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00:01 Uh we are taking a break from the Genesis session to do the Lord's supper
00:08 simply because this morning we are doing the Lord's supper. Now uh last week I
00:14 was speaking in other church. I I occasionally speak in some other churches and it was a brethren church
00:20 and in that church the Lord's supper is conducted a bit differently. Instead of the wafer there was one big bread. It
00:27 broke the bread. And number two, when they do it, they don't do it once a month. They do it every week. Which
00:34 leads us to a few issues. How do you
00:39 celebrate the Lord's supper? Which is the most appropriate way of doing it? Do you have it like in our church? Many
00:45 cups, many wafers, which logistically will make sense in a big church like this, or should you do single bread and
00:53 single loaf? Some churches have a few loaves and a few cups. Can you imagine
00:59 you find folk taking from the same cup but you imagine some people are very dirty got germs you know but some
01:04 churches do that you know they have a few cups passing around that's a picture of a church that does that you know and that is a quite large church um what
01:11 what do you use uh do you use real wine and then some people are young cannot take wine then you take grape juice do
01:18 you have to use real grape juice can I use sparkling grape juice since I'm only one I use cordial and since I'm a
01:24 cordial why must I do grape cordial there's no grape cordial can use Orange cordio. I mean how far do you carry the
01:30 the thing and and what kind of braid should you use? You know uh leven unleven normal braid wafer you know what
01:37 kind of bread you know and who should administer it. In some churches only the clergy can do it. In fact, in the
01:43 Catholic church for many centuries, you had to be a celibate male, you know, to
01:49 do it, you know, and should you do it like the way we do it, we pass it around everyone's seats or should you stand in
01:55 some churches, you kneel, you come in front and take it. So, what's the right way? And can women pray? You know, every
02:01 time we had a men pray, why don't we get a system to pray for for for for change? Can you do it in your cell group? You
02:08 know, does it have different meanings? Who can take it? So this morning I thought we we we we
02:14 try to get some clarification on this uh instruction and it's obviously a very
02:20 important instruction because three of the gospels carry it and first Corinthians covers a very major section
02:27 on it. But here is some simple practical common sense I wanted to throw to you.
02:33 How often do you celebrate the Lord's supper? Once a month. How long does it take? 10 minutes for the cup to pass. If
02:42 I'm honest with myself, I say, "Come on now. How can anything that happens once
02:48 a month, 10, 15 minutes make any difference in my life?
02:54 Preaching, maybe worship, maybe prayer, 10 minutes, 15 minutes once a month."
03:01 And that's the problem I think with the Lord's Supper. it. I think in many ways the evangelical church, I know we don't
03:08 like labels, have sort of swept it to a very unimportant place. And I'm praying
03:13 this morning we try to relook at scripture and to look at how scripture treats it and how the early church
03:19 treats it and how it actually benefits my life and your life. Let's come before
03:25 God in prayer. Lord, we ask we quieten ourselves. This topic is a topic which has been divisive
03:33 for centuries. For centuries, Lord, do I stand here in
03:39 utter trembling. For those who teach will be judged harder.
03:45 Teach us that we are not uh believing what we believe because it's our Baptist tradition.
03:51 Teach us Lord that we are not practicing the Lord's supper because it's just something convenient.
03:58 But Lord, you are a God that stirs us, quietens us. We ask for this morning, you spiritually nourish us on
04:06 understanding what this is. And we say this in Jesus' name. Amen.
04:12 The first problem is you don't even know what to call it. You know, you know, uh
04:17 in what we call Protestant churches, it is called ordinance. Okay. The Catholics
04:23 call it sacrament. And sometime in the 16th century in the reformed movement actually not 16 I think 16 we've under
04:30 zingi and and and Kelvin those of your scholars among here they swapped it to ordinance and in what we call the
04:36 protestant church there are two ordinances the ordinance of baptism and the ordinance of the lord's supper the catholics have more the catholics call
04:43 it holy mass the eukarist is used by the anglicans and also the catholics
04:50 uh communion is used also by the pbbyisterians and some of them uh we call it the Lord's supper. Uh the the
04:57 the the older churches, the what we call the Orthodox churches call it the sacred feast. The brethren simply call it
05:04 breaking of bread. So what do you call it? So we can't even get the terminology right. Let me give you the context
05:10 first. All right. Uh and we'll look at Matthew and then we'll look at first Corinthians. First, it happened during
05:16 the Jewish Passover. Now that's quite important. It is deliberate. And Jewish Passover is a very
05:23 significant feast. For those of you not familiar, the feast is when the Jews remember how they came out of slavery
05:30 from Egypt. It is a celebration of the covenant with God. Now, what's
05:35 interesting is halfway during Makan, you know, okay, the text is very clear.
05:41 While the disciples were eating, he got up, he broke bread, and he prayed. halfway during makan
05:49 quite important huh and then he uses this phrase which has been so controversial for centuries he says this
05:56 is my body and this is something which is interesting because the phrase is
06:01 identical in all the three gospels and in Paul normally when when authors
06:07 interpret things they will have it some variation for example you say this is my body or you say this bread represents my
06:13 body my body is But the term is identical. Now this has led to a lot of
06:19 conflict. All right, I I'll come to that later. And then Jesus says the Lord's supper confirms the new covenant and
06:26 they end with singing. This is the first time the Lord's supper is actually uh uh
06:31 recorded. Now in first Corinthians is also quite interesting. Now you read first Corinthians just now. We read it
06:38 and and and uh uh our brother just read the whole text for us. And what you see
06:44 very obviously in 1 Corinthians is what there is also makan. It happens during a meal. Okay. So it's
06:52 very simple because it says here in verse 20 he says when you come together not the last supper you eat or you eat
06:58 each of you goes ahead without waiting for each other. One remains hungry another gets drunk. They go around there
07:04 and they whack the food. Sound like Malaysians. Okay. the makan, you know, wall up the food. Okay, you you won't
07:10 you won't get drunk drinking this. Not simply because it's not real wine, because it's not enough, but obviously at that time there was a lot of wine.
07:17 There was a lot of bread. But yet Paul says, and know verse 33, he says, "When
07:22 you come together to eat, wait for each other. If you're hungry, eat at home." Now, there's almost an oxymoron. You
07:29 come together to eat, but if you're hungry, eat at home. So what we get very obviously is two things I want you to
07:36 just pick up. Number one, the two two recording of it does not occur during a
07:42 church service in the sense that you have a day, you have a rights. It happens during makan. Malaysian is very
07:49 famous for that. So it's very tied to food. Okay. I want you to pick up that a
07:54 little bit. All right. Okay. The backdrop to the Lord's supper is that it points us to the grand feast between God
08:03 and man. Makan is very important to God. And I'll tell you why. And Matthew at
08:08 the end of it, he says this, you know, the last line says this. He says, uh, I
08:14 tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that
08:19 day when I drink it a new with you. You notice that? That means Jesus is looking
08:27 forward where he will eat again with the disciples but he puts it in my father's
08:33 kingdom. That's important point to pick up. Now you ask all the young people
08:39 here what we call the millennials. Okay. What is the very famous Malaysian culture? We call that a mama store. Hey,
08:45 let's go mama. Now does it mean you go out there and you're you're looking forward because the roti chana is
08:51 fantastic or the the toss is really great or the the tar? No. What does food signify? Food signifies
08:60 fellowship. When you are invited for supper, it
09:06 means your friends care for you. It is fellowship.
09:11 That is the backdrop. Now, what's quite interesting, the Old Testament, Moses and After the covenant is confirmed, we
09:19 read this strange text. Moses and Abraham, Nadab and Ibhoo, the 70 elders of Israel went up and saw the God of
09:25 Israel. Now that's staggering. They saw God, you know, under his feet was something like a pavement made of as a
09:31 fire, clear sky. Because when you see God, you're supposed to die. You see, but God did not raise his hand against
09:36 these leaders of Israelites. Why? Because the covenant was just confirmed. And here's quite interesting. They saw
09:42 God. And what they do? They add and drank. And what the text is trying to see is
09:47 that when you meet God, you don't don't say hi God. You don't you eat with God.
09:53 Why? Because eating signifies fellowship. The Lord's supper is about
09:59 food. The context of first Corinthians before Paul goes into this in that chapter, the previous chapter, he
10:06 compares the Lord's supper with the pagan idols. Meaning food is about
10:12 identification. And in revelations when the covenant is fully realized when we finally meet God what he says he said
10:19 the angel said to me write this blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the lamb and old song says God
10:26 at man at table are sat down. So what does the Lord's supper reminds us? It
10:33 reminds us of the priority of our Christian faith and then the moment priority is we are supposed to know God.
10:41 If I go out with supper and do you go supper with strangers? No. You go stra with your gang, your click, your
10:48 friends, your your WhatsApp chat group or whatever. That's what you do. You you
10:55 don't enjoy supper because the food's fantastic. You enjoy supper because of the company. So it's feasting with God.
11:01 The highlight of feasting with God is worship. That's revelation. The highlight of worship in the early church
11:07 was the Lord's supper. And the highlight of the Lord's supper is the gospel.
11:12 The highlight many early Christians week was to celebrate the Lord's supper. And the church readings writings tell you a
11:19 lot of Christians in the early church because they practice it every week. They look forward to it.
11:26 But today the church has sort of put it aside once a month 15 minutes. Let's get
11:31 it done with. I want to challenge us on that. All right. And why? because it's
11:36 something I think we have missed you know and this is the importance of sacredness you see the word ordinance
11:42 doesn't carry it full meaning all the early church fathers those who you know history Austinine polyrop Iranius all of
11:50 them said this they use the word sacrament and the sacrament the word comes actually the Latin word sacro we
11:57 get the word sacred from it it means to consecrate it has a is the feeling of
12:02 offering is holy and In ancient Rome, it means an oath of allegiance. So, it's
12:09 about sacredness. Now, there's one thing I want to challenge us today.
12:14 Is it sacredness in our church nowadays? Now, don't get me wrong. I love a good
12:19 rocking worship session. I I'm charismatic in worship. Not charismatic in theology, but charismatic worship. I
12:25 love it. And I think this morning, the worship team did a great job. They were very balanced. The worship team did at
12:30 one hand very fast rocking songs you know for all the millennials and then the old the older people those of us
12:37 touching 50 some of the hymns you know very very balanced they call it you know but here's my question you know have we
12:43 lost sacredness have we lost reverence
12:49 have we minimized that and why do we do that you know because we are trying to
12:55 repackage Jesus you know secret is boring Boring tradition is boring. People won't come.
13:02 We need to reposition. Jesus is our buddy. The songs we sing all show it. I
13:07 come to Jesus. I feel good. But there's a place for sacredness. In in this uh article you have, and I like
13:15 to thank Shayla. She's helped me through this message a lot. Uh this is quite a controversial uh author, but
13:21 interesting. She says this, you know, is in your article, the full text that didn't came from me. No special
13:27 effects. Okay. In the United States, 59% of people ages 18 to 29, we call this
13:33 the millennials with Christian backgrounds at one point dropped out. In response, many churches have sought to
13:39 love millionaires back by focusing on star points, cooler bands, hippier worship, Asia programming, impressive
13:46 technology. You know what we call this? We call this branding. Let me add to it. Messages that touch your heart. connect
13:53 programs that make you feel church becomes relevant. But this is what she says. And contrary to popular belief,
14:00 the fog machines and light shows at these slick evangelical conferences didn't make things better for me. They
14:07 made the whole endeavor feel shallow, false, and fake. And what she says was quite interesting. Finally, what brought
14:12 me back after years of running away, it was the sacraments. The sacraments are what make the church relevant. No matter
14:18 the culture, they don't need to be repackaged or rebranded. They just need to be practiced, offered and explained
14:25 in a context of a loving authentic authentic and inclusive community. You
14:30 can read a whole article uh in your bulletin. Let me explain. Sacredness means doesn't mean you go back to an
14:36 oldfashioned worship. We're not saying we're going to bring back hymns and robes and write, but sacredness means a
14:44 quiet moment. And I I want to suggest to you there's something so missing in our lives. I I
14:50 know in my life I need that. What does a sacred moment do? Number one, we are
14:55 still to revere and fear God. And as we prepare our hearts and minds for the
15:00 Lord's supper, I'm hoping this is the first backdrop we look at. We examine our sins because that's what Paul says
15:06 in first Corinthians. Examine yourself and we face ourselves more honestly without distractions. Why? Because if
15:13 you go before it like the way the first century church did, you're not distracted by the music. You're not
15:20 distracted by your phone ringing. It's just you and God and the body of Christ.
15:26 So this morning I want to rechallenge sacred moments. We need to really rediscover that. The third point I want
15:33 to say is that it teaches the spiritual discipline of remembrance.
15:39 Now the Lord's supper is as much a spiritual discipline as praying, serving and reading your Bible. We find this in
15:44 Acts two. Uh this is the first record of a church. And what he says is they devoted themselves. Look at that
15:50 apostles teaching. There's Bible study, fellowship, there's service, breaking of bread and prayer. Look at that. The
15:57 breaking of bread is as integral as listening to the sermon and praying.
16:03 Now here the question, how can you do that when it's only 10 minutes once a month? Now, I'm I'm not asking us to change our church service, but I want us
16:09 to re-examine ourselves. It was critical. But how do you remember? Because the
16:16 scripture is often saying that we are people who forget. I mean, you could do
16:21 entire sermon to say we need to remember, we need to remember. We can't remember many things because we are such
16:27 busy people. And because of that, God uses two tools. And I want to humbly
16:33 suggest the evangelical church has forgotten this. God uses symbols and God uses rituals.
16:40 And these things have been relegated to the back seat. Now why do we have a problem with symbols? Okay. And here's
16:47 what uh in relevant magazine Jared Brit says this. These churches make a token
16:53 of practicing the Eucharist occasionally. Eucharist another term for Lord's supper just because they're plainly commanded by Christ. Because the
16:60 Bible says it, we better do it. But they have no real meaning or efficiency. I
17:05 want us to examine ourselves when we read this. If something is merely symbolic, it must be unimportant,
17:11 unnecessary. It becomes a mere symbolic act of obedience. Read, we do this just
17:17 because he said to do it. If it doesn't do anything, if it in itself isn't necessary for salvation, doesn't further
17:24 the kingdom of God, then why should we bother doing it? and often get the feeling that these churches feel that the eukarist merely gets in the way of
17:31 the more important work of the church preaching, teaching, evangelizing. He's the pastor and relevant magazine is a
17:39 evangelical magazine targeting millennials. I found that very
17:44 fascinating. I give you example if every week we did a lot and we do I think half
17:49 the church will disappear. boring like oh what's a man really cannot every we
17:55 got to do sleep man I I want us to reexamine I want to do this with
17:60 humility all right why let me break down the two issues of symbols and ritual the
18:06 first because we've reduced symbols to this is what you do on your smartphone
18:13 symbols are imaticons I send you a clap I send you boss I send you a funny face
18:19 a smiley face The cross is something I identify with the bumper sticker. This
18:25 is all symbols have become to us. They are something to use on your screen
18:30 saver to make it easier for you to understand. But the first century
18:36 Christians did not think of symbols that way. Let me give you a few examples.
18:42 Number one, when Jesus took the Passover meal, every element in that meal had
18:48 meaning. You can find it in the book of Exodus. Actually, God describes it in
18:53 very big detail. I won't go to it. It's up on the screen. But every element they
18:58 add symbolize something. So that as they add it, they would remember. They remember their slavery. Remember the
19:05 breaks they were working at. Remember the bitterness of life. Remember they now have new life. Every element on the
19:14 Passover meal was symbolic. And baptism does the same thing and so
19:20 does the Lord's supper. Remember Matthew tells us the old covenant with the Passover. Jesus then say is a new
19:26 covenant then he institutes the Lord's supper. Meaning symbolism in the Passover is now transferred to symbolism
19:33 in the Lord's supper. You have to ask yourself how much is this which we're going to partake means to us in your
19:39 Christian walk because church history and scripture tells us symbolism was
19:46 center stage. Now before you write it down let me explain a bit about ourselves. You know uh for us symbols
19:53 are important because they carry emotions. All you married men what is this?
20:01 You don't need it. I married objectively this one now recession don't bury a wing save money don't have you see what your
20:08 wife will do to you see I I tell you this I know this because in my line everybody you know
20:14 you know I'm in the building line all these people try to be funny do you know what happens when guys want to fool around they take off their wedding rings
20:19 of course it's not just because they want to go tackle the girl because when they're doing ungodly things they don't want to
20:26 be reminded they're married symbols are critical when ISIS takes takes over every town or the Taliban
20:33 takes over Kundus, the first thing they do, they put up the flag because it evokes emotions. So here's
20:40 the question. When you take that, what goes through your heart? You are like me like you better take every once a month
20:46 take it. But it's supposed to invoke emotions. Secondly, okay, rituals
20:54 reinforce a shared identity. When two guys meet and they they high-five or
20:60 they do this, it's about bonding. When I take my kids, your kids, you go to the kitchen, you ask your kids to have a
21:06 family trying to cut vegetables. You think your daughter can cut vegetables very well. No, it's a ritual. That means you're a family.
21:13 And to remember flights, what do we do? You write on the wall to show that as a
21:18 family, as Malaysians, we remember. In the Oregon shooting just few days
21:24 ago, what do people do? They give flowers. Why give flowers? waste of money yet. It's a ritual. The ritual has
21:31 meaning. I mean, he died. Nine people died. Get over it. But no, people buy
21:37 flowers and put it there. I mean, you have a candle light vigil. It's a
21:42 ritual. The ritual has no physical value. It is emotional and it serves to
21:49 spike your memory and it bonds you together. That's what the Lord's Supper is. It is symbolic is shared identity.
21:57 And I want to give you example of that. There's a there's a there's a short movie out there. If you have time, go
22:02 look it up in YouTube. It's only 10 minutes. Great movie 10 minutes only. Google the word validation. Type it in
22:10 YouTube. You get this. It's about a guy who's a car parking attendant. You know when you get your ticket, right? Free
22:16 parking. You have to validate chop, right? So what he does is that he doesn't only validate your ticket, he validates you. very funny show, won an
22:24 award. So what happens? You take your ticket. You go out there, you say, I want to validate my ticket. He will validate your ticket. He looks at you
22:31 and he says, "You know what? You have such a nice smile. You know what? You're such a your shirt looks great. You know
22:38 what? No one appreciates you." Soon there's a long queue of people coming because they want to be validated.
22:46 Now, it's very interesting because the the short film plays on what the parking ticket is. And this basically says like
22:53 a parking ticket you need to be validated. Now it sounds quite insulting to make a person a parking ticket. No.
23:00 But that's quite interesting. Now let me tell you how rituals and symbols work. You know let me give you two symbols.
23:08 You see why is the parking ticket interesting? Free parking means you don't have to pay. The price has been
23:15 paid. My sins have been washed away. The price
23:21 has been paid. I didn't get it because I deserved it. I
23:26 got it out of grace. When I get free parking is not because I'm a D or because I drive a Mercedes. It's not
23:33 that I do. I don't. But irregardless of who you are, by grace you get parking.
23:39 Free parking. But having free parking is not enough. You have to go and validate it. But that's that's analogy of what we
23:47 do with the Lord's supper. By grace, we have been saved. Every time we come
23:53 together, God validates us. He reaffirms us. He reassures us of who we are in
24:00 him. And we reaffirm our covenant with him. That's why it's so important. But
24:06 most of us don't think like the parking ticket. We think like the washing machine. You know how washing machine
24:12 works or not? Your clothes are dirty. You put it in, you press, spin, press,
24:18 then you go away. After 1 hour, two hours, it come, it says ready. It's clean. Now, we think our Christian lives
24:24 are like that. God has done it. I just walk away. I don't do anything. I don't need remember. At the end of my life, I
24:30 go and see God. I say, "God, I'm ready. I'm clean." That's not the way it works.
24:36 We are supposed to validate our lives. And that's what the Lord's Supper does. So, what do we remember? I want to
24:42 propose three things we remember. One, the benefits of Christ's death.
24:47 Secondly, the importance of the body of Christ. And third, the need to have Christ in us. And as we take the emblems
24:54 afterwards, as we take the bread, drink of the wine, I I pray that these are the things that go through our mind. Let's
25:01 look at the first one, the benefits of Christ's death. And at the text we just read, this is what he says. He says,
25:07 "Whenever you eat the bread and drink this club, you proclaim." It's an
25:13 interesting word. You proclaim. You shout it out. It's not private
25:18 remembering. You proclaim. Let's break down what it means. Okay. Now, the benefits of Christ's death. Number one,
25:26 you proclaim his suffering. You proclaim how much he suffers. And
25:33 why did he suffer? Because he loved us. And because of that, you remember his
25:39 covenant and you remember how in everyday life you are supposed to live that out. In in the other account of the
25:46 Lord's supper found in John 15, Jesus say this, greater love has no one than
25:51 this that he lay down his life for his friends. And then Jesus goes on to say,
25:57 I call you my friends. Jesus is referring to himself that he's going to
26:02 lay down his life for his friends. And this morning when we take the Lord's supper, Jesus is saying this. You are
26:09 his friends. Yes, we are his children of God, but we are brothers and sisters of
26:16 Christ. That's what the Hebrew writer says. Now, and when you eat this, when
26:21 you drink, you think of a friend who loved you so much, suffered for you that
26:28 you can have a covenant with God. That there's something we just I want to take out our mind as we go through that. The
26:34 second is the importance of the body of Christ. In the Corinthian text, he uses the word therefore as the connecting
26:40 line. Therefore, whoever eats the bread, drinks the cup in an unworthy manner
26:46 will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Now, that's quite interesting. Meaning the text
26:52 beforehand, you know, when you proclaim the Lord's death is the incentive for
26:58 you to basically think of the body. Now you must understand how Greek is written
27:04 or how the early writers write it. They like to play with words. Meaning on one hand the Lord's supper reminds us of the
27:12 body of Christ. This is my body. On the other hand, there's two meanings to the
27:18 word body. One, it refers to Christ. Second, it refers to us because the
27:25 church is what? The church is the body of Christ. And that's why in the olden days they
27:31 use one loaf. You know the loaf. One loaf had this meaning. First this is Christ's body you break. But if everyone
27:39 thinks of one loaf it means what? You're part of that one body. Paul interchanges
27:45 this. You find this in later chapters. He talks of spiritual body. It's a metaphor he likes to play with. And and
27:51 and Augustine a very early church uh uh uh father said this. You know when you
27:58 take the sacraments he says when you look at it you look you remember Christ.
28:04 So when you look at this you say Christ died for me blood pou for me. But he
28:10 says something else very interesting when you look the sacraments say this is church
28:15 each one of us. Each one of us. That's why Paul plays with the word. Therefore, whoever eats
28:22 the bread, drinks the cup in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
28:29 Okay? Body and blood of the Lord. So, he uses first to talk about you sin against Christ. After that, he takes it and
28:36 tells you, you don't do this in a worthy manner because you're not waiting for one another. So, communion not only has
28:42 a physical lat uh vertical relationship with God, it has a horizontal
28:48 relationship with one another. And I want us to challenge ourselves on one simple thing.
28:54 If you don't get on with one another in church, see there are people here who have
29:01 conflict with one another for whatever reason. Let's not get personal. What
29:06 goes through your mind when you take the Lord's supper. If a lot of ush we don't care.
29:14 But that's not what Paul is saying. You know he asks you to examine yourself. The context of examine yourself if you
29:21 if you look at what just was written uh uh read to us. Let me just look at that.
29:26 The context of this is this you know uh verse 18. In the first place I hear when you come together church there are
29:33 divisions among you is a divided church. The context of examining yourself is in
29:40 that that area a divided church. So the first thing I want to ask you if if
29:45 there's conflict among you all what do you think when you take the Lord's supper
29:52 here's another thing the body of Christ reminds us we are many colors many
29:58 shapes many background recently we had red shirt yellow shirt
30:03 this country is very racially divided let's not talk about the country let's talk about ourselves in this church we
30:11 have Indians Chinese, Africans, mixed races. Do you see them as your body?
30:18 And the Lord's supper is supposed to remind us of that. It reminds us, hey,
30:24 you're not supposed to be in conflict. What Matthew tells us before you leave the alt before you present your gift at
30:30 the altar, go and reconcile yourself with the brother. Number two, we are many different colors. But one and
30:39 three, the body reminds us we are the church in the biggest sense. You see,
30:45 when Jesus had supper, Matthew tells us this, the son of man came eating and
30:51 drinking and they say, "Here's a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." The other thing the Lord's
30:57 supper reminds you is that the body is beyond those you're comfortable with. When you have supper, you have supper
31:03 with your gang, you know, your click. When Jesus has supper, he has supper with a prostitute. He has supper with
31:08 the tax collector. He has supper with people who no one else has supper with. And the Lord's supper reminds us of
31:14 that. So, let me just give you a few verses. First, a man ought to examine
31:19 himself before he eats. And I want to challenge you before you take this afterwards. Think of yourself. Think of
31:25 number one, your sins of the week. Number two, think of how you may have
31:32 offended somebody. Secondly, because there's one loaf, we who are many are
31:37 one body. He takes that in earlier chapter where he talks about food offered to idols. Remind yourself next
31:43 time you see the Indians in our church from the Indian ministry. Next time you see the Filipinos from the
31:49 Filipino ministry, you see the Mayamaris, the Nepales, people from the prison homes, they are
31:57 your body. The Lord's supper is supposed to remind us of that. And lastly, in the
32:03 biatitudes, uh Jesus say, if you're offering your gift at the altar, remember your brother is something against you. Leave your gift, go and be
32:10 reconciled. Remembering leads to doing. There's no
32:16 point coming here and remember, yeah, I got a problem with that brother. God forgive me. Then after that, forget it. I'm not going to talk to you. Then the
32:23 remembering has no purpose. Sit down, think of your sin, and reaffirm your covenant.
32:30 Okay. Third one, and this one is quite controversial, and I want to spend a bit of time on this. Remembering the need to
32:36 have Christ in us. There's an old saying that says you are what you eat. And I
32:41 want you to bear with me. You might find this boring, but it's critical. Let me ask you a questions for us. When we look
32:47 at the emblems, some people call these emblems bread and wine. It is symbolic.
32:52 That's all that is remind us of Christ. But millions of people who profess
32:59 Christianity don't believe that. Okay? You see, it comes back to this word this
33:04 is my body. And scholars have wondered why is exactly identical. And the
33:10 question is, is this literal or symbolic? Now let me give you a a doctrine which
33:15 you will find in the Catholic church and if you're Catholic in our midst I want to say this is not meant to offend anyone. We want to discuss this at
33:22 brothers and I spend a lot of time struggling with this issue. You see the cateism of the Catholic church says this
33:28 the Eucharist by which really sharing in the body of the Lord. We are taken into communion with him and one another.
33:35 Okay. You ask how the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine the blood of Christ. I shall tell you the Holy Spirit
33:41 comes upon them and accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought. Let it be enough for you to understand by the
33:47 Holy Spirit just as well. The Holy Spirit that the Lord through and himself took flesh. Now what he's saying is that
33:54 when in mass they take it as opposed to what they call Protestants taking it, it
33:59 actually becomes the body of Christ. In fact, when you go to mass and I've taken mass before, they the priest will take
34:06 this and put it up. Actually I wasn't supposed to take mass. He didn't realize I wasn't Catholic. You know people like me very KPC walk into any church you
34:12 see. They put it up and at that moment he puts up the the the wafer it transubstantiate. Now is this a theology
34:19 they develop in the medival age. All right. And the word now they have coined
34:25 another word is called real presence. Now if you Google the internet quite
34:30 interesting when you look at Protestant evangelical whatever reform all these terms are very little articles on the
34:36 Lord's supper. Click on Catholic. I tell you there are thousands. The Cathol got
34:41 this with tremendous sanctity. And every argument the Protestants have put apart, they have dismantled it. I read this
34:48 until my brain burst. But I felt I needed to understand this because I'm preaching to you all. Can you imagine if
34:53 I teach you something like this and is wrong? God will judge me. Now this is how heavily the Catholic Church holds
34:59 it. No. He says this. Anyone save that Christ given the Eucharist is eaten
35:04 spiritually only meaning not literal and not sacramentally and really let him be
35:11 anatima. You know what it means? It means let him go to hell.
35:16 That is what they are saying. So if I teach you wrongly the Catholics say I'm going to go to hell. So let's spend a
35:21 bit of time in this. All right. Now one of the key text used to explain this is the John text because Jesus says this in
35:28 John 6. I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man, drink his blood, you have no life in you. In
35:34 Catholic doctrine, this is literal. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. I will raise him
35:40 on the last day. My flesh is real food. My blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me.
35:47 I him just as the living father sent me. I live because the father, the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
35:53 tremendous number of articles out there fighting true and false for you know over the centuries Protestants say this
35:60 is symbolic Catholics have reacted very angrily to say this is literal and all their scholars going there I and I read
36:06 it I got very depressed okay now let's spend a bit of time on understanding this first let me give you some
36:13 background the Catholics are not the only people who believe this Eastern Orthodox believe this and surprisingly
36:20 so did Martin Lutherans believe this but because I don't want to be anatima let's
36:25 break this into it number one is John talking about the Lord's supper
36:32 he's not the context has nothing to do Lord's supper early on he says I am the
36:38 bread of life whoever believes in me he's talking about being a disciple
36:44 at that moment obviously none of disciple had the understanding that this is a ritual at the Matthew new text at
36:52 the Passover. Yes, he said this is the new covenant. Do this in remebrance of me. The context isn't the Lord's supper.
36:59 That's first thing. Number two, this is about eating Jesus once. You
37:06 know, let's not argue whether it's literal or symbolic. It's not eating Jesus every
37:11 Sunday. It's not going to mass every Sunday and you got to makan. You know,
37:16 it's a oneoff event. Now, I'm here not to insult Catholics really. Seriously, I think there's a lot we can learn from Catholics. But let's let's get this very
37:23 important thing through. It's a oneoff event. Okay? And Hebrews tells us that Christ does a resurrection dust away
37:30 with priests needing to offer sacrifices every week for the remission of sin to
37:35 eat the flesh to drink the blood. It's a one-off event. So the John text actually goes against it. A Jesus is not talking
37:43 about Lord supper. The context is clear. He's about discipling. Number two, even if it is literal and not just symbolic,
37:50 I'll get to that in a while. Is oneoff. The second thing you want to pick up is the way Jesus talks. He says, "I am the
37:56 true vine." Is Jesus saying he became a vine? I am the door. Did Jesus become a door? Of course not. It's all the way
38:04 Jesus speaks in there. I'm a vine. I'm a bread. I'm a door. The proverb says
38:09 this, wisdom is food and wine. Scripture is full of symbolic language. Paul says
38:14 church is the body. He flips around that the body refers to Christ. Then he says
38:19 the body refers to the church. Christ says you are to be in me. Is Christ literally inside me? So there's symbolic
38:27 language. So it's very hard for us to sort of put this around. But let me give you the danger of this. Number one, the
38:33 danger is the ritual saves you. That's why for a lot of Catholics, they just go to mass. I have very dear Catholic
38:39 friends. What do you do? I go to mass. That's it. message or no message do pray or not just go to mass must find mass
38:47 number two danger we don't have to change of lives and we have mass and confession to cleanse our sins what what
38:52 they do is you have mass then you go to confession room I think I think there's some value in in some of this I'll come
38:59 to this in a while but the danger is that I'm okay you see but here is the the final thing which is quite important
39:05 the Catholic doctrine of real presence only came out in the medieval period none of the early church fathers ever
39:11 teach when the bread and wine becomes Christ. Note, however, none of the early Nissen fathers ever saw the Lord's
39:18 supper as purely symbolic. Now, this one, the sword cuts both ways. To be fair to the Catholics, you read every
39:25 early church father and I want to tell you a personal struggle I went through early this year. I told myself what
39:30 question, why am I Baptist? You know, why am I evangelical? Why am I reformed? And I went on the soulsearching and I I
39:36 I started to read a lot from Catholic Orthodox uh uh early church fathers. Now
39:42 I I will tell you this in defense of the Catholics. Every church father Austinine
39:48 Iranius Polycarb you may not know any of these name doesn't matter never saw the
39:54 Lord's supper purely as symbolic. You get that now that's really touching on a mindfield never.
40:01 I read so many I read Augustine clearly they never ever saw it as symbolic
40:08 but that's important for us to pick up that means when they saw this it wasn't just like symbolic or this represent Jesus that's it was deeper than that we
40:15 need to rediscover this but on the other hand they never had this transubstantiation theology you know
40:22 what it means because in Catholic doctrine at one point when the priest lifts up the wafer boom Jesus enters the
40:29 bread when they lift out the cup, boom, the cup becomes the blood of Christ. The
40:35 Orthodox have the same thing. You don't find that. It's seamless. It is a given.
40:40 Now, a lot of it has got to do with language because early Greek language, Jewish language, when Jews talk about
40:47 body, they don't take body like us physical. The body had two parts. No, it had a spiritual part and a physical
40:53 part. That's why we come to the epistle of James. The piece of James is meant to combat a heresy called gnosticism
41:00 because it separates the two. But Jews and Greeks see body as spiritual and
41:08 physical. I want you to I want you to pick up a little bit of this. And lastly, it places too much emphasis on
41:13 the mystery of the bread instead of believers who think in an unworthy manner. Now, what does this mean for all
41:19 of us? I know this a bit boring, but it's important. Simply, you haven't got bread. You're
41:26 toast. You are toast. You need a bread of life.
41:32 Two applications. One, I need to have Christ in me. Jesus declared, "I'm the bread of life. He who comes to me will
41:39 never go hungry. He who believes in me will never be thirsty." The John 6:56 text. The context is that as I eat this,
41:48 I'm eating the bread. I remind myself tomorrow when I go to work, Christ must
41:53 live in me. very often Christ doesn't live in me on Monday. It's my carnal self. That's why Paul tells in Romans 8,
42:00 it is Christ who lives in me. So here's one thing I want us to do when we take it.
42:07 Not just remember his death as the bread goes into you as the wine you drink. Why
42:14 does Jesus says eat of me remember tomorrow is it Christ in you? Because
42:20 most of us on Monday we go back to our normal self. Now that's important. This so important
42:27 because you don't have bread of life, you're toast. Okay. Secondly, and this
42:32 one is a bit controversial. I want to talk about the presence of Christ. You see, Christ says this, no,
42:38 there's two texts. One in Romans, it says Christ Jesus who died is at the right hand of God interceding for us.
42:44 Now, is that literal? God is in heaven. Right side of God, big silver throne, God right side. On the other hand,
42:50 Matthew, he says it when two or three come together my name, I'm with them. So where is Jesus? Is he up there in heaven with God looking down on us or is he
42:57 here in our presence? This is one of those things evangelicals have to rediscover. We call this
43:04 mystery. Meaning you and I don't understand everything. I want to ask you a question. If you
43:10 take the Matthew text, do you believe Jesus is here?
43:16 Seriously. Now suddenly the silence isn't it? That's called sacred moment. You notice
43:23 the different what it does to us. You see on on that sense the Catholics have got it right. You see evangelicals have
43:30 diluted it. I I want to say for how can you say the lost supper has meaning when
43:36 we do it once a month 10 minutes quickly bread go this is the bread drink this is
43:42 no value purely what what what the relevant magazine say has no value. The
43:48 very least is you have to pause. If you do it once a month, take time. That's why we're doing it at the end of
43:54 the service today. I don't want you to rush this. I know it's a long service, but once a month, you all can put up with this, right? I mean, we can put up
44:01 with this. Don't be so eager to rush off. Pause Christ is in our presence.
44:08 And progressive Catholics believe in this. You see when Augustine talks about sacramental presence when bishop polyop
44:15 early fathers talk about sacramental presence I've been reading it Christ is present not only in the bread in the
44:21 wine Christ is present in the word of Christ is present around us Christ is
44:26 present in your hearts they call this abiding presence in opposed to real
44:33 presence is sacramental presence you know what it means it takes symbolism
44:38 and takes it to a level of sacredness. And when I take that bread, I drink that
44:45 wine, I remember Christ is in our midst.
44:50 I want you to pause because if you really pause on that, that is very life-changing and even nourish us. So I
44:57 I hope that makes makes sense. Let me wrap up now with all the other controversies. No. I mean, who can wear
45:03 can can lay people do it? All of this. Let me just give you a simple rap and we're going to finish. The bigger issue
45:10 is tradition. You see our beliefs grounded in scripture or tradition. I give you
45:16 example. Say for some dastardly reason Peter decides
45:21 to put me into the leadership. Say very covert symbolism to Peter. Then I start
45:26 to flex my muscles and one day I come to you. You know what? I'm going to make all of you drink from the same cup.
45:34 I bet you if I track a tender the next way everybody half the congregation will go oh yeah got AIDS got disease dirty
45:42 but then my question to you is I'm not going to I'm not going to do that but why is it you cannot do it you see the
45:48 issue isn't about defending why we do what we do the issue is why can't you do
45:54 it a different way you see we say that our faith is based on scripture that's
45:59 the biggest lie the reformers have told you our faith is belief on tradition,
46:05 reform tradition. Have any one of us ever challenged the way we do it? Now, here's why I ask you
46:12 is important. If it does nothing to you, challenge it. Okay? Change your traditions if we need to grow.
46:20 Here's the next question. Now, this getting controversial. I'm just trying to provoke us. I mean, you want to score me, do it after the service.
46:26 Do we bother to learn from early church traditions? and and and Paul tells the second Thessalonians that we learn from
46:32 the teachings of forefathers. Okay, because at that time it's oral tradition. I want to give you two examples. Number one, this is going to
46:40 become a tradition. Now this is very trendy 15 years from now. This is very oldfashioned.
46:46 So I want to ask you, wouldn't it be good to look at the way where we do church which is more eternal? I want you
46:52 to tinker your mind instead of something which is always changing to fit every
46:58 century. Okay. Now, let's look at how the the the the it was done in the Bible. Number one, it was done weekly.
47:05 That's important. You know, they did it every Sunday. Number two, it was done at home.
47:11 No rights. And number three, it was celebrated with a meal. What if one
47:17 Sunday we have one big makan, after that we did the last supper?
47:22 Now, you all say, "Well, I'm not used to it." But that's exactly what Jesus did in Matthew and that's what first
47:28 Corinthians teaches us. What I want to ask us is challenge the way we do it. Like we don't have to be taking this as
47:35 this is a given. I'm not saying what we're doing is wrong. But I think we need to try to always reassess what
47:41 we're doing for the sake of our spiritual health. Now this is how the early church practice it. Okay. I read
47:46 this. This is from Justin Martr. The first record they start off by reading the Old Testament. Then the president
47:52 gives a homaly with a message. Then there's prayer, kiss of peace. The president offers prayers. Communion is
47:58 taken to the sick and absent. Then there is a collection. Now what is very interesting is this. No, if you didn't
48:05 take communion, you know what the church did? The church will take communion to you. You know like the old Muslims
48:10 saying if Muhammad doesn't go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Muhammad. Or was it the other way around? Okay, forget. It was so
48:18 important to the early churches that if you miss communion, they will take it to your home and give it to you.
48:25 Now, what am I trying to say this morning? I'm trying to make I will admit this and and this is maybe
48:32 controversial. I I and please judge me if you do. I judge that the evangelical
48:37 church has sidelined the Lord's supper. We have relegated it to a symbolic thing
48:43 we do once a month 10 minutes. It has no value in your life. Come on, be real.
48:49 Has no value. We need to rediscover this. Now, how we do it? We need to
48:55 break our traditions. Go back to scripture and do some self-reexamining.
49:00 Who should not be allowed? Now, some people say only baptized people should take it. Let me just give a few things
49:07 and we wrap it up. Number one, children shouldn't take it. If children don't know the Lord's supper, this is very dangerous. Number two, some people say
49:14 baptized people should take it. I think scripture doesn't say it. 1 Corinthians 10:17, there's one law. We who are many.
49:20 Why? Because if you does allow baptized people to take it, we split the church
49:25 because some people are not baptized for many reasons in our culture because the family is Buddhist. It's difficult
49:31 because the family is Hindu. So I don't think we should split it this way. Okay?
49:37 We are we just learned the Lord's supper is to bind the family together.
49:43 So let me just end with this and I want to prepare ourselves of this. I know it's a long morning but we can do this
49:50 once a month right at least. Now I want to just suggest a few things.
49:55 Number one prepare yourself before the service. Now that's that's interesting
50:01 isn't it? Don't rush. Do you know what the old church used to
50:06 do? They used to fast on their breakfast. I tried it this morning. cannot
50:11 I mean to you and I went to read up I I read a book on fasting it's from our library you know why they used to do it
50:18 because it it focuses them on the emblem so when they think of it they remember Christ and one writer said this he was
50:25 an evangelical writer if we cannot even fast one breakfast we'll never fast for anything else I'm not asking you to fast
50:32 let's not be legalistic but it was interesting uh
50:37 the Catholics have got it right in that sense Let's give praise to the Catholics. The Catholics to them before you come for mass prepare yourself in
50:45 your hearts to worship. I've been reading a lot of Eucharistic article. This is something we forget. We all come here play on headphones. Sit down. Sit
50:51 down. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Take the break. Don't do waste your time.
50:59 Prepare your hearts. Number two is a community affair. And I want to challenge you because I know we know in
51:05 this church we have conflict. conflict with one another, conflict with people outside. I have conflict with some
51:12 fellow Christians. Every time I take this, I should remind myself my covenant is the body of Christ is Christ in the
51:20 body. And I need to reconcile. I need to affirm that. Examine my sins, all my
51:27 sins. Take that cup, put it in front of you and say, "This is how Jesus suffered
51:32 for me. This is how much he loved me." And as the bread enters us and as the
51:40 wine we drink, we affirm our covenant. And I want to in this sense uh commend
51:46 the Catholics for this. I I read an article for John Paul II. He said what makes him happy? He says breaking mass
51:53 everywhere. He just broke mass in the states. You see, whether I break mass in
51:58 a stadium or in a basilica in Europe or in a small little village, every time I
52:03 break mass, I reminded I'm with Christ. It was such a godly message. For us
52:08 Protestants, for service to be important, better get a hot shot preacher in. Can you get a preacher in
52:15 the jungle? You can't. The only thing you can do anywhere which really is important and to bring the centrality of
52:22 the gospel everywhere is the Lord's supper. And the early church they look forward
52:27 to this for us is a chore. Come to the feast of the Lord. This is
52:35 what God is telling us. And lastly, remembering leads to doing because
52:41 remembering leads to just remembering that symbol has no value. So I want to
52:48 end there. It's a long morning. I want to close in prayer and ask the worship team to come up and then we're going to
52:53 do the Lord's supper. I know it's long but once a month I think we can torture ourselves a little bit. Okay. So let's
52:59 quieten our hearts as we come before the Lord in prayer. Lord we just uh as a worship team prepares we just ask oursel
53:05 that we we look at the emblems of the blood of the the bread and the wine
53:12 seriously and we think of how the early church looked forward to this as the
53:17 highlight of the week and we confess to us this has become a symbol which is almost quite meaningless.
53:23 We ask right now that we challenge ourel to get nourished as we prepare our hearts to take this later. Lord, let us
53:29 examine ourselves our sins. Our sins towards each other, our sins
53:35 towards you. And as we take that bread and and and drink that wine, we remind ourselves we
53:41 are one body, one loaf. And we think of Christ who suffered for us and who loved us. And we remember
53:48 that we need more of Christ. And lastly, as we sing this last song solemnly, as
53:56 we prepare ourselves to take the Lord's supper, we just remember sacramentally, Lord, you are in our presence.
54:06 As I pray right now, you are here. You are here in a very real way.
54:14 You are in our hearts. You are in the word.
54:20 You are in the You are in the bread and the blood and you're around us.
54:26 And we approach you with fear and trembling but with much love, oh Lord.
54:34 Much love as we prepare ourselves for one day we will meet God and we will
54:40 dine together. Say this in Jesus name. Amen.
