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*The Pillars of Community XIX: Celebrating Communion*
*1 Corinthians 11:20-34*
*/May 17, 2009/*
*Prep: *
· All passages
· Notes, esp bread and wine, “Hard Sayings,” “Why use wine...”
· Haggadah
Scripture reading: Luke 22:7-20 (Slide up)
Intro
· Almost done with series – next week Cecil, then wrap-up sermon, then Micah.
Have you noticed how easy it is for something to become routine?
Even something that was a really big deal at first, such as saying “I love you” or a kiss can be part of a ritual.
· With attention, they can regain their meaning and more.
If you have been in the church for any time, communion is at risk for routine.
This morning will give it the attention it deserves to become meaningful again.
Q Why is this part of the Community series, because they rhyme?
They are deeply related and interdependent: It is only through the work that communion represents can there be true community, united by Christ.
And the church community is where communion is to be shared; in fact we have no evidence of it be taken alone.
I am excited to give this sermon – I really enjoyed preparing for the sermon, gaining an understanding of it OT background, the symbolism of the bread and wine, and the role of community.
· I found out that I have misinterpreted a passage for years.
· Biggest thing: The joyfulness of communion.
Prayer
The entire scope of history is humans being slaves to sin and you delivering us.
Passover
The backdrop of the first communion (also called Lord’s Supper or Eucharist (Gk: “Give thanks”)) is the Passover:
NIV *Luke 22:7* ¶ Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
To understand the meaning of communion, we are to start at Passover.
As a quick recap: Passover celebrates the deliverance of Israel from being slaves in Egypt.
NIV *Exodus 12:14* ¶ “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD – a lasting ordinance.
To this day, Passover is a very important festival to Jews, and there are long standing traditions that dictate how it is celebrated, many of them from before the time of Christ.
These are laid out in the Haggadah, which was written down about 100 years after Jesus, but preserves traditions from before him:
\\ · Begin and end with wine
· Dip greens into salt water
· Breaking bread
· Passover story (kids’ Qs)
· Eating bitter herbs
· Eating the meal
· Welcome Elijah
· Sing hymn
\\
Passover and Communion
Passover and communion are not the same – Jesus was intentionally redefining the Passover feast around himself.
· That’s like turning the 4th into “Josh Day.”
That only works if you are a big deal, the turning point of history, and Passover actually foreshadowed you.
Passover gives provide important symbolism for communion, here are five:
*/1.
/**/Deliverance /*
Passover was Israel’s 4th of July, commemorating their deliverance from slavery.
The four cups of wine are each tied to a promise of deliverance from Exodus:
*Exodus 6:6-7 * 6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and /I will bring you out/ from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
/I will free you from being slaves/ to them, and/ I will redeem you with an outstretched arm /and with mighty acts of judgment.
/7 I will take you as my own people/, and I will be your God.
Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
In way that is even more real, we were slaves to sin.
I say more real because sin is a crueler master than any human masters, enslaving them more profoundly.
Speaking of life before Christ:
*Romans 7:14-19 *...but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.
Think on your life, have you ever felt that bondage?
Ever felt trapped by the guilt and consequences of sin? Christ delivered us from the slavery of sin:
*Matthew 26:28 * 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
While Jesus does not say it here, the fact that he died on Passover demonstrates that he was the Pascal lamb whose blood was shed so that death could “pass over” (as Paul calls him.)
Ä Meaning is not only found in the overarching meaning of Passover, but also in many elements.
Here are some key ones:
*/2.
/**/The Bread/*
During the Passover, the bread (matsah) is broken.
Throughout the Passover, the leader would interpret the symbolism using standard interpretation (though the listeners knew it well) but Jesus reinterpreted several elements:
*Luke 22:19 * 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Q Why bread?
Bread symbolizes life.
It is “The staff of bread,” it sustains us.
God miraculously provided (Manna).
Jesus prayed for “daily bread.”
He feed 5,000 but called that bread insufficient:
*John 6:48-51 * 48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.
50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
· While it cost Jesus his life, to us the bread represents life.
*/3.
/**/The Wine/*
Next was the wine (this was probably the 3rd cup):
*Luke 22:20 * 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Q Why wine?
Though condemning drunkenness, wine is a biblical symbol of joy.
*Proverbs 3:9-10 (NIV)* Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
· The ancient rabbis had a saying: Without wine there is no joy.
· The cups are filled to the brim, almost overflowing with joy.
And by using wine, Jesus was demonstrating that that communion is a joy-filled event.
This study has radically changed how I take communion – it is not a sober event, but a joyful!
There’s time for somber self reflection, but communion is a party!
“shed for you”
Like the bread, this joy didn’t come cheaply.
Jesus is intentionally mixing metaphors, for “the blood of the convent” was also from a sacrifice to confirm the Mosaic covenant.
· It is a solemn joy, like a wedding, during the ceremony.
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