Keeping the Ordinance of the Lord s Supper

Transcription

1 Sermon #741 (61) Keeping the Ordinance of the Lord s Supper by Brett Hickey Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since... when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. (I Cor. 11: 2, 19-22) 1 This morning, Lord willing, we will address the general principle voiced by the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians 11: keeping the ordinances just as they were delivered as it pertains to the sacred institution of the Lord s Supper. But first, enjoy our song "This is the pilot," said Apollo 11 astronaut 'Buzz' Aldrin on July 20, "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." Aldrin's way was to serve himself communion, using a kit provided by the pastor of Houston's Webster Presbyterian Church. Aldrin said he planned to broadcast the service, but NASA at the last minute asked him not to because of concerns about a lawsuit filed (and later dismissed) by atheist Madelyn Murray O'Hare after Apollo 8 astronauts read from Genesis while orbiting the moon... "In the radio blackout," [Aldrin wrote in Guideposts] 2 "I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches...' "I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements." The small chalice Aldrin used for the wine went back to Webster Church. Each year on the Sunday closest to July 20, the congregation celebrates Lunar Communion. "Communion can be celebrated anywhere," senior pastor Mark Cooper said Sunday. "Even cramped up in a lunar module on the moon." When Paul penned this morning s text in I Corinthians 11, he certainly could not have contemplated anything like this. So much has changed since Jesus instituted the Lord s Supper in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago. Set beside Jesus command to keep the ordinances just as they were delivered, the constant change of our technological age forces a tension we must come to terms with and deal with in a way that honors God and this sacred memorial. This reality is evident as David Waters, who wrote the July 20, 2009, article on Lunar Communion for the Washington Post followed it up with this update. I asked On Faith panelist Richard Mouw about provisions for 1 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2 A bracket [ ] within quotes is used to note words added that are not in the original quote. 1

2 The Ordinance of the Lord s Supper, by Brett Hickey, sermon #741 (61) 2 of 5 self-serve communion. Mouw is president of Fuller Theological Seminary. He also is representing the Presbyterian Church-USA as co-chair of the official Reformed-Catholic Dialogue. Mouw's response: "For our Reformed theology, communion is something that necessarily takes place in a congregational context There is simply no provision for a solitary self-serving of communion. It is difficult to think of a theological rationale even as an unusual event." Before we address some of the changes implemented in the Lord s Supper, let s notice again what Paul says by inspiration in I Corinthians 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions [KJV, ordinances ; Green s Literal Translation, doctrines ] just as I delivered them to you. The word translated ordinances or traditions literally means, something handed down. Under consideration, of course, are not mere human traditions, but the traditions or ordinances handed down by Jesus or the Holy Spirit through the inspired apostles. All sides acknowledge that at the very least this includes baptism and the Lord s Supper, but much more likely, this refers to any doctrine taught in the New Testament. Then, in verses 17 and 23, Paul adds: Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for better but for worse For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you... Whereas Paul could praise them for keeping some of the ordinances, there mishandling of the Lord s Supper kept him from praising them in that area. Allow me to illustrate the difference between human traditions and Divine traditions. A priest retired after thirty-five years in a small-town Catholic church and was replaced by an eager young priest. After several weeks he could sense that the people were upset. He called aside a member and said, "I have a feeling that there s something wrong, but I don t know what." The man said, "It s the way you do the Communion." "What do you mean?" "Well, it s not so much what you do as what you leave out." "I don t leave out anything." "Oh yes, you do. Just before our previous priest administered the chalice to the people, he d always go over and touch the radiator. And, then, he would " "Touch the radiator? I never heard of that liturgical tradition." So the younger man called the former priest. He said, "I haven t even been here a month, and I m in trouble." "In trouble? Why?" "Well, it s something to do with touching the radiator. Could that be possible? Did you do that?" "Oh yes, I did. Always before I administered the chalice to the people, I touched the radiator to discharge the static electricity so I wouldn t shock them." For thirty five years, his congregation assumed that touching the radiator was part of the Lord s supper. It sounds ridiculous, but this happens within churches. Traditions are initiated, continue for years and folks are unable to distinguish between traditions of men and traditions established by God. Custom or habit is not binding, but the commands of God are. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:2-4 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. This passage makes it clear that evangelists are responsible for separating the human and divine, but, you know what, every Christian has a copy of the manual the Bible and can distinguish for himself (or herself) what traditions/ordinances are divine, which are human. You must be able to sift and separate the wheat of sound doctrine from the chaff of false teaching. 3 For anyone who may be unfamiliar, the numerals appearing in longer Bible quotes are verse numbers.

3 The Ordinance of the Lord s Supper, by Brett Hickey, sermon #741 (61) 3 of 5 R & D, research and development, is critical to any company hoping to survive in our fast changing world. R & D is designed to bring about changes/improvements/innovations to keep the company viable and profitable. Certainly, some business concepts carry over to the church (e.g., commitment, diligence, zeal), but our text indicates that we must be real careful with this one. Changes and improvements in any company must ultimately be sanctioned by those in authority; this authority may be delegated. What about the church? Who is the authority? Jesus Christ! He delegates authority to the apostles and the buck stops right here: with the Bible. Now, the Roman Catholic Church exerts considerable flexibility when it comes to authority. They claim that the Pope is universal bishop, head of the church. They admit as much. But this idea is foreign to the Scriptures. According to Colossians 1:18, Jesus is the head of body, church...that in all things he might have preeminence. Furthermore, Jesus himself declares, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you (Matt. 28:19-20) A little girl asked her mother one Sunday as she was preparing lunch, Mommy, why do you cut off the ends of the ham before you cook it? The girl s mother looked at her and said, Oh, I m not really sure why, but I suppose you cut the ends off so the meat can better absorb the juices and spices and make it more tender. Maybe you d better ask Grandma since she was the one I learned it from. She always did it that way. She called her grandmother and asked the same question, Grandma, why do you cut the ends off the ham before you cook it? She responded, Oh, sweetie, I m not really sure. I think it s so the juices will be absorbed better. Call Nana. She s who I learned it from. The little girl began to get a bit frustrated, but called her great-grandmother anyway. Nana, mom was preparing lunch other day and she cut the ends off the ham before she cooked it. I asked her why and she said because the juices would absorb better, making it more tender. She told me to ask Grandma. Well, I called Grandma and she said the same thing, but that she learned it from you. Nana, why do you cut the ends off the ham before you cook it? There was a pause and then the little girl heard muffled laughter from the other end of the line. What s so funny, Nana? Oh, sweetie, I cut the ends off the ham before I cooked it, because my pan was too small! Friends, this is why we need to trace the origin of our religious practices such as, salvation, worship, issues of church government. Believers can end up doing wrong things for the wrong reasons because no one ever stopped to ask why. We enjoy negotiation and compromise. We like to make deals, don t we? When my Dad started a church in Mexicali, Mexico and brethren visited from the states, one of the things they most enjoyed was dickering with peddlers at the border for their trinkets. When it comes to Divine ordinances, some say, in effect, Okay, Lord, here s the deal; we ll observe the Lord s Supper, but we need to make it more convenient, more efficient, more sanitary, et cetera. Wait just a minute; do these folks ever get the OK from the CEO? Listen, any legitimate compromise requires both sides to make concessions. Here s the disconnect: God never agrees to these changes. When we ask our religious friends how and where God makes the concession, they say, Don t be a legalist. We re saved by grace. Now that s a leap not a leap of faith but of presumption. Psalm 19:13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins And I shall be innocent of great transgression. Adam Clarke says in his commentary, Sins committed not through frailty or surprise, but those which are the offspring of thought, purpose, and

4 The Ordinance of the Lord s Supper, by Brett Hickey, sermon #741 (61) 4 of 5 deliberation. Worship must be according to divine truth (Jn. 4:24); God is a spirit: they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. [italics mine] Let s notice a number of ways in which changes have been made to the ordinance of the Lord s Supper. Some say, How do you know that the Lord s Supper is for Christians today? The Lord s Supper, they say, was merely a cultural circumstance of the early church. The Quakers go so far, in fact, as to totally reject the observance of the Lord s Supper. This will not do. Jesus said, according to I Corinthians 11:25-26, In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. [italics mine] Jesus is coming back, but He s not back yet! Jesus commanded the people of God to observe the Lord s Supper till the end of time. Our self-styled Jehovah Witness neighbors tell us that only members of the 144,000 are allowed to partake of the Lord s Supper. So, when they pass the Lord s Supper around, rarely, if ever will anyone take of the emblems because most of the supposed 144,000 are already deceased. Meanwhile, in I Corinthians 10:16-17, Paul writes, 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? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. [italics mine] We all partake of that one loaf, not just a select group within the church. We must keep the ordinances as they were delivered! Our Mormon friends opt to use water instead of grape juice. This, also, is not keeping the ordinance as it was delivered. In Matthew 26:29, Jesus said, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on [italics mine] Water is not the fruit of the vine grape juice is. Interestingly, Justin, in 150 AD, tells how demons observed a mock-communion: "And this, too, the wicked demons have in imitation commanded to be done in the mysteries of Mithraism. For, that bread and a cup of water are set forth, in the rites appointed for the initiated..." No doubt, this is what Paul alludes to when he speaks of "the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils [demons]" (1 Cor. 10:21). We want to avoid the corruption of false religions, and imitate what the early church did. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, due to a decision announced at the Council of Trent in the 16th century, Not only is Communion under both kinds not obligatory on the faithful, but the chalice is strictly forbidden by ecclesiastical law to any but the celebrating priest. 4 Folks, this is not keeping the ordinances as they were delivered. First of all, the Bible says that all Christians are priests (I Pet. 2:9). But even if we grant a separate priesthood, the Holy Spirit tells us in I Corinthians 11:26, 28, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. This harmonizes with what Jesus said when He instituted the supper in Matthew 26:27, He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. [italics mine] Others say when it comes to worship, Quicker is better. Have you heard of the fast-food restaurant in New Jersey called, Eat It and Beat It? Now, that may work Monday through Saturday, but that s not the right approach to the Lord s Supper. But people do not have enough time for reverent worship. Victorious Life Church in Waco, Texas offers a service guaranteed to be over in thirty minutes: ten minutes for the worship band, twelve to fifteen minutes of teaching, and, although no time is allotted for the Lord s supper (not enough time for that, you see), but, of course, 4 Catholic doctrine, (1), (d), line 11ff, accessed February 15, 2011

5 The Ordinance of the Lord s Supper, by Brett Hickey, sermon #741 (61) 5 of 5 five minutes is allotted for praying and G I V I N G. This is carnal, not spiritual. We should savor every moment, reflecting and remembering filling our mind with the generous, sacrificial love of Jesus Christ so lunch, ballgame, naptime are pushed out. When we come to the Lord s Table, we re at a focal point of our worship. Jesus spent about six agonizing hours on the cross. Can t we spend an hour or more in orderly reflection and praise in a reverent, orderly worship service? Some suggest that Sporadic is more spiritual. So, the idea goes, you don t need to observe the Lord s Supper every week because it will lose its significance. I m wondering how often these people pray. In the church of the New Testament, the disciples came together. Why? We learn in Acts 20:7: Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread They came together to break bread. Do you think Paul would find it strange, if he were to visit some churches today only to find that they were coming together on the first day not to break bread? Surely he would! Early Christian writings verify that taking the Lord's Supper each Sunday was a consistent practice of the churches from the age of the apostles onward for several centuries, according to Philip Schaff in History of the Christian church 5 We want to address other common alterations to the Lord s Supper, but we re out of time so we ll take them up in a future program. If you d like a copy of this message, we ll tell you how after our song Thank you for watching Let the Bible Speak. We pray you have heard God speak to you through His word. If you d like a copy of this sermon, Ordinance of the Lord s Supper, please write us and we ll be glad to send you one. We also offer our free Bible study course you can complete at home. We welcome your comments and questions. Please visit LetTheBibleSpeak.com and watch videos of the program. Finally, we echo the sentiment of the apostle Paul when he wrote in Romans 16:16, the churches of Christ salute you. Until next week, goodbye and God bless. Sermon delivered by evangelist Brett Hickey over Let the Bible Speak February, 2010 Are you searching for the truth of God's word and have a sincere desire to learn about the Bible? Do you want to know what the Bible says about salvation and about Christ and His church? If you are looking for Bible Founded discussion on these topics and many others, then please accept this invitation to explore "Let the Bible Speak" and then contact us for additional studies. We are members of the church of Christ as found in the New Testament. We are not members of a denomination or earthly religious organization. We are a brotherhood of believers, joined by a common bond, Jesus Christ. We try to live and worship following the patterns found in the New Testament. (For manuscripts of other sermons visit: COPYRIGHT Let The Bible Speak. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Express permission is granted to distribute any video, audio, or transcript of any broadcast message as long as the material is: unedited and attribution is given to Let The Bible Speak; a hyperlink to LetTheBibleSpeak.com is included for electronic distribution; a text reference is included to for printed distribution; and the original author receives attribution. An irrevocable, world-wide, royalty free license for distribution is granted as long as such distribution has the intent of: supporting the truth as presented; giving glory and honor to God; and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. PDF, 2/16/11 5 Philip Schaff in History of the Christian church, Vol. I, page 478