to trek all the way across wound up preaching on that Saturday and Sunday in Virginia Beach all the way on the coast. I went from one end of the state to the other over about a six day period and right in the middle of the week had kind of a day off or I wasn't speaking anywhere and Pastor Travis was traveling with me and so we decided on that day with a day off we were just, we were not very far at all so we drove up to Washington D.C. and we spent that day in Washington D.C. Just kind of perusing and walking around the mall area there going to some of those amazing sites that you can see there in Washington D.C. And one of the sites that we went to this time that was of particular interest to me because I majored in history and college, I'm a history buff, I love to watch the history channel, I like learning about history and from history one of my favorite presidents in American history is President Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a man that was born in abject poverty grew up in simplicity and yet had tremendous impact on our country and the world really as we know it and how many of you have ever been there in the mall of Washington D.C. to what we know is the Lincoln Memorial. Let me see your hand. It's a lot of you have been, you've seen the image that I'm putting up on the screen. You walk up these steps and there sits this amazing figure of this historical icon Abraham Lincoln and over his head are inscribed these words in this temple as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever. But Lincoln Memorial is designed to help us remember our history, to not forget where we came from. As you're standing there and you're looking at him there that statue of Abraham Lincoln as you turn to your left along these big marble walls there are carved into those walls the entire text of the Gettysburg Address and you can stand with this imposing figure of Abraham Lincoln sitting above you and you can read these historic words that now we read in our history books but when they were spoken were so powerful and transformational to a people called America and as you stand there with this imposing figure reading those words of the Gettysburg Address you're reminded of the sacrifice of the lives of men and women who shed their blood on battlefields that we can enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy. It's very mindful of that as I was in Egypt. We had a group of eight pastors, eight or nine pastors from a country in North Africa that will remain nameless this morning because they were so terrified it's a country where it's illegal to preach the gospel. They had been run out of their country for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were eight pastors with no home no where to live. They pulled up together in this little bitty vehicle and all piled out looking like the clowns at the circus. They came to the conference all week long and we spent time with them pouring into them and just were so blessed to have been in the presence of men and women of God like this and as they left they declined the opportunity to speak on video because they are so in fear for their very lives that they didn't even want their testimonies captured on video that's the reality of the culture that they're from. When you experience people in places like that standing and looking at the Lincoln Memorial and being reminded of the freedoms that we enjoy that allow us to stand in a public high school this morning and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ with no fear of someone coming in and taking our lives makes you deeply appreciative for what we enjoy as Americans. The Lincoln Memorial is designed to help us remember where we came from. Jesus said do this as a memorial. You see if we're not careful as Christians the gospel becomes very familiar. Born of a virgin sinless life died on a cross rose again from the dead seated at the right hand of God. If we're not careful those facts of the gospel can become so familiar to us that we forget where we came from. Jesus gave us this practice so that at least as often as we do it we have to remember. This morning as we celebrate this together I want you to contemplate those things that you're familiar with. I want you to think again maybe in just a moment as we're passing these things out and our team is singing maybe what you need to do is open your Bible to the 19th chapter of the gospel of John and you just need to read again the great truths of what Jesus endured on our behalf the sacrifice that He went through. Maybe you need to just close your eyes and just meditate on the sin that has been so graciously forgiven the places that you might be where it's not for the grace of God in your life. It's to remember. Now some people take it a step further and they say that Jesus gave us this so that we could literally experience His body and His blood. Some people teach that as we take this Lord's Supper that these elements the bread and the juice they literally become the body and the blood of Christ. They take literally these verses where Jesus said this is my body, this is my blood and they would say this is more than a memorial service, they would say this is an experiential service and I want to give you this morning three reasons why I do not believe that to be the teaching of Scripture. The first one is because when Jesus said this is my body, this is my blood, He was physically present in the midst of the disciples. If He literally meant this is my body, it's becoming me and this is my blood, it's becoming me, it de-emphasizes the great truth that we're celebrating at Christmas that God became a man. The Bible tells us in Philippians chapter two when He became a man He humbled Himself and the Bible says He emptied Himself. It literally means in the Greek text that He laid aside the privileges of divinity. Now don't misunderstand me, Jesus never stopped being God. He was 100% man and 100% God. He was so much God as if He were not man at all and so much man as if He were not God at all. You should explain that, I just did, that's as good as it gets. It's beyond our ability to comprehend, that's why He's God and we're not, amen? But in His humanity He laid aside the privileges of being God and He lived as a man with the limitations of humanity. If He literally meant this becomes my body, this becomes my blood. He was in two places at one time and it de-emphasizes the great biblical truth of the incarnation. Number two I don't believe He meant it because of what He said. I don't believe He meant it literally because He did not say do this to experience me, He said do this to remember me. Now as evangelical Christians we believe in the doctrine of the inspiration of scripture, the Bible says all scripture is what? Inspired by God, here's what that means. Every word of scripture is God breathed, meaning that the very words, God did not inspire thoughts and concepts and leave it up for men to write it down. So the very words of scripture, everything we read, every single word of scripture is breathed of God. If we believe in the inspiration of the text of scripture then every word is important and Jesus didn't say do this to experience me, He said do this to remember me. The third reason I don't believe it to be literal is because of the pattern of Jesus to use figurative language in the New Testament, Jesus said I am the door. When Jesus said I am the door did He mean that He was a piece of wood, eight foot tall with a handle of hinges? No He was speaking figuratively, right? Jesus said I am, Teddy preached about it last weekend, the living water. When Jesus said I am the living water did He literally mean that He was a pool or fountain of water? No He was speaking what? Figuratively. When Jesus said I am the vine, you are the what? Branches. When Jesus said I am divided He literally mean He was a piece of green vegetation trailing along the ground? No He was speaking what? Figuratively. When Jesus said this is my body, He was speaking figuratively. Let me give you an example. This is a picture that stays on my desk in my office, it's a picture of my wife. Now as you look at this picture I can say to you this morning, this is my wife. Now there's not one person in this building this morning. When I say this is my wife, there's not one of you this morning that had an imagination of me standing before a congregation almost 19 years ago with this frame. Looking at this frame and saying nobody thought that, right? You didn't think that for one second. You understood immediately when I said this is my wife. What you understood me to say is this is a picture that represents a person that is my wife, right? When Jesus said this is my body, not for one second, not for one second did those disciples think that somehow that bread that they had seen made right there was literally becoming the body of Jesus. They didn't think that for a second. When Jesus said this is my body, what He was saying is this is a picture that represents a person to help us remember. It's given to remember our Lord's death second. It's given this purpose of, this supper is given to us to proclaim our Lord's death, to proclaim. Look at verse 26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death." The word proclaim means to declare openly or plainly or out loud. You see, every time we celebrate communion, we are giving a bold proclamation of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are living in a troubling day in the church in America. It's a frightening day because the church in America is rapidly moving away from gospel centricity. We are becoming a church of self-help. We are becoming a church of popular psychology. We are becoming a church of feel-good sermons. We are becoming a church of health and wealth and prosperity. We are becoming a church that is more consumed with making people feel better about themselves than we are the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Listen to me, the gospel at its core is an offensive message. It's an offensive message. Let me tell you what the gospel says. The gospel says, "God is right and I am wrong." The gospel says that I have broken the very laws and heart of God. The gospel says that I have sinned against God to the point that I am separated from a relationship with God and what I deserve is an eternity in hell separated from God. But the gospel also says that God did for me what I could not do left to myself. The gospel says that God intervened in my situation of lostness and sinfulness and God sent his son Jesus Christ and he took all of my sin on himself and he died for my sin and he rose again for my sin and now through him I can be forgiven and be given a relationship with God. We are not peddlers of psychology. We are preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was reading in my devotional yesterday, my utmost for his highest by Oswald Chambers. Listen to what he said, "He said the creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel." Listen, I don't understand it, I don't understand it but here's what I know. I can stand up here and I may not know you at all and I can open this Bible and I can begin to expound the glorious truths of the gospel and the spirit of God can take the gospel of God and speak to your heart like I've been reading your mail and he can quicken you and bring you alive and forgive you of your sin and give you a relationship with God. We must be preachers of the gospel. I believe one of the reasons that Jesus gave us this practice is because if we'll just be obedient and do this, every time we do this you've got to explain what it is. You've got to tell them what the picture is all about. The body and the blood, the rite of Hebrews said it this way without the shedding of blood. There is no forgiveness of sin. The reason he gave us this is to proclaim the gospel. A third reason that he gave it to us is to celebrate our Lord's return. Look at verse 26 again, I love this. He says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death." But don't miss the last three words until he comes. One day, I don't know when it is. It may be before Christmas. That suit me just fine. One day Jesus is coming again. Listen to me church. We get caught up living in this life and if we're not careful, we can begin to think this life is the big deal. This life is just getting ready. We're heading to the big deal. This is just getting ready part. Eternity is the big deal. This is not all there. I think he gave us this practice so we'd be reminded. This isn't until he comes. When I was in Africa for those 14 days, I can't tell you how many times I'd get out my phone and I'd start flipping through pictures of my family on the phone. You get to missing your wife and your kids, we know a trip like that and boy I start flipping through there and I could just find myself, I'd notice myself just smiling as I was flipping through those pictures. But you know what I notice when I'm at home? I don't look at the pictures. Right now church, we need a picture. One day, we'll be home. You don't need pictures when you're at home. See when I'm home, I got the people. I don't need their picture. Right now we got a picture, listen to me church, one day, we'll be with the person. And the memorial supper, it'll be exchanged for a marriage supper. We do this until he comes, it's limited. Let me share with you the last thing and we'll take this together. This practice should be taken seriously. Should be taken seriously. Paul says in verse 28, "But a man must examine himself and in so doing he is to eat the bread and drink of the cup." The word examine means to inspect closely, to test by questioning. This is why at hope you'll never see us tack communion on to the last five minutes of a service as we walk out the door, we just don't do it that way, why? Because we believe it was given to be taken seriously. That another thing we're to do at communion is we're to examine our hearts, we're to ask some questions. First of all, we're to examine our relationship with God. And before I partake in the Lord's supper, I'm to examine my fellowship relationship with God. But first of all, the first question to ask is, do I even know God? Listen, if you're here today and you don't know God, you don't have a relationship with God. Maybe you've been in church, maybe you've been religious, but you don't have a relationship with God. The starting point for you today is not a picture, it's to meet the person, to invite Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Savior. If you don't know Him, listen, you can take the Lord's supper every week for the rest of your life and if you don't know Him, it won't save you. The only reason this has meaning and significance is once you've experienced salvation. Now it's a memorial. See if you're here and you're already a Christian, you're a follower of Jesus, it's an opportunity for you to examine your fellowship with God. Is there anything in your life that's not right with God? In just a moment when we begin to pass these elements out, I want you to ask that question. Ask God, is there anything in my life right now that's not right with you? Anything that any area God that I need to make right with you today. Not only do we examine our relationship with God, secondly, we examine our relationship with others. In 1 Corinthians 11, before the verses that I read for you this morning in verse 17, listen what it says, he says, "But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you because you come together not for the better but for the worse. From the first place when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you and in part I believe it." The word division is a Greek word that means a tear and it's a picture of a broken relationship with a brother, a sister in Christ where there's a tear, a schism in that relationship. And Paul before he even begins to give instructions about the supper says, "Man, you need to make sure you deal with these torn relationships." I read a quote by a man yesterday, Steve Kamana Pali, he's one of the pastors that saddled back church and it was on Twitter, listen what he said, "Any time you attempt to restore a broken relationship, you're doing what God would do." Are there any relationships that are torn? Reason is an opportunity to examine my relationship this way but also to examine my relationships this way because listen to me, if your relationships aren't right this way, it's not right this way either. Now, there's some things, the Bible says be it peaceful all men as far as it depends on you. You can only do so much to try to reconcile some relationships this way. But have you done everything you can do to reconcile those relationships? Why is this such a big deal? Well, I'll close with verse 27, "He said, '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.'" That's kind of heavy. If I hadn't examined my heart, if I'm not right with God and with others, he says, "I'm guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord." What in the world does that mean? Well, the only illustration I know that really kind of helps us understand that is the illustration of the American flag. Somebody throws down the American flag, stomps on it, lights it on fire. They're not dishonoring a piece of cloth. They're dishonoring the nation and the sacrifice of the lives of men and women that have purchased the freedom that that piece of cloth represents. If I just blow through the communion practice, and I've done this before and just it's meaningless, it's motionless, it's just routine and ritual, or if I blow through it and I don't deal with my heart before God and others, I'm not just dishonoring a church tradition. The Bible says I'm dishonoring to the very sacrifice that this practice represents. So I want you right where you are right now to just bow your head, and I want you to enter into a time of examination. Just examining your heart before God and begin to ask that question. God, is there anything in my relationship with you that's not right? God, is there anything in my relationship with others that's not right? And as you begin to ask those questions, I want you to just sit quietly before the Lord and ponder those things. And if you're here today and you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, as you're sitting there this morning, right where you're sitting, you can cry out to God and you can say to Him, "God, I know that I'm a sinner. God, I know that you came to die for my sin. I know that you rose again from the dead and Jesus right now, I invite you into my life to forgive me of my sin and to be my Lord and Savior." Maybe you need to open the John 17 and just read that account or John 19, read that account of the crucifixion of Jesus. I'm going to pray that our ushers are going to come and we're going to start to distribute these elements as you remember the glorious truths of the gospel. Lord, speak to us in this time. Have your way with us. Reveal anything in our heart, God, that's not right with you. And Lord, we understand your Word says, "If we confess our sin, you are faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God, just make us right." It's in Jesus' name I pray. (gentle music)