I would like you to turn your Bibles this morning to the passage that is going to serve truthfully
! only as the doorway to where we go as we think about the Lord's table.
As we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we are going to just pick up on a recurring phrase
as the starting point, and then we are going to use that to begin to think along the lines
of what is said.
1 Corinthians chapter 11 is a passage in which the apostle writes to the church at Corinth,
and instead of encouraging them and kind of saying, man, I'm really glad to hear about
how you go about the Lord's table, he writes to rebuke and correct them.
In fact, he goes on to say something that is a real startling statement.
He says, what you're doing is not communion.
And the reason for that is that what they were engaged in had nothing to do with the
Lord's table actually and the purpose of it.
They were all wrapped up in themselves.
So here's what I want us to think about before we actually come to the table.
If you look there in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 24, it says,
We see a very similar statement made in verse 25.
He says,
In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying,
This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
We're going to think about remembering.
Thursday morning, I awakened fairly early.
I love the summertime because I like to wake up to the light.
I don't like alarms.
Is there anybody else like me?
I mean, you know, whenever the sun is up, I think it's appropriate,
it's God-honoring and blah, blah, blah, to be out of bed.
You know, other people don't think that way.
But I love getting up early and enjoying time with the Lord.
And Thursday was a little different day in that it was a day that Judith and I celebrated our 43rd anniversary.
And I have to tell you, I laid there in bed for a while.
And I, first of all, thank the Lord for the day.
But then, secondly, I just, I stopped and thanked the Lord for the blessing of her saying,
I do to me, 43 years ago.
And for the blessing that that has been.
And later through the day, I kept on reviewing some of the particulars of our relationship
and the incredible blessing that she has been to me in so many different ways.
I will tell you that I think it's appropriate to give thought periodically to some of the blessings that you've received.
And while Judith and I enjoy our relationship and there's not a night that goes by,
that at the end I do not say, I love you to her and she says it to me.
And we often enjoy one another's company and speak of the blessing.
I got to tell you, we had a blast raising four kids.
But empty nesting is absolutely wonderful.
There is no competition.
How many of you understand what I said?
I like it.
So, we spend time thanking the Lord for the relationship and just thinking about the richness of it.
And I bring that to you because that thoughtfulness and that intentionality
and thinking about what that relationship is, is something that amplifies the blessing of it.
And so, when we look at the passage this morning and we see the Spirit of God instruct us as believers
and say, you need to show, you need to think about what Christ has done for you.
That is the purpose of what we are going to engage in this morning.
And as we take these elements, I want you to understand that along with taking these elements,
I want you to think consciously and deliberately about the blessing of your relationship,
your salvation, and the richness of what you have received through the finished work of Christ.
Don't just go through it as a routine.
But ask the Spirit of God to engage your heart in worship that is thoughtful and that is honorable.
There are a lot of different things that we could think about in relationship to what Christ has done for us.
And I want us to begin with probably one of the things that stands out in my own thinking,
perhaps the most significantly, for a number of different reasons,
not the least of which is how often it is mentioned in Scripture, and that is thinking about His love.
As you take these elements, the bread and the cup, this morning,
I trust that one of the things that goes through your mind is that you think to yourself
that this bread and this cup remind you that Christ loves you personally.
He knows your name.
You are precious to Him.
The Psalms and elsewhere in the Scripture, it talks about how amazing and how incredible,
how unbelievable it is that God thinks about us.
But it's more than that.
Not just that He thinks about us, but that He has set His love upon us.
I think about a passage, and I want you to look at it with me just for a moment over in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14.
Listen to what it says in the text there.
It says,
And the reminder that the apostle is giving here is that the reality of Christ's love for us is a life-controlling thought.
And I ask you the question practically as you think about your life,
how dominating is the reality of the love of Christ in your life?
How significant, how much of a priority is the fact and the reality of the love of Christ?
It is something that should flood our thoughts on a regular basis
and leave us both with humility and passion to please Him.
As I think about the breadth of Scripture that deals with the love of Christ and God's love in broad terms,
I can't help but go back as I was listening to the music this morning.
Guess what one of the things was that I was doing?
Does anybody have an idea?
What was Pastor doing as he was listening to the songs?
I was processing the song against the backdrop of various passages of Scripture.
And we were singing a passage about his everlasting love,
and I was thinking about Psalm 136.
How many of you know Psalm 136 in broad terms?
How does it, how does it, what does it repeat?
For his steadfast love endures forever.
And by the way, does it say it once, twice?
It says it every single verse.
Now, by the way, that is repetition for a purpose, isn't it?
That purpose is to drive the reality of the unfailing love of God for us firmly into our little brain
that struggles a great deal with that reality.
Jesus Himself spoke about His love for us.
He spoke about His love for His disciples.
Over in John chapter 15, verse 13, as Jesus was explaining the issue of the cross,
He said this, greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down His life for His friends.
And as you take that bread and you take that cup,
and as you are meditating upon the reality of what that represents,
yes, it represents the death of Christ,
but I want you also to think to yourself consciously and deliberately,
this reminds me that Jesus loves me.
He loves me personally, and He loves me with an unfailing, never-changing love that doesn't give up.
I want to encourage you to know that as the elements are being passed,
one of the things that I trust we will do is that we as a fellowship will share different passages of Scripture
that have to do with the love of Christ,
or have to do with the substitutionary atonement, with His dying in our place,
or have to do with some other thought in relationship to the issue of salvation.
So having warned you in advance, what should you be doing?
Kind of multitasking, I know, but you're now beginning to think what?
Caleb, what are you beginning to think?
You're a deacon, bud.
Caleb's beginning to think about a Bible passage.
Jared, you're thinking about a Bible passage, aren't you?
Emily, you're thinking about a Bible passage.
Emily's looking up on her phone.
I can see it going like this.
Okay.
I may call on you.
And so having been warned in advance that I might call on you,
by the way, Sam, where are you?
Sam, my son.
Grandson.
Sam, my son, is back there.
You're going to have a passage of Scripture, right?
I stole it?
Well, you can...
He's his mother's child.
That's what it is.
Okay.
We're going to think,
we're going to spend time sharing passages of Scripture
that are significant to us, right?
I just want to whet your appetite for doing that.
But when we take the bread and we take the cup,
one of the things that I want you to do
is I want you to think to yourself,
Jesus loves me.
There's a second thought that I want you to have
as we come to this subject.
And I want you to think about the fact
that he died in your place.
I want you to think about his atonement.
The Bible is quite clear
that Jesus didn't die for his own sins.
We are in, or we were in,
2 Corinthians chapter 5,
and so let me just read verse 21
that confirms the reality of the fact
that he didn't die for his own sins.
It says,
For our sake he made him to be sin
who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.
The Scriptures make it undeniably clear
that Christ didn't die for his own sins.
And I remind you that the reality of Scripture
is that sin has consequences, doesn't it?
We know what the Scriptures say.
It says,
For the wages of sin are death.
Pastor Saul gave me the privilege
on Friday evening of sharing the gospel,
and it was my privilege just to go over
in such simple vocabulary
the reality of the fact
that Scripture tells us
that all have fallen short of the glory of God.
And the consequences of our sinfulness
is that there is the penalty
of everlasting death and suffering in hell.
And yet that same passage of Scripture
where it talks about the wages of sin
also tells us that the gift of God is what?
It's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so when you think about the reality
of his atonement,
the fact that he suffered in your place,
we recognize Jesus didn't die for his sins.
He died for mine.
He died for yours.
If there's probably one passage
that presses this together
in just such a startlingly clear way,
it would be the book of Isaiah in chapter 53.
And so I want you to turn back there,
if you would,
to Isaiah chapter 53 for a minute
and mark what the prophet has to say
regarding Jesus' suffering in our place.
As Isaiah launches into this passage,
he begins there in verse 1
by making a comment
that even today
is poignant in reminding us
of how incredible
the truth of God's plan of redemption is.
He says there in verse 1,
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
In that passage,
as we work our way through it,
we find there beginning in 5 and 6
that the Scriptures make it clear
that Christ suffered in our place.
He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
Upon Him was the chastisement
that brought us peace.
After a person has committed a crime
and they have been judged
and found condemned,
one of the things that follows
in a judicial system
is that there is a penalty
that has to be paid.
And the individual,
one way or another,
satisfies that debt
by being incarcerated
or something appropriate
to the crime that's been committed.
The reality of the fact
is that Scripture makes it clear
that because of our sin,
all of us stand condemned
before a holy God.
And the penalty for our sin
is everlasting suffering in hell.
And yet the Scripture tells us
that Christ died in our place.
He died for me.
He died for you.
And as you read there
in verse 5 and 6,
it says,
He did this for us.
And in verse 6,
All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
As you read on in the passage,
there's something else,
and we're going to develop that
a little bit more in just a moment,
but mark the fact
that not only that he suffered
in our place,
but recognize in 8 and 9
that he was innocent
and that he endured our judgment.
Let me read it to you.
By oppression and judgment
he was taken away,
and as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut out
of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression
of my people.
And they made his grave
with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Have you ever been struck
as you have been reading
through the Gospels
of how often it's said
of this thing about Jesus,
it's said that in doing such and such
he fulfilled the Scriptures.
He fulfilled the Scriptures.
And it's just incredible
to stop and realize
that things that were
prophetically uttered
hundreds and hundreds,
thousands of years ago,
took place at the appropriate time
and Christ satisfied
all the predictive statements
that were made about him.
Here in this passage
in 8 and 9,
we're reminded Jesus,
where he was buried,
who he was crucified with.
And we understand that
even though he was innocent,
he suffered this
and he suffered it for us.
Mark what it says also
in verse 10 and 11,
and I want you just to mark there,
it says,
yet it was the will,
it was the will
of the Lord
to crush him.
One of the things
that has been
pawned off on individuals
is that,
well,
the crucifixion really didn't happen
and that's not true,
it did.
Another thing that has been stated
is that,
well,
the crucifixion was just kind of
a judicial accident.
It was something that,
things got out of hand
and bad things happened.
That's not what the Scriptures
tell us at all.
The reality of the matter
is that Christ suffered for us
and he took our place.
And as it says here in verse 10,
it was the will,
as it says in the King James,
for it pleased the Lord
to bruise him.
God planned this.
And so,
I want us to recognize
that the Scriptures make it clear
that we are to remember Christ.
One of the things
that I encourage you to do
this morning
is remember that
he loves you personally.
In the circumstances,
in the setting,
in the difficulties,
and the challenges
that you have,
in the moment of your life,
I want you to remind yourself
overarching all of those things
is the reality
of the never-failing love of Christ.
I want you to remind yourself also
that he has suffered in your place.
And then third,
as we play off this verse 10
here in Isaiah 53,
I want you to recognize
that all of this happened
according to his plan.
As you hold the bread
and hold the cup,
I want you to understand
that your salvation,
the plan of redemption,
was something
that was carefully orchestrated
and thought out
before the creation
of the world.
Look at a couple
different passages
that make this issue clear
that Christ's crucifixion
was not just some kind
of blip on the radar,
but it was actually something
that happened
according to divine plan.
In your Bible,
if you would,
look at Acts 2,
verse 23.
Acts 2,
verse 23.
Men of Israel,
hear the words
of Jesus of Nazareth,
a man attested to you
by God
with mighty works
and wonders
and signs
that God did
through him
in your midst.
As you yourselves know,
this Jesus
delivered up
according to the
definite plan,
definite plan.
How many of you
have had definite plans
that haven't worked out well
because other people
were involved in them?
This Jesus
delivered up
according to the
definite plan
and for knowledge
of God,
you crucified
and killed
by the hands
of lawless men.
Acts chapter 4,
verse 27 and 28.
As the early church
faced its persecution,
it's very interesting
to see how they responded
to it.
They didn't take
to the streets.
They didn't riot.
What they did
was they went to prayer.
And there in verse 27
and 28,
let me read this to you.
For truly in this city
there are gathered together
against your holy servant
Jesus,
whom you appointed
both Herod
and Pontius Pilate
along with the Gentiles
and the peoples of Israel
to do whatever
your hand
and your plan
had predestined
to take place.
I think about the passage
in 1 Peter chapter 1
and go there.
1 Peter chapter 1,
verse 18 through 20.
Jude Jude Jude
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways
inherited from your forefathers,
not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ,
like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
He was foreknown before the foundation of the world,
but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.
I revel in the creative genius of our God.
I think you do too.
Judith and I enjoy landscaping to a certain degree
and planting flowers and watching them come up,
and I just marvel at the variety.
Unbelievable.
You know, I'm very glad that God thought of doing flowers
with so much more variety than I would have thought of doing flowers.
Yeah, flower.
Red, dot in the center, that's it.
You know, it's a little bit,
my flowers would be something like this and no more.
God's creativity in creation pales
against the issue of salvation.
He knew you and ordained your salvation
and put the details of your deliverance
from the bondage of sin into place.
And this morning, as you come to this table
and you take that bread and you take that cup,
one of the things that I want you to do
is I want you to think,
and he planned this before it all started.
Let me have you think of one more thing,
and we come back to this,
to the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
There is a very interesting sense in which the majority of thinking about the Lord's table
is about the past.
This is what Jesus did.
This is what he did for me.
This is his heart.
But I want you to think a little bit now, if you will, on verse 26.
It says,
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord's death.
Now here's the part I want you to think about with me.
Till he comes.
His coming is understood in the Scriptures as being significant to the believer.
In fact, I would say that that's probably one of the things
that would be a fair question to ask yourself.
Oh, sure, I say I'm a Christian.
I mean, you know what?
I grew up in a Christian home.
I know about Jesus.
But here's the question.
Is your heart thinking affectionately about the reality of his return?
If he is real and he is significant,
should we think about his return?
The Scriptures make it very, very clear
that the early church was just caught up in anticipating Christ's return.
And every time they would take the bread and they would take the cup
and they'd say,
Man, Jesus died for me.
They would say,
And I am reminding myself of the significance of his death for me
until he comes back.
When he returns,
there will be two different responses.
Do you follow that?
Unbelievers will be terrified
at the clear evidence of their eternal condemnation.
Those who are believers
at the conclusion of the tribulation,
do you know what their hearts are going to be like?
It is even so come Lord Jesus, right?
I wonder,
This morning,
how real is the prospect of Christ's return?
How dominating is that thought?
How central is that to the affections and interests of your heart?
I'm going to ask,
and I do want you to remember,
there are a couple different things
that we are going to work at together this morning.
Let me give you a little bit of an intro
to the way that we are going to do things.
You'll notice that we don't have chairs up here at the front, right?
Now, you understand that that's because of...