SERMON OUTLINE

1. What Should We Call It?

– The NT calls it the Lord’s Supper. Only term used.

-Communion (10.16) from koinonia meaning to participate in, share in, fellowship in. Another helpful term.

-Eucharist (11.24) meaning giving thanks, see 1 Thes 5.18

-Sacrament (loaded term) or Ordinance meaning command

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2. Who Should participate and in What Order?

-Ideally Baptism before the Lord’s Supper

-Baptism is a public ordinance demonstrating identification with Christ and incorporation into the body of Christ by baptism in the Holy Spirit. Once after believing.

-Lord’s Supper is a repeated ordinance of remembrance, proclamation, and spiritual renewal by the Holy Spirit

-Closed and Open communion

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3. What is the Purpose and Function?

-A Supper of remembrance. Death, salvation, New Covenant

-A Supper of proclamation. Death and Resurrection of Christ

-A Supper of renewing grace. More than a memorial service. In 10.16 “a participation in the body and blood of Christ”. In 10.18 “a participation in the altar”. Identification and sharing in the provision of the whole work of God, and a fellowship with Christ by the Holy Spirit for renewal and refreshment.

-Not an individual meal but a congregational meal.

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4. What is our Responsibility?

-Examine ourselves. A clear conscious toward God, others.

-Properly instruct your children and those under your care

-Caution to parents: Do not give a false hope of salvation

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Conclusion

-The Lord’s Supper is only for born-again believers and we need to come to the Table with a clear conscience and a worshipping heart, ready to receive the Grace of God.

-We need to respect and honor our Lord by a reverent and serious approach to the Lord’s Supper. One way to do this is to ask those who are not born-again believers to not participate in the Lord’s Supper.

SERMON NOTES

The Lord’s Supper               1 Corinthians 10.14-22; 11.17-34 (Keep Bibles open)

This morning I would like us to consider together the Lord’s Supper by asking and answering four questions.

1) The first question is, “what should we call it”?

The NT calls this gathering together the Lord’s Supper. It does not use any other term for this gathering. I believe that the Lord’s Supper is the best term for us to use since it is the term used by the NT. When we look at the purpose of gathering I hope you will see why the term supper is used.

Some call this gathering Communion. This comes from 1 Corinthians 10.16 which says in the KJV “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” The Greek word koinonia translated as communion means participation in, sharing in, fellowship in. In the Lord’s Supper we are participating and sharing and fellowshipping in the Lord’s body and blood, so this is also a helpful term for the Lord’s Supper.

Others call this gathering the Eucharist. This comes from 1 Corinthians 11.24 which says, “when he had given thanks”. Eucharist is a Greek word which means “giving thanks”. In 1 Thessalonians 5.18 where we are commanded to give thanks in everything, the verb is eucharisto. So the gathering would be the “giving thanks”.

When we gather around the Lord’s Table it is a time to give thanks and it is a communion in the Lord’s sacrifice for our sins, but the term that best describes the purpose of this practice and the term used in the NT is the Lord’s Supper. The terminology of invitation to a supper is important.

We also need to consider here two terms that we use when we talk about Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The terms are sacrament and ordinance. As Baptists we speak of the Lord’s Supper as one of the two ordinances that Jesus has given to the Church. We do not use the term sacrament because sacrament is a loaded term which brings to mind someone empowered by the church to function as a channel to impart divine grace through a designated ritual. It is also a term used by the Catholic and Orthodox churches for their seven sacraments. As Baptists we want to separate Baptism and the Lord’s Supper from these seven sacraments because we do not interpret these ordinances in the same way. Ordinance simply means ordained or commanded. Jesus commanded the Church to go and make disciples by baptizing, and to practice the Lord’s Supper until His returns.

2) The second question is, “who should participate in the Lord’s Supper and what order should be followed in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper?”

Ideally baptism should come before the Lord’s Table in the experience of the born-again believer, but the ideal is not always possible.

Baptism is an ordinance of incorporation. Baptism is a public demonstration of our new life in Christ and our union with Christ as part of the body of Christ. The ordinance of baptism is a one time, none repeated act. Just as we are baptized in the Holy Spirit once and for all time and made part of the body of Christ when we believe, so water baptism is a one time public proclamation of that work of God.

The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of remembrance, proclamation, and spiritual refreshment and is to be repeated often by born-again believers. The Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ for our sins, a proclamation of the Lord’s death until he comes, and a renewal of spiritual life in fellowship with Christ. It is for born-again believers who recognize their salvation in Christ and who belong to the body of Christ.

Some fellowships, in order to keep the Lord’s Table for born-again believers only, allow only those who have been baptized and who are members of that fellowship to partake of the Lord’s Supper. This is called closed communion. We on the other hand practice what is called open communion, which means that all believers whether baptized or not, whether members or not are invited to partake of the Lord’s Supper after a time of self-examination. But open communion still restricts the Lord’s Supper to believers only.

3) The third question is, “what is the purpose and the function of the Lord’s Supper?” I want to answer this most important question under three headings.

It is a supper of remembrance. As believers gather around the Lord’s Table they are to remember Jesus Christ. We are to remember that Jesus offered his body to God for us. We are to remember that Jesus gave his life for us and sealed the New Covenant with his own blood. The New Covenant promises the forgiveness of sins and the indwelling Holy Spirit and that is what we have received in Jesus Christ. At the Lord’s Supper we remember the death of Jesus Christ for our sins and the institution of the New Covenant of Grace that delivers us from the condemnation of the Law and death.

It is a supper of proclamation. At the Lord’s Supper we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. As a congregation of born-again believers who partake of the Lord’s Supper, we are preaching that Jesus Christ died for sinners, and inviting those who are still in their sin to come to Jesus Christ for salvation. We are also proclaiming the return of Christ. The Lord’s Supper will not go on forever but only until the Lord returns in Glory and brings this sinful age to an end. If Jesus Christ is coming again we are also proclaiming from the Lord’s Table the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is a supper of renewing grace. Try to follow along closely as I make this next point. The Lord’s Supper is more than just eating and drinking bread and juice which represent the body and blood of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is more than a memorial service to remember the death of Jesus Christ and proclaim his death until he returns. There is more going on in us if we truly partake of the Lord’s Supper as we should. Look at 10.16 with me.

This verse says that the Lord’s Supper is more than a memorial service. It is a participation in the blood and body of Christ. The NASB says “a sharing in the blood and body of Christ” and the KJV “the communion of the blood and body of Christ”. So the Lord’s Supper is more than remembering and proclaiming. It is also participation, sharing in, communion with Jesus Christ.

Now look at 10.18 with me. Paul is reminding the Corinthian believers about the former sacrifices made by the nation of Israel. He takes these thoughts from Leviticus 7.15-18 [Read].

The peace offering was offered to God but a portion of the sacrifice was eaten by the priest and a portion was returned to the one who offered it so that he might eat it and be strengthened and refreshed by it. He had two days to eat it and had to burn up the rest on the third day. It was food for those two days only.

The one who ate the sacrifice was a “participant in the altar”. By eating the sacrifice that was offered on the altar the person identified with all that the sacrifice represented and received all the provisions that God promised in that sacrifice. As the person ate that sacrifice, all that the sacrifice represented became part of him.

In this chapter Paul is warning the Christians in Corinth about eating food offered to idols. The point that Paul is making here is that not only are they identifying with the demons who are behind the idols when they eat this meat offered to idols, they are also joining in fellowship with those demons. They are not to join in fellowship with Jesus at the Lord’s Table and in fellowship with demons at the idol feasts.

What Paul is teaching us here is that the Lord’s Supper is more than a memorial and proclaiming service. As we eat the bread and drink the cup we identify with the death of Christ for our sins but we also enter into fellowship with Christ.

As high priest Jesus offered his body as a sacrifice to God for our sins and gave his life blood to pay for the judgment of our sins. Now Jesus invites his people to a supper to eat that sacrifice, to make Him part of them, to receive all the provisions of the sacrifice of His death on the cross.

Whereas in the OT the participation in the sacrifice was literal and the meat strengthened them physically, when we come to the Lord’s Supper we eat the body of Christ and drink the blood of Christ through the symbols of the bread and the juice, and receive spiritual renewing and refreshment by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s Supper is more than a memorial and proclamation service, it is another means of imparting God’s Grace to us by which we are renewed and refreshed in our faith.

Some faiths understand this truth of spiritual impartation in the Lord’s Supper and believe that in the Lord’s Supper we actually take Jesus into our physical body through the bread. We do not believe that the NT teaches that but we do believe that in the Lord’s Supper the Holy Spirit is active in the lives of believers to renew and refresh them in fellowship with Jesus Christ.

I want to mention one more thing before we go to our last question. The Lord’s Supper is not primarily an individual act between the believer and Christ but a congregational meal that expresses that we belong to the body of Christ because of the death of Christ. Look with me at 10.17.

At the Lord’s Supper we eat the bread which comes from one source. We do not have a plate with brown bread, and whole wheat bread, and white bread. All the bread is from the same source and we all partake of the one bread as an expression that we are one body. At the Lord’s Supper we express our unity in Jesus Christ as his body. We should be conscious that we are eating the bread and drinking the cup together as an expression of the truth that we belong to one another. That is the context of 1 Corinthians 15 and Paul says in verse 29, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment to himself”. The Lord’s Supper is not a solo event but a meal that recognizes that we are one body in Christ. We have a common Savior and have a common redemption and a common future hope. We should leave the Lord’s Supper loving and accepting one another and unified in the Lord’s work.

4) The last question is, “what is our responsibility to the Lord’s Supper?”

Individually we are responsible to examine ourselves so that we come to the Lord’s Supper without conscious sin. We are to be free of prejudice, anger toward others, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, hatred, lust, pride and any idol that separates us from fellowship with God. The Lord’s Supper is a time for us to reset our relationship with God and with others.

As parents, home-stay parents, and those who invite others to join us at a communion service, we are to properly instruct them on how to respond to the bread and cup when it is passed to them. The instruction is simply to tell them to let the elements pass unless you know for certain that they are believers. It is also a good opportunity to explain to them what the Lord’s Table means, what the elements represent, and how that has meaning in your life. Remember the Table is a means of proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes. So instruct, advise, and explain as needed.

I want to give a special warning to parents regarding allowing their children to participate in the Lord’s Supper. If you allow your child to partake of the Lord’s Supper and they understand that the Lord’s Supper is only for believers, then by allowing your children to partake of the bread and juice you are telling your children that they are believers. If they are not true believers it will be very difficult later in life to reverse that false belief. By allowing a child who is not a true believer to partake of the Lord’s Supper you are giving them a false hope of salvation and making them into a religious person who thinks everything is right between them and God when it is not. So be careful parents to only allow your children to partake of the Lord’s Supper if you are absolutely sure that they are born again believers. Better to say no to them for now than make a serious mistake that gives them a wrong understanding of their relationship with God.

We should only partake of the Lord’s Supper if we are born again and if we understand its purpose. It is important that we respect and honor our Lord Jesus Christ by coming to the Lord’s Table as believers who desire to be more like Christ and by instructing others not to partake if they are not believers and do not understand the meaning of the Lord’s Table.

As believers in an ungodly, unbelieving world, it is essential that we take hold of all the means of receiving the Grace of God that God has given us in Christ. Those means of Grace are Baptism, the Word of God, prayer, fellowship with believers, service, and the Lord’s Supper. Let us prepare ourselves over the next two weeks to meet together at the Lord’s Supper to remember Jesus, the proclaim his death until he returns, and to be spiritually renewed and refreshed by the Holy Spirit.