The Lords Supper

Do I have any LOST watchers in here? Lost was this TV show that came out about seven or eight years ago. An airplane breaks apart in mid air and everyone lands on this weird island with smoke monsters and a creepy guy named Ben and a hatch and Lock and John and my baby. First year, gripping. Second year, spell binding. Then you start to wonder, is this thing going anywhere. We meet people from another time. Then the island moves. Time skips. It gets really strange but you have this major investment in this TV series. By now youve sunk what four or five years into it. You just want to know what happens next. Ben leaves the island. Sayid is a hit man. They go back. Some get stuck in a different time. Its all too weird now to admit I watched it. But the writers convinced us they had a point. They werent just inventing the shows week to week. There was a greater purpose. A plot. A story. So we stuck with them. The final season, they said and everything would be made clear. Then it came to final episode. The great surprise and summation. Everyone died in the original airplane crash. What a disappointment. They didnt have a story. There was no plan. They just wanted to keep us on the hook so they could sell Toyotas! Ironically, we were lost in lost and lost had lost its way. First Principle

Zenith. The most powerful nation on earth. Pharaoh was a god. God used ten fantastic plagues to break the will of Egyptian leadership and manifest his glory to his people. These included turning the Nile river to blood, a plague of frogs, a plague of hailstones etc. By the end, the agrarian Egyptian economy was in ruins. Then came the final plague. God sent the death angel throughout the land to claim the life of every first born Egyptian. Before that happened, he asked his people to make a faith decision. Would they trust him, or would they throw in their lots with the Egyptians. Moses told every Jew to kill a lamb and put the blood of that lamb on the doorpost and lentil of their homes. When the death angel came, he would see the blood and pass over that house. This is an obvious image of the blood of Jesus covering our sins. Jesus was often called The Lamb of God. John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan when Jesus came to him he said,

John 1:29 The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
We also sometimes use the expression the blood of Jesus covers our sins. Or my sins are covered in the blood. This is the idea behind it. John used this expression.

1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
So the pictures of the Passover are all about Jesus. Thousands of years before Jesus, God introduced us to a symbol that wouldnt make sense until he came. This was no LOST style story. God knew in advance what the end would look like. At the same time, the Jews were to roast the lamb and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The bitter herbs were to remind the nation of the bitterness of slavery. I wish Jesus had included it in the supper. We so easily forget the past and sometimes we are tempted to return to it. The Jews had this problem. When the journey to the promised land grew difficult they longed for Egypt. God wanted them to eat the bitter herbs and remember how bitter slavery is. The unleavened bread was a symbol of purity. It would later come to symbolize the body of Christ. He compared himself to the bread of life.

The Lords Supper PROVES Gods Plan

Lost reminds me why I love the Lords Supper so much. Do you know what the lords supper is? Its proof God didnt make this up as he went along. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus werent afterthoughts. All of that is clear in this wonderful ritual.

The lords supper was initiated by Jesus during his last night before the crucifixion. He was celebrating the Jewish Passover. The Passover is the ancient Jewish ritual memorializing the Jewish deliverance from the death angel on the night of the last plague of Egypt. The nation of Israel had been enslaved to Egypt for 400 years from shortly after the time of Joseph up until the time of Moses. 400 years. Thats roughly from now to the Pilgrims in Plymouth. Egypt was at her

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
And so we see a second principle. Not only does this affirm the plan, but it is supposed to remind us who God is for us today.

I forget that he is my salvation. . Sin creeps back in. Doubts and fears steal your joy. How can God still love someone like me. I need to remember the broken body and shed blood. We remember our salvation. We remember how the lamb died for our sins. Sometimes you need to remember. You are forgiven.

The Lords Supper Reminds us of Gods PROVISION

After that fateful night, when the death angel killed every first born Egyptian but passed over the Jews, the Passover became the most important Jewish ritual. It was always done in memory of that fateful night when the Passover lamb was eaten and its blood was placed on their doors. Always in remembrance.

But hes also our bread of life. Remember that too.

Sometimes you get beat up. Life stinks. Its hard. You wonder does God really love me? Sometimes you wonder if you have what it takes. I struggle with this all the time. Do I have what it takes to manage life. Being a dad. A husband. Pastor. I am so aware of my limitations. The enemy wants to constantly remind me of my weaknesses. And they are plentiful. But Jesus said, this is my body This bread is all you need. I am the bread of life. Jesus doesnt need my strengths. He needs my heart. All that other stuff is an attack on my heart. Satan wants us to lose heart. Jesus wants us to surrender our hearts. Rick Warren, many of you think you are going crazy. Fear you are going crazy. I get that a lot. I wondered. Does anyone else ever deal with this? Rick said, he talks to a lot of people that wonder if they are going crazy. He said, If you fear you are going crazy you aint crazy. Crazy people dont worry about going crazy. So interesting how many worry about going crazy. I sometimes worry about that. Worry about staying effective. Ever worry that you will lose your edge? Once was at Howard Hendrickss home. He invited our class. Hendricks was already a legend. At DTS for 59 years. Trained the greatest men in the modern church. Swindoll. Wilkerson. David Jeremiah. Tony Evans. Joe Stowell, Andy Stanley. Most would point to him as the most influential teacher they ever had. He was in his late 70s. I was talking to his wife in the kitchen. Hes an amazing man. So fresh. She said, He would love to hear that, hes always afraid of losing his edge. Jesus is our bread. Take and remember. Powerful reminder that he is all we need. One more aspect. Its looking forward. Past, God

1 Corinthians 11: 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took the Passover with his twelve disciples. Afterward, he took some of the leftover unleavened bread, symbolized by your cracker, and some of the wine, your juice, and gave it to the men. He said that the bread was his body. That is, it represented his body. The disciples knew that it wasnt actually the body of Christ because they were looking at Jesus body. He said, Eat this in remembrance. Then he took the wine and said, This is my blood. Again, a symbol of the blood. He said, Drink this in remembrance. The ceremony was always in remembrance, just as the Passover was a memorial feast. When we take the bread and juice we remember what Gods provision. I need that dont you. Sometimes I forget.

The Lords supper Anticipates Christs RETURN

1 Corinthians 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lords death until he comes.
We need to always be reminded that this isnt all there is. The world can be so loud. So consuming. We come aside to a time like this and remember that he is coming back. As often as we do it, we proclaim his death UNTIL HE COMES. I dont know what will happen next week. I might lose my house, my job, my health. But heres what I do know. In the end, we win. Jesus will someday show up. If Im alive to see it, great. If Im already in heaven and I get to come with him, even better. But no matter what life throws at me, no matter what I lose, I cant lose my salvation. The lords supper is a constant reminder. I eat it anticipating Christs return. And this heres the good news. This beautiful ancient ritual is still showing us what it means to know God. 2000 years later. The lamb was sacrificed. His blood atoned for your sins. His body is your life. You can have all of that right now. How do I get it? Faith. Will you come to Jesus right now, before we take this supper. I invite you to know Christ. The Bible is clear on what you must do to be saved.

Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
You dont gain salvation by taking this supper. You take this supper because you have already gained it through faith.