Sermon Tone Analysis

Communion Message

Thank you for sharing with us this morning, Pete.

I am e

This morning is a special time as we come together to worship our God and to remember what Jesus has done for us by participating in Communion.

When we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we remember the sacrifice of Christ and proclaim his death.

One of the blessings of the church community is that we remind one another of what Christ has done for us and encourage one another to hold fast to the hope we have in him.

In Paul says this:

-19

We are surrounded by the things we can see, day in and day out.

We see the struggles at work, the challenges with our kids, the conflicts in our relationship.

We see the demands of the boss, the spouse, the kids; we see the dirty house, the dishes, and the bills.

We see the news, the needs of the world, and our inability to help.

We see the things that are visible in the world around us and we can feel pretty hopeless.

But Paul tells us to hope in the things that are unseen.

When we see the unseen we know that the hopelessness of this world is not the end.

When we see the unseen we know that we are not alone.

When we see the unseen we know that the sufferings we experience - what Paul calls our light momentary affliction - is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Seeing the unseen allows us to see hope.

Communion is a moment when we help each other to see the unseen.

We cannot see Jesus right now, but on the night Jesus was betrayed he gave us the Lord’s Supper to remind us of what he did.

He gave us bread to hold and cup to see to serve as tangible reminders of what Jesus has done for us.

Paul recounts what Christ said in .

1 Cor

We can see three tenses involved in the Lord’s Supper:

Past (“you proclaim the Lord’s death)

1 Cor 11.17-

Past (“you proclaim the Lord’s death)

Present (“for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup”)

Future (“until he comes again”)

Past

We look back on the death that Jesus died on our behalf.

I want to take a moment to remember why Jesus died.

Jesus died in our place, for our sins.

The Bible describes humanity in a number of ways apart from Christ.

Romans

and perhaps the most scathing review comes from which is Paul’s custom “mix-tape” of Old Testament songs about man’s sinfulness (he quotes from 6 Psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah)

Jesus came to die because sinful man needed a savior.

Though we were helpless and hopeless apart from him, He saved us, freed us from sin, adopted us as his children and gave us a future and a hope.

Eph 2.

The hope that we have in our salvation is because of what Jesus has done for us in the past.

Future

When we remember Christ, we do not just remember what he has done for us, but we also look forward to our ultimate hope and salvation that we will experience one day.

Our life is full of difficulties, hardships and trials, but we are not without hope.

As Christians, we know that our experience on this world right now is not all that we have to look forward to.

Peter writes the letter of first Peter to people who were presently suffering.

He begins his letter this way:

We have never seen anything permanent in our lives.

Everything breaks down, fades or tarnishes.

But the hope that we have is an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled and does not fade away.

This hope, this inheritance that awaits us in heaven is kept by the power of God for us.

It was bought for us with Christ’s death and we can have confidence because of his resurrection.

This inheritance will make all of the suffering that we experience in this life worth it.

Heaven will make every every sacrifice a gain.

And so, as we reflect this morning on what Christ did for us, we don’t just look back - we also look forward.

In the “Think Upon it” section in your worship guide, we have printed for you.

Verse 11 reads,

One day, we will be in God’s presence.

He will fill us with joy, and will satisfy us more than any pursuit we can run after on earth.

So, run after Jesus!

Present

As we remember what Christ did and we look forward to what he will do we are encouraged to face another week.

Our theology affects our lives.

It is not something we talk about on Sunday, it changes our Mondays!

Paul offers this encouragement in Romans 8.

Because of the love of God, we can leave with confidence as we go back to the world.

God’s love through Christ leads us to repent of our sin and to follow hard of him.

Because he is worth it!

Communion

When we remember Christ, we do not just remember what he has done for us and the implications for us now, but we also look forward to our ultimate hope and salvation that we will experience one day.

Our life is full of difficulties, hardships and trials, but we are not without hope.

As Christians, we know that our experience on this world right now is not all that we have to look forward to.

Peter writes the letter of first Peter to people who were presently suffering.

He begins his letter this way:

We have never seen anything permanent in our lives.

As we prepare for communion, Paul warns us to look at our lives and to repent of our sin.

He says this, again in :

1 Cor 11:23-32

We are called to evaluate our lives and repent of our sins everyday.

Communion is a special reminder to repent, though, so we do not partake in an unworthy manner.

Paul says that if we evaluate our lives by God’s Word and judge ourselves that God does not need to discipline us.

So I want to give you a few moments to do that right now. . .

At this time, would the officers come forward to prepare for communion.

2,000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross and was buried for our sins.

This sheet on the table represents the burial cloth Jesus was buried in.

Today, we do not just remember Jesus’ death, but also his resurrection signified by removing the sheet.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, as we now celebrate this meal that you have prepared for us, this bread and this cup are tangible and visible reminders of our sin and also of the supreme sacrifice of your Son (his body broken and his blood shed for us and for our salvation).

So, Lord.

as we meditate on the realities of our sin and your salvation, we ask for your help in fully confessing our sins and remembering the great salvation that we have in Christ.

Amen

We will be looking for three prompts from Kyle:

(1)  Call the officers forward

(2)  Remove the sheet

(3)  Completion of a prayer to signal to start serving`