1 Corinthians 11: 23-30
Aim: to deepen our appreciation of the significance of the Lord’s Supper.
Thesis: there are 5 dimensions to the Lord’s Supper.
Introduction:
When I became a Christian, I was taught that we should observe the Lord’s Supper on the first day of every week. It was impressed upon me that my presence was required at this celebration. I understood that Communion is a sacred appointment, one not to be forsaken lightly. As a result, I can count the number of Sundays that I have had to miss this observance, since my baptism 36 years ago, on one hand and still have fingers left over.
I say that not in a boastful way, but rather out of gratitude that I have been able to make those appointments, for two reasons. FIRST, I am aware that a time may well come when I may not be able to gather with my brothers and sisters. There are those in our church family who would dearly love to be able to be present in this assembly, but their physical health will not allow it. Not only that, there are multitudes around the world that crave the freedom to assemble as we do here today, but cannot because of oppression and persecution. My God has blessed me with the strength and the opportunity to be here, and for that I am profoundly grateful.
And SECOND, I am convinced that the discipline and devotion and weekly communion with my Lord have been major factors in my spiritual health, in keeping me strong and secure in the Lord. Over those 36 years I have observed individuals, both in this church family and in other congregations, who became lax and indifferent to their communion with Jesus. As a result I observed many of them become morally weak or spiritually defeated, their relationships with fellow Christians growing more distant and their faith growing colder.
Those are my personal motivations for observing the Lord’s Supper each Sunday. There are two scriptural reasons as well. FIRST, because it is a personal request of Jesus. On the night before he died for us, he said, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). If my presence at the table of the Lord is a demonstration of my love for Him (and it is) then my observance should be “often”, not infrequent or sporadic.
SECOND, because in the New Testament we see the early Christians observing the celebration of Communion on a weekly basis. Acts 20:7 tells us that Paul arrived in Troas, and visited with the church there, and that on the first day of the week the disciples “gathered together to break bread.” That was the PURPOSE of their worship, why they came.
The Bible also tells us the members of that first church of Christ in Jerusalem “devoted themselves to the apostle’s doctrine/fellowship/BREAKING OF BREAD/prayer” (Acts 2:42) teaching us the PROMINENCE of communion. Paul commands us in 1 Corinthians 16:2 to offer our gift to God “on the first day of EVERY WEEK”, which requires a PATTERN of consistent, weekly worship. And if it is the “Lord’s Day,” then I should claim my privilege of participating in the Lord’s Supper.
Communion is the “crown jewel” of Christian worship. Sermons tell us about Jesus, but in the breaking of bread and the taking of the wine we are communing with Him! But what does that mean? What should I be focused on when I take this memorial feast? In our text today we can identify five dimensions of the Lord’s Supper:
Body:
- WE LOOK UPWARD TO God in gratitude
verse 24 “when he had given thanks”
Jesus prayed to the Father before the Lord’s Supper, and so should we. In the Lord’s Supper we recognize the role of both God and Jesus in our salvation.
It is impossible to ultimately separate them; but in our prayers at the Communion table, there is a distinction to be made. We pray TO God THROUGH Jesus. We thank God for the gift of his Son. John 3:16 “For God so loved that He sent….”. Jesus died on the Cross, but the Father’s love sent him there. So, just as we will give thanks to God for the food set before us at the dinner table today, we should give thanks to the Father for the rich spiritual feast he has provided for us through His Son.
Our first dimension is UPWARD: in the Lord’s Supper we glorify God for his grace. In the Didache, a manual of Christian behavior written in the early second century, there are three examples of prayers that were used at the communion table: each begins with the phrase “We thank you, our Father” and ends with the phrase “Glory to you forever”!
When we pray to God the Father before celebrating the Lord’s Supper there are many things we could say-but there is one thing we should always say: “Thanks”!
- WE LOOK BACKWARD in memory of the Cross.
verse 24 “Do this in remembrance of me”
The Lord’s Supper is, above all, a memorial. I suspect one reason Jesus instituted it is because of our human frailty: no one is more aware of our weaknesses than the one who made us, and the Creator knows we are a forgetful people. It is a perpetual memorial – every Lord’s Day we add a link in a bright chain of loving devotion stretching back some 2000 years. For the past 20 centuries Christians have kept this flame alive!
Does your mind sometimes wander in the silence of communion? Do you occasionally have difficulty disciplining your thoughts? You might consider reading a portion of scripture- perhaps one of the accounts of the crucifixion- during your communion with the Lord. Or meditate on the words of the hymn we sing before communion. Or spend some time in prayer, and remember to thank God for his goodness to us.
III. WE LOOK OUTWARD to others.
verse 26 “you proclaim the Lord’s death”
Our presence at the Lord’s table is a public affirmation of where we stand! It is a visible witness, a public pledge of our allegiance. That’s why communion is always congregational – a fellowship – a part of an assembly! Paul emphasizes in verse 18 that it is “when you come together as a church” that you partake of the Lord’s Supper, and in dealing with the confusion in the Corinthian church he makes it clear that it can never be an individual celebration.
If I were to become disgruntled with my fellow-Christians, “pack up my bags” and march home, and observe my own little communion service with just “me, myself, and I” – it would be a mockery! Paul says “is not the bread that we break a participation/communion (koinonia) in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).
I am privileged to stand in the pulpit each week to proclaim God’s Word, but do you realize that you likewise are preaching a sermon all your own each time the bread and the cup are passed? By your participation you are proclaiming your own faith in the Lord who died for you!
- WE LOOK FORWARD to His coming again.
verse 26 “until He comes”
We celebrate not with grief, but with hope – we look forward! Communion marks the interval, “in the meantime.” It is a marker that stays in place until the day when we experience the reality of our fellowship with the Lord, and sit around the table in heaven. It is thus a weekly reminder of the final appointment. I have always had a private theory that Jesus will return ton a Sunday – I can’t prove it, of course, but if He did, would He find us at His table?
As long as the earth stands, there will never be a Sunday without faithful disciples in some corner of the globe gathered around the table to remember and to anticipate.
- WE LOOK INWARD to self.
Verse 28 “A man ought to examine himself…”
A time of reflection, of spiritual inventory – of renewal and repentance. We search our hearts for evidences of:
- thoughtlessness
- worldliness
- unbrotherly feeling
- immorality
In Communion we are ushered into the presence of the Master, there to reflect on the events of the previous week. These, then are the Dimensions of the Lord’s Supper:
- WE LOOK UPWARD in gratitude
- WE LOOK BACKWARD in memory of the Cross
- WE LOOK OUTWARD in testimony of our allegiance to the Lord
- WE LOOK FORWARD to that grand day when “Faith shall be made sight”
- AND WE LOOK INWARD to our own heart
READ #366 “By Christ Redeemed.” I invite you now to the Lord’s Table.
INVITATION:
I need to commune with the Lord on a regular basis- and so do you.
I need to spend this time weekly in fellowship with him- and so do you.
One of the most pernicious temptations of Christians is to think that since we are “nice people” with “good intentions”, since we really don’t plan to do anything wrong- that we can just coast along on our own power and goodness and strength.
And Paul would tell us we are wrong- dead wrong. He told the Corinthians that because of their abuse of the Lord’s Supper, their neglect of this fellowship with the Lord, “many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 11:31).
And if we continue to take this weekly communion for granted, if we are “hit or miss” in our worship and “take it or leave it” in our attendance at the Lord’s table, thinking that it doesn’t really matter because we are such “good folks”, Jesus would tell us that we are wrong- dead wrong.
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” – John 15:4-5.
Dan Williams