Sermon Tone Analysis

New Testament Worship – The Lord’s Supper

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*Text: *Matt.

26.26-29

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*Thesis: *To gain a better understanding of the why, how, and the attitude that the Lord desires

              from Christians when partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

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!

Introduction:

 

(1)    Is the Lord’s Supper the most important act of worship?

(a)    Some people would argue yes and some no, but I do not believe that one act is necessarily greater than any other act.

(b)    I do believe that every act of worship is because of the Lord’s death upon the cross; thus, that must be the central figure~/theme of every act!

(2)    The Lord’s Supper must also be observed according to the Divine Prescription: In Spirit and In Truth (John 4.24).

(3)    Let us ask 3 questions in order to help us gain a better understanding of the observance:

 

*Discussion:*

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I.                   Why are we to observe the Lord’s Supper?

A.

We are commanded to observe it.

1.

The apostles were told to eat of the bread and to drink of the fruit of the vine (Matt.

26.26-29; Luke 22:14-23).

2.      The 1st-century church continued to observe it in like manner (Acts 20.7).

3.      Paul put regulations on the misuse of it in the Corinthian congregation (1 Cor.

11.23ff.).

B.     It is a way that we can remember what the Lord did for us (Luke 22.19).

C.     It is a means of Christian fellowship (Acts 2.42, 46).

II.

When are we to observe the Lord’s Supper?

A.

We know that some believe that you are to do so only on Easter Sunday or once a month, etc. because, they argue, you have a deeper appreciation then.

1.

We do not worship God according to our terms, we do so according to His terms.

2.      If we cannot appreciate the death of Jesus more than just once in a while, then our Christianity needs to be examined.

B.     The fact of the matter is: “Upon every first day of the week”

1.

The underlining command to observe (Matt.

26) – The approved example is spelled out for us in Acts 20.7 – “And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.”

2.      The Greek literally renders this verse as “upon every first day.”

3.

This is probably the reason why Paul and his associated tarried in Troas (v.

6).

III.

How are we to observe the Lord’s Supper?

A.

We are to have the right authority.

1.

We have already pointed out that this is to be done upon the 1st day of the week.

2.      We must also note that we have only been authorized to use unleavened bread and fruit of the vine (Matt.

26.17ff.).

a.

To disregard scriptural authority is to place steak and potatoes or such on the Lord’s Supper.

b.

The Lord told us to have authority (Col.

3.17).

3.      What about those who claim that we are authorized only to have one cup?

a.

The God of cleanliness does not become the God of uncleanliness (Mal.

3.6).

b.

If the Lord were instituting the use of one cup, then that cup would have to be the very same one used by Him and all Christians would have to gather together in the same place at the same time to use that very cup.

c.

The truth of the matter is the Lord utilized a figure of speech known as metonymy of the subject in which the cup stood for the contents.

(1)    If not, then we are literally to be drinking the cup (1 Cor.

11.26).

(2)    There is a form of argumentation in logic where if you can take the implications of a teaching and so the absurdity of it, then that teaching must not be correct.

B.     We are to have the right attitude.

1.      “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly” (1 Cor.

11.27-29).

a.

We are to examine ourselves in order to eat in a worthy manner.

b.

This does not mean that we must be perfect.

(1)    Truth – All have sinned (Rom.

3.23)

(2)    Yet, with the blood of Jesus we are cleansed (1 John 1.7).

c.

It does mean that we do not partake of it as a hypocrite and that we carry out the observance correctly.

2.      Our minds are to be focused upon what we are doing: Do This In Remembrance of Me

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*Conclusion:*

 

(1)    The Lord’s Supper is a time when we observe the greatest event in the history of mankind.

(2)    Story about old man who sacrificed his boy for the people on the train.

(3)    Are you living a life so that you may partake of the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner?