Symbols of Life: The Transformative Power and Significance of the Lord's Supper | Mark 14:22-25

The episode delves into the significance of the Lord's Supper, exploring its historical context, practices, and spiritual importance for believers today. By examining scriptures and personal reflections, we highlight the necessity of self-examination and remembrance as integral to this sacred act. 
• Addressing the question of why we celebrate the Lord's Supper 
• Discussing the frequency and variations in practice across denominations 
• Reflecting on the early church and the issues raised by Paul in Corinthians 
• Emphasizing personal reflection and confession before partaking 
• Looking backward to remember Christ's sacrifice and anticipatory joy in His return

Chapters

• 0:03 Exploring the Meaning of Communion
• 12:07 Anticipating the Kingdom Feast

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hello and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast. My name is Taylor Guerin. I have the privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist and I want to thank you for listening in to our sermon this week. And I want to tell you this if you're in our area and you don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist, el Dorado. Will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week?

Speaker 1: 0:34

Church family will be in Mark today for just a few minutes. We will get there by way of 1 Corinthians 11,. But if you want to turn to Mark, chapter 14, why do we do the things that we do? We asked that question. Last week, we asked it about baptism. Today I ask the same question about the Lord's Supper. For 2,000 years now, the church has been gathering together. We've been baptizing, we've been taking the Lord's Supper together, and have we stopped to ask why? Or maybe have that state of the union when we say, hey, here's exactly why we do the things we do? I thought today I would preach for a few moments from the Lord's table here down front. Last week I chose not to preach from the baptistry, though I could have done it, but I will be down front today. Why do we take the Lord's supper? There's many ways we could think through the Lord's supper. There's many ways we could think through the Lord's Supper. There's many ways we could talk about it. We could talk about the when, like how often should we do it? Different churches do it different ways. Some churches it's every week, some it's every month, some it's a few times a year, once a quarter type thing.

Speaker 1: 2:03

One of my favorite stories from church history is John Calvin. John Calvin, he had a rotation of four different churches he would preach at. He desired to take the Lord's Supper every single Sunday, but the churches in his area, they, only wanted to take it once a month. And so what did he do? He lined up his four churches for their once a month, on the day he would be there, and so he had it every single week and the church had it once a month. And so what did he do? He lined up his four churches for their once a month, on the day he would be there, and so he had it every single week and the church had it once a month.

Speaker 1: 2:29

How often, I don't think is as important as the fact that you do it, that there is a regularity to it and we are meeting together to have the Lord's supper. We could also ask the question of how? How should it be done? In a minute you'll get a small cup of juice and you'll get a small piece of bread.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Maybe you've been at churches that do it different ways. Maybe you've been in a church that I've celebrated the Lord's Supper by intention, where you literally dip the bread into the cup. Maybe you've been at a church with a common cup Lord's Supper that kind of, you know, went on hard times during COVID. We don't do that as much these days but the common cup I remember for Katie and I both probably our most special Lord's Supper we've ever taken was a common cup Lord's Supper in Jerusalem on a Sunday morning at a Christian church right within the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. If you've ever taken the Lord's supper, literally footsteps from where Jesus died and rose again, that's a special place to do it, and we could talk about how, we could talk about who. Who takes the Lord's supper. Well, our belief is this that all believers, all those that know Jesus Christ personally, are invited to the table to take the Lord's Supper with us. If you don't have a relationship with Christ, you are very much in the right place this morning. I would love to talk to you about that and you can take the Lord's Supper with us. But the Lord's Supper is for those who know Jesus Christ personally. But for a few minutes this morning I really want to talk about the what. What is happening, what are we doing as we take the Lord's Supper? So we're going to get there in Mark, chapter 4, but I do want to get there by way of 1 Corinthians 11, because long before I talked about the Lord's Supper, the Apostle Paul probably much better than I, was talking about the Lord's Supper to the church at Corinth.

Speaker 1: 4:31

The church at Corinth was an interesting place and, to be honest, it was a messy place. They didn't have it all figured out. Sometimes we act as if the early church did it best and they did a lot of things really well, but they also had to have a lot of letters written to them, which we have in scripture, because of some things they weren't doing so well. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, paul writes to the church at Corinth and really he gives them a hard time and tells them. You've got it all wrong.

Speaker 1: 5:00

As far as the Lord's supper goes, it's kind of unbelievable to think through how the church at Corinth was practicing the Lord's Supper goes. It's kind of unbelievable to think through how the church at Corinth was practicing the Lord's Supper. It had become the Lord's Feast. And here's how they would do it in Corinth that the more prominent members of the church maybe the wealthier, the more prominent, the more popular they would arrive earlier and they would get to feast. I'm talking, it was not just bread and a cup of juice, it was a feast. All the other members would arrive much later and if there were any leftovers they could have a little bit of the Lord's Supper. What a mess. I mean. Paul even calls them out in verse 21 that some in the congregation are going hungry while others are getting drunk. So, quite literally, in this time of Lord's Supper some were even getting intoxicated, y'all. It was a mess of a Lord's Supper in Corinth, and so Paul wanted to come correct these things.

Speaker 1: 6:00

But as he's talking about how the Lord's Supper should be taken, he says this here, beginning in verse 27. Whoever therefore eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks, judgment on himself. I want to see first that, before we take the Lord's Supper, we look inward. Before we take the Lord's Supper, we look inward. Before we take the Lord's Supper, we look inward. I praise God that, as we come to the Lord's Supper at First Baptist El Dorado, we're not having to combat some of the problems that Corinth was having to combat. That's a really good thing.

Speaker 1: 6:51

And yet still, for each one of us, as Paul explained to Corinth, I think you and I have an obligation to take the Lord's Supper in a worthy manner. What does that mean? That means to come to the Lord's table after we have confessed our sin to the Lord and sought his forgiveness for sin, that we would have a time, and we do that each time we come together for the Lord's Supper. We take time for ourselves to pray to the Lord and confess the things in our heart that we've done against the Lord, so that we can come to the table with clean hands and a pure heart and we confess the sins, the things that we've done, the things that we've left undone. We even ask the Holy Spirit Lord, search my heart for those places I don't even see, those blind spots in my own life I'm not even aware of. Lord, search me and show me these things, forgive me of these. I give them to you, and we seek the Lord's forgiveness there. But we also come to the table with repentance, not just seeking forgiveness but also repenting of that sin. So, quite literally, turning away from the sin and walking in the other direction, that's how we come to the table so that we can partake in the Lord's supper in a worthy manner. So first, before we take the Lord's supper, we look inward. But I want to see this that during the Lord's supper we look backward.

Speaker 1: 8:19

Open with me to Mark, chapter 14. As Jesus is first celebrating the Lord's Supper with his disciples, he's really instituting the supper. He says interesting things about what the supper represents, what the bread and the cup represents for the believer. And so here he is, the night right before his arrest, the evening before he would be put on a cross, as he is dining in the upper room with his disciples. Mark 14, verse 22.

Speaker 1: 9:22

And so it's on this night, as Jesus is first instituting the Lord's Supper, that he takes two elements he takes the bread and he takes the cup. And what does he say about the bread? He says this that this is my body, that this bread represents my body that is broken for you. We look around, even probably this morning, even around our homes, and we have crosses all over the place. And I want to be clear I love that. I love that. I mean in our home we've got crosses, on pieces of jewelry. We have crosses. That's a really good thing. I'm thankful for that.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Let me do just say this we are tempted at times to somewhat sanitize the cross, aren't we To forget just the weight of it? That when Jesus says this bread represents my body that was broken, we are looking towards our Savior's body on the cross that was in every sense broken, the place of absolute suffering. As we think about the cross itself, we cannot imagine a greater form of suffering than what our Savior went through for us, that that body was truly broken on the cross for you and I, for our forgiveness. So we take the bread and we remember the body of Christ, and then we take the cup and as we drink it, jesus tells us that this represents what this represents the blood of Jesus Christ, that what has been poured out for each one of us. And so we take this cup and we think about the blood of Jesus, the blood that washes our sins clean. How can you and I be forgiven? We know it's not by our effort, we know it's not by our abilities. How is it the body and blood of Jesus Christ that sin had to be paid for? And there was one, jesus Christ, the righteous one, who was willing to pay it. In fact, he was the only one able to pay the debt that we owed, and he willingly did it.

Speaker 1: 11:30

And so, in the Lord's Supper, we look backward as we remember the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, and it is a powerful moment. It is a heavy moment, as we really remember the suffering that took place on the cross and we really remember the weight and the cost of our salvation. We know that salvation is a free gift praise God but it's a costly gift. It was costly for the Son of God. His body and His blood poured out. So, before the Lord's Supper, we look inward.

Speaker 1: 12:07

During the Lord's Supper, we look backward, but I don't want to miss this. After the Lord's Supper, we look inward. During the Lord's Supper, we look backward, but I don't want to miss this. After the Lord's Supper, we look forward. Look with me at verse 25. Jesus continues. He says this truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Let me read that again. Let's not miss that. Truly, I say to you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Speaker 1: 12:42

And so for a few verses, jesus calls us to look backwards. That's where we are looking. Obviously, for Jesus this is the events that are happening the next day, but for us we're looking backwards the body and the blood. But then, in verse 25, he gives us somewhere to look forward that there will be a day that we will take this supper as we remember Jesus, remember what he has done. We look back at the gospel at the cross, that salvation event, but we do it in the new heaven and the new earth, in the kingdom of God, fully realized with the king, that we will remember what Christ has done with Christ, that he says I will take this supper once again with you in the kingdom.

Speaker 1: 13:32

And so, as we take the Lord's Supper, we're also taking the opportunity to look forward. To look forward that Christ went to the cross. Christ died but, thanks be to God, the story didn't end there. He rose from the grave on the third day. He's now ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the throne of God and, guys, one day he will return. He's coming back and the kingdom of God will come in its fullness and we will be part of it and we will feast with our Lord and Savior, like physically, you and I, eating and drinking, enjoying the kingdom of God with the King himself.

Speaker 1: 14:17

You and I have much to look forward to, we have much to be excited about. We have a great eternity ahead, why? Because there was a body and a blood that was poured out, broken for us. There was a king that rose from the grave and there was a king who has invited us into his kingdom by his blood, and we will live with him and dwell with him forever. So, as we take this Lord's Supper, even now, even in these moments, we're looking inward, looking at our own hearts. Lord, let me come to the table in a worthy manner. I'm not perfect, but, god, here are my sins. Would you forgive me. We're looking backwards the body and blood of Jesus Christ for me, for you, for our forgiveness and we're looking forward. Lord Jesus, there will come a day when we do this anew with you in your kingdom.