Want to thank each of you for being here tonight
if you consider yourself a visitor want to echo
the warm welcome That's already been extended
to you. We're glad you're here Hope you can come
back and be a part of this gospel meeting as
we continue on through the week We're going to
continue tonight studying our subject our theme
that being restoring New Testament Christianity
we see a desperate need and we have a sincere
desire to restore the church that Jesus built.
And the key to doing that, we believe, is going
back to the Bible to find our faith, find our
doctrine, and find our practices as they are
revealed and authorized by the Scriptures. Tonight,
we're going to turn our focus to restoring a
very important part and practice in our assemblies
on the first day of the week, and that's communion.
We're going to talk about the Lord's Supper tonight.
Tonight we're going to talk about restoring a
biblical and meaningful observance of communion.
And to introduce, move that down a little bit,
to introduce the topic of communion, I want us
to go back in our minds to the eve of Christ's
betrayal and arrest. Jesus knew he only had a
few more hours with his disciples and he spent
the final hours with his disciples. The Bible
tells us celebrating the Passover. Now the Passover
was an annual Jewish celebration. It had been
celebrated by God's people for centuries. God
told his people to celebrate it once a year in
Leviticus chapter 23 verse 4. And you'll remember
the Passover was a meal that the Jews ate together
in remembrance of how God had delivered them
so many generations ago. from the bondage that
they were in in the land of Egypt. You can go
back to Exodus chapter 12 and you can read about
those events. And during the Passover the Bible
tells us that God told his people to sacrifice
a lamb, a spotless lamb without blemish. He told
them to take the blood of that lamb and apply
it to the doorposts of their homes. He told them
to roast and eat that lamb with unleavened bread.
And you'll remember at the first Passover in
Egypt, God told His people, when I see the blood
of that lamb on the doorpost of your house, I
will pass over you. No harm would come to the
people of God as the death angel passed through
the land of Egypt. So Jesus... and the apostles
were celebrating this ancient tradition, this
holy day of the Passover. They were engaging
in these activities together. And after they'd
finished eating the Passover, Jesus did something
very, very special and very, very significant.
What we have to remember is that everything pertaining
to the Passover was a shadow and a symbol of
better things to come in Christ. And how appropriate
it was for Jesus to spend his final hours celebrating
that Passover because it all pointed to him and
what he was about to do and going to a cross
and being that spotless sacrificial lamb and
dying for the sins of the world and you know
the Bible reassures us of that in Hebrews 10
verse 1 it says the law which contained all the
ordinances and holy days like the Passover it
was a shadow of good things to come The law was
a shadow of good things that were to come in
Christ. In Colossians 2 .16, we read that all
the holy days pertained in the law, such as the
Passover, pointed forward to Jesus. Paul told
the Colossian Christians, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of
an holy day. And he goes on to talk about some
of those holy days, and he comments on those
holy days in verse 17. What does he say? Those
holy days were a shadow of things to come but
the body or the substance is of Christ. Jesus
was shortly going to go and fulfill every shadow
and be everything the Passover had ever symbolized
when he would hang and die on a cross for our
sins. In 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 Paul
looks back and he wants the Corinthians to understand
that he told them purge out there for the old
leaven that you may be a new lump. Even as ye
these Corinthian Christians ye are unleavened
for even Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for
us we as Christians today don't have to go out
and sacrifice a Passover lamb once a year why
we have our Passover lamb we have our our sin
sacrifice, and that's the sacrifice of Jesus
as I mentioned The Jesus knew the hour of his
death was drawing near and as he finished eating
the Passover He did something very unexpected
with his disciples, and we're going to read what
he did from Mark chapter 14 verse 22 Mark 14
22 the Bible says as they did eat Jesus took
bread and Blessed and break it and gave it to
them and said take eat. This is my body And he
took the cup And when He had given thanks, He
gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And
He said unto them, This is My blood of the New
Testament, which is shed for many. He said, Verily
I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit
of the vine until that day that I drink it new
in the kingdom of God. What Jesus did here is
He had what people commonly call the last supper.
You've probably heard that term, the Last Supper.
This is Jesus having the Last Supper with His
disciples. Now in Scripture, this event is referred
to one of several ways. In Acts 2 42, we're going
to see tonight, this is called breaking of bread.
In 1 Corinthians 11 20, this is called the Lord's
Supper. And in 1 Corinthians 10, it's called
the Lord Table and it's also called communion.
Those are four different scriptural terms that
are used to describe what we just read when Jesus
ate the Last Supper and instituted the Lord's
Supper for His people. Whatever you want to call
it, breaking bread, communion, or the Lord's
table, here's what it is. It was Christ's chosen
and Christ's approved way of memorializing Him
and the sacrifice that He would soon provide
for the sins of the world. It was His way. that
he chose for us to remember him and to remember
his death. Now, we want to restore a meaningful
and a biblical observance of communion. We are
almost 2 ,000 years. removed from when Jesus
first ate this meal with his disciples. And we
want to make sure today that when we come around
the table, when we have communion, we are doing
it in a way that God would approve of. We're
observing communion in a biblical and a meaningful
manner. You know, that should characterize every
aspect of our worship. All of our worship to
God should be biblical and meaningful. For Jesus
taught us in John chapter 4 verse 23, Jesus talks
about worship here. Jesus said to the Samaritan
woman in John 4 23 he said the hour cometh and
now is when the true worshipers Shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father
seek as such to worship him God is a spirit and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth We want to worship God in spirit
and in truth to be the true worshipers Jesus
speaks about and I'm here to tell you tonight
when we Come around the table and have communion.
We will also want to do that in spirit and in
truth To worship in truth means to worship according
to the truth of God's Word. Our worship has to
line up with the teachings of the Bible. And
when our worship is in line and in agreement
with the authorized teachings of Scripture, we
can say our worship is biblical and we can say
we're worshiping in truth. But we also want our
worship to be in spirit. Our worship is meaningful
to us when we worship in spirit. We don't need
to just be going through the motions and doing
things to check off boxes to please God. God
wants us to worship Him with a sound mind and
a sincere heart. The very essence, the core of
our being, our spirit needs to be in our worship.
It's not just outer forms and mechanics and things
that we do without any heart and mind in our
worship. And when our heart and mind are engaged
fully in our worship, We can say that we're worshiping
in spirit and our worship will be meaningful
to us. So this is what I mean when I say we want
to observe communion in a biblical and a meaningful
way. All I'm saying is we want to be the true
worshipers that do it in spirit and in truth.
So we're going to start tonight like we did last
night by going to the New Testament and seeing
the pattern that God's Word gives us for communion.
We're going to go to the Word and study the pattern,
the blueprint. We're going to see how communion
was in that first century church that Jesus built.
And to do that, we're going to start by examining
the church at Jerusalem. In Acts chapter 2, verse
41 to 42, Acts chapter 2, as we've mentioned,
is the day, the time, the place that Jesus built
His church. On Pentecost Day, fifty days after
his death, the church was established by Christ
in Jerusalem. Three thousand people heard, believed,
and obeyed the gospel. We read that in Acts 2
.41, those that gladly received Peter's word.
The preaching of the gospel were baptized. And
the same day they were added unto them about
three thousand souls. Now we go on into the next
verse, verse 42, and it's going to... Tell us
some things about those first three thousand
Christians, those first three thousand baptized
believers in Christ. What did they do? The Bible
says they continued steadfastly in several things.
Let's notice what they continued steadfastly
in the Bible says that these first Christians
continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine
That's the teaching of the Apostles and the fellowship
of the Apostles and indeed their fellowship one
with another They also continued steadfastly
the Bible says in the breaking of bread and in
prayers The breaking of bread here is a reference
to the Lord's Supper or communion It's one of
the ways the Bible talks about or describes coming
around the table and observing communion. The
first Christians continued steadfastly in observing
the Lord's Supper. Now, here's something I want
you to know about this phrase, breaking bread.
Sometimes in scripture, the phrase breaking bread
does not necessarily refer to eating the Lord's
Supper. Sometimes it refers to eating a common
meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, sometimes the
Bible calls that breaking bread. And I want to
give you an example of that. It's just a little
bit further down in this same chapter in Acts
2. In Acts 2, 44, it describes those first baptized
believers in Jerusalem, those first members of
the church. It says all that believed were together
and they had all things common and they sold
their possessions and goods and parted them to
all men as every man had need. And they, those
Christians, continued daily with one accord in
the temple, and they were breaking bread from
house to house. They did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart. Now I'm convinced
by the context of this passage that the breaking
of bread here In verse 46 is different than the
breaking of bread we read about in verse 42.
Let's back up just a minute and look at the breaking
of bread in verse 42. Notice here the breaking
of bread is listed among several other spiritual
exercises that the church engages in when they
come together to worship God. Things like teaching,
things like prayer. This breaking of bread is
listed among those exercises and activities that
the church engages in. When the church comes
together, we have a special breaking of bread.
It's the Lord's Supper. And we understand that
according to the context. But when we get down
to Acts chapter 2 verse 46, the context is a
little bit different. It's talking about breaking
bread in the context of everyday daily activities.
You know, every day we eat maybe two or three
meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's
what the Bible is talking about. How first century
Christians continued to spend time together away
from the assembly and during those times, what
did they do? You all know what they did. They
did the same things we do when we get together,
right? They shared meals together. Okay, they
shared their meals together from house to house.
So I just want you to be aware of that. Not every
time we see breaking and bread in Scripture does
it refer to the Lord's Supper. Sometimes it is
a common meal. How do you know? If it's Lord's
Supper or a common meal, you have to look at
the context. If you look carefully at the context,
it will help you understand if the Lord's Supper
or a common meal is under consideration. Context
determines so many things in our study of Scripture.
We've got to be good, careful students of Scripture
and to do that we have to consider the context
for everything that we're looking at. Now let's
move on from the church at Jerusalem and let's
look at another first century church. Let's look
at the church at Troas. The church at Troas.
The Bible tells us in Acts 27 that the church
at Troas came together on the first day of the
week to celebrate the communion. Acts 20 and
7. The Bible says upon the first day of the week,
that Sunday, when the disciples came together,
what did they come together for? Bible says they
came together to break bread and on that occasion
It says Paul preached unto them ready to depart
on the morrow and continued his speech until
midnight Now this passage gives us a little bit
more information About how the first century
church came together and had the Lord's Supper
Specifically this verse teaches us that the New
Testament Church observed communion on the first
day of the week That's what that verse says the
disciples came together on the first day of the
week to break bread and have communion. So today,
if we want to restore a biblical observance of
communion, we too will eat communion on the first
day of the week, just like they did. Now we understand
from the teaching of the New Testament that these
Christians observe communion every first day
of the week. They came together every first day
of the week to have communion. Now granted the
word every is not in Acts chapter 20 verse 7.
If you read it carefully and notice, the Bible
does not say every first day of the week. However,
we understand from scripture and also the testimony
of church history that the first church came
together every first day of the week for communion.
And here's why we understand that. We believe
it's inferred or implied in these passages that
the communion was a weekly observance. an observance
that they participated in every week, in the
same way that the Sabbath was understood to be
a weekly observance for God's people, the Jews.
In Exodus 20 verse 8 to 10, this is the Ten Commandments
God gave the Jews at Mount Sinai, God told them,
remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Now notice
here, God didn't tell the Jews to remember every
Sabbath. Is the word every in that verse? The
word every is not in that verse. God never told
the Jews to remember every Sabbath. He just told
them remember the Sabbath. He told them six days
you'll labor and do on your work, but the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the Lord. You don't work
on that seventh day. God never told his people
expressly to remember every Sabbath, but you
know what they understood from commands like
this? They read commands like this and they understood
it to mean Every Sabbath. You know, every week
had a Sabbath, the seventh day. And if it was
the seventh day, it was the Sabbath. They were
honoring it and remembering it. In like manner,
every week has a first day of the week. And if
it's the first day of the week, we understand
the church should come together and they should
come around the table and break bread. We understand
that to be the practice of the first century
church. That was the frequency. Another example
of that before we move on. would be the Day of
Atonement. God told His people Israel in Leviticus
23, 27. He told them on the tenth day of the
seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement.
This was an annual holiday. The Day of Atonement
was an annual observance for the Jews. They observed
it in the seventh month on the tenth day. God
never told them every tenth day of every seventh
month. But you know what? They understood that
that day came around once a year and if it was
the seventh and if it was the tenth day, they
were going to celebrate the day of atonement.
It was implied it was understood. And it's implied
to us and we understand from Scripture, God wants
us to have the communion every Sunday. As we
continue to consider the original pattern that
God gives us in the Scripture for communion,
we're going to look finally at the church at
Corinth. Church at Corinth. Now, if you've read
1 Corinthians, you understand the church at Corinth
had a lot of problems. Nearly a different problem
for every chapter of the book and there's 16
chapters in all in 1st Corinthians So they had
a lot of problems All right one of the problems
the Corinthians had is they had changed the Lord's
Supper into a common meal and this common veal
Common meal involves some excessive feasting
They changed the Lord's Supper into something
the Lord had never intended it to be and you
know Paul actually teaches us a lot about the
right way to do communion in the correction that
he provided to the Corinthians because they were
doing communion the wrong way. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 11 verse 17 to 34 we learn some more
interesting details about God's original pattern
or plan for communion. Here's something we learned.
He told them, when you come together therefore
into one place, to have the Lord's Supper. The
Lord's Supper is something to do when we come
together into one place, when we assemble together
as a congregation. Paul also told them that when
they had the Lord's Supper, he said, Christ told
him to do it in remembrance of me, Jesus said.
Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me. The
Lord's Supper is. done in remember remembrance
of or to memorialize the death of Jesus and Then
another thing we learned from first Corinthians
11 Paul told the Corinthians you do shoe which
means to make manifest or demonstrate The Lord's
death till he come when we come around the table.
We do the same thing. We demonstrate we proclaim
We memorialize and remember the Lord's death
until he come So there's a lot of teaching there
in 1 Corinthians 11 about communion. Paul provided
that teaching in the process of correcting these
Corinthians because they weren't doing it properly.
Here's something else we learn in 1 Corinthians
10 about communion in the first century church.
Communion was really meant and designed to bring
all Christians together to the same table. It
was something God gave His church to draw all
believers closer together. In 1 Corinthians 10
17, Paul told them this. He said, for we being
many are one bread and one body. For we are all
partakers of that one bread. You know, there's
an element of unity that is demonstrated and
proclaimed when we come around the Lord's table.
And it was that way from the beginning when the
Lord set up communion for His people and as it
was practiced in the first century church. So
this is just a quick summary of some of the things
that we've learned by looking at the church in
Jerusalem, looking in the church at Troas, looking
at the church at Corinth, looking at how they
did communion. Here's what we've learned. Communion
was intended to be a commemoration of Christ
and His death. It was a vital part. of the early
life of the first century church. We understand
that it was for the disciples, it was for baptized
believers in Christ, it was for Christians, it
was not for everybody else out there in the world,
but it was a special meal for God's people who
were in a covenant relationship with Him. We
learn as we said that it was observed every first
day of the week, every Sunday when the church
came together, and it was given to draw all disciples
together into a closer bond. and a closer bond
of fellowship and unity. That's the original
pattern for communion as it's revealed in the
Scriptures. Now, as we've talked about this week,
we're going to move on now to consider how down
through the years of church history, down through
the centuries, changes were made. to the practice
and the doctrine of communion. We're going to
take a moment to survey church history and look
at some of the ways in which error concerning
communion and its practice slowly crept into
the church. One of the earliest changes that
was made to communion was a change in the name
for communion. Now earlier I gave you four scriptural
names. for communion, breaking bread, Lord's
Supper, Lord's Table, and communion. Those are
four scriptural ways to describe what we do when
we come around the table. But in the second century,
we see that they changed the name. This is Justin
Martyr. Justin Martyr was a second century Christian.
Justin Martyr was a leader in the church. He
was a very popular teacher in the church in the
second century. He wrote a lot about the church
and its doctrine in the second century. Justin
Martyr was a student of a disciple named Polycarp.
Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John.
Okay, according to church history and tradition.
So, you know Justin martyrs mentor was mentored
by the Apostle John That's how close some of
these men were to the original Apostles and the
ones who helped set up the church in 155 AD Justin
martyr wrote a work that's called the first apology
and the word apology there means a defense Justin
martyr wanted to write a defense of the faith
as he understood it. And he wrote some interesting
things about communion as it was practiced in
second century churches. It's in chapters 65,
66 and 67 of his first apology. You can go and
read and study this for yourself. Here's what
Justin Martyr said about how they were doing
communion in the second century churches. He
said they had communion every Sunday. They came
together every first day of the week and they
had communion. He said they had unleavened bread
and they had wine that they mixed and diluted
with water for the cup, the fruit of the vine.
He mentions the fact that it was given to those
who were baptized believers in Christ. He mentions
that prayers were offered for the bread and the
fruit of the vine before they were partaken of.
And then he mentions after those elements were
blessed, they were distributed to the members.
Isn't that interesting? We have a historical
record here. Now, the record of history is different
than the Word of God. The Word of God is infallible.
It's inspired by God. You know, history and the
works of men like Justin Martyr are not inspired
by God. They're not infallible. But it is an
interesting testimony, isn't it? To how in the
second century, most of what they were doing
for communion lines up with what we saw. the
original first century church is doing when they
had communion. It looks a lot like what we just
read from the New Testament. However, there was
one difference, one change, that they made to
communion in the days of Justin Martyr. Justin
Martyr said this in First Apology. He said, this
food, referring to the communion, the bread and
the cup, he said, this food is called among us
Eucharistia. The Greek word Eucharistia, or...
you might recognize the word Eucharist. Some
denominational churches today refer to the communion
as Eucharist. Now the word Eucharist comes from
that Greek word Eucharistia which means Thanksgiving
or gratitude. So you see, they took a new name,
Eucharistia, and they applied it to the observance
of the Lord's Supper. An unscriptural name, you
know, and the Lord's Supper is never called the
Eucharist or Thanksgiving or gratitude in the
New Testament. So this was man's idea to name
the communion something that it was not named
in the Bible. And a person says, well, Brother
James, what's the big deal with that, right?
Seems like a small thing. They just changed the
name. They're just calling it something different.
No big deal. Well, you know what? There's some
things that I want you to understand about that.
I think it's important that we call Bible things
by Bible names, OK? Here's what happens. When
we call Bible things by Bible names, it helps
to eliminate and prevent a lot of division and
confusion that we see around us in the religious
world. You know, you might have two different
religious groups. One says we have communion.
The other says we have the Eucharist and they're
divided and they can't get along. They might
be doing the very same thing. But they're just
calling it two different things. That's confusing.
That leads to division. So I believe the best
policy, the safest thing to do is let's just
call Bible things by Bible names and avoid all
the man -made labeling and man -made names that
can get applied to things in religion. I think
that'll actually help us to go about restoring
New Testament Christianity and preventing confusion.
And look, if that's the only thing they ever
did, if that's the only thing they ever did is
changed it from communion to Eucharist, Would
say that yeah, that would be a minor change,
but guess what? that first change Makes the second
change all that much easier And you know after
the second change the third change is not hard
at all and then the fourth change No one even
questions right we've already changed it so much
So far and then it just becomes really really
easy once you open the door with that first change.
Where do you close it? Where do we close it when
we start calling it something different than
what the Bible calls it? It's it's where do we
stop and? Unfortunately, that's what we're gonna
see that first change wasn't the final change
that was made to communion many more changes
followed over the centuries The next thing that
happened in church history concerning communion
and an error concerning it is Over time there
was a change in the elements now remember Jesus
instituted the Lord's Supper in connection with
the Passover meal. And in the Passover meal we
understand from scripture that the Jews celebrated
the Passover meal with unleavened bread. When
Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, He instituted
it with unleavened bread. How do we know that?
Because leavened bread was forbidden in the homes
of the Jews when they had the Passover. The Passover
was the beginning of the feast of unleavened
bread. And God told His people to remove all
the leaven from their homes before they even
ate the Passover. Exodus 12 19, He said, Seven
days shall there be no leaven found in your houses.
For whoso eateth that which is leavened, even
that soul shall be cut off from the congregation.
Verse 20, Ye shall eat nothing leavened. In all
your habitations ye shall eat unleavened bread.
This is what He told them to do during the Passover
and the feast of unleavened bread. So we know
when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, he did
so with unleavened bread. However, guess what
happened? Over the centuries, that changed. For
whatever reason, over the centuries, parts of
the Roman Catholic Church began to use leavened
bread in their observance of the Lord's Supper.
And you know, they tried it once and twice and
three times, and then it, like all things, it
became more and more and more and more common.
It became commonplace. in the Middle Ages for
the Roman Catholic Church to observe communion
with leavened bread. This is one of the points
of contention which actually divided the Roman
Catholic Church in the year 1054 AD. The year
1054 AD is called the year of the Great Schism.
That's when the Eastern Orthodox Church or the
Greek Orthodox Church split from the Western
Roman Catholic Church. There were many issues
that they were in disagreement about, and this
was one of the issues, whether or not it was
right to use leavened or unleavened bread in
the communion. Now here's something else that
changed concerning communion. Over the course
of time, not only was the name of communion changed
and not only were the elements changed, also
there was a change in the frequency in which
the church observed communion. We understand
from the testimony of church history That the
early church observed communion every first day
of the week for 200 years For at least 200 years
God's people came together every first day of
the week and had communion But let me tell you
something that developed on past the year 200
on into the year 400 and 600 ad what slowly developed
was a sacramental view communion. A view in which
communion is a sacrament, a sacred right or privilege
that is granted by the church to the faithful
and approved members of the church. It became
something that the church had the privilege of
and kept and maintained and only gave to the
members If they thought it was good to give it
to the members and if they thought the members
were worthy of receiving it that's that's what
I mean here what to say that communion became
a Sacrament there was a sacramental view that
developed around communion instead of all of
God's people coming together at the same the
same table eating the same bread drinking the
same cup Jews Gentiles male female bond and free
we all eat the same meal It was no longer like
that. It was a meal that the priests The clergy
the important religious people with the big long
robes right and the funny hats It was a privilege
that they would extend at their discretion to
the poor and lowly and uneducated church members
Okay During this time as communion slowly grew
to be more sacramental in nature. There was also
a growing gap in the church between the priests
and the common people. You see, the priests called
the clergy were highly educated. They lived in
castles that were giant and ornate and decorated
with gold and silver. And they were so much higher
above the common people. The common people lived
out under trees, in bushes, on the ground. They
had no education. They didn't have the privileges,
the rights, the protections that were afforded
to the priests. There was a very large growing
gap between the clergy, the priests, and the
laity, the common people. Another idea during
this time also developed, the idea that, you
know what, having communion too often lessens
its significance. This idea evolved that you
know what communion would just be more special.
It would just be more meaningful It would just
be more important to people if we would just
stop doing it so much and Maybe maybe they just
started doing it every other week. I don't know
But I know if it started every other week It
soon became maybe once a month four times a year
over a period of time as we study church history
we find that Fast forward just a little bit.
We find that from 300 AD to 600 AD the frequency
of observing communion declined from every first
day of the week to three times a year and by
the year 1215 AD in the Roman Catholic Church
They only took communion once a year and that
was on Easter. It began to be called Easter duty
One time a year they had communion now this idea
that having communion too often lessens its significance.
On some levels of human reasoning that might
sound good, but let's really stop and think about
that. Does the same apply for assembling and
coming together with the church? What would y
'all think if I came in here tonight and I said,
you know what? These church assemblies would
be more special and significant to you if you'd
just come less often. If you just come once a
month. Church service would be more meaningful
to you. Or what if I told you that about prayer?
You know, I think prayer would be better for
you and more significant and meaningful if you
just pray less. Maybe just pray once a week,
maybe just pray once a month, and maybe we just
pray once a year, then it'll be really meaningful
and really significant. What about giving to
the church? No church wants to do that any less
often than they do that, right? It's amazing
how these same churches that want to do communion
less want to do the offering more and more and
more and more. So you see, when we really stop
and think about it, this idea that praying less,
assembling less, Giving to the church less would
make it more significant. It's just not true.
It's just not logical The Bible says pray without
ceasing praying without ceasing doesn't make
prayer any less significant It tells us to exhort
one another daily while this called today exhorting
one another daily doesn't make it any less significant
Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13 And so we see a change
here in the frequency how often communion was
observed it was in the Middle Ages only observed
one time a year. All right, let's fast forward
to today and let's consider the practice of communion
as it's commonly practiced in Christianity today.
As we look around today, look, we're going to
see a lot of the same changes and errors that
we saw come in over the course of church history.
We look around today, communion is still called
by unscriptural names, it still involves unscriptural
elements, and it's still observed in an unscriptural
frequency. It's not observed in a lot of churches
every first day of the week. In many churches
today, communion no longer resembles what it
originally did in the New Testament church. It
doesn't look like what they did in the Bible
when we call it the Eucharist, have leavened
bread and do it once a year. That's something
completely different than what we've seen from
the Scriptures. And we have to clearly identify
this for what it is. We have to clearly look
at this honestly. And we have to size this up
and discern and say that this is man -made doctrines
and man -made traditions. That man has changed
the truth of God's Word into something that God
never intended. And that's, by definition, is
what man -made doctrines and traditions are all
about. And we remember Jesus condemned all forms
of man -made religion. He told the Jews... Pharisees,
the scribes and the Pharisees in Mark 7 -8. Laying
aside the commandment of God, he said, you hold
the tradition, the tradition of men. He said
unto them, full well you reject the commandment
of God that you may keep your own tradition.
You know, that's the nature of man -made traditions.
We have to let go or exchange or turn loose of
the commandments of God to take hold of man -made
traditions. Every time we take hold of one man
-made tradition, it means we've turned loose,
we've let go of the commandments of the Lord.
We want to be careful that we don't involve ourselves
in man -made religion, the doctrines and traditions
of men. We still see around us very much a sacramental
view of the Lord's Supper that is still present
and alive in Christianity today. I'm afraid that
it in too many churches in too many places at
too many times communion has just become a check
-off -the -box obligation That somehow makes
me right with God for another week, so I'll take
communion this week check off the box I'll walk
out. I'll come back in next week take communion
check off the box fulfilled my obligation to
the Lord You know if that's our attitude about
communion. That's very much a sacramental view
of communion as we've discussed tonight Here's
something else we see sometimes and I think we
ought to give careful consideration to this I
think sometimes maybe even in some time at some
times at some places in the churches of Christ
Maybe even we develop this idea or this mentality
concerning communion It's the idea that communion
is just something between us and God alone that
when we commune we are communing with God only
I want to say some things about that. I want
you to think about that with me. Let's talk for
a moment about the word communion. The word communion
comes from the Greek word koinonia. And koinonia
is defined as fellowship, community, or joint
participation. In essence, that's what koinonia,
that's what communion is all about. Fellowship,
community, and joint participation. Here's something
else I want you to be aware of. Remember early
I talked about 1st Corinthians 11? How the church
at Corinth had messed up the Lord's Supper, turned
it into a common meal. They were feasting. It
was about filling their bellies, satisfying the
flesh, and not doing what was pleasing to God.
In 1st Corinthians chapter 11, what's interesting
about that passage? The Lord's Supper issue at
Corinth was actually just symptom of a much larger
and greater problem that they had and That was
a lack of togetherness in unity if you go back
and read first Corinthians 11 verses 17 to 19
That's those verses leading right up to Paul's
correction about the Lord's Supper He introduces
the Lord's Supper problem as a problem stemming
from a lack of unity and a lack of togetherness
and divisions among them. Isn't that interesting?
How Paul connected the two. He connected corruption
of the Lord's Supper to a lack of strong unity
and togetherness. What does that teach us and
what does that tell us? It tells me that an element,
an essential element of the Lord's Supper, the
communion, Is that God gave it as something that
would draw us together and give us a greater
degree of togetherness in unity that that's one
of the reasons why God wants us to come together
and eat the Lord's Supper together to reinforce
that togetherness in unity. So when it comes
to communion Here's the idea. I would have you
to consider that communion is not just about
our individual communion with God Sometimes we
think about it exclusively in a vertical sense.
It's between me and God I do believe communion
is between us and God, but there's also another
element. There's a horizontal element. An element
of fellowship, community, and joint participation,
one with another. The communion was meant to
bring us all closer together, strengthen our
unity in the body of Christ. It's also about
our collective communion, one with another. When
we eat the same bread, and when we drink the
same cup. Let's move on to... considering how
that we can work today to restore the New Testament
pattern for communion. Remember that's what restoration
is all about, restoring something to its former
original condition. If changes have been made
to communion down through the years, if there's
parts or elements of communion that we identify
as not part of the original plan that God gave
us, we want to try to rectify that. We want to
try to restore and do communion just as it's
been revealed by God in the New Testament. To
do that, to be successful in that, what would
we do? Well, to restore biblical communion, of
course, we're going to have to go back to having
a weekly observance of the Lord's table, because
that's the pattern that we see in Acts 27, that
the disciples came together on the first day
of the week to break bread. Every first day of
the week, we need to come together and we need
to observe the Lord's Supper. There needs to
be an exclusive focus on Christ when we come
around the table. Our focus needs to be on Jesus.
Because after all, what did Jesus say about communion?
What did he tell Paul? And what did Paul tell
the Corinthians? Jesus told Paul, and Paul told
the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 11, 24, take,
eat, this is my body which is broken for you,
this do in remembrance of me. Jesus said this
do in remembrance of me. It's right here on the
communion table in front of me verse 25 the Jesus
told Paul Paul told the Corinthians this cup
is the New Testament in my blood this do ye as
off as you drink it in remembrance of me Do this
in remembrance of me. I I want you to see something
here Communion is a time for Christ examination
It's a time for Christ examination. I'm not so
sure that communion is a time for self -examination.
An examination of us. I think the communion needs
to be a time to examine Christ and do it in remembrance
of Him. Now this is where some of you are going
to say, well hold on brother James, I know there's
a verse in there that talks about examining yourself.
you're right there is a verse connected to this
that talks about examining yourself so we don't
want to ignore that let's go and look at that
just a little bit further down let's read it
and try to understand it because I don't want
you to misunderstand me when I talk about the
difference between self -examination and Christ
examination let's see what the Bible says about
examining ourselves in communion 1st Corinthians
1127 Paul told the Corinthians whosoever shall
eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord
unworthily Shall be guilty of the body and the
blood of the Lord. He says but let a man examine
himself Okay, there's there's examination there.
Let a man examine himself and so let him eat
of that bread and drink of that cup Person says
brother James. Aren't we supposed to examine
ourselves during communion like the Bible says
here? Let me try to explain that as best as I
understand it. I don't believe Paul was telling
these Corinthian Christians to examine the last
week of their life and try to figure out how
good or how bad of a Christian they had been.
But you know, I think sometimes we get to thinking
that way. I know I've thought that way. communion
at different times in my life I've thought that
this is a time that I just need to be thinking
about myself and how good of a Christian was
I last week and I get to thinking and I did this
good but boy I sure did a lot bad and I did this
and I did this and I did this and you know it's
not long before guess what the examination is
not on Christ anymore is it the focus is not
on Jesus what where's the focus the focus is
on me and then there's the bread right in front
of me okay you know Jesus did not say do this
in remembrance of the last week and try to analyze
how good or bad of a Christian that you've been.
He didn't say that. He didn't say that. Paul
was telling them to examine the way that they
were observing the Lord's Supper. The manner,
the way in which they were observing the Lord's
Supper was unworthy. We're going to talk about
that more in just a moment. The unworthiness
that's mentioned here is not a reference to personal
worthiness or unworthiness. It's not a question
as to whether or not we as God's people are worthy
or unworthy to partake. What Paul was telling
him is that the manner, the way you're having
communion, having it as a feast, having it as
a common meal, eating it to just fill your belly,
that is an unworthy observance of the Lord's
Supper. And he says you need to examine yourselves,
you need to examine what you're doing and realize
it's not the Lord's Supper and you need to repent
and you need to start doing communion properly.
I really believe that's what Paul was trying
to tell the Corinthians when he told them to
examine themselves. Examine the way you're doing
communion and see that it's wrong and change
it. As I just mentioned, another part of restoring
biblical communion I think will require us to
refocus and get a clear understanding of our
awareness of the fact that we are worthy to partake.
I believe Every baptized believer in Christ is
worthy to partake of the Lord's Supper. Let's
see that from 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians
11 verse 27. Paul told them, wherefore whosoever
shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the
Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and
the blood of the Lord. For he that eateth and
drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation
or condemnation to himself not discerning the
Lord's body. Have we perhaps misunderstood here
what it means to eat and drink unworthily? Have
we misunderstood maybe at different times and
in different places what that means to eat and
drink unworthily? We need to give serious consideration
to it because there's some serious consequences
associated with it. We don't want to be guilty
of what Paul is warning the Corinthians about.
But what does it really mean in this passage
in its context to eat and drink unworthily? Here's
the first thing I want you to know about that
word unworthily. The word unworthily in that
verse is not an adjective. You remember what
adjectives are? Adjectives are words that describe
persons, people, or places. The word unworthily
is not an adjective. It is not describing a person.
It is not describing you or me. It is not describing
those Corinthian Christians. It is not describing
their personal worthiness or lack thereof to
take communion. The word unworthily there is
not an adjective. I'm going to tell you what
it is in just a moment. But before I do, let's
just stop and think about who these Corinthians
were. Have you read verse Corinthians? Have you
read how bad they were? Just go read chapter
four, five, and six. Just three chapters. You
know what you're going to find out about the
Corinthians? Paul says they were carnal. They
were envious. They were stirred up with strife.
They had all kinds of divisions among them. He
said, you're puffed up. Some of them were guilty
of fornication, sexual immorality, a very serious
type of it. And they were suing one another publicly,
openly in courts of law, among other things.
Among other things. That's the same Corinthians
Paul wrote to in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Do
these people sound personally worthy to partake
of communion? They don't look very worthy to
me. I mean, if we're going to size them up by
how good or how bad of Christians they were being,
I mean, that's a failing grade. It's amazing
that Paul just didn't tell them to stop. observing
communion altogether. You know, Paul could have
told them, you Corinthians just got way too many
problems. You might as well just stop or suspend
the Lord's Supper altogether, at least until
you can get your act together and regain your
worthiness. And then you can come together and
eat and drink at the Lord's Supper again. Is
that what Paul told them? It's not what Paul
told them. He could have told them that. It's
not what he told them. You remember when Jesus
instituted the Lord's Supper? Remember who he
ate it with? He ate it with Judas the betrayer,
Peter the denier, and Thomas the doubter. People
that he knew would betray him, deny him, and
doubt him. Isn't that something? He still ate
it with them. Before he had that first Lord's
Supper, did he say, Peter, Thomas, Judas, you
need to excuse yourselves. I'm going to have...
the Lord's Supper here with my faithful disciples.
He ate the Lord's Supper with all of them. That's
something to think about. I want to go back to
that word unworthily. That word unworthily there
in 1 Corinthians 11 is not an adjective. It's
not describing the Corinthians or their personal
worth. It's an adverb. The word is an adverb.
You remember what adverbs do? They modify and
describe verbs or actions. The word unworthily
is describing an action, not a person. It's describing
the action in which they were taking the Lord's
Supper, their observance of the Lord's Supper,
what they were doing, feasting and eating a common
meal and calling it the Lord's Supper. That's
what was unworthy. And that's what Paul was trying
to help them see and repent of and rectify. He
was describing the unworthy manner in which they
were observing the Lord's Supper. Who among us
is truly worthy to eat at the same table as the
perfect sinless Son of God? I think about my
life. I don't feel like I'm the least bit worthy.
I kind of feel like John the Baptist was. I'm
not even worthy to unloose his sandals, right?
John the Baptist said to Jesus, I don't feel
the least bit worthy to come to a table and eat
with the perfect and sinless Son of God but that's
the amazing and the wonderful and the beautiful
thing of communion that through Christ and through
what he did through his death which we remember
at the table through that death guess what we
are made worthy We are all made worthy if we're
a baptized believer in Christ to come together
and commune with him because he died for us and
That makes us worthy to come together and remember
his death. Isn't that wonderful? I Hope that
by understanding that that will help make communion
all that much more meaningful for you We need
to be aware of our worthiness to partake And
I think to restore biblical communion, we're
also going to need to recognize that communion
needs to be an expression of our congregational
unity. I think it would be good for us to think
less about communion as being only vertical between
us and God, but also realize and think more about
communion being horizontal between each member.
in the body of Christ, that fellowship, that
joint participation, that community that we enjoy
together as God's called out people. The Lord's
Table is the great equalizer. It's meant to bring
us all together. And for us, in our culture,
it's probably challenging for us to understand
the significance of this because in our culture
what do we do? In our culture we share food with
one another. We don't even think twice about
it. I mean it's just what we do. We share our
food one with another I want to tell you something
in the first century Back that wasn't the same
culture that they had Jews didn't eat together
with Gentiles That was completely out of the
norm Masters did not eat at the same table with
their servants That was completely out of the
norm males coming together and eating with females
again out of the norm But what was the Lord's
Supper intended to do? Galatians 3 .26, For you
are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus, for as many of you, Jew, Greek, bond,
free, male or female, for as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
And once we put on Christ in baptism and come
into the body of the church, there's neither
Jew nor Greek, bond or free, neither male nor
female, for you are all one. in Christ Jesus.
And if we're all one in Christ Jesus, guess what?
We come together around the same table, eat the
same bread, drink the same cup. That must have
been a sight to see. In a first century church
assembly, Jews and Gentiles eating the same bread,
drinking the same cup. Men, women, bond and free,
eating the same bread, drinking the same cup.
It's something God gave to bring us all together
and keep us all close together in Him. So when
we come together around the Lord's table, let's
always remember To honor Christ to respect Christ
to memorialize Christ and let's strive to do
this in a biblical in a meaningful way I hope
these things have been edifying informative and
encouraging you to you tonight. Thank you for
your careful participation