Sermon Tone Analysis

Sharing the Lord’s Supper

Matthew 26:14-30

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - January 29, 2012

BACKGROUND:

*This morning we will worship the Lord by sharing the Lord’s Supper.

Think back to the scene on the night before the cross.

Jesus was gathered with His disciples to eat the last Passover of His earthly life.

*That night the Lord gave the Passover much greater meaning than it ever had before.

Now it would become the Lord’s Supper symbolizing the new covenant and the sacrifice Jesus was about to make.

Let’s read about it this morning in Matthew 26:14-30.

INTRODUCTION:

*So much has changed since that darkest of nights.

But the Light that shined in that darkness shines just as bright today.

And as we look at the Lord’s first followers, we will see that we have much in common with them.

In fact, as believers, we are like them in the most important ways.

1. First: We share the same Friend.

[1] I am talking about our best friend, Jesus Christ.

And one of the things our Friend gives us is His Leadership.

*That’s what the disciples needed here in Matthew 26.

They had known for months that terrible things were going to happen when they went back to Jerusalem.

Jesus had told them many times.

*About 9 months before this night, Matthew 16:21 says, "From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."

*Now so close to the cross, the disciples were troubled to the max, even wondering in these verses if they would be the one to betray Jesus.

On top of all of this, it was time for the Passover, the most important Feast on the Jewish calendar.

What were they supposed to do?

*This was the question on the disciples’ minds in vs. 17, so they asked for the Lord’s leadership: "Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, 'Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?'"

*They wanted some guidance, and in vs. 18, the Lord told them just the right thing to do: "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."'"

*Mark 14:12-16 gives us more detail:

12. Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?''

13.

So He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.

14.

And wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, `The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?'''

15.

Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.''

16.

And His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.

*Those two disciples took off to find this man carrying a picture of water.

That was a very unusual thing to see in that day.

But I like what Mark’s Gospel says at this point.

They "came into the city, and found it just as He (i.e.

Jesus) had said to them."

*Church: You will always find it just as Jesus says.

He always tells the truth, because He is the Truth, and He cannot lie.

And the Lord’s truth is timeless.

It is just as good today as it was 2,000 years ago, and it always will be.

As Jesus said in Luke 21:33, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."

*Jesus told His friends exactly what to do.

And we can always depend on the Lord to tell us the right things to do.

Our Best Friend gives leadership.

[2] But much more important, He gave His life.

*This is the life-changing, soul-saving message of the Lord’s Supper in vs. 26-28:

26.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body.''

27.

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.

28.

For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

*On this same night, in John 15:13, Jesus said: "Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends."

There is no greater love, no greater Friend than Jesus!

-Christians: We share the same Friend.

2. And we share the same fellowship.

*There they were, gathered together with Jesus.

And so are we.

By His Holy Spirit, the Lord is here just as surely as He was there with the first disciples.

Except for Judas the betrayer, this Passover meal was a time of close fellowship.

*Most of us know that the Passover was instituted by the Lord in remembrance of the night that the Jews were delivered from bondage in Egypt.

They took the blood of a spotless lamb and spread it on the door posts, so that the Lord would pass over their homes when He delivered the judgment of death on all of the first-born of Egypt.

*This meal was a time of great worship, and they had the great privilege of spending it in fellowship together with Jesus.

And though it was a night of great trouble for them, in their darkest hour they had the fellowship of the Lord.

They were sharing their troubles together.

So can we.

There is a special bond between us, because we belong to Jesus.

*One of the most high and holy times I ever had in Ukraine was the Lord’s Supper service we had at the children’s camp in Kaniv.

They have these camps all over the country.

They were built by the Communists when they were in brutal control of that country for 70 years.

The children were hustled off to camp every summer, where their minds could be poisoned by daily doses of atheistic, Communist propaganda.

*The wonderful thing is that now many of these camps are used to share the gospel with Ukrainian children.

We were upstairs from the craft room that afternoon.

Junk and dirty clothes we scattered everywhere around the room.

Some people sat on rough benches, some sat on the floor, and many stood around the edge of the room.

I gave my testimony that day, and Pastor Sergei preached.

Then we took the Lord’s Supper.

*I had almost nothing in common with those people.

We spoke a different language.

We lived on opposite sides of the world.

Most of them had grown up in poverty under the heavy hand of Communist oppression.

I grew up with almost everything I ever wanted, in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

*We had nothing in common.

But we had everything in common, because of Jesus.

Christians: We share the same fellowship.

3.

And we share the same forgiveness.

*We all need forgiveness.

Three key verses from the Book of Romans make this clear:

-Romans 3:10: "As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one.'"

-Romans 3:23: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

-And Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

*We all need forgiveness.

But not everyone at the table that night was forgiven.

Think about Judas.

We see him first here in vs. 14-16:

14.

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

15. and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?''

And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.

16.

So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

*Verses 20-25 tell us more about the man who betrayed Jesus: