SUPPER TIME

 SUPPER TIME

RF, Sunday Morning

October 25, 2020

 

One of the top cooking shows around today is “Rev Run's Sunday Suppers”. This is the description from Food Network. Rev Run, of Run-D.M.C. fame, and his wife Justine know Sunday supper is about family, good friends and great food. With four of their six children now out of the house, the duo have discovered the best way to gather the whole gang together is with truly show-stopping cuisine. With food this good, it’s no surprise it’s not just the kids coming to the table, but friends and family also! As Rev and Justine know, the perfect family meal isn’t just about the food, but about who’s sitting down to share it.

 

Another popular TV series is “Blue Bloods”. A feature of this show is the weekly Sunday supper where the entire family gathers around the supper table and discuss various things going on in their lives. 

 

When I was growing up, we always ate supper. When I left the farm and moved to the city, folks talked about eating dinner. I thought they were talking about the noon meal, but they were talking about the evening meal. I have always liked calling the evening meal “supper”. It conjures up feelings of family and fellowship. For me, is a term of comfort. 

 

Today, we will celebrate Communion together during the ministry time at the end of the service. It is also called the Eucharist and the Lord’s Table. Traditionally, we have called it, “The Lord’s Supper”. The title of my sermon today is “Supper Time”. My purpose is to talk about why the Lord’s Supper is powerful for us today. 

 

TEXT Luke 22:14–21 (NKJV) When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. ¹⁵ Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶ for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸ forI say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹ And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

 

PRAYER

 

The whole idea of Communion is intimacy and identification. 

 

The term for communion and intimacy is koinonia. This word means “to share, participate, partake”. The absolute sense of the word is “fellowship”. 

 

1 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV) God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

1 John 1:3 (NKJV) that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

 

We also have fellowship with one another. 

 

1 John 1:7 (NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

As we partake of the bread and cup, we identify with Jesus Himself. 

 

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 (NKJV) The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? ¹⁷ For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

 

Romans 6:5 (NKJV) For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

 

However, Paul warns is that we can also identify with the enemy and his forces. 

 

1 Corinthians 10:20–21 (NKJV) Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.

 

Paul goes on to give us instructions about the Lord’s Supper. 

 

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (NKJV) For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁵ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

 

When we eat the Lord’s Supper, we do three main things. 

 

1.    We remember.

What do we remember? 

 

a.    His death.

 

                                              i.     His body broken for us. 

 

Everything we need is in the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Isaiah 53:4-5 (NKJV) Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

 

What do you need today? 

 

Are you grieving? 

 

Do you have sorrow and regret? 

 

Have you made critical mistakes? 

 

Do you have long standing issues with addictions and strongholds? 

 

Is your peace gone? 

 

Are there things in your life that need healing: body, soul, spirit, relationships, finances, family, children? 

 

The list goes on and on. The body of Jesus was broken to bring healing into every area of your life!

 

                                            ii.     His blood shed for us.

 

His blood was shed to affirm and validate a new covenant. 

 

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (NKJV): Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—³² not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

 

When we take the cup, we are blessed by the benefits of that covenant. Look at them:

 

The Word of God in our minds: we can understand the Bible. 

 

The Law written on our hearts: we have the anointing and can know the will of God. 

 

We know the Lord personally and intimately.

 

Our sin nature is put to death. 

 

All our sins are forgiven and removed: this is called remission.

 

Hebrews 9:22 (NKJV) And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

 

Remission means removal. It was demonstrated by the two sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. One was killed; another was led into the wilderness to “bear away” or remove all the sin of Israel. This has to be done every year, but Jesus did it “once, for all!”

 

Hebrews 9:12 (NKJV) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

 

2.    We proclaim. 

 

What do we proclaim? His death and resurrection. Because Jesus died, the chain of sin, the hold the enemy had on, you is broken!

 

Colossians 2:13–15 (NKJV) And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

 

Ephesians 4:7–10 (NKJV) But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

 

3.    We promise. 

 

We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper until He comes! We look forward. Communion is a prophetic feast. Every time we take the bread and the cup, we do it knowing that we will drink it one day anew with Him! At the Last Supper, Jesus made this promise:

 

Matthew 26:29 (NKJV) But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.

 

John 14:1–3 (NKJV) Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

 

When the Jews would celebrate Passover, they drink the final cup with a declaration, “Next year in Jerusalem!” As we take the cup, let us proclaim, “Next year in the Kingdom!”

 

MINISTRY TIME/COMMUNION