John Gunter: Chapter verse 12. It begins like this, and on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. And wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?
And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready, there prepare for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening, he came with the 12, and as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. They began to be sorrowful and to say to him say to him one after another, is it I? He said to them, it is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.
For the son for the son of man goes as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. If you attended our service last week, we talked about this very verse. And what's interesting is as they're preparing for this Passover feast, Jesus drops this little nugget, this kind of this Debbie Downer moment.
Right? Because you know what the Passover feast was. This was this this moment that they all looked forward to. Again, the Passover being this event that has happened in the past where God showed up and helped them out, taking them away from captivity in Egypt. And so, I don't know how you think about our communion time together.
How many of you grew up in a place where you had to be solemn and you had to be that was seen as the reverend? Anybody? Yeah. You can just shake your head. Yeah.
And so, that's fine. I'm not gonna get on you if that's the way you think of our time together. What ever, however helps you to think about these things, I want you to do it. But what I want you to what I wanna tell you is the Passover was a time they got together and they celebrated. Because it wasn't about this, thinking about these these these terrible things, it was thinking about all that God had done for them.
And so as Jesus goes, and we're gonna read in just a second about instituting the Lord's Supper, that is what he is doing, this remembrance. And you probably all grew up, if you grew up Church of Christ, you grew up with something up in front that said something like, do in remembrance of me. Right? We got that right, didn't we? Because what doesn't matter is whether you decide to be solemn or you decide to celebrate, what matters is that you remember.
And every week, as we come together, that's what we do. We remember, we encourage. Because life is hard, is it not? And so, we come together, we come together doing so to encourage one another, to uplift one another, to encourage to go out and be better people, to live a life worthy of the gospel to which we've been called. And so, that's what we do.
But the disciples, as Jesus drops this little nugget, it's interesting to me that they asked Jesus, is it I? Because they all had what appears to be this self doubt. It's not gonna be me, is it? Now, how many of us would ask that question versus, oh, I know it's gonna be her. Right?
I think we think more in terms of that. Right? But they, in this moment, are all kind of, oh, no. I hope it's not me. I don't want to be the person that kinda tells you a lot about their hearts.
Right? I don't wanna be the person who does this, but they all ask Jesus. And it goes on in '22, and as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them, and said, take, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.
Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Now, this this may be so familiar, you're just kinda zoning out at this point because we read it over and over. Right? This we know what this stands for. My kids, they were very young in our our last church at Mineral Springs, we would go up and I don't know if you know this, but kids always want to take communion.
They see that pass by, sometimes, I don't wanna distract you, but sometimes as we pass the plate, as I pass that bread plate past Logan, he just stares at me. I'm hungry, daddy. And so at Mineral Springs, we'd actually we'd do a little thing where we're like, okay, well, let's talk about what communion is. And so, as a preacher's kid up there in the middle of the week, alright, well, here's the bread, and we'd talk about what the bread means, and here here's the juice, and here's what the juice means, and that's exactly what Jesus is doing. Now, unfortunately, we've kind of made it into a very efficient, very quick thing, haven't we?
A little bit of cracker and a little bit of juice. I think I've I've told you before, one of my preacher buddies, he he said, we we turned what was a feast into God's inadequate snack. Right? You got just enough to get it out of your teeth, and you know, a little bit of juice, and and go on about your day. But part of this for them was, again, as they were eating.
And so, if we were to mimic, if if we were today, say, what we're gonna do is we're gonna look exactly like they did, What we would do is we would come together anticipating a great meal with family. Now, how many of you have those meals throughout the year at some point? Maybe it's Thanksgiving, you look forward to it, not don't think about the one with with your crazy aunt and all that stuff, you know, that you don't look forward to, but the one, oh man, I can't wait. That's what they would have been experiencing. So think about in your mind, right, the food you're going to eat, and man, I can't I can't wait to do that.
And so, amidst all of the conversation, all of the good conversations, we come together and we enjoy this meal together, we we enjoy this closeness. Right? Because if you sit around a table with someone, you're getting to fellowship, you're drawing closer to them, you're learning more about them, you're telling those jokes. Right? You've been through all the things.
These are the people you know. Right? You ever get together with family and you're talking about things that were twenty five years ago as if they would have happened yesterday? Because you lived it, and it's exciting, or it was crazy, but you you were there together. And so, it's like we we fought the battle together, and now we share the stories.
And that's that's what the Passover is. Right? Again, retelling the stories of what God has done for me, and so that's what they would have been experiencing, and that's what Jesus does. He says, I'm gonna take this time, this time of fellowship, this time of togetherness, and we're gonna implement this thing. And so, takes two of the most common things they would have had.
Right? He had bread and he had wine. He said, okay, bread, this is going to this is my body. He says, take this as my body in verse 22. Then he took the cup, and he said, okay, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.
Truly, I say to you, will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And Ryan touched on this just a little bit, because every time we come together and we do this, we experience this communal time, Jesus is there with us. Do you think about this? We need to bring in Hebrews at some point and and talk about about Hebrews 13 or so. It it talks about when we come together, we're coming together with a host of people.
And sometimes, I think we can be down, it's like, oh, man, we're not as big as we wanna be, or man, I I miss my my relatives who have gone on, and I say they're probably here with us. Because we are part of the family, we are part of the story that doesn't end at death. You know that? Amen? Yeah.
And we can enjoy those things together, that when we sit even as as quickly as we do it, we remember because of what God did for us. Now, I I wanna poke fun just a a second of of some of the things we get particular on. I've I've said this before, but I want you to notice that in Luke, it's a little bit different. It's cup, bread, cup. Have you ever caught that?
Sometimes it's I I know here, I don't know, a month or two ago, we passed out the things in a in a different order. You remember that? And the first thought, I don't know if it was if you had this thought, but my first thought was, uh-oh, what's gonna happen? Right? Because I've seen churches where we passed out the wrong thing and we've got to apologize as if it were a sin that that I I took the emblem at the wrong part of the service.
Now, I'll read this and we'll talk more about it. Verse 17, and he took a cup, when he had given thanks, he said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you, from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. Sounds familiar. Right?
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup, you got that? Second cup. After they had eaten, saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood, but behold, the hand of him who betrays me is up is on the table, for the son of man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.
Sometimes we get things out of order. We think we think, you know, it's about order. It's about whether the bread or the cup comes first, Jesus never said anything about that. Again, it's about the remembrance, whether you're solemn or whether whether you're celebratory. I like to celebrate.
I like to say thank God for all the things that He's given me. Sometimes, as I pray in front of you, I almost always start out with my prayers like that, thanking God. Sometimes I think, am I too repetitive? Are they gonna say, oh, here's John, I can probably say the words he's gonna say. But I think as Christians, we ought to celebrate and we ought to be thankful.
Yes? And that's what this is about. Jesus is giving us something to help us remember. Again, if next week, probably gonna be Terry, you're gonna pass out the thing in the wrong order. Was it you last time?
Okay. There you go. He's gonna own it. That's okay. Verse 27, he says, for who is the greater, the one who reclines at the table or one who serves?
Is it not the one who reclines at table, but I am among you as one who serves. And so Jesus, in all that he is doing here, is setting an example that what's the greatest thing? To be able to serve, to be among friends, to be people who remember what God has done, and it's not about who's where, it's about how can I serve you? Well, if we had a church like that, we'd set the world on fire, wouldn't we? Yeah.
And in verse 29, and I assign to you, as my father assigned to me, a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table and my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, that sounds like a wonderful thing, doesn't it? You're gonna get a throne, and you're ready to go. But it's not about being lifted up here and serving in certain capacities here as far as I'm gonna be a leader, I'm gonna do all this to lead again, we serve. Right?
And that's the example that Jesus shows us. And so when we go back to, again, Mark 14 verses 22 through 25, you hear, this is the blood of my covenant which is poured out for many. Do you know that's not the first time that those kind of words have been said? When we read from Exodus twenty four six through eight, Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient.
And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. Did you know that's what Jesus was doing? He was reiterating something that had been done before, that the blood as it is scattered on the altar and the people, what you see is this communion with the people and God. And that's exactly what Jesus is doing. That, again, in our baptism, we come into the death, burial, and resurrection, and through this Lord's supper, through this communion time, we are remembering the covenant that God has made with his people.
And that God, from the Garden of Eden, has desired to live with and walk with us. Do you understand that? And so that's what's happening here, that, okay, we're going to sacrifice this. For some reason, we have in our minds that when they sacrifice stuff, they just burn it up and turn it into charcoal or something. I don't know if you know this about Courtney, but Courtney likes to eat things that look like charcoal, cooked so much that all the flavor is out of them.
We'll convert you at some point. But that's not what was happening. When when things were sacrificed, things were cooked, and certain things were burned, but a lot of this came to the people, and so through this ceremony, we are understanding, we are we are understanding the relationship that we have with God, but we're also seeing, again, this community forming. And that's what you should see this morning. In verses nine through 11, then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.
There was under his feet as it were pavement of sapphire stone like the very heaven for clearness. That's interesting, isn't it? And he did not did not lay his hand on the on the chief men of the people of Israel. They beheld God and ate and drank. What does it mean to behold God?
They were there in the midst of God. And every week, as we come together, as we remember in communion, the bread and the wine, we remember what Jesus has done. And what Jesus has done is he has fixed the rift between man and God. And we come and we commune with everyone together. In John six verse 44, this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
If you don't celebrate in communion, I want you to at least think about this. Because of what God has done for you in sending his son, that when we remember this, we remember that God has brought salvation. Now, what the Jews wanted in that in that time was God to bring about something that got them out of Roman occupation. Right? Because even when Jesus talked about, I'm not gonna eat of this again until the kingdom of God comes, they still kind of had in their minds, okay, it's about to happen.
We're about to overtake Rome, we're about to get this thing back and let's go, but that's not what he meant, was it? He was fixing, again, this rift between man and God. And so, Jesus reminds us, okay, anyone who believes in the son should have eternal life. I will raise him up in the last day. And I wanna take this time to remind you of a scripture we spent quite a bit of time on last year.
In in Colossians three, it says, if then you have been raised with Christ, again, talking about baptism. If you have put on Jesus in the death, burial, and resurrection, and his death, burial, and resurrection through baptism, again, pledging allegiance to what Jesus did for you. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
God fixed it. But that's not it, is it? We don't come to him and say, just thank you, that has to affect all that we do, every interaction that we have, and boy, that is tough sometimes. Some people, I think, got up on the wrong side of the bed every morning, didn't they? There there may be people at your work that you just dread seeing because they're negative, or they're gonna cause you problems, or all the things.
There may be situations in your life, maybe the the family meal that I talked about, you can't relate to because there's somebody that's gonna drive you nuts. Something's gonna come up, they're gonna bring something up, they're gonna step on your everlast nerve, and you go out of there and you think, oh, just need some fresh air to get away from those folks. But we've got to have this affect all of our lives, matter what situation. If you have been raised, seek the things that are above, and we remember, and we remind each other, don't we? Because sometimes we need that encouragement.
Because there are gonna be things throughout my life that I need to have encouragement, John. You need you can get through this, you can do it. And sometimes, I'm gonna have to say to you, you can get through it. I've been through it. You remember when you helped me through that.
If you have been raised, live this way. And in verse 12, put on men as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Boy, I hate that he said that, don't you? I'd really like to hold a grudge when somebody does something against me. Why would you throw that in my face?
Because God forgave me, and I've got to think about, I needed to be forgiven. That's where humility comes in, isn't it? That God so loved the world that he sent his son for you to forgive you of your sins, and so, because I have been raised now, I need to live this way. I need to live a life forgiving other people when they do something against me because God forgave me. He said, above and above all these, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Oh. Seek harmony, seek peace, seek love, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him. Oh.
Everything? I'd really like to act a certain way to certain people. I read through this one time in my home congregation where I grew up and everybody knew everybody, and there are basically no secrets. And I read through this chapter, and one of my buddies said, John just doesn't want us to have fun, and he was joking. But I think that's somehow sometimes how we approach it, isn't it?
Well, if I do if I live this way, I'm not gonna have any fun. I don't know about you, but salvation sounds pretty fun to me. That God loved me enough to send Jesus and I get to live with him, that I get to spread his news and no matter what happens, death is not the end for me. That sounds like a lot of fun. Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him.
Are you a thankful person? Are you a person that constantly remembers, that reminds others what God has done for you? That when people need forgiveness, I'm the one I'm going to forgive because God forgave me. That's called a fruit of the spirit there. But there is evidence that the spirit is working in my life that I can live in a way that may not even seem right to others.
In a world that teaches us to get back at others, to get yours when you're disrespected. Right? That's what we're told. That's what we're taught. Don't let someone run over you.
Jesus teaches us love and peace. And that may be difficult to live out at times, but we live with the gift of the Holy Spirit because we have been raised. Amen? And I need his help every step of the way. Each step I take, need it.
And we're gonna invite you this morning to just remember what God has done for you. If you have strayed from a path, needed the prayers of this church, let's pray together. Let's treat this as a family. We're all here together. We are all sinners in need of a savior.
Yes? Of which I'm one. So if you need the prayers of this church, you can come and we thank you so much.