“The Lord’s Supper and the Saints”(Isaiah 53:1-6, 1 Corinthians 11:26 )

Isaiah 53:1-6, 1 Corinthians 11:26  “The Lord’s Supper and the Saints”

 

That night, before Jesus was arrested, He knew how He was going to die and He ate the Passover Feast with His beloved disciples.  Jesus gave thanks to God in prayer for the bread first and broke it and gave it to the beloved disciples and said, “This is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)  In this, the word “remembrance” means not to forget and remember that I was whipped and My body was torn on the cross in agony for you.  Then after supper He took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.  This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25)  We must remember the words He asked us.  According to His command we are to observe the Lord’s Supper.  May God’s grace fill our hearts.  In today’s text the Apostle Paul teaches us three things we must keep in mind every time we take the bread, which is a symbol of the Lord’s body and the cup which represents the blood of our Lord.  He speaks of those saints’ attitudes who participate in these observances.

 

First, we must believe Jesus’ death is for me.  In today’s text Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”  Jesus’ death on the cross is not just for this person or that person nor someone else, but His wounds are for us, you and me, we must believe this.  For example, in the 18^th century there was a famous painter named Schudenberg in Germany.  He was in the middle of painting a portrait of Jesus when a beautiful girl, who was his relative, came to visit and saw the picture he was painting.  She asked him saying, “Uncle he must have committed a lot of bad sins.”  When Schudenberg heard this he was stunned and said, “No, He is Jesus Who has nothing to do with sin, He carried the cross for others.”  The girl asked, “For others, who are the others?  He replied, “The others include you and me.”  As she heard this she was amazed and asked, “Is it true that He died for me and you?”  “Yes He did,” and as he answered he heard a great crying sound in his heart saying, “Schudenberg, do you truly believe that I died for you on the cross?”  Of course he knew in his head that Jesus died on the cross for everyone’s sin, but it never greatly touched his heart.  However the little girl’s one question turned into the voice of the Holy Spirit and touched deep inside his heart.  So Schudenberg kneeled in repentance and started to pray before the painting which he was working on, saying, “Oh! Lord, I am a sinner who deserves to die.  You suffered so much, please have pity on me and give me a right belief and uphold me.”  As he was weeping, he picked up his brush and completed the painting.  He wrote these words under the painting, “I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given Me?”  This is how his painting became a famous portrait of Jesus on the cross.  Later on this painting was hung in a museum in Germany.  Since then everyone who looks at this painting is inspired with a deep understanding of the spiritual truth that Jesus died for them.  Beloved saints!  We must be touched in our hearts that Jesus Christ is our savior and Lord.  I believe those who surely understand that Jesus suffered for them, they may participate in the observance of the Lord’s Supper.  This is the first attitude of the saints.

 

The second attitude is to remember the second coming of our Lord.  Let’s read together today’s text 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.”  These words “Till He comes” means until Jesus comes the second time.  How blessed is this hope for us?  We believe in His second coming.  While we wait, continually observe the Lord’s Supper until He comes.  At that time we will see Him face to face.  When the time comes we will bow down at the feet of Jesus and weep with hot tears running down our faces with great emotion for Him, Who was whipped and crushed for us.  We will have deep gratitude as we look at Jesus’ hands that show how much He loves us.  And we will be led by Jesus’ hand into God’s eternal kingdom.  I pray that as often as we eat the bread and drink the cup we all will be blessed saints, who proclaim His death till He comes.

 

The third attitude is to carry out the mission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We become the witnesses of Jesus and have the responsibility to preach the gospel.  After Jesus was raised from the dead what did He kindly ask the beloved disciples to do?  And at this present time what does He ask us to do?  That is, He asks us to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth.  (Acts 1:8)  And in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, how did the Apostle Paul record God’s word?  He records an imperative, let’s read together 2 Timothy 4:1-2, “      I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”  This is called Jesus’ great command.  What do you think the meaning of the great command is?  This is a term used in the military.  It is a military command in war, just like when the commander says to charge forward, then everyone must charge forward, it does not matter how many bullets come our way.  This is not a matter of whether we want to do it or not.  It must be done.  Such an order as this is called a great command.  Likewise, we as soldiers of the cross must carry out the great command from Jesus, which is a command to testify of the gospel with all our strength till death.  After Jesus’ suffering, the saints of the early church didn’t spare their lives to follow the great command from Jesus did they?  In spite of many persecutions and trials, they went out and boldly testified for the gospel.  Stephen was stoned while testifying (Acts 7:54-60).  The Apostle James was beheaded (Acts 12:1-2).  St. Peter was crucified upside down.  Besides, how can I list all the names?  

Beloved saints!  I pray as we observe the Lord’s Supper that you may hear the voice of our Lord.  I pray that we all deeply contemplate about what we did for the Lord for His sacrifice on the cross for us and gave us such a great thing.  In other words, He gave me eternal life.  In a little while we will see Jesus face to face over there.  As we receive the Lord’s Holy Communion on this earth, I pray that we are able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.  May God’s grace fill your hearts and minds.

By: Rev. Samuel Choi