2017-06-25 Luke 22:14-20 From Symbol to Substance (1): Mediated By Christ

FROM SYMBOL TO SUBSTANCE (1): MEDIATED BY CHRIST (Luke 22:14-20) June 25, 2017 Read Luke 22:14-20 – Here’s a paradox. Human history is divided by one life -- Jesus Christ, BC/AD. Amazing. Some are trying to change that. In museums and books you increasingly see BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era). But the division point is still Jesus. BCE = BC. CE=AD. Why Jesus, not someone else? All the other founders of major religions died old and successful. Buddha lived to 80 years and is credited with achieving ultimate enlightenment. Mohammad lived into his 60’s and united all of Arabia into one kingdom, under one faith. Confucius died at 72, revered by his contemporaries, having developed an ethical system that swept China. By contrast Jesus, at age 33, died a humiliating, criminal’s death, hanging naked on a Roman cross – rejected by His own people and abandoned by virtually everyone in his life. He left no written legacy, no organized religion and was unknown outside of Palestine, which is about the size of Rhode Island. When His few followers did regroup, they adopted as their symbol the cross. Lunacy, as shown by a 1st century cartoon found in the ruins of Rome. Written in stone, hidden behind bars so people can’t rub it away, it depicts a Roman cross. Hanging on the cross is the body of a man with the head of a donkey. A man bows before the cross. The inscription reads, “Eleximenus worships his God.” How foolish – to worship a crucified man. It’s a joke; it’s a cartoon! -It is the power of God that eventually overtook the Roman empire and divided human history into BC and AD. How could that possibly be?! Only one possible answer. His death had a purpose. It was not the tragic result of political forces too strong for Him. It was not a meaningless gesture urging us to try harder. Nor was it simply a lesson in loving one's enemies and the politics of non-violence. It had a far deeper meaning. The disciples will not get it now – but they will get it later. And after them thousands more, and then millions after that. His life, death and resurrection address mankind’s greatest enemies -- sin, guilt and death. Victory over those can be found nowhere – nowhere except in Him. That’s why He is rightfully the center point of history. That’s what this passages teaches as the symbolism of Passover is replaced by the substance of the Lord’s Supper. 1 At first glance this passage looks like Luke’s account of the initiation of the Lord’s Supper as found in Matt and Mark. But there is a profound difference here starting with the fact that Luke has Jesus taking the cup first. In fact, Luke has two cups. But that is the whole point. Luke is showing us this is not only the first Communion, it is also the last Passover – at least the very last legitimate Passover. That makes this the dividing point of biblical and theological history – which also means the dividing point of human history. Let me explain. The Egyptian captivity of Israel and its subsequent release is the major object lesson of the OT -- pointing us forward to the meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, God sent Moses to deliver Israel around 1425 BC. Thru a series of plagues, the last of which resulted in the death of every firstborn person and animal in Egypt who didn’t sacrifice a lamb and apply the blood to their doorpost, God moved Pharaoh to release the people. God then formed a nation around the Law He gave to Moses and eventually brought the people into the Promised Land. God had commanded an annual commemoration of this deliverance – the Passover Feast. The Passover typically consisted of a long meal with several stages of celebration and conversation. It opened with a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s blessings. Next came the first of 4 cups of diluted red wine – the cup of blessing. Then a ceremonial washing of hands to symbolize cleansing from sin. They then ate bread and bitter herbs, commemorating the bitterness of Israel’s slavery in Egypt. Then they sang Psa 113-114 – the first two of 6 Hallel (song of praise) Psalms followed by the 2nd cup of wine. The father, or head of the table, then explained the meaning of Passover using Deut 16 and 26 to explain how the bread symbolized affliction in Egypt. They ate the main meal, consisting of the lamb, unleavened bread (signifying to speed of their departure) and the 3rd cup of wine. The ceremony closed with the singing the Psalm 115-118 and drinking the 4th cup of wine. That’s the ceremony Israelites had enacted millions of time over the past 1400 years. And that’s how this Passover starts. They had the prayer of thanksgiving and then the first cup – probably the one mentioned in Lu 22:17. BUT -- then things take a shocking turn! When it comes time to explain the meal, Jesus takes bread as had been done for centuries, but when He opens His mouth He says astonishing things that have never been said at a Passover before. Instead of “this is the bread of their affliction, that our ancestors ate in the wilderness”, Jesus says, “This is my body – this is the bread of my affliction.” He changes the focus of the whole thing. Turns it on its ear. 2 Passover becomes the Lord’s supper. Promise is becoming reality! Symbols are about to be replaced by substance. What Passover anticipated is becoming actual. And at the center of it all is Jesus and the cross. The two are inseparable. At the cross, sacrificial lambs are replaced by The Lamb and deliverance promised becomes deliverance delivered! It’s a stunning moment. This passage shows 7 elements of deliverance. Each is symbolized in Passover and realized in Jesus. This will affirm our faith as believers; and I pray God will use it to stimulate faith in others. Seven elements of deliverance. I. The Need for Deliverance Israelites captive in Egypt knew they needed deliverance. Exod 1 tells us a Pharaoh arose who didn’t know Joseph. He feared the fast-multiplying Israelites. Exod 1:13: “So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.” The Israelites went from esteemed visitors to bitter slaves with no way out – no escape. Their situation was hopeless -- intended to symbolize the spiritual reality of the human condition. Just as every new Hebrew baby was born into slavery, so every new human life is born into slavery to sin. David said in Psa 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” The human condition! But while the Israelites knew their predicament, most of us do not. We don’t feel enslaved to sin. Sure we spin the truth now and then. We lose our temper occasionally, all in a good cause. Act a little selfishly sometimes – who else is going to look out for #1? But slaves to sin? No way. Most of our choices are commendable. When they’re not, it’s excusable. We’re like the smoker who says, “I could quit anytime I want. Why, I quit twice last month alone.” God begs to differ. Our self-deception runs deep. Jer 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?” Not us – that’s for sure. We are rationalization machines. Why? II Cor 4:4: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Unbelievers can’t see the gospel. And what is the first element of the gospel? “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). That’s why God calls us “lost”. Lu 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Who are the lost? All of us. If we’re not, the Lord has 3 wasted a lot of time and energy. Either He is deceived or we are deceived. Which side of that bet do you want? Long ago Jer 13:23, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” God says we’ll be able to do something truly good about the same time the leopard sheds his spots. Bottom line: we’re not capable of changing our basic nature. We are sinners by birth and by choice. Jn 8:34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Did you sin this morning? Then you are a slave to sin. Did you sin yesterday? Then you are a slave to sin. The thought that you can choose to sin or not sin is nullified by every resolution you’ve broken. We can’t resolve to do better at dawn and make it to nightfall. We’re as enslaved spiritually as the Israelites were physically. Psa 130:3 “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” The point is, He does, and no one can. When God looks at our hearts, we’re all in the same awful boat – hopelessly, helplessly lost. Some comic once said, “One very socially conscious jury brought in a verdict of ‘We’re all guilty.’” We laugh, but that’s the verdict of the only jury that counts – God – “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). Journalist Hunter Thompson, contributor to Rolling Stone mag took his own life at age 67. His first wife, Sandy Conklin-Thompson wrote: “He was, on the one hand, extremely loving and tender, brilliant and exciting, generous and kind. On the other end of the spectrum he was extremely cruel. In one of his tender moments, I asked him if he knew when he was about to become the Monster. He said, ‘Sandy, it’s like this. I sense it first, and before I have completely turned around he is there. He is me.” He is all of us, and the first step toward deliverance is to realize we’re in bondage. Albert Einstein, no believer, still realized this: “It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.” He was right. Israel’s physical bondage symbolizes the spiritual bondage that grips every man, woman, boy and girl. We’re enslaved, and without help, there is no hope. II. The Mediator of Deliverance That’s bad news. Captive – with no possibility of escape. But the good news for Israel is one day, out of the blue, someone came. Someone to stand between the people and Pharaoh. More importantly, someone to stand between the people and God. Someone to the rescue. Moses, a mediator! Exod 4:29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he 4 had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.” By faith they believed they’d be delivered thru Moses, their mediator. Moses delivered them from physical bondage. Then God gave the Law thru Moses. But even as Moses came from Mt. Sinai with the Law written in stone, he found the people in a drunken orgy of pagan worship of a golden calf. They had broken every commandment before Moses even got there. God expressed His fury in Exod 32:9b-10: “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” God would have destroyed them then and there except what? Moses, the mediator, interceded and God relented. He provided a sacrificial system by which law-breaking people could be saved by faith if they’d bring a sacrifice. But it was only a symbol. Salvation on credit. Heb 10:4, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Those millions of sacrificial lambs could only point to something greater. And now, Jesus is telling His disciples, that something greater has arrived. That something greater is Jesus Himself. “This is my body, which is given for you” (v. 19). “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (v. 20). He is, as John testified “the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). Reality is about to replace symbol. Heb 10:14: “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified [delivered].” The covenant given through Moses could not ultimately save. It could only point forward to something greater. That’s why both Ezekiel and Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant that would come. Jer 31:31: “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, 32 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. 33 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.” Ezek 36:25-27 tells us this covenant provides a heart of flesh in place of stone. And the forgiveness and cleansing that the old covenant could only symbolize, the new covenant will actualize! So when Jesus says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (v. 20), He means – “The time has come. The new covenant is here. Not salvation on credit; salvation for real!” And as Moses mediated the covenant of promise, Jesus mediated the greater covenant of fulfillment. 5 D. A. Carson is from Canada and while a student he brought a Muslim friend home for Christmas that Carson had reading John. Carson took him to visit Parliament in Ottawa, beautiful structures and with a lot of statues. In the final foyer, the guide pointed out a statue of Moses, representing law. Guyara immediately asked in a pleasant voice, “Where is Jesus Christ?” The guide said, “I don’t understand. Why should Jesus be here?” Guyara replied, “I read in your Holy Book that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ? Where is Jesus Christ?” That’s the ultimate question for all of us, isn’t it? Moses mediated a covenant of promise that symbolized deliverance, but only Jesus could deliver it. I Tim 2:5, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” One mediator! Just one. So where is Jesus Christ in your life? Conc – We took our kids to the fair one time and Tim (age 6) decided he wanted to ride the double Ferris wheel. I’d never been on one, but it looked tame enough. As a kid, I’ve never had any fear of heights. So on we got. The first round or two was fine, but then we hit just right and were clear at the top just as both wheels started down. Suddenly, I only wanted one thing – off. But around we went again and again – and it seemed like every time we hit the exact top point. I was trapped. I tried to signal the operator as we went around the bottom. He feigned like he didn’t see. I think he was a sadist. I was entirely at his mercy – and there was no mercy. But there is mercy in Jesus. You can get off the ride of guilt any time you choose. Just as Jesus is the center point of history, He must become the center point of your life. The ride is great for awhile. There is “pleasure in sin for a season” (Heb 11:25). But soon the price must be paid – “the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). That’s where it ends – unless you ask off. He will gladly stop the merry-go-round if you’ll plead for mercy. Let’s pray. 6