I’ve quoted this before, but from rabbi Jacob Milner in his commentary on Leviticus, Words fall from our lips like the dead leaves of autumn, but rituals endure with repetition. They are visual and participatory. They embed themselves in memory at a young age, reinforced with each enactment. When a ritual fails because it either lacks content or is misleading, it loses its power and its purpose. Rituals. What is important to societies or families we make into rituals in order for those ideas to endure? They are lost when we no longer remember why we do it or if we change the meaning. We are creatures made by the Lord for rituals. Now, that truth is not immediately obvious to our current sensibilities. It’s similar to that statement when someone says, There are absolutely no absolutes, and you’re like, Wait for it. That’s an absolute. They look at you with this perplexed look on their face like, What are you talking about? Well, we tend to be anti-ritual in our current state. All that means is that we’re usually oblivious to the rituals that we do, and we’re against the ones we don’t like or no longer understand. It’s shockingly easy for many Christians to write off whole sections of the Old Testament, Well, that was way back then.
It no longer applies, or I’m a New Testament scripture believer. Yes, but we believe the new in light of the old. If we don’t understand the foundations, we don’t rightly understand what Jesus is building upon them. In baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we come to new rituals whose foundations have been laid for centuries. Jesus sat in the upper room with his disciples, sharing the Passover meal with his disciples before his death, and he brought them into a new way of seeing everything old. This new right could come to define Christianity as baptism had done. It’s a visual and participatory right. It’s meaning reinforced with each reenactment. But what is its meaning? What is its content? Failure here will completely miss the mark. But because Jesus recenters the entire history of Israel’s redemption upon himself, we are to see how he alone is the fulfillment of God’s saving plan for the world. Now, don’t let that skip by you too quickly. We are constantly bombarded with some form or another of all religions are basically the same. The same God is known in different ways to different cultures. Or Jesus was a great teacher, to be sure, but his followers are the ones who deified him.
No, Jesus deified himself. The Jews wanted to stone him for making himself out to be God more than one occasion. He said audacious and crazy things. You have heard that it was said, but I say to you, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I am the manna which came down from heaven. Before Abraham was, I am. Your sins are forgiven. Who does he think he is? He’s the Son of God. He’s the true Israel of God, the word made flesh who dwells among us. Everything that any good Israeli would have known, Jesus takes and he recenters it on himself. Here’s that we see the new sacruments for the new covenant. The old is transformed by the new. The Old Testament sacrifices are shadows that point to the new reality of Jesus. At the Passover meal, Jesus instituted this supper. Now, as Gentiles, we don’t reenact the Passover meal. Jesus fully recentered this historic Israeli meal and its significance upon himself and his sacrificial death. Communion. Christian Communion is not a Seder meal. It is from this point forward that the Lord’s Supper became an integral part of Christian worship.
The two important elements were bread and wine shared together with the words of Jesus. Asking the question, though, why bread and wine? The simple answer, well, they represent Christ’s body and blood. Well, why the two? Why are both necessary? When you look back into the Old Testament, you see the consumption of blood was expressly forbidden. Then he asked, Well, why the Prohibition? Leviticus 17 says, Life is in the blood. In the sacrifice, the blood was used to cleanse by sprinkling. It was completely separated from the sacrifice. In the Passover, the blood on the door frame that was painted there made a distinction between God’s people and those who were not. God passing over, not judging them because of the blood. Then we think about the bread. It was certainly used in some sacrifices. It could be eaten. There was the bread of the present, sometimes called the show bread, that set out in front of the Holies of Holies. That could be eaten by the priest. It symbolized Israel offered to God and his presence to them. A jar of manna also remained in the Ark of the Covenant as a reminder of God’s daily provision of food, bread.
Jesus brings these two elements together. In the Old Testament, in Jewish culture, wine is celebratory. Jesus turned water to wine at the wedding of Cana in Galilee. The wine also symbolizes, as he says, his atoning blood. He took the cup of God’s wrath in order that you and I could have the cup of blessing. The bread, a symbol of his body broken for us, a reminder of our daily need of his provision. Jesus is the one who’s sustains and nurtures his people. These two elements are brought together as a type of meal. They are symbols of everything that he has done, and they symbolize that great meal that is yet to come. Jesus said in Matthew 26, he said, I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you new in my Father’s Kingdom. He’s anticipating that which is yet to come, which his death and resurrection have inaugurated and coming into place. Revelation 19 says, Blessed are those who are invited to the married supper of the Lamb. Again, looking yet to what is to come. All of that is anticipating the future of what Jesus has spoken of here and now with his disciples.
Disciples, and we are participating in that. Now, in the early days, when they were in Jerusalem, some 3,000 to 4,000 people came to saving faith, this would have been done quite simply. Now, When the settings of the church changed, maybe at times there’s only a handful of believers, this would change. In some instances, this is part of a common meal shared together, what is often referred to as a love feast. But the first full description we get of the Lord’s Supper comes around 150 AD by a Christian named Justin Martyr. That full meal is now absent at this time, likely due to persecution or just simply the growing number of converts. But what is central to the Lord’s Supper is the breaking of bread and the sharing of wine, and that has remained. Here in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul tells them this is a regular practice of the Christian church. For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you that the Lord Jesus on the night he was ready, took bread and so forth. It was what Paul received. It’s just the ordinary part of Christian worship. Paul is addressing in 1 Corinthians 11, problems at the church in Corinthians.
It seems the Corinthians were following some Roman dining practices. Those with higher social standing were given greater honor, and they would be a part of the inter-sanctum in that dining group. Those of lower status were at a distance, and if they were given food, it was of a lower quality. They would even have to bring their own to eat. The social elites were tone deaf to their brothers and sisters of a lower status. And that would help explain Paul’s remarks in verse 21. He said, For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. Seeing this is disgraceful. The very thing that was meant to be a unity to them, the Corinthians were using and abusing. It wasn’t bringing people together, it was dividing them. We know that through the ages, this has also been true of us. We divide over the very practice that should unite us. We see there have been new controversies for the new church from the beginning. Talked a little bit about this last week. What does it mean when Jesus said, This is my body? Well, for some, the bread and wine are now transformed physically into Jesus.
That would be a Catholic view. Others, bread and wine can Jesus’s physical body in with and around, a Lutheran view. Some, the bread and wine contain Jesus’s body spiritually, meaning in the reformed tradition. Others are simply saying the bread and wine represents Jesus’ body only. It’s just a representation. Nothing happens. Broadly Protestant. Now, we here speak of the Lord’s real presence in the sacrament. Because of our union with Christ through the Holy spirit, Jesus is really present to us. It’s a mystical union, to be sure, but the bread itself is not transformed. It is through the promises of God that we are united to him who is at the Father’s right-hand. As I mentioned last week, I think the disciples would have had a trouble understanding if Jesus was speaking in a literal way, standing before them saying, This is my body. That would have been more natural to assume that it was metaphorical. In John 6, Jesus has a long discourse about being the bread of heaven, the manna who came down. Then he says this, Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John tells us that many were offended because of this very crass and literal statement that Jesus had made, sounded like cannibalism to them. First thing to note is that Jesus was not talking about the Lord’s Supper directly there. Second, Jesus had to also explain this to his disciples who were struggling with what he just said. Then Jesus told them in verse 63 of John, it’s the spirit that gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. He expressly told them, For it is the will of my Father that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. The ones who took it literally got it wrong. What does it mean to feed upon Jesus? He’s saying, He’s to believe in me, believe in the promises that the Father has given to you, that I am spirit and life. Well, another issue for some, simply, well, what bread are we supposed to use? Leavened or unleavened? The Passover bread was unleavened. But we are told that that was in order to show the haste which Israel was to depart Egypt.
Jesus does not carry this idea forward in the instructions given to his disciples. The word is just simply bread. The early church just used regular bread. Catholics later changed out to unleavened bread. The Orthodox Church, they used leavened bread, and most Protestant churches as well. Because yeast or not yeast is not part of the significance of the Lord’s Supper. What about wine? Wine has always been used up until the temperance movement in America in the mid-1800s. Welchish grape juice was purposely made so that churches could have an alcohol-free communion. That was the intent. Suddenly, at this time, people started debating whether or not Jesus would have made alcoholic wine or would have allowed alcohol to be used in communion. In that time period, that was a really big deal in America. People convinced that it was sinful to drink alcohol would leave churches if they served wine in communion. And that began in the Protestant world to shift to grape juice. Now, most of this is blown over, but the practice of grape juice is still in the majority of evangelical churches because of this. Now, here we allow both for true liberty of conscience.
But I say that wine is used because it speaks of celebration in the Bible, and grape juice does not. Jesus turned water to wine because he’s the true master of the feast. But again, we allow both for liberty of conscience, recognizing people come from various backgrounds. How often should you have the supper? Paul does say verse 26, For often as you eat this bread and drink this cup. Well, what does often mean? Means often. Once or twice a year is not often. Well, is monthly or bi-monthly often? Some people think so. We changed our practice here when I came 20 years ago to weekly. That argument then that it loses its specialness is not a very good one. Well, if you do it all the time, it loses its specialness. Well, we don’t celebrate communion because it makes us feel special. We don’t tell loved ones that we love them infrequently so that when we do tell them, it will mean more. Frequency actually communicates the reality of the love you have for them. Some have also wondered what Paul refers to in verse 27, Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.
One commentator referred to this as perjury. He said, The person makes a solemn oath through the sharing in these pledges and promises while having no serious involvement in them. If the very thing that you are professing in the Lord’s Supper your heart is not attached to, your beliefs are actually being demonstrated by not caring for one another, by dividing, then you are not participating in the meaning of it. That’s perjury. Anything we do that demeans or disrespects others is a sin against the body and the blood of Jesus. Christ died for them. They are united to him. To dishonor them is to dishonor Christ. And Paul goes on. He said, Let a person examine himself then. And so to eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment to himself. Now, Paul’s not trying to frighten us away, making us afraid every time we to the table, he’s addressing terrible abuses in the Corinthians church. He’s saying, as a word, there are proper table manners for us to come and to enjoy the supper. And that question ends, well, when he sends the body of Christ?
Is he talking about the church, like we’re the body of Christ? Or is he talking about the body of Jesus in the supper? Likely both. It’s somewhat ambiguous. I believe when the text is ambiguous, both meanings are implied. We are to discern how we are interacting not only towards the Lord Jesus, but towards those for whom he has died. Well, how do we examine ourselves? It’s asking this question, is your life in basic agreement with the new covenant that you’re professing? Then we do ask, well, how do I treat others in the body of Christ? I can’t hold these elements and be embittered towards someone else. You can’t say, thank you, Jesus, for reconciling me to the Father, but this person is a jerk next to me, and I don’t want nothing to do with them. That is taking the body in an unworthy way? What is the relationship you have towards those around you in terms of reconciliation? Now, for the more modern controversy of what’s called Pado Communion, which just simply means children old enough to eat solid food should be having communion, too. That’s the argument. It’s part of a larger conversation in the reformed churches.
But at the heart, it’s about examining and discerning. What does that mean? Reformed churches have said that children must be able to understand what is taking place. Again, this is not a Seder meal. There’s continuity and discontinuity with the Passover. In this place, this is This is the issue of discontinuity. You see this in practice when we have our children go through Communion as a class, and then they meet with the elders to give an age-appropriate confession of faith before they’re allowed at the table and you see them come forward and to give voice to the faith that they have in Christ as a part of discerning, examining. Communion is the visible gospel. We see on display here the very that is complained. Communion is associated with the proclamation of the word. God is consecrating us through his word. He’s setting us apart for himself in order that we can then have communion with him. It is similar in baptism, where we are not really given a full description of baptism in the New Testament. We’re not told exactly how much water. Can you use saltwater? Does it have to be fresh water? How much What is all these different kinds of things?
We’re not told expressly what that looks like. In the same way, we’re not told expressly what the Lord’s Supper is to look like. We’re told to use bread and wine. Beyond that, there are lots of ways that you could do the Lord’s Supper. Lots of ways that show the significance of unity, of bringing people together. A church of 3,000 and a church of 30 will have to do the Lord’s Supper differently. And that’s okay. There’s lots of good ways to do this, but we’re not told exactly what is the only way. And that’s significant for us. There is unity to be expressed even as we allow for a diversity of how that’s expressed. One of the questions that I speak to for the Communican’s class is, what should I be doing during communion while I’m the bread and wine? I’ll tell you what I tell them. Now, we have already confessed our sins. You can certainly reflect on the forgiveness you have received. But you’re to listen to what’s being said. You’re to think about those you are sharing with. That’s a great thing to be looking and seeing that these are the people for whom I am participating with in communion, those for whom Christ has died along with me, who are my brothers and sisters.
Looking to Jesus, who is represented here before you, looking to his finished work on your behalf, praying and giving thanks to God for what he has done, celebrating the Lord’s work in your life, the Lord’s work in this community. Those are all things that are appropriate to do. Hearing again these words from Milgram, Words fall from our lips like the dead leaves of autumn But rituals endure with repetition. They are visual and participatory. They embed themselves in memory at a young age, reinforced with each enactment. When a ritual fails because it either lacks content or is misleading, it loses its power and its purpose. In contemporary, present Christian culture, sacraments are often deemphasized or the meaning has changed. We tend to make the emphasis about us. My baptism about me making a public declaration of my faith. My communion is about a private devotional feeling or experience that I have. No, both have always been about the love of God on display for his people God acts and we respond. The great shepherd of the sheep who knows each one of us by name has laid down his life for his sheep. He has cleansed us from our sin.
He calls us to himself. He has given us new life in him. He said, Come to my table. Receive me in abundance. See the visible word that you would be strengthened in your faith, that you would grow in grace and gratitude towards me. You are not alone. I have not left you out. You are a part of my body, the church, for whom I have died, for whom I am returning at the initiative of the Father. And in that day, I will restore all things to Him. But until then, as you gather in my name, here is a down payment a deposit of that reality. And yes, it’s a symbol in its form, a small amount of bread, a small amount of wine, participating in and symbolizing the very work of Jesus on our behalf. And so as we come then to the table week by week, all of these things are in play for us. And sometimes one part is emphasized more than another. We think about the gospel like a diamond that’s just being rotated and the light shining off as facets in a myriad of ways. Here we are as the people of God, with all of our faults, all of our foibles, we’re coming to this table trying to see beyond what’s in front of us to these great promises of God.
Sometimes we apprehend them in a mighty way. Other times you’re like, this doesn’t seem like much. The reality is the same because it is God who is at work through his spirit in us, bonding us with bonds of love through the sun. He’s telling us that as you come and participate in me, as you have life in me, so this life is to transform you and how you respond one to another. You don’t earn your way here. This is a gift. It’s my mercy and kindness. I know you by name. Before you were ever born, your name was written in my book. And I’m calling you to myself to be a part of this body of believers here, to be a part of this body of believers globally. We come to the table with that. Focus and bringing our attention upward. Sometimes greatly moved in our hearts, and sometimes the coldness they’re in is, Lord, please change me. And either way, what God has us is true and real because his son is true and real. He raised him on the third day. He has forgiven us our sins because he has been our substitute.
Everything the old covenant pointed towards is now, yes and amen in Jesus. Let’s celebrate Jesus together as brothers and sisters call to the family meal that will one day we will know in its fullness, even while we hold by faith to what is before us. Pray with me. Father, we do thank you and praise you that you have blessed us abundantly through your son. Father, thank you for the free offer of the gospel that you have given to us. Lord, that you have changed hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Father, that you have given to us new new life in your son. And Lord, we pray that you would be pleased to continue to transform us from glory to glory into his image. And Lord, where we have misused this great privilege Father, where we have spoken ill of those created in your image. Lord, where we have had hard hearts towards one another in unforgiveness, we ask that you would forgive that you would cleanse us from our unrighteousness through your son. That you would continue preparing us to be a people fitted for your kingdom. We pray and ask this all through Jesus, our risen Lord.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.