JESUS ON HOLY COMMUNION

[0:00] Father, we come before you this morning to think about your word. And we confess before you, Father, that what your son said about instituting the Lord's Supper, Father, we confess that it has caused great division amongst your people.

[0:19] And Father, we confess that even, Father, as some of us are waiting to get to that part in the scripture, some of us are hoping that I will score points against other people.

[0:32] They're worried, Father, that I'm going to end up saying something that they just think is really, really wrong. And Father, we confess before you that that which your son instituted for our health and for our salvation, for our wisdom, that we have turned it often, Father, into a very ugly thing, a very ugly thing that we feel proud of rather than saddened.

[0:58] So, Father, you know how hard and confused our heart is and how blind we are to the confusion and the hardness of our heart.

[1:11] So we ask that in your mercy you would do a great work amongst us this morning and that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, so that we might hear your word, that your word would come right to the center of who we are, the control and command center of who we are, and that your word would come there and do its mighty work in our midst, all for your glory.

[1:37] And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. Nothing like insulting some of you before I even begin the sermon and the prayer.

[1:49] I didn't mean to do that. You know, some of you who track with how I do sermons, it's often the case that however many talking points I have, that I spend the longest time developing the first point, and then it sort of often gets a bit quicker as it goes down.

[2:08] I'm going to sort of mess with your heads today because it's not going to be a 90-second sermon, but I'm going to begin with the first point. Andrew, I didn't warn even Andrew that I'm going to begin.

[2:18] If you could put the first point up, that would be really, really helpful. Here's the first point. Why can human beings so easily plan evil and plan good at the same time, all the while thinking that we are superior?

[2:34] Why is that about us human beings? I know, I was thinking afterwards, the grammar is not exactly perfect, but you get the idea. Why can human beings so easily plan evil things and plan good things at the same time and all the while think we're superior to other people?

[2:55] Like, why is it that we can do this? Why is it that whether or not you put this down on your to-do list, it could very easily be on your to-do list, find a birthday present for, you know, X, pick up some food for the party, make sure I spread gossip about why while I'm there, have a good time.

[3:22] Like, why is it that we can sort of have that in our to-do list and not at all even be remotely bothered by it? Why is it that maybe you've been in committee meetings like this or, and I've been in committee meetings like this where it's both been a secular crowd and a Christian crowd where it seems as if, you know, in a Christian crowd that on their to-do list was practice reading the Bible, prepare to pray, stab, you know, Fred and Bob in the back during the meeting and make sure I take the credit from Erin for all of the good things that she did.

[3:58] And that's on their to-do list. And that often we can have those things on our to-do list and we have absolutely no sense of guilt or shame whatsoever. And at the same time, can often think that we're better than other people.

[4:13] Like, why is it that human beings are like that? Like, why is it? See, I asked that from, on one hand it sounds very small and petty, but, you know, don't you think it's very, very possible that after the ISIS terrorists beheaded those Ethiopian Christians, don't you think that on the way home they thought, oh yeah, I have to pick up a soccer ball for my son because I want to have some fun playing soccer with my son.

[4:34] Like, don't you think that that's not at all an inconceivable scenario? And yet on the other hand, I mean, that's like crazy evil, right?

[4:44] A crazy evil. Let's martyr a whole pile of Ethiopian Christians and, oh yes, on the way home, buy a new soccer ball so I can play soccer with my son. Like, that's crazy evil.

[4:55] But on the other hand, if you think about it for a second, it's just on a continuum from, you know, buy a present, you know, pick up some hors d'oeuvres, make sure I spread gossip.

[5:09] It's a continuum. And why is it? And why is it that many of us, if I say this, we all know that it's true, but we can't actually, we're fairly powerless about changing it.

[5:20] Like, why is that? What is it about us human beings that that's in fact the case? Like, I mention all of this because if we're not aware, it's very interesting, the Bible brings this dynamic out very, very clearly in a very, very powerful way.

[5:37] that the Bible confronts us with what goes on in our hearts in the context of confronting, in a profound critique of religion, a profound critique of spirituality, it also brings out the dilemma of the human heart and all in the context of Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper.

[6:00] So if you get your Bibles and open them up to Luke 22, let's look and see how it is that unless we think about this question up here, unless this question has gripped our heart, we won't understand the dynamics of the text.

[6:15] We won't even see that the text is trying to make us ask this question about ourselves because many of us, even when we read the text, and even if George says, oh, it's a profound critique of religion, we go, yes, it's a profound critique of religion.

[6:28] And then we point our fingers and our memories to those brethren elders or those Pentecostal pastors or those Roman Catholics or those Orthodox or that bar manager or Stephen Harper or Thomas Moclair, and we point our finger at him or her or whatever, and at the same time not realize that there's three fingers pointing back at our hearts.

[6:48] Because you can never point your finger, unless you're missing some fingers, you can never point your finger at somebody without having a whole pile of fingers, more fingers pointing back at yourself. And so the Bible brings this to the fore as part of the lead up.

[7:06] In a sense, it's wanting us to realize we really need a Savior. I really need a Savior. Thomas Moclair needs a Savior, and so does Harper, but I need one.

[7:18] I have three fingers pointing back at me. Let's listen to Luke 22. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

[7:35] This is a very powerful verse. Just a few verses, and I have to confess the first few times I've read through it and many other times before in just my devotional reading when I've read through it, it's like you skip through this part to get to the good stuff, okay?

[7:50] But this is actually, you know, this is really, this is human life. This is describing me and you. The chief priests and the Pharisees, they had two things on their to-do list, or three things on their to-do list.

[8:07] Don't forget to pick up the lamb. Make sure I pick up the matzo bread made by Moishi because my kids really like it, and they don't like the stuff made by Aaron. And attend a meeting on how to kill Jesus.

[8:18] That was their to-do list. And that's what it says. Now, the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover, and the chief priests. It's very religious.

[8:28] Scribes could have been religious, could also just been professional people, the hipsters of the day. I don't know, like the spiritual, not religious people. We're not as much into the ceremonies, but we really know the Bible. We're really into words, and we're really into the meaning of words, and they're spiritual people, and they're seeking how to put Jesus to death.

[8:47] Why are they seeking to put Jesus to death? Because they feared the people. You see, what do they fear? The people? They fear the people because they think the people will do it, get it wrong about Jesus.

[9:00] And so why do they fear the people? They feel that they're worried, they're afraid, that the people are all stupid. They're smart.

[9:11] The people are stupid. And the bigger the gap between how smart you think you are and how dumb you think other people are is the size of your worry as you go through life for a whole pile of things.

[9:27] That doesn't happen to any of you at all. None of you are worried about different political things. Like, none of you are worried that Montclair will get elected. None of you are worried that Harper will get re-elected. Like, none of you.

[9:38] None. I'm sure that I'm... We're talking about Americans or something like that in the next election. We're not talking about Canadians. We're not talking about people who come to church. We're not talking about people in the bars and people doing yoga, you know, right now or in the coffee shops.

[9:51] Folks, this is how human life works. And we're not even often aware of it. The more that we think that we've got it right and that we're wise and smart and the more we think that people got it wrong and we're at the same time completely and utterly blind of the fact that that's...

[10:12] We think that somehow or another out of all the people on the planet, God has anointed me or you with this special knowledge. And there's all this herd of independent minds and we worry and we're afraid.

[10:27] Gosh, it's too bad the Bible doesn't talk about real life, eh? Too bad it doesn't address our hearts. That it's just boring. You see, we're so blind of what goes on in most of our lives that we don't even recognize ourselves here in the text.

[10:43] But that's exactly what's going on. See, that's why we have to ask ourselves the question, why can human beings so easily plan an evil thing and plan a good thing at the same time all the while thinking we are superior like they're doing?

[10:56] Because they're afraid of the people. They think the people are stupid. And really, is why can George so easily plan an evil thing and plan a good thing at the same time all the while thinking that he is superior?

[11:08] Like, why can George do that? I don't know why George can do that. And I'm not saying this just to dump a load on you folks. I mean, this is human life, folks.

[11:21] This is what Buddhism has to deal with, Hinduism, Marxism, spirituality, atheism, agnosticism. If these systems of thought can't actually articulate real human dilemmas and real human problems and have something to address them, then why do we follow them?

[11:37] So the question is, can Christianity actually both unveil this issue and actually speak into it, both confronting us to humble us, but at the same time promising some type of realistic hope?

[11:52] Now, the Bible doesn't, the Bible goes something which is a little bit deeper. This is all the context of Jesus setting up the Lord's Supper and the Bible's going to keep going deeper because here's the thing.

[12:09] This is actually a really, really, really significant passage and for a lot of us more reformed evangelical types who sort of get worried about charismatic types being a little bit kooky sometimes, I'm sure there's not a single person here that that describes and this very next thing is going to actually sort of kick us in the behind and make us realize that we need to get a lot more charismatic because look what it says in verse 3.

[12:39] So back up. The chief priests, the religious and the spiritual people, the cultural leaders, the academics, the influence makers, the people who write op-ed pieces in the National Post, the Globe and Mail, and the Ottawa Citizen, they all want to kill Jesus.

[12:52] The president of Ottawa U, the president of Carleton, head of the National Research Council, they all want to kill Jesus. They have a problem. And then guess who helps them solve the problem?

[13:03] The devil. That's what the text says. The devil solves their problem to move the action forward. Verse 3, then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot who was of the number of the twelve.

[13:17] That means he's one of Jesus' apostles. And Judas went away. He left the twelve and conferred with the chief priests and the officers. That's the guys who have like swords and shields and daggers and clubs and whips and have the power to use them.

[13:34] How he might betray Jesus to them. And the religious and spiritual people in the academics and the political leaders were really happy.

[13:45] and they agreed to give Judas money. So once he heard that they were going to give him money, because you can see here that all these people who talk about how great a rebel Judas was, that they're all like really bang on, right?

[14:01] But once he realizes that they're going to give him money, he consents and sought an opportunity to betray Jesus to them in the absence of a crowd. So here's a second point.

[14:15] And if you could put it up, Satan is real, invisible, hostile, and active in human affairs. And I will not take him lightly or ignore him or fear him or be preoccupied with him.

[14:33] Now the fact of the matter is that I do all those things. Right? I mean, I don't think I ever fear him. I've been too well taught in the Bible to fear him, right?

[14:43] Although the one time, the first time I ever actually dealt with somebody that I believe was probably demon-possessed, it was a very intense emotional experience and I did feel a lot of, I felt some fear of my physical safety, not my spiritual safety, but I actually felt some fear of my physical safety when I confronted him.

[15:04] He was a con man working in evangelical and charismatic groups in Ottawa to rip them off and so huge discord. And I came, I happened to go to another Bible study, small group thing, and after we had sort of figured out what was going on with this guy and he was there.

[15:26] And when he saw me come in the room, the daggers and the anger and the hatred that went from him to me was like almost, it almost hit me like a blow. And when there was the first opportunity I told people about what he was doing in the city and he called me out to go outside and I was worried about my physical safety.

[15:50] But generally, when I put the point in things like this, I don't do it, you know, I put it as I because if you write it down in your notes, it's something that I hope you can say.

[16:00] And what this text is telling us, and I'm going to go on from this, it's not a big thing in the sermon, but I would not serve you well as your pastor if I didn't point it out. That Satan is real, invisible, hostile to God, to anything godly, to life.

[16:15] Satan hates life. Satan hates life. One of the things which is so powerful about the Lord of the Rings is in that, those three books, you get it more in the books than the movie, although you see it in the movie, is that the world in a sense that's completely given over to evil is a world of barrenness and pollution where you can't drink the water and nothing grows and the air is foul.

[16:47] And where evil does not rule, most preeminently in places like the Shire, there's crops, there's families, there's babies. And it's a very, at a very, very fundamental level, he draws the two paths in a powerful, epic story.

[17:10] Satan is real, invisible, hostile, and active in human affairs. And I will not take him lightly or ignore him or fear him or be preoccupied with him.

[17:25] You know, I was thinking about this when I was coming here. First of all, I just shared with somebody as I was coming in, like, I'm so dumb, like I really am. I'm really stupid lots of times.

[17:36] And I knew very early on, first on Monday when I looked at this text, I was going to mention something about the devil and I've had a rough week. And I should have realized that whenever I'm going to do a sermon, I'm going to mention the devil and I'm going to have a rough week.

[17:49] He's going to make my life miserable. And you know, one of the things, miserable was too strong a word, but he made my life hard. And one of the things that's really interesting, when I was writing this point down, I kept wanting to capitalize the hymn referring to the devil because that's what he wants.

[18:07] And I said, no, no, no, no, small h. Only one guy gets the big H in my notes, right? Or, you know, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, God.

[18:19] But nothing else gets the big H or the big Y when it's talking about yours. And I'm just leaving that, you know, and so here it is. This is what's so amazing about this text.

[18:30] You know, I titled the sermon series, Luke, Jesus for Pagans and Skeptics. You can see here how Luke goes right to the heart with what's going on with human life.

[18:41] And you know, the fact of the matter is, is that in Buddhist cultures, Muslim cultures, Hindu cultures, secular cultures like ours, there's always a powerful belief in devils and demons.

[18:53] You go to chapters. We live in a post-post-Christendom culture, all sorts of opinion makers that are far, far, far removed from a Christian worldview. And just look at the number of books in a normal chapters that talk about occult matters.

[19:09] Just, you know, and so the Bible provides wisdom and clarity about the whole thing and a message that ultimately that Satan's completely and utterly defeated. You see, what we have to see with this, because if you look at all the Gospels, you'll see that the cross is a power encounter not only against sin, but also against the devil and hell itself and all hostile spiritual powers.

[19:34] And that in the cross, when Jesus dies, when the devil and the world thinks, and our flesh thinks that it is finally defeated, that irksome guy from Nazareth named Jesus, probably born illegitimately, and we think we've had our greatest triumph, that that's actually the moment of defeat for hell and sin and death and Satan and all hostile spiritual powers.

[19:58] And it's on one hand a profound moment of defeat. And for that part of us that longs to be redeemed and be made one with God, it's also the moment of our profound salvation and victory.

[20:11] So it's in this context that Jesus is going to institute the Lord's Supper. It's part of the reason why we understand why we often find in, that we often find parts of church service and even communion itself, why it's often so divisive and why we often find things so boring.

[20:33] Because Jesus, even as he's instituting the Lord's Supper, helps to reveal to us our human heart and the spiritual dynamic and power encounter that we're involved in when we gather in a few minutes to remember that Jesus died on the cross for us, that he conquered sin and death, that he is the power of God for salvation for all who believe, that he has defeated sin, death, hell, all hostile spiritual powers, that he has done this for you, that you by faith in him, by repentance and faith in him, can share in his victory.

[21:11] And that's what we gather in the presence of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to remember. That's what we do. Now, before we get this, there's something evil that's been in the world for several millennium, and it's a growing evil in our culture.

[21:30] And it's something that I need to mention at this point in time because we need to be aware of it because it can rob us of our witness and rob us of our courage, and we don't realize that we need to pray into it.

[21:43] There's been many things in recent months about the growing rise of anti-Semitism in France. Maybe you haven't been noticing it, but there's been many things in certain media outlets that there is a significant exodus of Jewish people from France because of the violent anti-Semitism which is growing in that country.

[22:02] And you cannot be in Canada without realizing that there's increasing anti-Semitism in our country. And often universities are one of the centers of it, by the way. I don't mean to offend you if you're here as a professor.

[22:14] I mean, it's just the case that there's growing anti-Semitism in our country. And so it makes it very, very hard sometimes when you come to parts of the Bible, even the New Testament, how do you bear witness to the Jewishness of Jesus in a culture which is anti-Semitic?

[22:30] How do you witness to somebody who's anti-Semitic about Jesus given that Jesus is just so Jewish?

[22:42] And we're about to see the Jewishness of Jesus. I mean, he's Jewish. Everything that we're about to see in the story that leads up to the institution of the Lord's Supper shows that Jesus is a pious Jew.

[22:56] And that even as he institutes this thing, which has become one of the two main things that Christians are to do, baptism is the other one and the Lord's Supper is the other one. It's to mark us as Christians.

[23:07] We are to do it for our soul's health, for our communal health, to bear witness to Jesus, to proclaim Jesus. We are to do Holy Communion and Jesus institutes it in the context of a Jewish festival and feast.

[23:20] And it's very interesting. Some of you, when you were listening to me read Luke chapter 22, you might have thought, one moment, there's not two cups. There's only one cup in communion. Jesus gets it wrong.

[23:31] Cup, bread, cup. No, no, no. That's not how it works. It's actually very interesting. In this, which is the most pagan of the Gospels in terms of it's most clearly written for pagans, Luke, of all of the writers who bears witness to the institution of the Lord's Supper, is the one that draws out the Jewishness and the connection to Passover of the Lord's Supper.

[23:54] So let's listen to it. And at first, by the way, this next little part, verse seven, it sounds like a spy novel. It's really interesting. I was reading some commentators and they get all, you know, they all get, you know, they get their, you know, their knickers in a knot, you know, all about, you know, what's going on.

[24:09] Did Jesus arrange this, et cetera? It sounds like a spy novel. You know, go to the corner of here and here, light a cigarette, you know, look down, you know, a tall, dark stranger will come and talk to you and then you go to a bar and you'll meet a, anyway, you know what, it sounds just like a spy novel.

[24:24] Here's how it goes. Verse seven, then came the day of unleavened bread. I'll talk about this in a moment on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat it.

[24:37] So Jesus gives Peter and John this command. So they say to him, where will you have us prepare it? Like they might've even been a little bit frustrated. Historians believe that the population, the year round population of Jerusalem around this time was probably about 30,000 people.

[24:56] And for Passover, the estimate of the number of pilgrims that would swell the city of Jerusalem, that they estimate that it's somewhere between 85 to 125,000 pilgrims would come to Jerusalem for the Passover.

[25:11] And of course, many Jewish people, they would also have, I mean, in that culture, it would be a profound hospitality culture and also a culture for making money. Nothing wrong with that. That's not, nothing disparaging about that.

[25:23] So they would have rooms and stuff like that. But the disciples were probably really worried about where are we going to celebrate the Passover? Okay? So whether Jesus just does this through, you know, whether it's a God thing or whether Jesus, that doesn't matter.

[25:36] But what's going to happen now is it's going to sound like a spy novel, right? Verse 10. Jesus said to them, behold, when you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Pause here for a second.

[25:47] This is a really hard thing. Until I looked at commentaries, I didn't know this. The reason this is a significant, you see, if you said in Ottawa, okay, walk down to the canal and when you see a man carrying a water bottle, follow him.

[26:02] You'd see so many men carrying water bottles, you'd go, how do I, what do I do? Okay, in this culture, carrying a water, carrying a water jar is woman's work. The man would have stuck out.

[26:14] The man would have stuck out. And so back to verse 10. He said to them, behold, when you enter the city, have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

[26:27] Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house. The teacher says to you, where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished, prepare it there.

[26:41] And they went and found it just as he had told them and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, he reclined a table and the apostles with him.

[26:52] And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And earnestly desired sounds, it's a good translation, but it's like a, this is a profound emotional experience for him.

[27:06] The original language communicates that this is a profound emotional experience, a deeply emotional experience for Jesus to celebrate the Passover with his disciples one final time.

[27:22] And, you know, and by the way, what we have to do when we read the text in a culture which is increasingly becoming anti-Semitic, we don't hide the Jewishness of Jesus.

[27:35] Jesus. And we just need to pray that God knew what he was doing when he had a text like this written. And we just have to pray that God will touch hearts.

[27:48] That God will touch hearts. That maybe he will use this text to make a person aware of prejudice. Because as you and I know, for those of us who have prejudices, prejudices are a very, very, very deeply persistent sin that we are blind to in ourselves.

[28:08] It's deeply human. It's not a white problem or an Asian problem or an African problem. It is a human problem to have prejudice. And it is almost always hard for us to recognize it in ourselves.

[28:24] And maybe that's why there is a text like this. And maybe it will be something like that that will touch our heart to make us realize that we need a Savior. And so we just need to trust God and pray and have courage.

[28:39] Anyway, back to the text. I have, with deep emotion, he tells them, and the disciples would have known that Jesus was deeply emotional. I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

[28:51] Once again, they don't know he's about to die. Judas knows he's about to come to a really bad end sometime really soon. He's got the dough, got the promise of the money, but they don't know.

[29:04] And yet again, Jesus is telling them he's going to die. In fact, he'll be dead within 24 hours of this, of him saying this. For I tell you, I will not eat it again.

[29:15] See that? He's telling him he's going to die. He's also telling them he's going to rise from the dead until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. In fact, he's telling them that everything that's going on is all part of God's plan.

[29:28] It's all part of God's plan to bring a kingdom that comes out of every people group. It's going to come from Africa. It's going to come from Asia. It's going to come from First Nations people. It's going to come from the Inuit.

[29:40] It's going to come to Europeans and North Americans. It's going to come to Australians and New Zealand and it is going to come to the whole planet. It's going to be offered for everybody. This is a planet-wide plan that God has had, a big plan for a long time and it's all coming to be fulfilled and my death is a big part of it and I'm going to explain what's going to happen in a moment but it's going to happen and it's all of the scriptures in the Old Testament we're pointing towards this time and pointing towards the time when I come again and it's all fulfilled.

[30:15] And here's now Jesus entering into the Passover meal and scholars debate whether in the time of Jesus whether there were three cups in the Passover meal or whether there were four cups.

[30:26] It doesn't matter whether there were three or four and it's not entirely clear whether this is the first cup, the second cup, the third cup or if there was a fourth cup that Jesus is about to partake. It's not clear from the text whether the second cup which is going to come in verse 20 is one of the Passover cups or what's going on.

[30:43] It's not clear what's going on. That's fine but what Luke does here to his pagan audience is he brings it home that Jesus partakes of the Passover meal and the Passover meal is the remembrance for the Jewish people.

[30:58] Exodus 12 it's in the going deeper notes I give you the reference and it's the promise that God has said that he would deliver his people out of bondage and slavery and Egypt and bring and win a people for himself and he does not pick the smartest people the wisest people the most virtuous people it's an act of grace and that's why ordinary people like you and me can be called to belong to Jesus if you're worried that you're not smart enough spiritual enough unspiritual enough rich enough together enough that's entirely good.

[31:32] God has never used those criteria. He calls people because he's love not because of our excellencies. He calls us because he's love and so God calls Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and he says to Pharaoh he even tells Pharaoh what he's about to do that the firstborn will die and nobody takes any action and the people of Israel they gather into the house and before they gather into the house they kill a lamb the lamb dies in their stead and they take the blood of the lamb and they put the blood of the lamb on the entrance way into the house and they enter into the house eating unleavened bread and the lamb that has died on their behalf and God comes in wrath and judgment against all slaveholders all who keep people in bondage all who oppress others all who are people exactly like us and God comes in judgment and kills the firstborn and when he sees a house which is covered by the blood of the lamb his wrath passes over them because the lamb has borne the judgment that the people deserve and God's judgment does not deliver does not fall on them

[32:51] John's gospel is introduced by John the Baptist telling his disciples behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world the true and greater lamb of Exodus 12 enters into human history and ministry with the words of John the Baptist the true and greater lamb of Exodus 12 walks among us the true and greater lamb will die upon the cross and it is that true and greater lamb that remembers those lesser lambs which are slain some 14 or 1500 years earlier as a picture and a prophecy and a promise that God would send the true and greater lamb to bear the sins of all the people Jewish and pagan alike to inaugurate and create a new and greater covenant that would be without geography would be without race would be without color would be without ethnicity would be without social class would be without sex that would be for all people who put their faith and trust in the lamb that God provides to deal with people who cannot address and change a human heart whereby they will have on their to-do list today I will slaughter

[34:24] Ethiopian Christians and then I will buy a soccer ball for my son so I may play with him on the way home he dies for us who cannot change our human heart he dies for you and me who cannot change our human heart and so he takes the cup for the Passover meal in verse 17 and when he had given thanks he said take this and divide it among yourselves for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes and now whether that was the third or fourth cup in the Passover meal or the first or the second the text doesn't make it clear it doesn't really matter which one of them it is Jesus now institutes the Lord's Supper Holy Communion the Eucharist if you could put up the third point Andrew third point just before I read the words of the institution of the

[35:26] Lord's Supper here's what we have to understand in love Jesus died for me he died for you I always put these remember I put these words down that if you want to make your notes that is personal it's not just that in love Jesus died for for John or Frida or you know Louise or you know Harold but that Jesus died for me in love Jesus died for me in love he explained the meaning of his death before it happens and in love he calls ordinary people to be his and to meet together and to remember who he is and what he accomplished for us that's what Jesus is doing this is all love you see what just a week ago a couple of weeks ago I flew into Newark New Jersey for the first time and I actually happened to be in aisle seat and it actually happened to be that the plane was coming in so that I could see

[36:26] Manhattan spread out through the window and I could see the Empire State Building I can see all the buildings it's such an iconic image you know so many movies superhero movies and others you know you see the city and you see the Statue of Liberty and it was really neat you know I was moved by it I know it's silly but I was moved by it and what Jesus is about to do right now is he's giving the disciples a 10,000 feet in the air view of the chaos confusion and evil that's about to engulf them and what's going to engulf them over the next 24 hours in particular and then after that on the Easter Sunday there's going to be ears cut off there's going to be kisses of betrayal there's going to be people told that they're not going to actually stand up for Jesus there's going to be fear there's going to be men running away naked there's going to be whips there's going to be complete and utter chaos and there's going to be shame and there's going to be all this things going on and Jesus very calmly and in a very very shocking way he gives them from a 10,000 feet above the scenes that it might it's going to look chaotic it's going to look evil it's going to look like the most crazy horrible terrifying thing that any of you have been through up until now but I want you to understand what's going on

[37:54] I want you to understand that my body has been broken for you and that my blood's being shed for you and that I am inaugurating a new covenant for you and I'm doing all this because I love you because God loves you and because God has seen you with the problem of your human heart and he wants to deal with what you cannot deal with he's going to deal with it on your behalf verse 19 and 20 and Jesus took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them saying this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me he did it out of love he's letting them know this look at it again this is my body he breaks the body the only way we can receive

[38:55] Jesus is by him crucified he's not an example I mean he is an example but he's way more than an example he didn't break his body to be an example although breaking of his body grounds us understanding taking so many risks and being willing to sacrifice for others as the gospel grips us it starts to model for us and shape for us a way that we are to understand how to make marriages work and families work and churches work and life work that there needs to be sacrifice somebody has to be the one to turn the other cheek someone has to be the one who will just bear in themselves some of the pain and actually be able to forgive and what Jesus is about to do is to be a profound thing which grips us and as it grips us it starts to nudge us in certain directions of behaving it starts to draw us in certain directions it grounds us to understand why it's worth it to maybe do such things and it starts to shape us but beyond all of that it's a power of God for salvation that he does if there's no salvation there's no point of a model there's no salvation the last thing we need is more advice it's salvation first and foremost and he took the bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he offers to them the broken bread and he says this broken bread is my body and it's given for you

[40:32] I break my body for you and the original language it's language of sacrifice it's the language of Old Testament sacrifice I do it for you remember me I want you to do this in the future I want you use plural I want you guys and gals to do this in the future I'm laying down a command that you need to get together and receive what I've done for you and then you need to remember who I am and what I've done for you and then he says the cup after they eaten this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood and there's a double meaning here he's not only pouring out the blood but the cup was an Old Testament image of God's wrath and it's as if God comes to me and sits me down and he says

[41:32] George I'm going to put into this cup every you know all those times George that you had in your to-do list I'm going to enunciate them all every time in your to-do list you said pick up the appetizers remember to slander such and such a person and have fun at a party every time you did something like that I'm going to put this in the cup I'm going to put it in the cup every time you used your judgment against one person and you gave yourself a all the things that you've done wrong against your wife against your kids against your parents against your neighbors against your church I'm going to put all of that in the cup and that's the cup of the wrath and George that's your cup and you got to drink it and Jesus says in this this cup prepared for you George if you take this cup it will be the end of you I will take this cup for you I will drink your cup I will drink this cup for you and I do it for you and what we see on the cross is the result of

[42:46] Jesus drinking my cup and we see him suffering the result of drinking your cup and you know what the people you see on the street out there he drank their cup too they just don't know about it that's why people want to go to China it's why they want to go to India it's why they want to go to Africa it's why they want to go into the punk community and the hipster community and they want to go into the gay community because he drank their cup too and that that's what he says this cup that is poured out for you and there's a double meaning is the new covenant in my blood and the covenant is a relationship that God creates that involves him and ordinary people like you and I that we can enter into and because Jesus drinks my cup and your cup and dies on the cross we can enter into when we receive what he's done for us in just penitence and faith we can enter into a new relationship with God just could you put up one more thing point

[43:57] Andrew and then we're going to get to some practical things and then we'll end here's the thing Luke tells the real story of the real God acting with real grace for real people in real need in real history where his real son really died to really inaugurate a real covenant that I can really enter into and really live in that's what he does and that's what we remember that's what every sermon should be about on one hand and that's what we remember when we celebrate the Lord's supper that Luke tells the real story of the real God acting with real grace for real people in real need in real history where his real son really died to really inaugurate a real covenant that I can really enter into and you entered that have you recognized that Jesus has drank the cup of wrath that you deserve if you there's no better time than today to have

[45:04] Jesus as your savior and just say to him Jesus I don't know the words I know there's supposed to be the sinner prayer and you know I can't even remember the sinner's prayer he says I'm a sinner be my savior you say that there's no time better than to pray that prayer if you've never prayed it before a couple of other things just in closing like what how do we live in light of this first thing Andrew if you could put it up we need to get honest with God and we recognize that anything I can I do can become religious or spiritual and then work to immunize me against the true and living God anything I do can become religious or spiritual and then work to immunize me against the true and living God anything I do it can be my devotions it can be church it can be good things like caring for your kids it can even be things like speaking in tongues it can become a way to immunize us it just you know anything the problem what is it about the human heart that it can plan evil and plan good and feel superior at the same time and be completely and utterly blind about it the fact of the matter is that every good thing that

[46:30] God does and gives us is something that we can twist and we can break and we can pollute and that's why we just have to start to be honest with God that God I really need a savior I came to you Jesus the first time when I came to Jesus and gave my life to him it was just because I had this sense of needing something more I didn't really understand how broken I am how much I needed a savior and we just need to call out to God Jesus I really do need you as my savior I really do and then just a final thing if you could put up the final slide just a couple of things to help you when you receive communion choose to remember that Jesus died to reconcile you to the living God me to the living God we're going to be receiving communion in a few minutes just say Jesus I don't know I have problems my mind is confused I am really angry at this person I can hardly focus my emotions aren't in line

[47:30] Jesus I just want to be honest with you about these things but Jesus I know that you died on the cross for me to reconcile me to God and say that to him and then secondly choose to say thank you to Jesus for who he is and what he did and choose to not seek particular emotions because Canadians in 2015 we often evaluate things with whether or not you had that peaceful feeling that buzz feeling that care bear feeling that yearning type of feeling I don't know those tingles down the spine type of feeling and if we don't get those feelings it wasn't a very good communion service and what we need to do today is when we come to receive communion say Jesus I don't want to I'm supposedly remembering you and

[48:31] I'm not even aware of the fact that I'm making it all about me and whether I feel a particular thing and so Jesus please help me just to completely and utterly put to death any demand I make of you that I feel any particular way when I come to remember what Jesus did for me on the cross and then finally choose to leave it up God does something in this transaction and maybe the thing he'll do will be an act of courage that helps you in six years time and when you get to heaven and you might say God I'm so mad I came to communion that day on April or whatever it is today 26 2015 I had a terrible emotional experience I didn't get anything out of communion and then God just says oh yeah that act of courage that you just did five years later that that was grace that came from communion then like why do you think I have to give you something right that instant I'm God I got this

[49:32] I got this covered I have it figured out give up control George stop thinking you're God George let me be God in your life transform communion if you do these four simple things choose to leave it up to God as to how you will benefit from receiving communion then really there was one more I can't do this help me Jesus help me I'm so weak I forget help me Lord have mercy please stand just bow our heads in prayer father father father if there's any here who've called out to you for the first time I'm a sinner you're a savior please be my savior and never let me go father I ask that your holy spirit would just flood into that person and seal him or her for yourself and and keep them yours and just launch them in a new covenant life a new relationship with you father we thank you for

[50:44] Jesus we thank you that he drank the cup that was poured out for us we thank you for his death upon the cross we thank you that he is the savior we thank you that he is Jewish that he is a Jewish man dying on the cross for the world that he is your son father we thank you for Jesus help us to never be ashamed of Jesus gripped by the gospel living for your glory father this is the cry of our heart and we ask this in the name of Jesus your son and our savior amen