Why Do We Do This?

Ben Trigsted

Easter 2023 • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Matthew 26:26–29

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Introduction

I took a lot of things for granted when I was a kid. Christmas Eve at grandpa Don & grandma Marie’s house is one such thing...

When I was young, I didn’t really understand the significance of coming together as a family and how someday we wouldn’t be able to do that.

Like all kids, I took it for granted.

In part, because children don’t often ask probing questions about the celebrations and ceremonies they experience. They might ask questions, but it is rare when they spend too much time reflecting on events themselves.

In short, they might ask why we are doing something, but they rarely spend much time really reflecting on why we do what we do.

This morning, we are going to spend some time reflecting on one of the two ordinances of the church: The Lord’s Supper.

The LS is something we do once a month, usually on the first Sunday. It’s a vital ordinance, but one that can lose it’s meaning if we don’t take time to reflect on what we are doing and why we are doing it.

So, that’s what we will do this morning. And, in doing so, we are going to answer the question: Why do we do this?

Body: Matthew 26:26-29

Context & Setting

Jesus is observing the Passover with His disciples; something these men have done their entire lives.

Passover is a time where the Jewish people remember that God rescued their forefathers from slavery in Egypt; specifically when the angel of death passed over the Jewish homes, sparing the firstborn, because of the blood they put on their doorframes.

Along with the Day of Atonement, it is the most important celebration on the Jewish calendar.

But, instead of a purely festive time of remembrance, there is an air of tension in the room. The disciples know that something big is about to happen, though they still don’t understand the significance of this night. Then, Jesus informs them that one of them will betray Him, something that even further impacts them.

Verse 26

Jesus serves the role of head of the household for the Passover. Thus, He would both bless the elements and explain the meaning of each of the elements.

But unlike every Passover these men had ever celebrated, Jesus here infuses an old tradition with new meaning.

While the Passover was always about deliverance, the new meaning would focus not on deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, but deliverance from the bondage of sin through Jesus broken body and shed blood.

In essence, “This bread represents my body.”

The meal itself is highly symbolic with a multitude of symbolic meanings throughout the meal:

Lamb = lamb whose blood protected the firstborn Israelites from the death plague;

Bitter herbs = reminder of their enslavement;

Unleavened bread = haste of their departure from Egypt;

Salt water = salt of their tears shed during the days of slavery & the salt of the Red Sea, which God parted;

Paste made of apples, dates, pomegranates and nuts = reminded them of the clay which was used to make bricks;

Sticks of cinnamon = the straw which helped to make the bricks

The head of the household would take the unleavened bread and say, “This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the wilderness...” showing that it represented the suffering their forefathers experienced.

Here, however, Jesus gives new meaning to the bread, as the bread would now represent His body.

Specifically, that His body was given as a sacrifice for all who believe and our union with Him by grace through faith.

Verses 27-28

There were four cups of wine that were passed during the Passover celebration recall the four promises of God from Exodus 6:6-7

I will bring you out...

I will free you...

I will redeem you...

I will take you for my own people, and I will be your God...

This likely took place between the third and forth cups.

Again, Jesus infuses this old tradition with new meaning.

In essence, “This wine now represents my blood which will inaugurate a new covenant.”

A covenant is a contractual agreement between two entities which require binding action from one or both parties.

In this case, the focus was on the Mosaic covenant, in which God’s people would obey His commands in the Book of the Law and that He would be their God was sealed by a sacrifice.

Exodus 24:8 ESV

And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Jesus death would establish a new covenant, spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The new, unconditional covenant of grace would be ratified by His precious blood shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Therefore, when we observe the Lord’s Supper we are remembering that our salvation cost the precious blood of Christ and, once again, our union with Him by grace through faith.

Verse 29

In His resurrection, Jesus ate, but it says nothing of Him drinking wine. That was reserved for another day in the future.

What Jesus says here is He will not drink the fruit of the vine again until we all drink it together in the kingdom of God.

This points our minds to the future, when Jesus makes all things new.

Beloved, this should be our anchor in troubling times. This too shall pass and a day is coming when we will all celebrate with Jesus in God’s kingdom.

Think about this week. A deeply disturbed, horribly damaged person walked into a Christian school and murdered six people, including three children. In doing so, she forced two police officers to shoot her, which they will live with for the rest of their lives. Yes, they did their duty, but no officer wants to kill someone, regardless of the circumstances.

If that wasn’t horrific enough, the entire week has been filled with various groups making excuses, justifying, blaming each other, and arguing for policies that they know full well won’t actually do anything to stop these horrible actions.

To add to that: our economy is going from bad to worse; we are apparently going to start indicting former presidents; the use of Artificial Intelligence is becoming more widespread; people are once again dying on the US-Mexico border; a tornado ripped through the South; and World War III might be starting in Eastern Europe.

Good times, huh?

And yet, this world is not where we find our hope!

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

We have this hope beloved! Even if the entire world around us is falling into the abyss, we know that one day very soon, we will celebrate with Jesus in God’s kingdom.

The Lord’s Supper should always draw our eyes back to that great promise!

Why Do We Do This?

Big Idea: The Lord’s Supper unites Christ’s people and draws our hearts and minds to the past, the present and the future of the Christian experience.

The Past: The Lord’s Supper is a time to remember what Jesus has done to forgive us of our sins.

When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together we should reflect on what Jesus has done to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

The Present: The Lord’s Supper is a time to draw nearer together in unity under the new covenant.

This new covenant draws God’s people together. Our differences become less important when we understand that the new covenant that Jesus inaugurated has created a new nation defined not by race, location, or background, but by our standing before God as forgiven by the atoning, finished work of Jesus on the cross.

That’s what draws God’s people together in unity.

The Future: The Lord’s Supper should cause us to look forward to a time when we all celebrate it with Jesus in the kingdom of God.

While we often are reminded to remember what Jesus has done while observing the Lord’s Supper and to draw closer together as the body of Christ, we are mistaken if we forget that this is just a foretaste of what is to come.

Each time we celebrate it we are one celebration closer to that glorious day when we celebrate it with Jesus in His kingdom. If that doesn’t excite you, then I don’t know what will!