1Cor 10:15-17
We Celebrate
Tonight, we come again to the Lord’s Supper, that most unusual
service where we not only worship God with the Word but fellowship
with Him through the Holy Spirit by means of a simple meal.
I doubt that anyone actually understands the Lord’s Supper—I am
certain that I do not—and I don’t know if that bothers the Lord
or not; but one thing that I think does bother Him is that most do
not even try to understand the Lord’s Supper. I believe this is a
service that is special to God.
As limited as my small mind is, I cannot understand much but some
things seems certain.
1. This is not a service to be taken for granted or to be done
without spiritual contemplation.
1Cor 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this
bread, and drink this cup of the Lord,
unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let
him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
a. We should examine ourselves before partaking and make
ourselves as right with God as we possibly can.
b. Not to do so is to surely displease the Lord and court
some form of ill from Him.
2. This service is more of a celebration than it is anything
else.
a. Granted, because of the demand to be right with God, it
serves as an opportunity to be revived and rededicated to
the Lord.
b. But alongside of that, the Lord desires to remember and
to celebrate what He has done for us.
1Cor 11:24 …Take, eat: this is my body, which
is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
c. That is not to say that we should make a party of it, but
it should be a time to rejoice.
So tonight, let’s celebrate one of the aspects of our salvation which
is revealed in the Lord’s Supper. Let’s celebrate our union.
I. Notice the union we have.
1Cor 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ?
A. Notice the word used twice in this verse, communion.
1. It means a union with.
2. Paul was referring to the cup from which all drank the
communion juice.
3. He called it the "cup of blessing" because it shows one of
the blessings we have since our salvation.
4. But he also called our "union with" Christ.
B. One of the many things we can celebrate tonight is the union
that has been made possible since our salvation.
1. The Bible does not tell us what the exact relationship was
between God and Adam.
a. There was no sin and so sin was no hindrances in
their fellowship.
b. Adam was encased within flesh, just like us.
(1) Being in a fleshly body is itself a limitation.
(2) We cannot be everywhere if we are in here.
(3) I wonder if being in a body somehow limited the
fellowship of Adam and Eve with God? Well, we
will not know in this lifetime.
c. One thing is for certain, when Adam and Eve sinned,
whatever the relationship they had with God, it was
broken.
Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid
his face from you, that he will not hear.
d. Jesus came into this world to restore (and perhaps to
improve upon) that relationship.
2. 77 times in the New Testament, the phrase "in Christ" is
used.
a. It is not used the same every time but a great host of
those times, it describes the Christian’s present
relationship to God.
b. We are now in Christ.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep
in Christ are perished.
2Co 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in
Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new.
c. The term seems to be a synonym for being saved, born-
again, redeemed.
d. But as with all terms, it teaches us something about
our salvation.
(1) The term "saved" teaches us that we have been
rescued from our sins and their wages.
(2) The term "born-again" teaches us that we a
completely new second chance at life.
(3) The term "redeemed" teaches us that Christ paid
for our sins and thus bought us back from sin
Satan.
e. What could the term "in Christ" be teaching us?
(1) It seems to be sharing that the link we have with
God now is not merely an external link, but one
of an internal joining together.
(2) We have been physically placed INTO the person of
Jesus Christ.
(3) We are not just sitting beside Jesus or holding
His hand.
(4) Though it would be better, He is not merely
holding our hand either.
(5) Rather, there has been a joining, a coupling, a
bonding which from the very description itself
would appear to be unbreakable and irreversible.
(6) Once we take something inside of us, it becomes
part of us and cannot be removed.
(a) Consider last night’s supper for a moment.
(b) Can you give it back?
(c) For the sake of sparing our imagination,
let’s just say no.
(d) It has worked its way into you and you now
living off the nutrients it has provided.
(e) It is IN YOU.
(7) So the term "in Christ" begins to describe the
union we now have with Jesus.
(8) But that description is only half complete.
3. The Bible also describes that Christ is in us.
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory:
Ro 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is
dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness.
Ga 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail
in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
Re 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me.
a. One immediately realizes the impossibility of something
both being in us and us being in it.
(1) In our world with our means such a condition is
impossible.
(2) The union might be one or the other but it could
not be both.
(3) However, this is not our world and it is not
dependent upon our means.
b. This is God and God has moved into me while at the
same time moving me into Him.
c. It was this aspect of our union with Christ that Jesus
spoke of in John.
John 6:49 Your fathers did eat manna in the
wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the bread which cometh down from
heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall
live for ever: and the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of
the world.
(1) That did not sound right to some of those there
so they began to complain which only caused
Jesus to say it again more emphatically.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have
no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him
up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
(2) Notice that in that last verse, Jesus spoke of a
union which goes in both directions.
(a) He is in us.
(b) We are in Him.
II. These two terms describe a union with God like no other.
A. The union would seem to be irreversible and unbreakable.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword?
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.
1. It is interesting that Paul asked WHO shall separate us
but only mentioned WHATS (i.e. things).
2. Perhaps the things were being sent by a WHO, perhaps the
devil.
3. Regardless, the implied answer is NOTHING SHALL
SEPARATE US.
4. Why? Because we are so jointed to Christ that nothing
can separate us.
B. The union would also seem to remove all separations between
the two joined.
1. If He is me, than I can have no secrets from Him.
a. The Psalmist described the impossibility of hiding
from a God who is EVERYWHERE.
Psalm 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if
I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell
in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but
the night shineth as the day: the darkness and
the light are both alike to thee.
b. You add to that the fact that our God is also EVERY
WHEN and in EVERY THOUGHT, and you quickly see that
we have no secrets from Him.
2. But if I am in Him then everything that is His is mine.
Ro 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together.
Tonight, we have cause to celebrate. We are joined with God in a way
that we cannot comprehend, but I promise it is good. Let us
celebrate that union tonight.
<OutlineIndex>
<Close Window>
