WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:04.379 You're listening to City Church Manchester. We 00:00:04.379 --> 00:00:07.379 are a church that invites everyone to enjoy Christ 00:00:07.379 --> 00:00:11.259 for the glory of God. If we can serve you in 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:15.060 any way, then visit our website at citychurchmanchester 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:30.500 .org to find out more. In the first place, I 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:32.520 hear that when you come together as a church, 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:35.320 there are divisions among you. And to some extent, 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:38.759 I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:41.399 among you to show which of you have God's approval. 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:45.880 So then, when you come together, it is not the 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:48.640 Lord's Supper you eat. For when you are eating, 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:51.619 some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. 00:00:52.299 --> 00:00:55.820 As a result, one person remains hungry and another 00:00:55.820 --> 00:00:59.700 gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:03.520 in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:07.180 those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:11.140 Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter. 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.000 For I received from the Lord what I also passed 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:18.519 on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:21.560 betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, 00:01:21.819 --> 00:01:25.359 he broke it and said, This is my body, which 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:30.299 is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In 00:01:30.299 --> 00:01:32.379 the same way, after supper, he took the cup, 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:35.900 saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:39.340 Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:43.560 of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.120 this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:50.420 he comes. So then, whoever eats the bread or 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:52.620 drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner 00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:55.060 will be guilty of sinning against the body and 00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:58.879 blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.560 themselves before they eat of the bread and drink 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.939 from the cup. For those who eat and drink without 00:02:04.939 --> 00:02:07.579 discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:11.379 on themselves. That is why many among you are 00:02:11.379 --> 00:02:14.080 weak and ill, and a number of you have fallen 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:18.439 asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:21.259 to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:24.580 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:26.900 by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:29.379 we will not be finally condemned with the world. 00:02:30.419 --> 00:02:33.400 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:37.240 to eat, you should all eat together. Anyone who 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:39.659 is hungry should eat something at home so that 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:41.840 when you meet together, it may not result in 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.949 judgment. And when I come... I will give further 00:02:44.949 --> 00:02:48.210 instructions. Hello, everyone. It's great to 00:02:48.210 --> 00:02:51.229 be with you to open up this next passage in 1 00:02:51.229 --> 00:02:53.409 Corinthians. Let us bow our heads and let's pray 00:02:53.409 --> 00:03:00.409 together. Let's pray. Father, we pray that the 00:03:00.409 --> 00:03:04.849 words of my mouth and the meditations of our 00:03:04.849 --> 00:03:09.310 hearts might be pleasing in your sight today. 00:03:09.370 --> 00:03:16.860 Our Lord, our Rock. and our redeemer amen well 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:20.479 let me ask you as we start why do marriages fail 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:24.340 that's a painful and a sensitive question i i 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:27.020 grew up in a family where my parents divorced 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:29.259 so i know the pain of it but it's good to ask 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:32.740 why do they collapse Why do marriages fail? Sometimes 00:03:32.740 --> 00:03:35.360 it is because of a major collapse. Something 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.020 explodes. Someone has an affair. A betrayal comes 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:42.759 to the surface. And overnight, everything falls 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:48.979 apart. But more often, marriages don't explode. 00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:55.819 They just slowly fade. Of course, the wedding 00:03:55.819 --> 00:03:59.349 day was beautiful. They said their vows with 00:03:59.349 --> 00:04:01.389 sincerity. Their family and friends were joined 00:04:01.389 --> 00:04:03.490 together and it was joyful, it was wonderful. 00:04:05.169 --> 00:04:10.349 And from that moment on, they were husband and 00:04:10.349 --> 00:04:16.709 wife. Legally, publicly, before God. But then 00:04:16.709 --> 00:04:21.050 slowly, quietly, yet persistently, something 00:04:21.050 --> 00:04:26.410 changes. They stop sharing their lives, their 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:32.759 dreams. Their time. Conversations become merely 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:36.699 logistical. So, you picking up the kids or am 00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:41.899 I? Who was supposed to pay that bill? What time 00:04:41.899 --> 00:04:45.819 are you home tonight? The people, they still 00:04:45.819 --> 00:04:50.800 live in the same house. They still wear the same 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:55.420 wedding rings. They appear married to the outside 00:04:55.420 --> 00:05:01.829 world. But inside something has died. They still 00:05:01.829 --> 00:05:08.449 have union. They just no longer have experience 00:05:08.449 --> 00:05:16.329 of communion. They're married in name. But they're 00:05:16.329 --> 00:05:21.350 strangers in reality. And that's how many marriages 00:05:21.350 --> 00:05:25.350 die. Not with a dramatic explosion, but with 00:05:25.350 --> 00:05:31.129 a slow and tragic death. Now let me ask you a 00:05:31.129 --> 00:05:32.610 similar question. If you're here tonight and 00:05:32.610 --> 00:05:38.230 you're a Christian, how's your relationship with 00:05:38.230 --> 00:05:43.329 Jesus going? Actually, let me backtrack a bit 00:05:43.329 --> 00:05:46.930 because I'm using Christian jargon there. And 00:05:46.930 --> 00:05:48.949 if you're not a Christian and you're here tonight, 00:05:49.149 --> 00:05:54.329 you need to know something. Christianity is not 00:05:54.329 --> 00:05:58.970 fundamentally about religion. It's fundamentally 00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:04.350 about relationship. Christians don't simply know 00:06:04.350 --> 00:06:10.990 things about God. We claim to know God personally, 00:06:11.350 --> 00:06:18.069 relationally, intimately. In fact, when the Bible 00:06:18.069 --> 00:06:20.329 looks for a metaphor to describe the relationship 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:24.120 between God, And his people. One of the most 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:27.699 popular ones the Bible uses is the image of marriage. 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:32.300 The church is the bride. Jesus is the bridegroom. 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.360 So Christian friends, let me ask you again. How 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:43.120 is your relationship with Jesus? How is your 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:49.500 spiritual marriage? Because. Sometimes Christians 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:53.120 can drift in exactly the same way as spouses 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:57.240 drift away from one another. We still believe 00:06:57.240 --> 00:06:59.339 all the right things. We believe that Jesus died 00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:00.899 on the cross for our sins, that on the third 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:05.399 day he rose again. But belief can remain up here 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:11.720 in our heads while communion in our hearts disappears. 00:07:16.779 --> 00:07:22.199 And when life becomes hard, that gap becomes 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:27.420 painfully obvious. You know, Christians do go 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:29.720 through hard times. Jesus was absolutely clear 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.180 this is what will happen to us. We will experience 00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:34.720 loneliness, we'll experience sickness, failure, 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:41.160 broken relationships, grief. And sometimes when 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:42.899 someone is going through one of those really 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:46.500 hard times... They'll say something very honest. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.319 They'll say, well, I know that God loves me. 00:07:50.860 --> 00:07:54.639 I know that Jesus died for me. I know that he 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:58.100 rose again and that he's coming back. But right 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:01.939 now, that just doesn't seem like it's enough. 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:09.620 Not while I remain single. Not while I can't 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:14.089 find a job. Not while I'm still estranged from 00:08:14.089 --> 00:08:18.610 my mother. Now that's an honest thing to say. 00:08:20.310 --> 00:08:26.310 And it reveals something very important. Knowledge 00:08:26.310 --> 00:08:32.429 about Jesus up here in our heads. It will carry 00:08:32.429 --> 00:08:34.409 us through in the good times. It will do that. 00:08:35.750 --> 00:08:40.740 But when the world around you collapses. Knowledge 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:46.259 about Jesus will not be enough. Facts alone cannot 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:50.220 carry the weight of our suffering. What we need 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:53.500 is not simply knowledge about Christ, we need 00:08:53.500 --> 00:08:58.820 knowledge of Christ. We need to know him personally, 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:05.539 intimately, experientially. It's not enough simply 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:11.809 to be able to explain the gospel. We must experience 00:09:11.809 --> 00:09:18.389 the gospel. And that's exactly what Paul wants 00:09:18.389 --> 00:09:20.470 the church in Corinth to understand in the passage 00:09:20.470 --> 00:09:23.990 that Molly just read. We're continuing our series 00:09:23.990 --> 00:09:26.690 in the book of 1 Corinthians. It's a letter written 00:09:26.690 --> 00:09:29.610 by the Apostle Paul to a church that was frankly 00:09:29.610 --> 00:09:33.509 in a bit of a mess. It was a church in chaos. 00:09:34.830 --> 00:09:37.009 And Paul has already addressed a whole range 00:09:37.009 --> 00:09:40.409 of issues in the letter so far. So he's spoken 00:09:40.409 --> 00:09:42.889 about rival factions, about sexual immorality, 00:09:42.990 --> 00:09:45.830 about food sacrifice to idols. And now we're 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:48.549 in a section dealing with the public worship 00:09:48.549 --> 00:09:53.230 of the church. And specifically today about the 00:09:53.230 --> 00:09:58.269 Lord's Supper. About communion. And he begins 00:09:58.269 --> 00:10:01.429 with a shocking statement. Verse 17. In the following 00:10:01.429 --> 00:10:04.529 directions I have no praise for you, for your 00:10:04.529 --> 00:10:10.139 meetings do more harm than good. That's an astonishing 00:10:10.139 --> 00:10:13.080 thing for a church pastor to say about a church 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:15.139 service. I'm sure many of us have been to some 00:10:15.139 --> 00:10:17.559 pretty awful church services. You know, with 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:20.179 sermons that kind of meander on. Hopefully not 00:10:20.179 --> 00:10:23.440 today. With music that's completely out of tune. 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:25.620 With notices that go on longer than the meandering 00:10:25.620 --> 00:10:28.460 sermon. We've been to services like that. But 00:10:28.460 --> 00:10:31.980 I suspect none of us would say that the service 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:36.100 did more harm than good. But that's what Paul 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:40.370 says here. What on earth is going on? Well, to 00:10:40.370 --> 00:10:43.750 understand the situation, we need to remember 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:47.330 something about the early church. You see, the 00:10:47.330 --> 00:10:49.950 early church didn't meet in large buildings like 00:10:49.950 --> 00:10:54.730 this building. They met in homes. And the homes 00:10:54.730 --> 00:10:57.710 they met in usually belonged to the wealthy members 00:10:57.710 --> 00:11:00.629 of the church. Now, those wealthy believers, 00:11:00.789 --> 00:11:03.450 they tended to be the major financial donors 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:07.129 to the church. They had flexible schedules. They 00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:09.809 had leisure time. They didn't have to work very 00:11:09.809 --> 00:11:14.169 much, which meant that they could arrive early 00:11:14.169 --> 00:11:17.289 for church. And when they arrived, they brought 00:11:17.289 --> 00:11:21.909 food with them. And not just any food. They brought 00:11:21.909 --> 00:11:27.070 the Fortnum and Mason luxury hampers, caviar, 00:11:27.070 --> 00:11:31.970 oysters, fine wine. And the wealthy believers, 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:33.990 they get there first. They gather in a small 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:38.700 dining room in the house. And they'd start eating. 00:11:41.059 --> 00:11:47.559 And drinking. And feasting. Meanwhile, the majority 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:52.220 of believers, they were much, much poorer. They 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:54.200 were laborers and tradespeople, so they couldn't 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:56.379 go to church until after work. And remember, 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:57.940 in the Roman Empire at the time, they didn't 00:11:57.940 --> 00:12:01.200 have a weekend. There was no designated day off. 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:05.100 So these believers, they'd arrive late after 00:12:05.100 --> 00:12:07.440 they'd finished work. And when they arrived, 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:11.419 the dining room would already be full. So they 00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:13.559 had to gather in a courtyard or in one of the 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:17.179 side rooms. And if they hadn't been able to buy 00:12:17.179 --> 00:12:22.740 food, which many couldn't have bought, they would 00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:28.440 have sat there hungry, watching the wealthy slosh 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:34.100 back their Chateau Lafitte Rothschild. Can you 00:12:34.100 --> 00:12:36.440 imagine how humiliating that would have been 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:42.039 for them? That's the context of verses 17 to 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:46.259 22. And the consequences are severe. They're 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:49.860 set out in verses 27 to 34. The church was being 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:52.580 judged for what they were doing. Some members 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:56.399 had become sick. Some had even died. We'll return 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:00.350 to that a bit later on. But right in the middle 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:05.649 of the passage, the meat in the sandwich of it, 00:13:05.870 --> 00:13:09.169 Paul reminds the Corinthians what the Lord's 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:12.769 Supper is. These verses are what are sometimes 00:13:12.769 --> 00:13:17.990 known as the words of institution. And here is 00:13:17.990 --> 00:13:23.090 the key idea. God has given us something extraordinary 00:13:23.090 --> 00:13:27.289 in the Lord's Supper. Because we're not just 00:13:27.289 --> 00:13:31.610 brains in a jar. You know that. We are body, 00:13:31.730 --> 00:13:37.309 soul, units. And God wants to engage us, not 00:13:37.309 --> 00:13:41.029 only mentally in our minds, but physically as 00:13:41.029 --> 00:13:44.929 well. That's why Jesus gave to the church two 00:13:44.929 --> 00:13:48.330 physical signs, what are often known as sacraments, 00:13:48.409 --> 00:13:54.169 baptism and the Lord's Supper. Through them... 00:13:55.210 --> 00:13:58.490 We don't simply hear the gospel with our ears 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:01.090 or even see the gospel with our eyes. We get 00:14:01.090 --> 00:14:05.629 to experience the gospel. And in the supper, 00:14:05.769 --> 00:14:09.450 we experience the gospel in three ways. In the 00:14:09.450 --> 00:14:13.789 past, in the present, and in the future. Those 00:14:13.789 --> 00:14:16.129 are our three points this afternoon. So first 00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:19.750 of all, the Lord's Supper enables us to experience 00:14:19.750 --> 00:14:24.919 the past. Look at how Paul begins in verse 23. 00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:38.080 He says, Now there's a fascinating wordplay going 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:42.320 on there in the original. The word used for passed 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:46.440 on and the word used for betrayed in the original 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:51.919 Greek is the same word. It means to hand over. 00:14:52.490 --> 00:14:57.029 So Paul hands over to the Corinthians what Jesus 00:14:57.029 --> 00:15:01.370 handed over to Paul about what happened on the 00:15:01.370 --> 00:15:08.090 night that he was handed over to death. That 00:15:08.090 --> 00:15:12.309 means that the Lord's Supper is rooted in history. 00:15:13.149 --> 00:15:15.809 It's not something that the church made up. It's 00:15:15.809 --> 00:15:18.429 not something we thought was a great idea. This, 00:15:18.789 --> 00:15:25.059 this. is a reenactment of an actual event that 00:15:25.059 --> 00:15:29.200 took place on an actual night, the night that 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:33.059 Jesus was betrayed. But the meal itself on that 00:15:33.059 --> 00:15:36.620 actual night was actually a reenactment of a 00:15:36.620 --> 00:15:39.820 meal that took place more than a thousand years 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:47.019 before. The Israelites, the people of God, they 00:15:47.019 --> 00:15:50.799 were slaves in Egypt. And they cried out to God 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.080 and God promised to rescue them. So he sent plague 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:57.600 after plague after plague against Pharaoh, king 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:02.779 of Egypt. Finally came the plague on the firstborn. 00:16:03.059 --> 00:16:07.799 Every firstborn child in Egypt would die that 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:13.740 night. But there was a problem. You see, the 00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:20.789 judgment, it was... For rebellion against God. 00:16:22.269 --> 00:16:26.690 Seeking to live as if God wasn't in charge. And 00:16:26.690 --> 00:16:28.789 the problem was that the Israelites were guilty 00:16:28.789 --> 00:16:32.289 of that too. They too lived as if God wasn't 00:16:32.289 --> 00:16:38.110 in charge. And so they deserve judgment. And 00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:41.309 so God made provision for them. He said to them, 00:16:41.330 --> 00:16:43.210 it's recorded in Exodus chapter 12. He said, 00:16:43.289 --> 00:16:47.909 take a lamb, take a lamb without defect and kill 00:16:47.909 --> 00:16:50.870 that lamb. And then take the blood of the lamb 00:16:50.870 --> 00:16:54.370 and paint it. And paint it on the doorpost, on 00:16:54.370 --> 00:16:56.690 the top and down the sides of your doorpost. 00:16:56.830 --> 00:17:00.190 And the blood for me tonight will be a sign. 00:17:00.289 --> 00:17:03.669 And when I see the blood, I will pass on over 00:17:03.669 --> 00:17:09.579 your place. Because a substitute has died. In 00:17:09.579 --> 00:17:13.559 the place of your firstborn. Then eat the lamb. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:16.799 With bitter herbs. And eat bread that has not 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:20.720 been fermented. And so that's exactly what the 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:25.000 Israelites did. And when the Lord passed over 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:31.059 Egypt that night. In judgment. He saw the blood. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.859 On the doorpost. And he passed over those homes. 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:44.019 And the family inside was spared. And every year 00:17:44.019 --> 00:17:48.759 after that, God commanded the Israelites to celebrate 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:53.700 the Passover meal by reenacting it again and 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:56.740 again and again, year after year. The command 00:17:56.740 --> 00:17:59.599 is recorded for us in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:02.759 14. And it says that this Passover meal celebration, 00:18:03.059 --> 00:18:10.180 it was to be, the word is, a commemoration. Now, 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:12.539 the Hebrew word used there for commemoration 00:18:12.539 --> 00:18:16.180 is zikaron. When the Greeks translated it into 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:19.940 Greek language, the word they used was amnesis. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:25.859 And that is the exact same word that Paul uses 00:18:25.859 --> 00:18:30.539 in 1 Corinthians 11, verses 24 and 25, when he 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:35.759 says that Jesus said, do this in remembrance 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:43.529 of me. We hear that word, remember, and we think 00:18:43.529 --> 00:18:48.009 about mental recall, don't we? Like, I need to 00:18:48.009 --> 00:18:50.490 remember the name of that person I met last Sunday 00:18:50.490 --> 00:18:53.089 at City Church. Or I need to remember all those 00:18:53.089 --> 00:18:54.670 things I learned in my revision for my exams 00:18:54.670 --> 00:18:57.430 coming up. But that's not the way that the word 00:18:57.430 --> 00:19:02.130 is used in the Bible. In biblical language, remembrance, 00:19:02.430 --> 00:19:07.849 it is not merely cognitive, it is participatory. 00:19:09.769 --> 00:19:13.349 The Passover meal wasn't just about recalling 00:19:13.349 --> 00:19:17.549 history in our minds. It was about stepping into 00:19:17.549 --> 00:19:21.849 the story of history and our experience. Experiencing 00:19:21.849 --> 00:19:26.069 it ourselves. And that is exactly what Jesus 00:19:26.069 --> 00:19:28.849 was doing when he celebrated the Last Supper. 00:19:31.529 --> 00:19:33.990 You know, something interesting happened when 00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:37.380 Jesus celebrated the Last Supper. If you read 00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:38.660 the account, if you read it in 1 Corinthians, 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:41.380 you can read it in Matthew, Mark and Luke as 00:19:41.380 --> 00:19:44.539 well. There is something missing in every single 00:19:44.539 --> 00:19:46.880 account. Did you notice what was missing? This 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:52.319 is the Passover meal. What's missing? The lamb. 00:19:52.940 --> 00:19:55.980 That's right. The Passover lamb is not there. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:01.390 Why? Because the blood of a lamb. could never 00:20:01.390 --> 00:20:04.789 really be an adequate substitute for a human, 00:20:04.849 --> 00:20:07.970 let alone a whole Israelite family. It was always 00:20:07.970 --> 00:20:10.609 pointing away from itself, forwards to something 00:20:10.609 --> 00:20:17.069 to come, the true Passover lamb. The lamb without 00:20:17.069 --> 00:20:22.029 defect. The perfect God -man. The only one who 00:20:22.029 --> 00:20:26.450 has ever lived who did not sin. The only one 00:20:26.450 --> 00:20:29.549 to ever live who deserved to be passed over in 00:20:29.549 --> 00:20:33.170 judgment. The man who was sitting there at that 00:20:33.170 --> 00:20:36.650 table at the last supper, serving out the bread 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:40.890 and the wine, who the very next day would be 00:20:40.890 --> 00:20:45.289 passed over to judgment through death on a cross. 00:20:47.910 --> 00:20:50.910 The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the 00:20:50.910 --> 00:21:01.930 world. Now do you see what that means? When we 00:21:01.930 --> 00:21:04.210 celebrate the Lord's Supper, it's not simply 00:21:04.210 --> 00:21:07.950 a visual aid, like having revision flashcards 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:12.490 to help you remember the gospel. It is participatory. 00:21:12.910 --> 00:21:19.769 It is deeply experiential. We step into the past. 00:21:20.009 --> 00:21:24.329 We experience the past for ourselves as we taste 00:21:24.329 --> 00:21:27.950 the bread. We experience Christ's body broken 00:21:27.950 --> 00:21:31.730 for us. As we taste the cup, we experience Christ's 00:21:31.730 --> 00:21:34.470 blood shed for us. We're told in this verse, 00:21:34.529 --> 00:21:37.309 it is the blood of the new covenant. The new 00:21:37.309 --> 00:21:41.650 promise that no matter who you are, no matter 00:21:41.650 --> 00:21:45.549 what you've done, if you come to Jesus with faith, 00:21:45.890 --> 00:21:55.640 you're welcome. You're welcome. Just look at 00:21:55.640 --> 00:22:02.740 verse 27. I think verse 27 is possibly top of 00:22:02.740 --> 00:22:05.579 the list of most misunderstood Bible verses. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:10.180 Let me read it. So then whoever eats the bread 00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:12.940 or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy 00:22:12.940 --> 00:22:15.720 manner will be guilty of sinning against the 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:17.819 body and blood of the Lord. Now some people, 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.299 they read this and they think, well that's pretty 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:24.450 scary. I better make sure that I'm worthy before 00:22:24.450 --> 00:22:27.329 I come to the Lord's Supper. Make sure that I 00:22:27.329 --> 00:22:30.609 haven't sinned too much. Make sure that my faith 00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:32.990 is strong enough or else I'm just going to drink 00:22:32.990 --> 00:22:40.329 judgment on myself. But that completely misunderstands 00:22:40.329 --> 00:22:44.190 the point. In fact, it is the complete opposite 00:22:44.190 --> 00:22:49.130 of what the Lord's Supper is all about. Why? 00:22:51.660 --> 00:22:53.599 Well, because of the connection to the past, 00:22:53.819 --> 00:22:58.480 to the Passover. Let me explain. Imagine this 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:00.880 scenario. Imagine it's the first Passover meal, 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:04.859 okay? And that evening, two Israelites, let's 00:23:04.859 --> 00:23:08.099 call them Avner and Yitzhak, they're chatting 00:23:08.099 --> 00:23:09.960 together on the street outside their homes. They've 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:13.299 heard from Moses, and Yitzhak, he turns to Avner 00:23:13.299 --> 00:23:16.160 and he says, Avner, what are you going to do 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:20.019 tonight? Exactly what Moses said. I'm going to 00:23:20.019 --> 00:23:21.960 get out the blood of the lamb. I'm going to paint 00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:24.759 it over my doorpost. The Lord won't fail us this 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:29.099 time. But Yitzhak, he's a little bit nervous 00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:32.920 about it. I just don't know. It just seems so 00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:38.140 weird. Do you really think the blood on the doorframe 00:23:38.140 --> 00:23:42.700 is going to save us? And Abner replies, well... 00:23:43.099 --> 00:23:45.420 Yitzhak, just trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. 00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:47.500 He won't fail us. He's never failed us before. 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:51.039 He won't fail us this time. Are you sure? Yes. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:55.480 Yes, Yitzhak, I am. And so they return to their 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:59.279 homes. And that night, Abner gets out his paintbrush 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:02.119 and he confidently paints his door frames. And 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:04.579 Yitzhak gets out his, and he kind of tentatively, 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:14.119 nervously paints. Now here's the question. Which 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:17.420 family was saved that night? The confident family 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:27.279 or the doubting one? Both were. Because salvation 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:31.019 does not depend upon the strength of our faith. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:36.220 It depends upon the object of our faith. In 1 00:24:36.220 --> 00:24:40.440 Corinthians 11, verse 27, the word unworthy is 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:46.299 not an adjective. It is an adverb. It's not describing 00:24:46.299 --> 00:24:49.240 the person who comes to the supper. It's describing 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:54.759 the manner in which they come. So if you're here 00:24:54.759 --> 00:24:57.299 today and you're trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:24:57.539 --> 00:25:03.400 God invites you to come and to experience the 00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:09.180 past of what the gospel has achieved. Experience 00:25:09.180 --> 00:25:14.230 it firstly in baptism. That's the sign of entering 00:25:14.230 --> 00:25:16.769 into the Christian life, of having died with 00:25:16.769 --> 00:25:19.170 Christ to sin and being raised with Christ to 00:25:19.170 --> 00:25:23.009 new life. The next opportunity to be baptized 00:25:23.009 --> 00:25:26.190 is coming up on Sunday the 3rd of May. If you 00:25:26.190 --> 00:25:28.349 haven't been baptized, please come and chat to 00:25:28.349 --> 00:25:30.230 me afterwards. I'd love to share with you how 00:25:30.230 --> 00:25:32.410 you can go about getting baptized on the 3rd 00:25:32.410 --> 00:25:37.250 of May. But then, having been baptized, whether 00:25:37.250 --> 00:25:42.490 as a child or as an adult, Come join us for the 00:25:42.490 --> 00:25:48.970 supper. Experiencing the past. Actively. Really. 00:25:50.049 --> 00:25:55.390 Truly. Secondly. The supper does not just take 00:25:55.390 --> 00:26:02.289 us back. It brings us to Christ now. In the supper. 00:26:02.809 --> 00:26:05.210 We experience the present. That's the second 00:26:05.210 --> 00:26:08.549 point. You may know that Christians have disagreed 00:26:08.549 --> 00:26:10.430 down through the centuries about precisely what 00:26:10.430 --> 00:26:14.029 Jesus meant when he said, verse 24, this is my 00:26:14.029 --> 00:26:18.690 body. Some have argued that he meant that when 00:26:18.690 --> 00:26:21.130 we take the bread and the wine, they literally 00:26:21.130 --> 00:26:24.210 are transformed and become the physical body 00:26:24.210 --> 00:26:26.789 and blood of Jesus. It's called the doctrine 00:26:26.789 --> 00:26:30.390 of transubstantiation. The Roman Catholic Church 00:26:30.390 --> 00:26:32.490 has even gone so far as to say, well, it becomes 00:26:32.490 --> 00:26:34.690 the physical body and blood of Jesus and the 00:26:34.690 --> 00:26:37.230 priest comes up to the altar and he offers it 00:26:37.230 --> 00:26:44.349 again as an atoning sacrifice for sin. As if 00:26:44.349 --> 00:26:46.549 Jesus' death 2 ,000 years ago was not enough 00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:49.609 to deal with our sin. Now that's clearly wrong. 00:26:49.710 --> 00:26:55.549 Jesus died once for all. And remember, when Jesus 00:26:55.549 --> 00:26:58.720 uttered these words at the Last Supper, He hadn't 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:01.579 yet gone to the cross. So he couldn't have been 00:27:01.579 --> 00:27:04.880 speaking literally. And remember the context 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:07.640 of what's going on. It's the Passover. And all 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:10.339 the elements of the Passover, they were symbolic. 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:14.960 The Passover lamb pointed forward towards Jesus. 00:27:15.740 --> 00:27:18.980 The bitter herbs pointed towards the bitterness 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:25.759 of their slavery in Egypt. The Passover is symbolic. 00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:32.299 And so too is the Lord's Supper. Jesus was not 00:27:32.299 --> 00:27:35.500 claiming to be physically present at the supper. 00:27:36.220 --> 00:27:38.839 But that does not mean that he was not present 00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:44.160 at all. Just turn back to the chapter that Malk 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:48.180 spoke from two weeks ago. 1 Corinthians 10, verses 00:27:48.180 --> 00:27:50.220 16 to 18. I'm going to read the verses and as 00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:54.200 I do, think, what does the word participation 00:27:54.200 --> 00:28:00.319 mean here? So I'll read from verse 16. Is not 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.059 the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks 00:28:03.059 --> 00:28:07.720 a participation in the blood of Christ? And is 00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:11.079 not the bread that we break a participation in 00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:13.880 the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, 00:28:13.980 --> 00:28:17.900 we who are many are one body, for we all share 00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:20.380 the one loaf. Consider the people of Israel. 00:28:20.420 --> 00:28:24.059 Do not those who eat the sacrifice participate 00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:30.819 in the altar? What does participating in the 00:28:30.819 --> 00:28:35.279 body and blood of Jesus mean? Well, some people 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:37.700 say it's talking about the church because the 00:28:37.700 --> 00:28:39.900 New Testament speaks about the church as being 00:28:39.900 --> 00:28:44.819 the body of Christ. The problem is that nowhere 00:28:44.819 --> 00:28:46.700 in the New Testament does it speak about the 00:28:46.700 --> 00:28:50.440 church being the blood of Christ. Nowhere. Just 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:53.980 not there. So that can't be right. It can't be 00:28:53.980 --> 00:28:55.460 talking about the church here, participating 00:28:55.460 --> 00:29:00.059 in the church. And I think the clue to understanding 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:05.720 verse 16 and 17 is actually verse 18. You see, 00:29:05.799 --> 00:29:09.019 just like the Israelites, when we come to the 00:29:09.019 --> 00:29:14.579 Lord's Supper, we get to share the benefits of 00:29:14.579 --> 00:29:17.960 what happened at the altar. Not the altar of 00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:22.200 the Roman Catholic Church, but the altar of a 00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:28.220 cross outside Jerusalem. Listen to how the pastor 00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:31.539 John Piper puts it. He said, we eat and drink. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:35.440 That is, we take into our lives what happened 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:39.920 on the cross. By faith, by trusting in all that 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:43.339 God is for us in Jesus, we nourish ourselves 00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:46.160 with the benefits that Jesus obtained for us 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:53.119 and when he bled and died on the cross. We do 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:57.630 that presently. Every time. we celebrate the 00:29:57.630 --> 00:30:02.589 Lord's Supper. As John Calvin put it, Jesus is 00:30:02.589 --> 00:30:06.009 mysteriously present in the supper, not physically, 00:30:06.150 --> 00:30:12.109 but spiritually, whenever we eat together. That 00:30:12.109 --> 00:30:15.130 doesn't mean that we get anything in the Lord's 00:30:15.130 --> 00:30:17.150 Supper that we don't get when we open up the 00:30:17.150 --> 00:30:21.009 Bible. We still get the same Christ when we come 00:30:21.009 --> 00:30:23.569 to the Lord's Supper, but we get him differently. 00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:29.319 You might even say we get him better. Because 00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:31.559 when we get Christ in the supper, it doesn't 00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:34.339 just engage our eyes and our ears, he engages 00:30:34.339 --> 00:30:41.900 our smell, our taste, our touch. So we experience 00:30:41.900 --> 00:30:46.140 in the present our union with Christ. We commune 00:30:46.140 --> 00:30:50.359 with him. But we experience something else in 00:30:50.359 --> 00:30:54.759 the present too. We experience our union and 00:30:54.759 --> 00:31:00.680 communion with one another. That we are, verse 00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:05.980 17 of chapter 10, one body. You see, that's why 00:31:05.980 --> 00:31:09.680 Paul was so angry at what was happening in the 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:13.220 church in Corinth in verses 17 to 22. He was 00:31:13.220 --> 00:31:16.079 angry because they were excluding fellow believers 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:21.630 from the supper. And that's the terrible irony 00:31:21.630 --> 00:31:25.349 of those who misapply the warning of verse 27. 00:31:26.650 --> 00:31:29.390 By refusing to the supper, people they think 00:31:29.390 --> 00:31:32.230 don't have sufficient faith or have too much 00:31:32.230 --> 00:31:36.710 sin, they are actually doing the very thing that 00:31:36.710 --> 00:31:41.269 Paul condemns right here in verse 27. They're 00:31:41.269 --> 00:31:44.829 excluding the church. They are denying the body 00:31:44.829 --> 00:31:50.089 of Christ. And it is such a serious thing to 00:31:50.089 --> 00:31:51.789 do that some of the members of the church in 00:31:51.789 --> 00:31:54.990 Corinth were getting sick and dying, verse 30. 00:31:55.690 --> 00:31:59.069 Judgment. But notice that this judgment was a 00:31:59.069 --> 00:32:01.789 judgment of mercy. Paul describes it in verse 00:32:01.789 --> 00:32:06.690 32 as being discipline. God is teaching his church. 00:32:07.130 --> 00:32:11.180 The worst judgment that God can give us. It's 00:32:11.180 --> 00:32:13.359 to do nothing about our sin, to just hand us 00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:16.160 over to our sin. That is terrible because we're 00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:18.460 being handed over to judgment. By taking this 00:32:18.460 --> 00:32:20.779 action on the church in Corinth, he's saying 00:32:20.779 --> 00:32:24.440 it's not too late. Turn before it's too late. 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:29.400 So how are we to apply all this to ourselves 00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:34.839 today? Well, like I said, here at City Church, 00:32:34.940 --> 00:32:41.599 we welcome you to the table. If you have put 00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:44.220 your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are 00:32:44.220 --> 00:32:48.700 welcome to come. If you're trusting in Jesus, 00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:52.819 this table is for you. If you're not yet trusting 00:32:52.819 --> 00:32:56.220 in Jesus, we hope that this present presence 00:32:56.220 --> 00:32:59.940 will be true for you very, very soon. We're praying 00:32:59.940 --> 00:33:04.019 for that. And when we come up in just a few moments 00:33:04.019 --> 00:33:06.579 to receive the Lord's Supper, you're going to 00:33:06.579 --> 00:33:08.819 see many people coming to the front from all 00:33:08.819 --> 00:33:11.799 different backgrounds, all different ages. They'll 00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:16.599 come up one by one. And if you're trusting in 00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:20.799 Jesus, these people from all these different 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:22.859 backgrounds, all these different ages, they are 00:33:22.859 --> 00:33:32.170 your family, your body, your people. Each and 00:33:32.170 --> 00:33:38.690 every one of them. In the supper, we get to experience 00:33:38.690 --> 00:33:43.609 the present reality of our church family. And 00:33:43.609 --> 00:33:45.109 as you watch that, I'd like you to do something 00:33:45.109 --> 00:33:48.710 else. I want you to see someone coming up to 00:33:48.710 --> 00:33:51.890 the front who's not like you. From a different 00:33:51.890 --> 00:33:55.329 background, different age. And I want you to 00:33:55.329 --> 00:33:57.549 commit over the coming weeks to get to know that 00:33:57.549 --> 00:34:02.430 person. And before Easter, To invite them round 00:34:02.430 --> 00:34:06.910 to your house for dinner. Make real in your own 00:34:06.910 --> 00:34:11.630 home what is a present reality here at the Lord's 00:34:11.630 --> 00:34:16.090 table today. We experience our present communion 00:34:16.090 --> 00:34:18.670 with God and with each other in the Lord's Supper. 00:34:18.750 --> 00:34:23.750 And then finally, we experience the future. Look 00:34:23.750 --> 00:34:26.769 at verse 26 for me. For whenever you eat this 00:34:26.769 --> 00:34:29.969 bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's 00:34:29.969 --> 00:34:33.440 death. until he comes. You see, the Lord's Supper, 00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:38.760 it points forward. Like we saw at the start, 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:43.420 the heart of Christianity is relationship. Our 00:34:43.420 --> 00:34:46.420 relationship with Jesus. A relationship that 00:34:46.420 --> 00:34:48.219 the Bible likens to the relationship between 00:34:48.219 --> 00:34:51.559 a husband and a wife. And the Lord's Supper is 00:34:51.559 --> 00:34:55.739 a glimpse, it is a foretaste of the wedding supper 00:34:55.739 --> 00:34:58.780 to come when our bridegroom, Jesus, returns. 00:35:01.710 --> 00:35:06.889 In the early 1800s, a young man named Adoniram 00:35:06.889 --> 00:35:12.329 Judson travelled to Myanmar to serve there as 00:35:12.329 --> 00:35:17.150 a missionary. Now, Judson endured terrible, terrible 00:35:17.150 --> 00:35:21.070 loss. His wife Anne died after many years of 00:35:21.070 --> 00:35:23.489 suffering. Just six months after that, his young 00:35:23.489 --> 00:35:28.510 daughter Maria also died. Far from home, Judson 00:35:28.510 --> 00:35:31.699 stood at the grave of his loved ones. bearing 00:35:31.699 --> 00:35:36.019 unimaginable grief. Yet he held on to the hope 00:35:36.019 --> 00:35:39.519 of the gospel, and reflecting on his wife's death, 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:43.619 Judson said this, Our hearts were bound up together, 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.940 but though she has been torn from me, I shall 00:35:48.940 --> 00:35:53.960 see her again. Now that confidence, it wasn't 00:35:53.960 --> 00:36:00.849 sentimental optimism. It was rooted in the gospel 00:36:00.849 --> 00:36:05.010 hope of the resurrection of Jesus. And it's exactly 00:36:05.010 --> 00:36:08.610 the hope that the Lord's Supper points us to 00:36:08.610 --> 00:36:12.550 this evening. When we come to the table in just 00:36:12.550 --> 00:36:17.570 a moment, we will be proclaiming that death does 00:36:17.570 --> 00:36:23.599 not have the last word. We will look back to 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:26.960 the cross where death was defeated in the death 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:29.599 of Christ. We will experience in the present 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:34.139 the joy of our union with Jesus and with one 00:36:34.139 --> 00:36:37.699 another. And we will look forward to the day 00:36:37.699 --> 00:36:41.039 when Christ comes back and the brokenness of 00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:45.579 this sad and tragic world is finally undone. 00:36:47.050 --> 00:36:49.409 As J .R. Tolkien put it so beautifully in The 00:36:49.409 --> 00:36:52.690 Lord of the Rings, at that moment, every sad 00:36:52.690 --> 00:36:58.710 thing will come untrue. In the Lord's Supper, 00:36:58.769 --> 00:37:03.070 we get to experience a foretaste of the future 00:37:03.070 --> 00:37:12.130 feast. One day, the table will be full. The grease 00:37:12.130 --> 00:37:16.909 of this life will be undone. And loved ones who've 00:37:16.909 --> 00:37:21.110 been separated from us by death, they'll sit 00:37:21.110 --> 00:37:24.570 together again. And do you know who will be the 00:37:24.570 --> 00:37:30.010 head of the table? The lover of our souls, the 00:37:30.010 --> 00:37:35.030 Lord Jesus Christ himself. Look, I know that 00:37:35.030 --> 00:37:37.650 there are many of us here this evening who've 00:37:37.650 --> 00:37:44.909 suffered incredible loss. We grieve the loss. 00:37:45.530 --> 00:37:49.090 of a loved one, the relationships that we've 00:37:49.090 --> 00:37:53.969 never had. We feel pangs of loneliness, haunted 00:37:53.969 --> 00:37:58.130 by those sad memories. Brothers and sisters, 00:37:58.210 --> 00:38:05.389 as we lift our cups in just a moment, will you 00:38:05.389 --> 00:38:10.650 hear it? Will you hear in your imagination's 00:38:10.650 --> 00:38:16.269 eye the clink of our cups toasting? The Lord 00:38:16.269 --> 00:38:20.510 Jesus Christ on that last day. As we join together 00:38:20.510 --> 00:38:24.230 with loved ones who've been separated from us 00:38:24.230 --> 00:38:26.389 by death. And as we join together with loved 00:38:26.389 --> 00:38:29.110 ones that we never knew we had from around the 00:38:29.110 --> 00:38:32.530 world and across the centuries. Will you hear 00:38:32.530 --> 00:38:38.289 it? And will you experience it? Would you feel 00:38:38.289 --> 00:38:42.909 it when we come to the supper? The embrace of 00:38:42.909 --> 00:38:47.400 the one who said to you. I love you to death. 00:38:49.960 --> 00:38:55.280 I will never leave nor forsake you. I am yours 00:38:55.280 --> 00:38:59.380 and forever you're mine. Let me pray for us. 00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:06.099 Lord Jesus, thank you that you are with us now, 00:39:06.280 --> 00:39:11.980 really, truly and spiritually. Thank you that 00:39:11.980 --> 00:39:15.090 we yet... Not simply to know things about you, 00:39:15.250 --> 00:39:19.090 but to know you. Thank you that that has been 00:39:19.090 --> 00:39:23.889 one, because Lord Jesus, at that last supper, 00:39:23.949 --> 00:39:26.949 just straight after it, you were handed over 00:39:26.949 --> 00:39:32.789 to death, on death on a cross. You went and were 00:39:32.789 --> 00:39:35.849 denied communion with the God with whom you've 00:39:35.849 --> 00:39:39.969 had communion eternally. So that we might experience 00:39:39.969 --> 00:39:44.610 the closest. Of being with you. Help us to feel 00:39:44.610 --> 00:39:46.690 it. Help us to experience. Help us to know it. 00:39:46.730 --> 00:39:49.610 Right here and now we pray. Amen.