Crisis of Belief

Several scriptures

I wasn’t prepared for communion last week and I always like folks to understand why and where it started and what it really means so I thought a would take this opportunity to share some thoughts, Because there is a reason why followers of Jesus have gathered around the communion table for some 2,000 years.

Communion is an act, a meal that should have the effect of causing us to ponder, remember, and act in accordance with all that God has done for us. 

Communion is that symbolic act which reminds us that God, through the shed blood of Christ treats us as if we had never sinned!

So how are you doing in your relationship with God? Are you close, or distant? Obeying, or disobeying? Are you spending time with God – in His word, in prayer, worshipping, loving Him, serving faithfully in His Kingdom? Or is your life crowding out your relationship with God?

I want to spend a little time to give us the opportunity to begin a new year by examining our hearts before God. 1 Corinthians 11:28 says: “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” The beginning of a new year seems an appropriate time to do that.

I would like to begin with a historical background. In the list of the Jewish feasts that God commanded His people to observe, we find a very short description of one of them: Leviticus 23:23-25: “The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: ’On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.’

That’s all it says. There is a little more in Numbers 29, but all it adds are the types of animals to be sacrificed during this feast. If we didn’t know any better, we might conclude that this is a feast day merely to honor people who play the trumpet! But in fact, there is much more going on here than we see at first glance.

This “first day of the seventh month” is the day the Jewish people observe as the first day of the New Year. The Jewish calendar begins on this day, with this particular feast; it generally occurs after the harvest has been brought in, in the fall (generally September or October), and is known today as Rosh Hashanah. 

And in addition to kicking off the first day of the Jewish New Year, it begins the busiest month of religious feasts. The feast which follows, 10 days later, is especially significant: it is the day of atonement.

Generally, the Jewish feasts were celebrated with much joy and exuberance. But not these two. The feast of trumpets, which begins the 10 day period leading to the Day of Atonement, marked the beginning of a national exercise of each individual examining their own life before God.

So, what’s with the blowing of trumpets? 

The blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah was understood by the Jews as the beginning of their trial before the heavenly court, a trial that lasted ten days until the Day of Atonement (Yom kippur). 

Jews envision a trial in which the individual stands before the One who knows all. One’s life is placed on the balance scales. A thorough assessment is made: Is my life contributing to the balance of life? Or does the net effect of my actions tilt the scale toward death? My life is being weighted; I am on trial for my life. 

Who shall live and who shall die? This image jolts each person into a heightened awareness of the fragility of life. This question poses a deeper issue: If life ended now, would it have been worthwhile?

The trial image captures the sense of one’s life being in someone else’s hands. The shofar of Ros Hashanah proclaims that the Judge before whom there is no hiding is now sitting on the bench. 

Sharpened self-awareness, candid self-judgment, and guilt are activated by the possibility that a death sentence may be handed down. A trial for life consumes the mind.

So, the Jewish people celebrate their New Year with a 10 day period of self examination leading up to the day of atonement. The mournful trumpet sounds, announcing “the Judge is now presiding,” and calling them to bring their lives and stand before His throne.

Maybe we can sigh with relief that we aren’t Jewish and aren’t required to go through this process… 

O wait a moment; Let me return to 1 Corinthians 11 to see if that is the case: “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”

Those words are also a little bit terrifying. And the image of judgement is found also in the teachings of Jesus: Matthew 23:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left…”

Before we get too terrified about this whole idea of standing before the judgement throne of God, let’s return to the feasts. 

The Feast of Trumpets started this 10 day period leading up to the Day of Atonement: why the ten days? Because it gave the people the time to get things together – it gave them a chance to make some changes – it gave them the chance to examine their hearts and seek out forgiveness from God and others. The feast of trumpets was the beginning of a time of repentance.

Now, here is the good news – the day of atonement comes. Without getting into that feast in great detail, it was basically a day when God provided a way for the sin of all the Israelites – individually and as a nation – to be forgiven. 

This was a day of cleansing, which followed the period of repentance. It too was a solemn occasion, but the end result was that God removed the sin of His people and restored them to right relationship with Him.

In the light of that, I want to return to my original question: how is your relationship with God? 

It is the beginning of a new year, a chance to take stock and evaluate and recognize areas where our priorities might need to be re-shaped. 

In a communion service we are instructed to examine ourselves before partaking of the elements.

The image of us standing before the judgement seat of God is an accurate one; but let me fill in the picture a little more. Let me tell you what God sees: as He sits there, on His throne, looking out at us, we think He sees our filth, our sin, our dirty rags. But that is not what He sees. 

If we have repented of our sin, if we have asked for forgiveness, accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord God looks at us and sees not us, but Jesus His Son. Galatians 3:27 puts it this way: “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” 

The language throughout the New Testament is that as Christians, we are “in Christ.” So as God looks down from His judgement seat, He sees no penalty left to pay, as Christ has paid it all. He doesn’t see our filthy rags, but the clothes of Christ. The old has gone, the new has come. He looks and sees us “in Christ.”

Communion is a ceremony of remembrance – of reliving the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. In Leviticus 16, we have detailed instructions for the day of atonement (vs. 20-22): "When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tabernacle, and the altar, he must bring the living goat forward. He is to lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the sins and rebellion of the Israelites. 

In this way, he will lay the people’s sins on the head of the goat; then he will send it out into the wilderness, led by a man chosen for this task. After the man sets it free in the wilderness, the goat will carry all the people’s sins upon itself into a desolate land.”

Paul picks up this image of atonement in Romans 3:23-25 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” 

In Christ, we have the fulfillment of the image of the day of atonement – we have our sins placed on Jesus on the cross and taken away.

We stand before the throne of God, forgiven, accepted, adopted, because the blood of Christ has already gone ahead of us and purchased our forgiveness.

Five days after the day of atonement, there was one final feast – The Feast of Tabernacles (or booths). Basically, this was a national camping trip. And in contrast to the previous two very solemn feasts, this was one big party. 

I won’t describe it in detail, but just imagine taking all your friends and relatives, getting away for seven days, with the agenda of doing nothing more than to celebrate the goodness of God. 

For seven days, the Israelites were instructed to have a big party and celebrate, with the best of the harvest, with all kinds of decorations, and with joy in their hearts. Why? 

Because they had been forgiven. God removed their sin, He welcomed them back into relationship with Him, He restored their fellowship.

That is the right response for us, also. Having repented, been cleansed, and remembered Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we need to celebrate.

Paul was actually saying that some of the Church of Corinth had actually died because of their casual approach to the Lords Supper. 

They felt that they could just get drunk, hold grudges and whatever else, and then just come before the Lords table. The Bible promises that if we do that then we will be judged.

Everything that God has done, and possibly could do, to make us worthy is symbolized in this spiritual act. If we don’t recognize the seriousness of it and take it in an unworthy manner, then we will face judgement.

In 1 Corinthians 10:16 Paul asks, “Is not the cup of blessings for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” 

A participation, folks we were there in Jesus. When someone asks me if I’ve ever been to Jerusalem, I respond O yes 2000 years ago. When I serve communion at church I have the church get out of their seats and come receive the elements as a sign od participation.

When we take communion, we are responding to Jesus’ call to die to ourselves and to sin itself and so one of the questions we need to ask when we come to this table is: What needs to die in me so that I may be like Christ?

Second, we experience the presence of Christ. These ordinary everyday elements become vessels for the presence of Jesus and His sacrificial work on the cross to meet us in a physical and tangible way. 

The Holy Spirit is always with us, but the mystery of communion is Jesus Himself meets us through the bread and the cup. 

When you think of it that way, is there anywhere else you would rather be? That’s why Paul said to mistreat the communion meal is to mistreat Jesus Himself, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” 

Third, we receive God’s grace. When we take this bread and drink this cup, we are receiving the benefits offered to us through Christ’s sacrificial death, God’s grace and forgiveness. 

Dr. Norman Wright says, “Jesus wants not just to influence us, but to rescue us; not just to inform us, but to heal us; not just to give us something to think about, but to feed us…

That’s what this meal is all about.” Communion grounds us in the truth that God loves us just as we are, but God also loves us enough to not leave us that way. 

Communion is our opportunity to have a fresh encounter with God, to be in His presence, to be reminded we are loved and accepted and made new. We receive grace from that which is greater than us. This is why we serve communion.

As we celebrate it let’s look at scripture.

Matthew 26:26-28, "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

On the night before Jesus was crucified, He and the 12 disciples went into the Upper Room to observe their last meal together. From this day forward, the entire course of human history would be changed and the eternal destiny of all who would believe in Jesus Christ as the Risen Son of God would be forever sealed.

At the end of the supper Jesus picked up a piece of bread and began to institute the very first observance of Communion.

What kind of bread was used? It was unleavened bread because in all Judea, at this time of the Passover Feast, there was no other type of bread to be found. Please don’t let someone try to condemn the type of bread you use. The Law of Moses had commanded that beginning on the 14th day of the month of Nisan, all leaven (yeast) was to be purged from the house of every Jew. 

The Law was strictly observed for if any were found, those who had it were considered as absolute transgressors and were to be cut off from the nation.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8, "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

When we come together to observe the Lord’s Supper we must, first of all, take the Bread into our hands. In a spiritual sense, this is where our observance must begin. We cannot partake of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us unless we first receive Him into our heart.

Jesus is the Bread of Life. He gave His life for us that we might live. If we are to receive Him as the Bread of Life then we must humble ourselves before Him, confessing our unworthiness and sin, then ask Jesus to come into our heart as Lord and Master of our life. That’s the only way that we can pick up the Bread that is offered for us.

Jesus is represented in the unleavened bread. Leaven is a form of corruption, a yeast mixture that adds some flavor but also causes the bread to rise.

Leaven is also a type of sin. It is sin in the heart of a man that causes him to be corrupted. It is sin that adds to life those things that result in death and suffering. It is sin in the heart of man that causes him to rise up against God in pride and arrogance. 

We must clean out the sin and that can only be accomplished through trusting and receiving the Blood of the Lamb for the remission of sin.

So, the first step in observance of the Lord’s Supper is that we must cleanse our heart from sin and confess that Jesus is the Lord of our lives and the Savior of our souls. Through repentance of sin and receiving of Christ we are made ready and pick up the Bread of Life.

Jesus then blessed the Bread. No Jew would consider eating a meal without first offering thanks to the Father for His abundant blessing in providing the food that was available.

Not to give thanks both before and after a meal would have been a great sacrilege. This is where we get the tradition of saying grace before a meal.

We cannot receive Jesus Christ as Savior without giving thanks and having a grateful heart. We know that God sent His only begotten Son to us that we could have eternal life and forgiveness through Him.

It was only because of God’s love, mercy and grace that we were given this great gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, and it is only proper that we give thanks continually for God’s goodness to us.

In this blessing, it was not the Bread that was blessed even though they were thankful for it. The bread and wine were already blessed for they were gifts of God. This blessing was given unto the Father in Heaven who provided that bread.

The words spoken, even in our times, by Jewish custom are these: “Blessed be thou, our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread out of the earth.”

When we say grace at a meal, it is not the food that we bless, although many think that, God has already blessed it and provided it for us. We bless our God who, in His love and grace, has provided that food for us.

After the blessing, Jesus then broke the bread. The breaking of the bread, both by Jesus and in our observances, is to signify that we recognize that Jesus was wounded, pierced and broken for us on the cross.

Isaiah 53:4-6, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

That is the description of the broken Bread of Life. We must recognize that Jesus was broken and that His suffering upon the cross was for us. Only then are we ready to receive Him unto ourselves.

Jesus then gave the bread to each of His disciples. 

It was not only necessary to pick up, bless and then break the bread. None could have eaten at all if the bread had not been distributed to each one present.

Each man, woman and child, who understands the sacrifice of Jesus was for each individual, can then take a part of the promise of eternal life through the Bread of Life. Salvation is a personal thing. Only one heart, one soul, one mind and one life at a time can receive Jesus as Savior.

God hears the prayer of individuals and answers the cry of your heart. We can all pray in unity, in one mind and one accord for a specific purpose, but it isn’t the numbers that gets God’s attention. It is the cry of each heart, one at a time, coming together in common purpose that God hears.

If we are to receive Christ, then we must allow His Spirit to be given to each of us, one at a time. I cannot make your relationship right with God; only you can do that.

Jesus then said, “This is my body.” The bread is a symbol of His broken body. 

Jesus then took the cup, gave thanks and said to drink all of it. This cup was representative, and still is, of all of the suffering, and the blood that would be shed for our sin.

There are those who say that they do not like Christianity for it is a bloody religion. I say, thank God for the shed blood of the Lamb. Without the blood there is no remission of sin. Without the blood, my sin cannot be washed away. Without the blood, I cannot be made whiter than snow. Without the blood, there is no blood atonement. Without the blood I have no hope. Thank you Jesus, for giving your life’s blood for me!

It was the blood of the perfect sacrifice, the Blood of the Lamb of God, the blood of Jesus Christ that saves me and nothing else.

That is why Jesus said to drink all of it. I want to receive all of Christ. I want the blood of atonement to wash me thoroughly. Don’t leave any sin in my heart. Clean me and make we whole. Let me be seen as perfect in the eyes of the Father because He sees me only through the Blood of the Lamb.

Just as Jesus gave thanks for the cup, I am so thankful for the blood that was shed for me. I thank God for sending His only begotten Son to die for me. I thank God that He loved me when I was unlovable. I thank God that He had mercy on me when I did not deserve it.

I thank God for the Blood of atonement that was shed for my Redemption.

Close the sermon with a call to the altar and a time of repentance and prayer prior to offering the Lord’s Supper.

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