THE FIRST LORD’S SUPPER
Text: Mark 14:22-25
Mark 14:22-25 King James Version (KJV)
22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
- In that moment, the disciples had no idea what Jesus’ words truly meant. But in just hours they would.
- Jesus took the bread, the bread of affliction, and blessed it. He assigned it a new meaning. Instead of looking back to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, we would now look back on our deliverance from sin.
- The bread pictured his body, life, being broken and given for us.
- Jesus took the cup and assigned it a new meaning. It would now picture the blood that Jesus shed. It was a picture of his death and the sealing of the new covenant by His blood.
1. Remembrance Brings Reflection (vv. 23-25)
- The Lord’s Table causes us to reflect upon the
“Do this in remembrance of me.” This is a command. We are commanded to reflect, to remember the shed blood and broken body of Jesus (His Sacrifice).
Why do we need to remember? Why did Jesus say “as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me”?
Why? If we don’t reflect (remember) the sacrifice of Christ for us, we will
We may never forget the reality of Christ’s sacrifice, but we can do it practically. That is why we need the Lord’s Supper. It causes us to reflect upon Christ’s sacrifice for us.
2. Remembrance Brings
(cf. Mt. 26:26, 27)
- In the instituting of the supper Jesus blessed the bread and gave thanks for the cup.
- When we partake of the supper we bring a heart of appreciation to the table. We give thanks (appreciation) to Jesus for what he has done.
- The Table brings us to appreciation. It causes us to have a heart of appreciation (thanksgiving). We bless God’s name for the giving of Christ’s life. We thank God that Jesus died for us.
3. Remembrance Brings Communion (1 Cor. 11:29; 10:16-17; 6:17, 20)
The Lord’s Table bring two communions
1) The Lord’s Table brings communion with
- The Lord’s Table brings us to remember our oneness with Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:29; 10:16-17; 6:17, 20)
- When we got saved, we were placed in union with Christ.
2) The Lord’s Table brings communion with
The Lord’s Table causes us to remember our oneness with each other. (1 Cor. 10:17)
4. Remembrance Brings Adoration (1 Cor. 11:26; 10:20-22)
- The Lord’s Table brings us to
- We remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. We look back, but we also look up because Jesus is alive.
- We worship a living Savior who is our Great High Priest.
5. Remembrance Brings Proclamation (1 Cor. 11:26)
The Lord’s Table brings two proclamations:
1) The proclamation that Jesus
- The Lord’s Table causes us to proclaim the gospel. It causes us to be evangelistic.
- When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we preach to a lost world the Gospel of Jesus.
- We declare to the world Christ’s incarnation, fulfillment of the Law, His passion, His death, His resurrection.
2) The proclamation that Jesus
6. Remembrance Brings
_ (1 Cor. 11:27-32)
- The Lord’s Table brings us to confess our sin and see our need for continual cleansing.
Paul was saying to the Corinthians, “The Supper is pointing out the fact that many of you have un-confessed and un-forgiven sin in your life. You are under the chastening hand of God. Some of you are weak, some are sick, and some have even been called home.”
The Lord’s Supper reminds us to confess our sin and make things right.
- We need to examine ourselves and judge ourselves.