What is Communion? New Covenant, New Meal, for New People - Pastor Tom Loghry
Pastor Tom digs in to the meaning behind the practice of communion, digging deeper into the new covenant we are promised through Christ.
Transcript:
1st Corinthians 11:23-29. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread. And 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, after the supper, he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
I don't enjoy folding laundry very much. Amen, yeah. But it is something I do, as I'm sure is true of most of you. I do try to add some enjoyment by watching a show while I fold. Usually it's the Alone series from the History Channel. The basic premise is a group of contestants are scattered throughout the wilderness, each alone, and that whoever survives the longest without tapping out wins. Now, when I first started watching this show, I assumed, as probably you would, that it glorifies individualism, being able to stick it out on your own. But if you really watch the show, you know that's not the case. By the end, even the winners look like sad scarecrows, desperate for some humanity and a good meal. The series actually showcases our need for others to truly flourish. Just as God says in Genesis 2, it is not good for us to be alone. As Christians, I think we can sometimes forget this. I remember when I was seventeen, often longing to run out of a church service just to be alone with God in the woods. Now, to be fair to myself and others who might feel similarly, solitude with God has its place. We see Jesus take time away from his disciples to pray, to just be one on one with the Father. On the other hand though, I had all kinds of time outside of a Sunday morning to get out to the woods to be alone with God. Solitude and community are both necessary, but we tend towards extremes. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, Life Together, tells us this, whoever cannot stand being in community should beware of being alone. You are called into the community of faith. The call was not meant for you alone. If you neglect the community of other Christians, you reject the call of Jesus Christ. And thus, your being alone can only become harmful for you. Those who seek solitude without community perish in the bottomless pit of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair. Sobering words from Bonhoeffer. When we began our examination of communion last week, we mostly focused on aspects that you might consider individually. Communion represents the Christian Passover, and you are reminded that Christ covered your sins and redeemed you. The meal is an invitation for you to commune with God through Jesus, to enjoy fellowship with Him in the pattern of Israel's fellowship offerings. But what we'll see today is that communion is not a meal taken alone. It is not eaten alone because you are not saved alone. Others are included. And so our central text today is going to be 1 Corinthians 11 and Marilyn's read a good portion of it. But our examination today begins in verse 17.
Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth. He says, in the following directives, I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent, I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat. For when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this manner. So once again, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. You can see there on the map where Corinth is basically located. And you can imagine that at this time, the church was not meeting in structures like the one we're in today. They were meeting in homes, perhaps a very rather large home that could have hosted, I don't know, let's guess, maybe between 20 to 30 people. They were home churches at that time. And usually the gatherings were centered around a feast, a meal, they would call it a love feast. And it incorporated the Lord's Supper. Commentators suggest that perhaps it was opened with sharing in the bread, with the breaking of bread, and the meal was closed by sharing in the wine. So even the way that they partook in the Lord's Supper was a little bit different than we do today. It was just built in right into their regular meal. It's important for you to understand that, to understand what Paul's critique is here. Because you might imagine based on what he's saying about them eating too much or going ahead of people that all they have is bread and wine. There's more food involved here. It's a regular meal that just incorporates the bread and the cup, the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Now, what Paul is specifically getting after the Corinthians for is for the way in which they're conducting these feasts because during that time it was very common for people to be invited to a feast but you would bring your own food, but not necessarily to be shared with other people so it wasn't quite like the potlucks that we have today. It's like everyone would bring their own meal kind of like bring your own beer, B-Y-O-B, you know, everyone's bringing their own food to the table. But some people were, particularly those who were affluent, were going ahead and starting the meal early. Perhaps they didn't have to work as long in the day as those who were perhaps day laborers or maybe slaves. So they started their meals earlier. And what's more, they were eating up so much food that if they were to share things with other people, there was nothing to be shared. And the people that basically came along later were getting the crumbs. And this disposition on the part of the Corinthian Christians was reflective of a general tendency of the culture to respect a person's status and class and society.
And this is what Paul picks on in verse 19, he says this with sarcasm, if you don't understand him saying this sarcastically it's going to be confusing for you. He says this sarcastically, no doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. So it's like some of them are like, oh yeah, like we're going to eat the meal and we get the best cuts and stuff like that, as though to kind of demonstrate like we're really important and approved by God. Paul feels so strongly about this that this is just entirely wrong that he says in verse 20 that, So then when you come together is not the Lord's supper you eat. What they are doing is completely contrary to the spirit of the Lord's Supper. And so he gives them no commendation for their conduct. Now apart from the fact that this is the Lord's Supper, we might say that this is simply not nice. And even other pagan thinkers of that time would have agreed with that analysis. It's interesting, you can find some commentary of other people from that time saying that the way that the rich often conducted themselves in these meals was not right. But that's not the real point here. The problem isn't just that the Corinthians aren't being nice, it's that they are abusing the Lord's Supper itself. There's something about the Lord's Supper, a deeper reality that makes their actions so horrendous. Paul turns his attention to this in verses 23 through 26. I will read these again. He says, for I received from the Lord, while I also passed on to you, the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took bread. And 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, after the supper, he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So the first thing that Paul tells them is that what Paul understands about the Lord's Supper has come from Jesus himself. And from the testimony of the apostles through the gospels we have a record of what transpired at the Lord's Supper. So this is an order that has been handed down by Christ himself. And it's a meal that's established by Jesus himself by the sacrifice of his body, by the shedding of his blood. And Paul says in particular here that this blood, this cup, is representative of this new covenant established by the shedding of Christ's blood. Matthew and Mark, they just simply say the word covenant, they don't say new covenant, but it's being implied that Jesus is establishing a new covenant. What is a new covenant? What is this new covenant?
To even understand what the new covenant is, you need to understand first what the old covenant is. What was the original covenant? Well, we find that original covenant in Exodus 24:6-8. It says there, Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people. They responded, we will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey. Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. So the covenant, this original first old covenant was established between God and the people of Israel. And it was a covenant based upon human obedience. If people say, we will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey. Now did they keep their word? No, they did not keep their word. They were not obedient. They failed to uphold it. And failing to uphold God's commandments under this covenant, brings with it a curse from Deuteronomy 27:26. It says, cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out. And we clearly understand that no one has in fact succeeded in upholding God's law. Because if that were the case, there'd be no reason for Christ coming and dying. Paul observes this in Galatians 2:21. He says, if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. As it is, no one is righteous by the law. No one is obedient to God's commands. And God knew this. God was anticipating this. It was part of his revelation. Not only did we have to understand how holy and righteous God is, we also had to understand how sinful and messed up we are, that even though God tells us, because it's actually what we need to do, we still fail to do it. And so, God sets forth the promise of a new covenant which would come.
He gives this word of revelation through the prophet Jeremiah. in Jeremiah 31:31-34 He says, the days are coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another, know the Lord, because they all will know me. From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Now isn't that just such a profound prophecy? It sounds like something that could have just been taken straight out of the pages of the New Testament. That God makes this promise to his people that He would bring them the forgiveness of their sins and that would be God's doing, not our own doing. And this is the covenant, this new covenant that Jesus establishes by the sacrifice of himself. We hear the testimony of this in Hebrews 9:15, 27-28. It says there, for this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised internal inheritance, now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant, just as God promised in Jeremiah. Just as people are destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. So Christ by the sacrifice of himself establishes this new covenant in which we can be forgiven. Because he is righteous. He is perfect in ways that we are not. And so by his perfect obedience he's able to ransom us in order that we might be forgiven by God. But there's more than this as well, and Jeremiah foretold this. Not only that we would be forgiven in Christ, but that in Christ, God would actually make us into a new people, whereas law would be written upon our hearts. Now as Paul is going about his ministry, he actually testifies to this reality transpiring. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he says this, 2 Corinthians 3:3-6, You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives light.
What Paul's talking about there is the fact that God is at work through the person of the Holy Spirit writing his law upon our hearts. And Paul, as far as his ministry goes and the competency to do that ministry, he himself testifies that this isn't even something from himself but which comes from God. And so when we think about salvation, how we put our faith in God, We understand that it's not our work, but it's the work of God in Jesus Christ for our salvation. But, that results in a transformation of our lives. So that each one of us becomes as a letter from Christ, because we've been so transformed in our being. Now this raises the next question. So there's this new covenant. In the old covenant, that was not an individual arrangement between God and just single individuals. It was between God and the people of Israel. Under the new covenant, God is also collecting to himself the people of God. And so we must ask this question, well how would one become a member of this covenant community? Paul tells us in Colossians 2:11-12, He says, in him you were also circumcised, and he's talking about Jesus, in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. So in order to become a member of the old covenant community is necessary for every male to be circumcised. This now passes away in Christ. The true circumcision which God desires cuts to the heart and is performed by Christ's sacrifice on the cross, His death. And we can be joined to His death through baptism. That's what Paul is testifying to here. That we are circumcised by Christ as we have been buried with him in baptism. And so what Paul is telling us here is that genuine faith ultimately leads us to baptism and this new transformation that God is seeking to bring about in Christ. We're made members of this new covenant community. And so as it relates to this, we should all realize that if you have faith enough to partake in the bread and the cup then certainly you have faith enough to be baptized. And so if you haven't been baptized yet, we're doing baptisms in May. I encourage you to be baptized because that is the entrance into this new covenant community, is the fulfillment of this confession of faith that we make. The Lord's Supper is a meal for the covenant people of God. Now, as members of this covenant community, we are again realizing that we're not alone in this covenant, but that we are baptized together with others.
So, in 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Paul tells us this. Just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit, so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink, even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many. And this, I mean, realize that this passage is directly following what we're reading here in 1 Corinthians 11. So Paul is saying that, yes, while we are individuals, and while each of us have a certain gift in calling within the body of Christ so that we form many parts, nonetheless, we are one body. We all hold together. And so there should be no setup of walls. There should be no divisive distinctions among us, whether it be on the basis of race, Jews or Gentiles, or status, slave or free. And that's particularly what he's getting at here in 1 Corinthians 11, because we are all one in Christ. In the chapter before 1 Corinthians 11, in 1 Corinthians 10, he also speaks about this. And we actually read this passage last week, but I read it again. He says, therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf. We who are many are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Now we can imagine at that time that they probably very likely had one loaf and they broke it apart and gave it to the people in real time. We don't do that here, but you can understand that the bread is actually coming from one bread or a few loaves since we're a pretty good size amount of people here. Corinna doesn't bake the bread in their little individual pieces, they’re coming from one loaf. And there's symbolism there. To remind us that we are one in Jesus Christ. The Corinthian error is so pernicious because it cuts to the heart of the gospel. All are accepted and equal in Christ. All have the same standing in Christ. There's no differentiation in status. By making these distinctions among themselves, they're denying genuine fellowship with others. And so they're denying the reality of the gospel that we have all in fact become one in Jesus Christ and made this covenant people. The gospel requires us to get the camera off ourselves. It requires us to stop being so focused on me, me. The gospel is anti-narcissist.
When we become members of this body, we are certainly cared for, but we are also drawn to care for the needs of others who make up this body of believers. So yeah, we are concerned about our neighbors in the community and trying to meet their needs and help them. But above all things, we have a first duty to make sure we're caring for one another right here in this congregation. We must approach the Lord's Supper with this reality in mind. In the Supper, as Paul has said, we are participating in Christ. We cannot exclude anyone that Christ would include. But even as we tear down false walls of division, like the Corinthians are setting up, we do need to examine ourselves before this meal if we are taking its reality seriously. Paul continues in verse 27. So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. So Paul is warning the Corinthians about the manner in which they eat this supper, because if they continue eating in it in the manner that they're doing or in any other unworthy manner, what they're doing is actually sinning against the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Now as we talked about last week, we're not suggesting that the bread and the cup and their substance actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is a spiritual reality, it's a spiritual encounter that we have when we partake in this meal together in faith. And so as we are invited into this meal, if we do it in a careless sort of way, we are truly sinning against Christ. We can understand that part of the unworthy manner would be what Paul is talking to specifically here with the Corinthians going ahead of each other and not being concerned about people having enough food in their midst. But we can also understand that an unworthy manner would also include ways in which we are being unrepentant in our sinfulness.
So we recognize that all of us are messed up all of us are sinners. All of us stumble. It's one thing to confess that and recognize that and repent and turn from that. It's another to understand that I'm a sinner, I know that I'm sinning and I'm not going to change because I just want to keep doing that. And to then go and partake in the Lord's Supper is basically spitting on Christ's sacrifice because He came not only that you would be forgiven of your sin, and it's making light of the seriousness of your sin that you're just like, whatever, I don't care that I'm sinning. We also recognize that He came so that we might be made into this new people that God desires. The writer of Hebrews speaks to the seriousness of this in Hebrews 10:26-31, not just as it relates to this meal but just in general persisting in sin. He says, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we've received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left. but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that has sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It's a very sobering passage and it should be sobering to anyone who's caught up in sin and is like, yeah, I'm just going to keep doing this. Now I do want to offer a word of consolation to you because I know there's some among us here who have very sensitive consciences and you recognize like, I am a sinner. In fact, as you continue more and more in the faith, you realize just how much of a sinner you are. It's good that you recognize that. And so far as you recognize that sin and confess it, you have the assurance of the grace offered in Jesus Christ that you have right standing before God. The Apostle John gives both this warning and assurance in 1 John 1:6-10. He says, if we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and purifies from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us. So you should just own up. This is what the apostle John is saying here. You should just own up. You're a sinner. Don't try to make it out like you're alright. You're not alright. Confess your sin, and you will be forgiven. You'll be purified from all unrighteousness. And again, I want to emphasize not only just the guilt of that unrighteousness, but as you confess your sin, and you put your faith in Jesus Christ, God's actually going to be making you into the better person that you're supposed to be. Doesn't mean that you're perfect, but this is all God's work through Christ, cleansing you of your guilt, delivering you from unrighteousness.
We also have this word of assurance from the Protestant reformer John Calvin. I was reading in his commentary on this passage in 1 Corinthians 11, and I was just really struck by kind of the pastoral tone that he offers here of care for those that are concerned about this. He says, If, however, you aspire after the righteousness of God, with the earnest desire of your mind, and humbled under a view of your misery, do wholly lean upon Christ's grace and rest upon it to approach that table. Worthy, I mean in this respect, that the Lord does not exclude you. Though in another point of view, there is something in you that is not as it ought to be. For faith, when it is but begun, makes those worthy who are unworthy. Faith makes those worthy who are unworthy. That's the truth of the gospel right there. None of us are worthy to come to this table, but by putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we are made worthy. Now, Paul likewise calls for us to discern the body. And this gets back to his original concern. about the fellowship that was being shared amongst the Corinthians. And when we think about our fellowship together, we shouldn't just think about the specifics of this situation of people eating ahead of each other, because that's very specific to their situation. And that's not quite how things are played out here. But it's a lesson for us that we should avoid any point of division within this congregation, that we should be devoted to maintain the unity of this body. And so that if there is any divisions in our midst, whether it be large sorts of divisions or just an interpersonal division that you have, that's something that needs to be repented of, healed and reconciled. And Jesus speaks to this. He talks about in Matthew 5, how if someone's at the, has a gift, they're bringing a gift to the altar and they remember that their brother has something against you, that you should drop your gift there and go and be reconciled to your brother or sister. And Matthew 18 talks about how if someone sinned against you, you should go to them one on one and address the sin. And hopefully just through that one on one council things are made right. But then he outlines the whole process of making sure that sin is addressed and reconciliation can happen. It's essential, it's important that we maintain the unity of the body because it testifies to the reality of Jesus Christ. Of that love that we're to share with one another, that Jesus talks about in John 17, in which he says, we'll show the world that he was truly sent by the Father. Now failure to do this, failure to address these sorts of divisions, risks judgment from God. And Paul says that some of the Corinthians had been falling sick. Some of them had even died. That's what he means by falling asleep, that they had, some of them actually had died because of their sinful ways.
Now it's difficult to know exactly how these things came about. Was it that he was talking about naturally, how some of them, because they weren't getting enough food, died? Or was he talking about supernaturally, that they were inflicted with disease? I think the latter is entirely possible, that they were brought under God's judgment for that in a supernatural sort of way. But I don't think it's necessary that we would maintain that God would bring the same sorts of judgment upon all people in all places at all time as he did here with the Corinthians. But the fact is that God brought judgment upon them. And that should get our attention. Now, we want to avoid judgment, of course, but if we are in fact caught up in sinful patterns of behavior, we should hope that God would not let those patterns continue without his intervention. We should hope that God would intervene even with painful judgment. Paul tells us why in verse 32. He says, nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world. So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give further directions. So the purpose of God's judgment isn't punitive. God's not desiring that they would just be destroyed. The point of the judgment is that it would bring restoration to the community. So that they would not be finally condemned with the world. What Paul is calling them to is to actually cultivate a desire and live it out among themselves that when they eat that they would all eat together. And in saying this he's pointing to the complete gospel reality which is this that in Jesus Christ we are vertically reconciled between ourselves and God. But Christ also came to bring horizontal reconciliation as well between us and our fellow man. And that should especially be the case, that should especially be the case amongst Christians. Now he gives some recommendation for practical restraint. He says, if you're so hungry, just eat a bit before in your own homes or something. It's kind of funny to think about him saying, just eat a Snickers bar or something. Cut your appetite a little bit. But the point there really is that he wants them to have a certain mindset of proactive mindfulness of doing whatever is necessary to maintain the unity of the body. That they wouldn't take up any practices that would bring division.
This is the kind of behavior, it's the culture that the Lord's Supper promotes. This Supper, this communion presents to us the very substance of the Church. We are the people of the new covenant, baptized in Jesus Christ, members of his body. We are forged together to one another in Christ. His blood is our shared blood. We become kin to one another in him. We are true brothers and sisters. And so we must conduct ourselves as people of this covenant. We are people saved by God's grace. There is no individual merit or standing above or below. Our standing is equal in Christ alone. We call this congregation Rockland Community Church. If we have any real community, it can only be found in this communion. Communion is the heart of the church community. Bound together in Christ, leaving none behind. This is the salvation Jesus Christ offers. The salvation that he invites us to partake through this bread and cup signifying himself is this, nothing less, and nothing else. We must take it or leave it. We must be one in Christ, or have none of Him. Let us pray.
Dear Father, we do thank you that in Jesus Christ. our sins are covered, that we are redeemed and reconciled unto you. We thank you likewise, Father, that in Jesus Christ we were made members of a covenant community so that none of us go through the trials of this world alone. Because it's not good for us to be alone, Father. Father, we thank you that we have been given the body of Christ, so that together, forged together in Christ, you may work upon us and help carry us along until the day of Christ's return, when everything will be made as it ought to be, Father. Father, help us to be a congregation. that is emphatic about upholding the unity of the body, that stamps out any sparks of division, Father, and that all this would stem from a true heart of love for one another, the same love that we've received from Jesus Christ. We ask this in His name. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)