Why Celebrate the Lord’s Supper?

Why Celebrate the Lord’s Supper?

“Why Celebrate the Lord’s Supper?”

(1 Timothy 1:15)

Lord’s Supper Message

(1-2-11)

 

  • Take God’s Word and open to 1 Timothy, chapter 1. (p. 798).

 

We are celebrating the Lord’s Supper this morning on the first Sunday of the New Year and as we do so we turn to a passage of Scripture that helps us prepare our hearts and heads for the observance of this ordinance.  We do not ever want the Lord’s Supper to become some perfunctory observance, something we just “do” to get out of the way.  This is one of the dangers of observing the Supper every week.  On the other hand, if we do not observe the Supper more than once or twice a year we are in equal danger of forgetting what this is all about.  So we want take time to really think about what we are doing in partaking of the Supper.  Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19)” and I don’t think He meant for us to do that lightly or quickly.

 

This text in 1 Timothy has been on my mind a good bit as we have been celebrating Christmas and the meaning of Advent, of Christ’s first coming.  If someone were to ask, “Why do we celebrate the Lord’s Supper?” we could answer the question by turning to a number of passages in the New Testament, mostly passages in 1 Corinthians where Paul lays down for us instructions for observing the Supper, but this text in 1 Timothy brings a laser focus upon the theological reasoning behind the Supper and what it is specifically that we are to remember as we reflect upon the Lord’s death on the cross for our sins.

 

Paul opens this letter in chapter 1 by teaching about the significance of the Old Testament Law.  In a nutshell, he writes that the Law is given in the Old Testament to point us to Jesus Christ.  We read the Law and we feel condemned by it.  We feel we cannot keep it.  Who can keep perfectly the 10 Commandments, for example?  We are hopeless to fulfill the Law in a way that pleases God.  We feel the weight of the bad news that the law condemns us and then we are ld to the wonderfully good news of the Gospel.  John Stott puts it succinctly when he says, “The Gospel cannot justify us until the law condemns us.”  And this is what Paul has been writing about and it is as though as he reflects upon this truth he then thinks about how this all applies to him personally.

 

And so we have this personal reflection of Paul’s in verses 12 and following.  And so I want to read verses 12-15 as we prepare our hearts and minds for the Lord’s Supper.  Follow along as I read this passage.

 

  • Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

 

12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,

13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

 

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

If you remember just one verse from our study this morning let it be verse 15.  Underline it in your Bible.  Paul writes, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance (or, full acceptance, something every person should accept fully into his or her own heart), that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

 

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  This is Christ’s chief purpose and mission.  Christ came for the chief purpose and mission to save sinners.  So while Christ teaches us many other things, those things are secondary to His chief purpose and mission to save sinners.  Christ did not come chiefly to be our example, or to be a moral leader, or a great healer or Bible teacher.  He is all of those things, but His chief purpose is clear: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

 

The Lord’s Supper is about our remembering this truth.  When we bow our heads in a few moments and think upon Jesus Christ, we are thinking specifically about the fact that He died for our sins.  We must do this if we are to celebrate the Lord’s Supper biblically.  The Bible says that “When Jesus had given thanks, He broke the bread and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’” And then Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.  Do this in remembrance of Me.  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death (1 Corinthians 11:24-26).”

 

So we are to use our heads and to think about Christ’s death on the cross for our sins.  This is why the Lord’s Supper is to be observed only by Christians.  The Christian believes that Christ died a sacrificial death not just for everyone generally, but for him or her personally.  “This is my body broken for you.  Do this, you do this, in remembrance of Me.  Remember what I have done for you.”  This is Paul’s personal reflection that culminates in verse 15: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

 

So in our remaining moments as we prepare to partake of the Supper I want to share with you how Christ’s death saves sinners, sinners like the Apostle Paul and sinners like you and me, and why Christ’s death is something to celebrate.  Why celebrate the Lord’s Supper?  First, we celebrate the Supper because it reminds us that:

 

I. Christ saves us from the Penalty of Sin (Past)

 

This truth concerns the past aspect of salvation.  Salvation has three aspects: past, present, and future.  Salvation from sin concerns all three.  Christians can say, “I have been saved (past), I am being saved (present), and I will be saved (future).”  Before we partake of the bread and cup we will focus upon each of these three aspects.

 

First, we consider the past aspect of salvation.  Christians can say, “I have been saved.  Jesus Christ has saved me from the penalty of sin.”  This is a look back, a look back to a point in time when the Christian, having believed the Gospel and having repented from sin, surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord and King.

 

The Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”  We come to realize that we are sinners by nature and sinners by choice.  We agree that we have “missed the mark” of God’s perfect standard.  We often describe Romans 3:23 as if we were shooting an arrow at a bull’s eye and we miss the bull’s eye every time.  This is true, but our sin nature is worse than that.  Our sin nature means we are not even aiming at the bull’s eye.  In fact, we are shooting in the wrong direction.  “There is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:22).”

 

What do we deserve for our sin?  Death.  Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.”  We deserve to die for our sin.  Death is God’s justice.  Death is what we deserve for sinning against a righteous and holy God.

 

Now, here’s the thing: I am already dead.  When I was born into this world I entered into the world already under judgment.  Because I inherited a sin nature from my first parents, Adam and Eve, I am already spiritually dead.  What I mean is, when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, Adam—whose name means “Man”—Adam, who is my representative, the head of the human race, when Adam sinned I sinned, too.  There is a sense in which every man and woman was there in the Garden of Eden when Adam sinned and thus brought sin into the world.  This is why I am born a sinner.  David said in Psalm 51:5, “In sin did my mother conceive me.”  That is, “I have been a sinner from the very beginning.”

 

So I am born with this sin nature.  I sin by nature and I sin by choice.  So I am already spiritually dead.  Every offspring of Adam and Eve, every child of Adam and Eve, including every one of us this morning, enters into the world spiritually dead.  When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden they immediately died a spiritual death and would later die a physical death.  And every one of us is born into the world spiritually dead and we will all die a physical death.  If nothing changes, we will remain spiritually dead, separated from God forever and ever.  We will spend eternity in hell because of our sins.

 

We cannot erase our sins away by being good.  We cannot earn heaven by being righteous.  We are unrighteous.  We are sinners.  God’s standard is perfection.  We, as sinners by nature and sinners by choice, fall woefully short of His perfect standard.

 

So we have really two deaths, a spiritual death and a physical death.  Listen: Jesus Christ died to take care of our spiritual death.  He died on the cross to save us from the penalty of our sins.  He died on the cross to save us from hell.  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

 

So Romans 3:23 is followed with the good news of Romans 3:24 and 25.  Romans 3:23 says that while we Christians have “all sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” it goes on and says in Romans 3:24-25 that we are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness.”

 

That is, Christ Jesus died to save us from our sins.  When Christ died on the cross, His death satisfied God’s wrath.  Christ died in our place as our substitute, taking the penalty of our sin upon Him and granting to us His righteousness.

 

As one writer puts it: “If God is ever to count us righteous, he will have to do it on the basis of something other than our own sinful record.  He’ll have to do it on the basis of someone else’s record, someone who is standing as a substitute for us.  That’s where faith in Jesus comes in…we are trusting that God will substitute Jesus’ record for ours, and therefore declare us to be righteous (Romans 3:22).” (Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel?)

 

This is what Christians celebrate in the Lord’s Supper, that Christ has saved us from the penalty of our sin.  He died to take the punishment we deserved.  He substituted the record of Christ for our record.  He died to take care of our spiritual death and He arose from the grave to show that the Heavenly Father is pleased with His Son’s substitutionary death for us.  Romans 4:25 says Christ “was delivered to death for our sin and raised for our justification.”  He was raised from the dead so that we Christians would be justified, declared righteous, forever declared “Not guilty” of all our sin, past sin as well as future sin.  Christ has died to take care of all of our sin.

 

Here is why the Gospel is so liberating and why we must preach it to ourselves every day.  Christ Jesus has died for the penalty of sin.  It is a past aspect of salvation with benefits into the future.  I have been saved from the penalty of sin.  I will never have to worry that sin will keep me from heaven.  I am saved forever!  We sing of this truth often in the hymn, “Before the Throne of God Above.”

 

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

 

We celebrate the Lord’s Supper because we celebrate Christ’s saving us from the Penalty of Sin.  Secondly, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper because we celebrate that:

 

II. Christ Saves us from the Power of Sin (Present)

 

Remember: Christians never have to worry about the penalty of sin.  If we are saved, we never have to worry about whether we are going to heaven.  Christ has secured our salvation from the penalty of sin.  At the same time, however, the power of sin is still present.  We still have this sin nature, sin that remains with us until we leave this world.  Remember that Paul said, “of whom I am chief” of sinners, not I was.  To the degree that we grow in Christ, we will have increasing measures of victory over the power of sin.

 

This is the present aspect of salvation.  So we can say, “I have been saved (saved from sin’s penalty)” and now we can say, “I am being saved (saved from sin’s power).”  This refers to our sanctification, our personal growth in holiness, in becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.

 

If a person is truly saved, you will be able to tell over time because he or she is growing in personal holiness.  There is a difference over time.  Fruit is being borne.  This person acts differently.  This person is growing.  You will be able to tell.

 

One of the reasons some people are uncomfortable around growing Christians is because growing Christians are becoming increasingly holy and that holiness makes the unholy uncomfortable.

 

Kent Hughes writes about an incident recounted by R.C. Sproul about a professional golfer who was invited to play with some important people.  He writes that the unnamed golfer:

 

(w)as invited to play in a foursome with Gerald Ford, then President of the United States, Jack Nicklaus, and Billy Graham.  The golfer was especially in awe of playing with Ford and Graham (he had played frequently with Nicklaus before).  After the round of golf was finished, one of the other pros came up to the golfer and asked, “Hey, what was it like playing with the President and with Billy Graham?”  The pro unleashed a torrent of cursing and in a disgusted manner said, “I don’t need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat.”  With that he turned on his heel and stormed off, heading for the practice tee.  His friend followed the angry pro to the practice tee, where the pro took out his driver and started to beat some balls in fury.  His neck was crimson [red].  His friend said nothing but just sat on a bench and watched.  After a few minutes the anger of the pro was spent, and he settled down.  His friend said quietly, “Was Billy a little rough on you out there?”  The pro heaved an embarrassed sigh and said, “No, he didn’t even mention religion.  I just had a bad round!”

 

Hughes adds, “Billy Graham had not said a condemning word—he had offered no sideward glance to make the pro feel uncomfortable.  The judgment came from Billy’s well-known commitment to God, from his personal holiness, even from his joy.” (Commentary on Luke, Vol.1, p. 244).

 

If we are saved, our salvation will become apparent to others over time, not in a showy high-handed way, but in a pleasant, joyful way.  We are growing as Christians.  We are “being saved” from the power of sin.

 

We celebrate this, too, in the Lord’s Supper.  Christ saves us from the penalty of sin (past) and Christ saves us from the power of sin (present).  Finally, we celebrate that one day:

 

III. Christ Saves us from the Presence of Sin (Future)

 

This truth refers to the final state of salvation.  So we can say, “I have been saved, I am being saved, and one day I will be saved.”  I will be saved—future—from sin’s presence. Heaven is a place where sin is not present.  Imagine what that will be like!  No sin.  No temptation.  No struggle.

 

We look forward to that future state that commences with our Lord’s second coming.  Jesus says, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again (1 Corinthians 11:26).”  We look forward to Christ’s return which ushers in the future state where we will be eventually saved from the presence of sin.

 

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  Christians can say, “I have been saved—saved from sin’s penalty—I am being saved—saved from sin’s power—and I will be saved—saved from sin’s presence.”

 

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

 

  • Let’s pray.

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