1 Exodus 20:4-6 The Second Commandment and the Lord s Supper (Exod. 20:4-5; 1 Cor. 11:24-25) Two weeks ago I preached on the 2 nd Commandment. And, if you remember, I highlighted two separate aspects of idol worship. The first is that we should not make an idol and worship that idol. This is pretty simple. Don t put anything under heaven, on the earth, or under the earth, in the place of God; man, animal, inanimate object, force, etc. And, the second meaning flows from the first. We shouldn t use an idol as a means to worship the true God. The best example was the Israelites and the golden calf as they used this idol as a means to worship God. Maybe an even better example was Jereboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, who built new places of worship in Bethel and Dan, where he placed calves of gold, saying just as Aaron said, Behold your gods. Today, as we take the Lord s Supper, I would like to show how Christ fulfills this commandment. I believe the words, This is my body and this is my blood give us an opportunity to reflect on Christ as the object and means of our worship. In the body and the blood Jesus introduced something physical for us. And though I do not believe Jesus taught that these physical elements are actually his body or his blood, or in some way, miraculously change into his body or blood, we cannot deny that the Lord s Supper is some type of physical element that is useful for us as we worship God. In fact, I would argue, as the Reformers did, that a church that does not practice the Lord s Supper is not a true church. It is essential to our worship as a NT church. With this in mind, how do we reconcile the physical elements of this ordinance with God s command not to make idols? Why are we not making idols of these elements? I believe the answer is simple. Jesus is the fulfillment of the 2 nd Commandment. So when Jesus says, Take and eat, this is my body, and Take and drink, this is my blood of the New Covenant, he is giving us physical pictures that point to the object and means of our worship, which is the ultimate fulfillment of the 2 nd Commandment. 1. Jesus is the object of our worship. When Jesus said, This is MY body, and This is MY blood, he pointed to HIMSELF as the center of attention. When we come to the Lord s Supper this morning as a part of our worship service and we consider these words, first and foremost, Jesus is the object of our worship. It is not the music. It is not the elements themselves. It is not the preaching. These are all important and should serve the main goal which is that Jesus is the object of our worship. This is an obvious fact with which no one here would disagree. But, as we consider the 2 nd commandment not to worship anything physical that God has made, including man, how is it that now, Jesus, a man, can turn our attention to himself, particularly his body, his blood? The Jews consider this idolatry. Our Muslim friends and neighbors consider this as worshiping an idol, breaking the second commandment. They say we are making an image of a man and worshipping him. But, is this true? Of course we would say, No this morning because we know that Jesus is God in the flesh. And, when we worship Jesus, we do not break the second commandment by making an idol. But, how is this so? When God gave these 10 Commandments at Sinai, the Israelites saw no image. They only heard a voice. They knew God spoke, but their picture of God was not complete. There was no image. We see the same thing with the Ark of the Covenant in the holy of holies. It had a lid made of
2 gold, also called the mercy seat. On each end of the mercy seat there were two cherubim with their wings covering this seat. And though the high priest would enter once a year and sprinkle blood over the mercy seat, it remained empty. Still, this was the place where God met with his people. Exodus 25:22 says, There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony... Still, there was a void. There was no image of God, only a voice. I would say that this void contained a promise. The ONE must come for whom the seat was reserved. This mercy seat, the place where God met his people, was reserved for Jesus Christ. No man or idol could ever sit in that holy seat. God will not tolerate an idol sitting in his seat. He will send his own image, his incarnate Son. Listen to the words of Paul in Col. 1:15: He is the image of the invisible God. Only God can make his own image. In the 2 nd Commandment God commanded men not to make an image of him, but the implied promise of this commandment is that God would make an image of himself. He did not want his people trying to make images of himself because his purpose was to show himself to his people in the person of Christ. The fulfillment of the 2 nd Commandment is the birth of Jesus Christ. Do you remember Jesus conversation with Phillip in John 14? Jesus said, If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. 8 Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. 9 Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father (vv. 7-9). Today, if you have worshipped the Son, you have worshipped the Father. I would ask you now, as we take the Lord s Supper, to consider WHO is giving us the command. It is Christ as the image of the invisible God. Let s contemplate and worship the Person of Christ as we listen to God s Words. Gen 1:1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 1Jo 1:1: What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life. 1 John 1:2: and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. Heb 1:8: But of the Son He says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. John 1:2: He was in the beginning with God. John 1:18: No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. John 8:58: Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. John 10:30: I and the Father are one. Heb 1:3: And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. 1 John 5:20: And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Truly, He is Immanuel, God with us. God Himself in the person of his Son is the great fulfillment of the 2 nd Commandment. And, He is the one who says, Take and Eat. This is my Body.
3 2. Jesus is the means of our worship. We really can t worship properly unless we also understand that Jesus is the means of our worship. If the first point highlights Jesus person, the object of our worship, this second point highlights Jesus work, which completes his fulfillment of the 2 nd Commandment. Jesus is the object of our worship because He is God in the flesh, and we are not worshiping an idol when we worship him. Now, Jesus is also the means of our worship. The Bible is clear. 1 Tim. 2:5 says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. If we were to stop with simply the person of Christ as the object of our worship, without defining also what He has done by way of mediation, we would stop short of true worship. As we consider the Lord s Supper and Jesus words, This is my body which is for you, and This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, we must consider the meaning or the connection between his body and the words, which is for you. Some manuscripts have broken for you. It doesn t really matter which translation you have because the implied meaning is the same. Christ offered himself as a sacrifice (body, blood) for his people, which in some way, establishes the means for us to worship God. And, in this way, He completes the fulfillment of the 2 nd commandment. When we remember this morning, we not only remember WHO Jesus is, we also remember WHAT he has done as mediator. I remember back in the early 90s when we were living in Kenya. And, every year, there was a big meeting to discuss all old business, new business, proposed changes in policy, etc. And, one year was a bit different in the fact that the mission board was going to restructure. There were a lot of questions. There were also a lot of disagreements and personnel problems. This group was huge. I m not sure how many, but there were well over a two hundred people. And, since we weren t officially missionaries, but simply students in the process, we were allowed to attend the meeting, but we had to be quiet. They would not consider our comments. I sat in the back and listened and thought, Oh my, I didn t think Christians could act like that. But, in the midst of all this, they called a mediator to handle the meeting. In my mind, this man was a genius. He handled himself and the different factions in an amazing way. He was very effective as a mediator. He was calm. He was clear in what he said. He was forceful when need be. Only by his mediation did that group of Christians escape without bodily harm. In the end, I believe he accomplished what he came to do: namely, reconcile groups of Christians and bring some unity amidst chaos. Now, this is not the best illustration because this man was not completely efficient and Christ is. But, through his work of mediation, different groups of people were brought together, or reconciled. Although in a different way, Christ is the mediator between God and man. And, this mediation is effective because of the way He mediates. This is my body. It is broken for you. As the OT Passover remembered the blood of the lamb over the doorpost, so the Lord s Supper remembers the Lamb of God who takes away our sin. Listen to these words from Hebrews: Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. 8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He does away
4 with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb. 10:5-10). There is something about the way Christ mediates which is effective in reconciling sinners with a holy God. As we have seen, since Jesus is the image of the invisible God (God in the flesh), He is an acceptable sacrifice. Is. 53:10 says, Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt. Paul says to the Corinthians, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). A few verses earlier he says, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself... that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... Bottom Line: God punished his Son in the place of sinners. And, if anyone worships God and not an idol, he/she must come through the means of Jesus Christ as the one who died for them. Kids, our catechism says, Christ was made a curse for us; and Christ died for our naughtiness, and was laid in the grave; and God was fully satisfied... So, as we come to the Lord s Supper today, Christ has fulfilled the 2 nd Commandment as both the object and the means to the Christian s worship. If you are truly in Christ today, the Lord s Supper should be a way to help us remember WHO Jesus is and WHAT he has done. Application. (I have a few, but will save them for next time. This morning we will end with only one.) 1. We must connect both the Person and Work of Christ in our understanding and explanation of the Gospel. We can t miss either of these two points this morning. The Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses, and other religions, believe that he came and lived a sinless life and that he died and he rose again. But, they do not believe He is God in the flesh. They do not believe he IS the image of the invisible God as the Bible teaches. And because they miss the true object of man s worship, they certainly can t understand what he came to do and what he accomplished. You see, the only ONE who can fulfill the command not to have any other god or make idols is God Himself. Only the image of the invisible God in the person of Jesus Christ is the object of our worship. Concerning his work, and what he came to do, so many people worship Him, and even believe He is God in the flesh. But, they do not know what He did, making their worship incomplete. Many worship Christ, but they are idolaters because they haven t understood what He came to do. Jesus said, I came to do the will of my Father. Probably, one of Jesus clearest statements on what he came to do is Mark 10:45 which says, For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. I think this aspect more in the Christian church culture. I believe many churches have abandoned the doctrines of gospel, especially those that deal with the person and work of Christ, especially the atonement. The Gospel many preach is more about man than about God. It s about keeping rules, or feeling good, or self esteem, or lots of other things this Gospel is not. Many pulpits this morning are filled with good long stories that stir the hearts of those who listen. And, yes, John
3:16 is quoted. But, is it really explained. (elaborate) I don t think so. We must go deeply into the person and work of Christ. 5