Notes – In Remembrance of Him

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Let’s just dive right in to our first text for today. If you would turn with me to 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 1. 1 Timothy 2:1-7 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. Next week we will do the entire passage verses 1-7 but today we are going to take communion or partake in the Lord’s Supper. And this verse, verse 1 captures the heart of what the Communion Table is all about. Or rather it captures the condition of the heart that we need to come to the Communion Table. Jesus gave us two ordinances or demonstrative traditions that are absolute. One is full immersion baptism and the other is the Lord’s Supper.

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dawn and I went to the courthouse and got married and some months later we had a big wedding ceremony. Baptism is kind of like that. When we get saved we are legally married to Jesus, we are eternally His. We have entered into a covenant with God, nothing can separate us from then on. But when we get baptized we are celebrating with the world the truth of our conversion. We are making a public statement. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward commitment an inward transformation. It is the wedding kiss, it is extremely personal and yet we share it with the world. It is that moment in the wedding that everyone waits for, the moment that holds all the promise of a relationship exclusive from all others and foremost in importance.

Luke 12:8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

The Lord’s Supper is really a corporate version of the same thing. It is all of us together making a profession of the uniqueness of our relationship to the Lord and because of that relationship our relationship to each other.

Luke 22:17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.

Luke 22:19 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.”

He is saying take this, my body and divide it amongst yourselves. You see we are all a part of Jesus and He is a part of all of us and since there should be no division between us and the Lord so there should be no division between you and I.

Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

It is so clear why the Lord gave us these two ordinances as something we must do. Both of which are a testimonial to our belief in the resurrection power of God to raise Jesus from the dead and so we have confidence that we too shall never die. The first freshens and deepens our personal relationship to God and makes it a public proclamation and the second renews and refreshes our relationship to Jesus as a corporate body. Communion serves as a reminder that the church is the body of Christ and not a human institution as some have made it be through claiming authority not theirs to claim and setting up traditions not authored by God.

Ephesians 1:22-23 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

So let’s look at our text in 1st Timothy again.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.

So you may be asking how this verse relates to the Communion Table and the answer is that this verse puts us in the position of right standing at the Communion Table. Because if we are following Paul’s instruction here then we will be outwardly focused and not inwardly focused. We will be others centered and not self centered. Of course we need to be praying for our family and friends as well as for brothers and sisters in our church family, we all need prayer. James said,

James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Or I love the New King James translation.

James 5:16 The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

But Paul said we need to be praying for all people. Man, we must be praying for the whole world and we must be doing it with full awareness of the eternal plight of those who don’t put their trust in Christ. Early on in Jesus ministry soon after He had appointed the twelve disciples He looked at the condition of the world and it’s people and He made this observation.

Matthew 9:36-38 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Harassed by the devil and helpless to fight on their own and Jesus said pray earnestly to the Lord. The human condition or the condition of the natural man not knowing the Lord gave Jesus great grief and as we look around the world today and see what is going on we should also be grieving. You know there is a great paradox in the Christian life because on the one hand we have the complete and absolute joy of our salvation, Jesus raining down His unmatched love on us day in and day out.

Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

On the other hand our hearts break for all of those who are dead in their trespasses and sins some simply because they don’t yet know and are still to hear and answer His call and others who have heard and either don’t believe or just don’t care. When I am with my friends who aren’t in the faith even though we may be laughing and having a good time in my heart I am always praying, “Oh Lord show yourself to my friend, make yourself real to him.” There are a whole lot of people running around this town that Dawn and I are praying for and always share with. Some of them are now some of you and praise the Lord for that! In a little while as we get into 1st Corinthians 11 which is the Lord’s supper chapter we are going to see that there were problems within the church that were polluting the delicate and sacred nature of the communion. You see they had forgotten the urgency of the message of the gospel. It had already become common and the world had crept in and made the assembly no more than a mere dinner party. They had lost the brokenness that had drawn them to the Lord and His blessings were forgotten. I’ve been there. Fresh out of prison and so grateful to have been given a job. I was praising and thanking the Lord every moment because the memory of my ruined life was fresh in my mind. I was in church praising and helping any way I could. After a while I began to make some real money and I began to be promoted in the company as a result of the direct favor of God. At some point I began to think that it was me that had accomplished all the great stuff that was happening. My heart darkened and the love the Lord and I shared suffered as I began to take His blessings for granted. But what are we to do to keep ourselves in the passion and the fire? Let’s read our verse one more time.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.

Paul tells us to pray four different ways the first of which is supplication from the Greek word DEEESEIS which means to ask with urgency concerning a definite need. Next he just uses the word prayer from the Greek word PROSEUCHAS which means to pray corporately like we do at the glow, at the altar and at the Lord’s Table. Next he uses the word intercessions from the Greek Word ENTEUXEIS which means a falling in with, meeting with or coming together, to visit, converse with God. We get cozy with God and listen to Him that He might stir our hearts giving us discernment about what we can do, how we can put hands and feet to our prayer. Finally Paul says to do all this with thanksgiving. Now here is the interesting thing, the word in the Greek for thanksgiving in this verse is EUCHARISTIA from which we get our English word Eucharist or the word for the Lord’s Supper. So the heart of the Christian coming to the Lord’s Table must be a heart driven by gratitude and filled with thankfulness. I will tell you from personal experience that nothing gives the heart a desire to serve more than gratitude. Nothing calms the angry heart faster than gratitude. Nothing promotes empathy more effectively than gratitude. There is nothing that brings about a humble posture more quickly than gratitude and yet sadly gratitude is sometimes in short supply even in the church as we will see in a moment. But I have to say and this goes equally for me if not more so, if there is a shortage in the gratitude department then we all need to hit the reset button on the control panel and get our hearts right because without having it in abundance we are disqualified from the game. Our witness and our testimony will be diminished greatly. So the EUCHARISTIA, the Lord’s Supper is the ultimate corporate expression of gratitude where as a family adopted into the heavens by the sacrifice of Christ we can be forgiven and recommit to a life of gratitude and by extension obedience and worship. There is no better time to get back in the game than as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together as a church family because it is the perfect time to get a clean slate., Let’s cruise on over to 1st Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11:20-34 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. 23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

I have heard preachers teach on this passage appallingly legalistic and condemning sermons after which the hearer would be left to think that if they took communion before they were saved or in a position of having unconfessed sin that they were going to be stricken with cancer and die. That is so far from the message Paul is trying to convey. As I said earlier the church at Corinth had commonalized the Lord’s supper and it had become just another party where the haves got in the front of the line and the have nots got the scraps. When you look at this word Eucharistia you find at its root the Greek word Charis or grace. Vine’s dictionary of New Testament Greek says this. Charis or grace on the part of the bestower, implies the friendly disposition from which the kindly act proceeds, graciousness, loving-kindness, goodwill especially with reference to the divine favor of God’s grace. In this respect there is stress on its freeness and universality, its spontaneous character, as in the case of God’s redemptive mercy, and the pleasure or joy He designs for the recipient; thus it is set in contrast or opposition to debt, to works, and to the law. On the part of the receiver, a sense of the favor bestowed, a feeling of gratitude. But look at verses 23-26.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This is a statement that should be etched indelibly on the heart of the believer and it should always bring to our deepest and most sensitive attention the gratitude we should be expressing when we go to the Lord ’s Table. Verse 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Do not miss the fact that Jesus the Christ, God in the flesh is giving thanks for coming brutalization He is about to receive.

Isa 52:14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

Please when you go home today read Isaiah chapter 53. He is about to be brutally broken and yet he is giving thanks for the privilege of this sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 11:27-31 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.