Hope Church LV Sermons
The Lord's Supper 4.25.10
I grew up in a town called Cleveland that is located in the southeastern part of the state of Tennessee. That's where I was born. That's where I was raised. And the first church that I ever remember attending was a church called Valley View Baptist Church. And it was kind of a church set off in the country. There were probably about 150 to 200 people who went to that church. But it's the church that I was saved in. It's the church where I was baptized. It's the church where I began my journey of following Jesus. And in that church we had a table that looks a lot like this table. And just out of curiosity, how many people here have ever been to a church? And your church had a table that looked something like this. Wow, a lot more than I expected. I had to work hard to find this table this week. And it was amazing. My wife said, "I've never seen a table like that." Blew me away. But we had this table and for us it was in our service every single week. And maybe that's the case where you used to go to church. But we had kind of the different flowers that would go about once a month. We had some offering plates that looked like this. Amen? Have you ever seen those before? That's what we had. And sometimes we would have candles on this table and we'd have a Bible on the table. It just kind of depending on the week. But we also had on that table a statement just like this statement that's on this one. And it says, "This do in remembrance of me." Here's how I remember growing up. I remember being in the services at that church and I would sit on the first few rows and this was in the sanctuary every single week. And there would be weeks after week, after week, even year after year after year. I would read that statement and I honest to goodness had no idea what that statement stood for. I didn't know if it was referring to church or to singing or to giving. And there it even be times because I was a Christian that I would participate in the Lord's Supper. And I would go through the routine and I would eat when they told me to eat and drink the juice, when they told me to drink the juice, all the while that practice had no significance in my life because the words that are written here and that are in the Scripture had no meaning in my life. And because they had no meaning in my life, I went through time after time after time participating in a very important and very significant practice called the Lord's Supper. But I never engaged my heart and I never engaged my mind and therefore God never impacted me the way I believe he really wanted to because I was clueless. And I know this morning there are some of us who have participated in the Lord's Supper hundreds of times. But there are others of us and you've never celebrated the Lord's Supper for because maybe you just became a Christian a few months ago. And this morning we want to invite you to participate with us but I want to challenge everyone. Regardless if you've done it once or you've done it a hundred times, do not let this morning be a time where you just look at a table with some words on it and you don't let it impact your life and let God speak into your life the way I believe he desires for you too this morning. You see our conviction at hope is this that when we do the Lord's Supper it's not something we just kind of put on the end of the service. It's not something we just kind of blow by at some point during the weekend. But when we do the Lord's Supper we give it the entire service and here's why. Because we want to clearly explain for people who were just like me and didn't understand it. We want to clearly explain the symbolism, the significance of this practice. But for those of us in the room who do understand we believe it's healthy that we have time just to chew on and meditate and think on the principles that are represented in the Supper. So with that in mind this morning would you turn with me in your Bible to mark the gospel of Mark chapter 14. We have four different descriptions in the gospels of exactly what took place when Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples. In this morning we're going to be looking at Mark's account. I want to begin reading in Mark chapter 14 verse 22 and if you don't have a Bible this morning that's okay we're going to have it up on the screen for you so you can just follow along that way. Let's look at Mark chapter 14 verse 22. It says while they were eating he meaning Jesus took some bread and after a blessing he broke it and gave it to them and said take it this is my body and when he had taken a cup and given thanks he gave it to them and they all drank from it and he said to them this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many. Truly I say to you I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. After singing a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives. Here's the question I want to wrestle with and answer today before we celebrate the Lord's Supper. Here's the question why did Jesus give us this Supper? He could have given us anything any symbolic practice he could have done anything but he chose to give us two ordinances baptism and the Lord's Supper and specifically this morning why did he give us this Supper? And to answer that question I want to give you three clarifying statements that I hope will wrap some truths in our heart this morning so that we can observe this Supper in an appropriate way. Here's the first reason I believe Jesus out of this text gives us the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper was given to anchor us in the reality of the cross. The Lord's Supper this practice was given to the church, given to the community of faith to anchor us, to fasten us in the reality of the cross. You see a key piece of the gospel is the cross of Jesus Christ. If there's no cross there's really no gospel. And Jesus here in Mark chapter 14 is sitting around a table with his disciples and as he sits there they see Jesus as the Christ, as God in the flesh, as their leader, as a prophet, and as an unbelievable teacher. And these disciples had walked with Jesus in a lot of different scenarios when he had been teaching in figurative language and speaking symbolically. They were there when they were walking through the vineyard and Jesus says I'm the vine. You're the branches. They were there for that. They were there when Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of God and he said the kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. They were there for that symbolic teaching. They were there when Jesus said I'm the lot of a world. So they understood that sometimes that's how Jesus laid out truth for those he was teaching. But then Jesus does something at the Last Supper that they didn't see coming because he takes a piece of bread and Jesus breaks it. And he said hey guys and you can just imagine him looking around that table and saying this bread that I just broke, here's what it represents, my body because I'm about to be broken. And then he took the cup that had the juice in it and he said and this this wine, here's what it represents. It represents my blood that's about to be spilled for the sins of many many people. And you can just imagine the disciples their heart just begins to pound because they had never heard him talk like that before. They had heard him speak in reference to his death and resurrection but now it's real and it's about to happen. And there are two realities of the cross that I think in verses 22 through 24 Jesus kind of lays out for us and I want to share those with you this morning but God I think it's healthy for us just to have them in our heart before we celebrate the Lord's Supper. And here's one reality of the cross we need to think about today. That the cross is where Jesus died. The cross is where Jesus he died. There was an actual moment when Jesus was beaten and he was in excruciating pain and that he bled and there was an actual moment when hanging on the cross Jesus took in his last breath and he gave up his spirit and Jesus died. And we find a descriptive account of that in John chapter 19 and I want to read just a few pieces of that for us this morning just so we can really have our minds around this reality today. I'm just going to read through a couple different sections you can follow along if you would like or you can just listen. John chapter 19 verse 1 says Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and they put it on Jesus's head and they put a purple robe on him and they begin to come up to him and say hail king of the Jews and to give him slaps in the face. Verse 17 then they took Jesus therefore and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull which in Hebrew means Golgotha and there they crucified Jesus. Verse 23 then the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus took his outer garments and made four parts apart to every soldier and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless woven in one piece so they said to one another let us not tear it but let us cast lots for it to decide whose it shall be. Verse 28 after this Jesus knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the Scripture said I'm thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there so they put a sponge full of sour wine upon a branch of hissep and they brought it to his mouth therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine he said it is finished and he bowed his head and Jesus gave up his spirit. The cross is where Jesus literally died and as Jesus followers I believe that should affect us to read those words and hear that imagery that should affect us greatly and we should never drift too far from those realities that there was an actual moment when Jesus God in the flesh died he didn't have to but he chose to die a painful and a humiliating death and before we celebrate the supper this morning I believe the reality that the cross is where Jesus died needs to be in our heart and our mind but here's a second reality I think we need to we need to meditate on this morning. The cross is where Jesus died to pay for our sins that changes everything. I mean it's bad enough and it hurts enough to think about our precious Lord being crucified on the cross but it takes it to an entirely different level when we discovered that the reason he was on the cross wasn't for his faults it wasn't because he had made mistakes or because of his of wickedness it was for hours look at this verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 Bible says he made him who knew no sin a sinless perfect land to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God and him. Another reality that is so important to having our hearts this morning is that the cross is where Jesus died and he died to pay the penalty for our sins in verse 24 of this text Jesus says something that is very important. He says in Mark chapter 14 verse 24 this is my blood of the covenant. Now when we hear the word covenant it doesn't stir a whole lot in us but I guarantee you sitting around that table with the disciples there was a lot that was going off in their mind because you see the word covenant was very important to them because here was the blood covenant without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin in a Jewish culture that's what everyone understood without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin and so generation after generation after generation was trying to figure out how do we find forgiveness for our sin and the only blood that they could sacrifice was the blood of animals and so they would they would sacrifice an animal to somehow appease for their sin but it wasn't good enough one animal could not pay the penalty for all sin so over and over and over and over again they were sacrificing animals spilling their blood so that they could find forgiveness of sin but Jesus shows up here and here's what he says I'm about to make a new covenant I'm about to do something new it's not going to be you continuing to sacrifice animals and spill their blood to try to find forgiveness for this sin and this sin and this sin I'm about to make my own blood covenant and it's going to be based off of my death and my sacrifice and it's going to be enough of a payment to pay for sin for all eternity I love the way that William Barkley communicates this he says this in his commentary what did he mean when he said that the cup stood for a new covenant the word means something like an arrangement a bargain a relationship the covenant was entirely dependent on Israel keeping the law if the law was broken the covenant was broken and the relationship between God and the nation shattered it was a relationship entirely dependent on law and an obedience to the law but here Jesus says I'm introducing and ratifying a new covenant a new kind of relationship between God and man and it's not dependent on law it's dependent on the blood that I'm going to shed that is to say it is solely dependent on love very significant words of Jesus here in March chapter 14 you see over and over in the New Testament we find Jesus referred to as the Lamb of God and if you don't know the context that these people are living in that may not mean a whole lot to you but when you think about people who'd been sacrificing lamb after lamb after lamb after lamb trying to find forgiveness of their sin and Jesus steps up and says listen I'm the lamb but I'm sent from God and I'm going to be sacrificed to once and for all pay the penalty for this thing called sin it carries much more meaning and much more significance Max Anders said it this way on the cross Jesus would fulfill the old covenant and establish a new one the animal sacrifices of the old covenant were carried out repeatedly the new covenant was accomplished once and for all by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross salvation no longer would come by Old Testament avenues but by faith in Jesus Christ and one of the reasons I believe Jesus gave us this practice is to anchor us as his church in the reality of the cross during this time of the Lord's Supper we are to remember we're to call back to memory an event that happened in the past and that being the death the glory crucifixion of Jesus and then his burial and his resurrection and in one sense it's very ugly to think about but in another sense it is glorious to think about to know that on the cross where Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins the payment was forever taken care of and all that's left now is for us to embrace the life that he offers us and we will find forgiveness of sin and freedom for all eternity and I know we live in a culture that loves to debate and throw out ideas about why Jesus really came to the earth and we also have an enemy who loves to push us as far away as possible from the life and the truth of Jesus so I believe God gave us this anchor called the Lord's Supper so that we would never drift too far from the reality of the cross and that Jesus really did die and the reason he died was to pay the penalty for our sins this Supper was given to us as an anchor to keep us close to the reality of the cross here's a second reason I believe Jesus gave us this Supper the Lord's Supper was given to challenge us to live for what really matters this Supper was given to us to challenge us to live for what really matters well that begs the question in the life of a Jesus follower what really matters well if you've been in hope any amount of time you know we can answer that in one word relationships I heard someone say it we believe what matters first and foremost in the life of a Jesus follower is relationships specifically three primary relationships that are supposed to guide and shape our life first and foremost our relationship with God if you hear last week you heard Pastor Vance unpack for us the significance of intimacy and our love relationship with God that everything God desires to do in and through our life he will do as a result of our love relationship with him that is to be the primary pursuit and utmost priority in our life our love relationship with God that's what really matters another relationship that we believe really matters is our relationship with one another our relationship with God's family we believe we were not created to live in isolation we were created for community and the relationship that we have with our local church with our other brothers and sisters in Christ is really important and this Supper gives us a chance to evaluate that and ask the question am I walking in intimacy with God am I in fellowship am I in right relationship with God's family but a third relationship we believe is very important is the relationship that we have with the world but yes we're here to live in community we're also here to engage a lost and dying world with the living gospel of Jesus Christ and this Supper gives us a chance to evaluate that this Supper gives us a chance to ask the question am I living for what really does matter Jesus speaks to this at the end of verse 24 in Mark chapter 14 he says this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many yes Jesus died for us but he also died for the many and it is very easy for us to get into our schedule and start thinking about our needs and what we want and what we desire to be a part of and we lose sight of the many listen next weekend we're gonna be laying out some plans of what I believe is an unbelievable launching pad for us and yes we want to have nice facilities and places for our families to grow and places for us to worship but we're not just building a launching pad for us we're building a launching pad hear me on this one for the many who woke up this morning in this city with no relationship with God no relationship with anyone who follows Jesus and no chance at eternity except for an altercation with the gospel and when we spend time at this Supper here's what it gives us a chance to do to evaluate am I living for what really matters am I pursuing intimacy with God am I in fellowship with God's family and am I engaging a lost and dying world with the gospel of Jesus Christ the Supper was given to challenge us and make us ask the question am I living for what really does matter it's a third reason I believe out of this text that Jesus has given us the Supper the Lord Supper was given to encourage us about the future the Lord Supper was given to encourage us about the future look at verse 25 Jesus says truly I say to you I will never again drink up the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God Jesus is sitting around this table and he says listen guys the next time we have a Supper it's gonna be the married Supper and I'm not gonna be headed to down a cross or I'm not gonna be in any bad shape at all I'm gonna be alive and I'm gonna be in all of my glory because even though I'm about to be crucified I'm not gonna stay that way forever and I'm gonna come back to life I'm gonna ascend to heaven and one day I'm gonna come back to get you and I'm gonna take you to the city of God and we're gonna celebrate the glory of God for eternity and I believe when we sit around this Supper we get to look future tense to the Supper one day in heaven and it should encourage us that this world isn't all that there is and one day we're gonna worship God forever in a place where there is no more pain there is no more death and we're gonna celebrate the life of Christ there and this Supper was given to us hopefully this morning to encourage us about what's coming in the future I believe those are the answers to the question why did Jesus give us this Supper well he gave it to us to anchor us in the reality of the cross he gave us this Supper to challenge us to ask the question am I living for what really matters and he gave us the Supper to encourage us about what is coming in the future but you have to understand all three of those reasons are conditional on one thing for you to be anchored challenged and encouraged this morning is dependent on one thing and that one thing is your heart there were many days where I sat in a church in Southeast Tennessee and I ate the bread and I drank the juice while they told me to looking at a table just like this but the whole time it was meaningless to me I didn't understand the symbolism I didn't understand the significance why because my heart was never engaged and it's bigger than just going through the motions it's even bigger than just being respectful in just a few minutes it's you and it's me engaging our heart in the reality of the sacrifice of Jesus and what these elements truly represent first Corinthians we find Paul given a description of what this should look like and in first Corinthians 11 25 28 here's what he says he says 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 you see the accounts in the gospels we learn something that it is possible to sit at the table with Jesus Christ himself and have a heart that is nowhere engaged in the Supper we see that in Judas he followed Jesus he was at the Supper Jesus says you're gonna deny me he said no I'm not he is sitting at the table with Jesus Christ in the flesh and he still does not have a heart that's engaged in this thing JC Ryle said this way and this is very convicting the benefit of the Lord Supper depends entirely on the spirit and frame of mind in which we receive it the bread which we eat and the wine which we drink have no power to do good to our souls as medicine does good to our bodies without the cooperation of our hearts and our wills they will not convey any blessing to us by virtue of the minister's consecration if we do not receive them rightly worthily and with faith to assert as some do that the Lord Supper must do good to all communicates whatever be the state of mind in which they receive it is a monstrous and unscriptural figment and has given rise to gross and wicked superstitions before we celebrate the Supper tonight today we're gonna have some time to get our heart right one of the reasons that we give the whole service to this thing is because we don't just want to blow by it and have people sitting there and they don't understand the symbolism they don't understand the significance and I learned this week got a little picture into the frame of mind that Jesus had to be in here in Mark chapter 14 because you see verse 26 says this after singing a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives now for a lot of us we just blow out by that verse but researchers tell us that the hymn that they sang as they were leaving the Lord Supper and Jesus is in essence headed to the cross was based out of Psalms 115 through Psalms 118 that's the hymn that was on their hearts as they're leaving the Last Supper and Jesus is headed to be crucified let me read for you just a few verses out of that section of Scripture as Jesus is headed to the cross and seeing him with his disciples here's what's on his lips and here's what's in his heart Psalms 115 1 not to us O Lord not to us but to your name give glory because of your loving Kindness and because of your truth Psalms 116 5 says on the way to be crucified gracious is the Lord and righteous yes our God is compassionate Psalms 116 verse 15 precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones and Psalms 118 verse 1 on the way to the cross Jesus is singing to him about give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his loving Kindness is everlasting that's a picture into the harp attitude and frame of mind that Jesus was in as he was leaving the Supper and headed to the cross and I hope that's challenging for you this morning like it's challenging for me that what we're about to do in just a few moments is serious and we're to treat it that way and there are several things I want to encourage you this morning to evaluate to examine as Paul said in 1st Corinthians first of all your relationship with God the first obvious question is do you have a relationship with him has there ever been a time in your life when what we are symbolizing this morning in this Supper actually became reality in your heart and in your mind and you realize that Jesus really was broken for your sin he really did bleed for your sin he paid the penalty for your sin and he offers you eternal life because there's nothing magical about this Supper just because you eat that Supper it's not gonna save you it's not gonna take you from being lost to being rescued it's a symbol do you have a relationship with God if you're here this morning and you do is there anything in your relationship with God that's not right is there sin are there things in your relationship with God that are hindering your intimacy with him that are hindering you from anchoring your life in the reality of the cross are you pursuing him how's your relationship with God secondly how's your relationship with God's family this is the time for us to evaluate that and you may be at odds with a family or some friends let me just tell you this morning it's not worth it would you go to them and just apologize say you're sorry you're let them say they're sorry and just get past it it's not worth it there are too many other things we're to be spending our time and our energy on then quarreling as the church of Jesus Christ it's not worth it and thirdly how's your relationship with the world can you honestly say this morning that you are engaging in God's kingdom activity to approach a lost and dying world with the gospel that's something in this time I want to challenge you to examine I'm gonna pray for us and our praise teams gonna come we're gonna have some time of just examination so if you would just bow your head where you are and as honest as you can be before the Lord right now before we celebrate this supper Jesus tells us to examine our hearts and I want to encourage you just to be honest with him if you're here this morning and you don't have a relationship with God we have some pastors up front and some people just around the room they'd love to talk to you they can show you how you come into this this grand relationship with the Son of God if you're a Christian here this morning maybe there's some things in your life it's just not right there's some some ways in your life you've been drifting away from the reality of the cross and what it symbolizes maybe you've found yourself at a place and you know in your heart you're not living for what matters you're caught up in your schedule and your agenda and your things and you're not thinking about anything else and now is the time for you to evaluate and examine your heart and just confess before the Lord where you went wrong maybe as you think about the world you know you're not serving you're not engaging this world with a living gospel I want to say where to prayer over us and then in just a moment we're going to begin this celebration Lord I pray for the hearts of every person in this room but I know the ways even as we've been talking through this God you're even speaking in my own heart of ways I need to examine myself and I just kind of believe you're doing the same thing in every person in this room Lord would you open our eyes and God give us the humility to confess before you where we're going wrong or where we're not where we need to be in our relationship with you God maybe some some issues that we have with your family that we just need to make them right and Lord the reality that you've left us here for the many and God we're going to engage the world with the gospel Lord would you show us how we need to get back in tune with your spirit as we live our lives we're thank you for this practice thank you for what it does to our heart and to our mind to set us back on track I pray that no one in this room would just sit here this morning and stare at a table and look at words about remembering you and have no idea what it means God may we engage you with our heart this morning and God would you speak to us as we celebrate communion