March 16, 2025 • 30 mins
Jason Sterling March 16, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to
Luke, chapter 22 this morning.
Luke, chapter 22.
We have been this year, havebeen studying the gospel of Luke
, and we've been looking at Lukethrough the angle and through
the perspective of the table.
(00:20):
Every gospel has some emphasisand one of the emphasis of Luke
is meals.
Jesus is either at a meal orhe's going to a meal or coming
from a meal, and so we've beenmaking our way through the
gospel of Luke by looking atthose meals and they've taught
us a lot about who Jesus is, whyJesus came into the world.
(00:40):
They've taught us a lot aboutthe realities of his grace.
But last week, if you were here, we shifted gears.
We're going to trying toprepare our hearts for Easter
and for the resurrection, and sowe shifted gears from looking
at the meals in eating withJesus to walking with Jesus to
(01:01):
the cross.
Last week we looked at thetriumphal entry Jesus enters
into Jerusalem for the last weekof his life and we will be
walking with Jesus in this lastweek and we will obviously end
on Easter Sunday by looking atthe resurrection.
This morning we are looking,interestingly enough, at another
(01:21):
meal, the last supper, thePassover meal in which Jesus
celebrates with his disciplesthe night before he was
crucified.
So follow along with me.
This is God's word Luke 22, 7through 23.
Then came the day of unleavenedbread, on which the Passover
lamb had to be sacrificed.
(01:42):
And so Jesus sent Peter andJohn saying go and prepare the
Passover for us that we may eatit.
And then, or they said to him,where will you have us prepare
it?
And he said to them behold,when you have entered the city,
a man carrying a jar of waterwill meet you.
Follow him into the house thathe enters and tell the master of
(02:04):
the house.
The teacher says to you where'sthe guest room where I may
prepare or eat the Passover mealwith my disciples?
And he will show you a largeupper room furnished.
Prepare it there.
And they went and found it,just as he had told them.
And they prepared the Passover.
And when the hour came, hereclined at table and the
(02:26):
apostles with him.
And he said to them I haveearnestly desired to eat this
Passover with you before Isuffer, for I tell you I will
not eat it until it is fulfilledin the kingdom of God.
And he took a cup and when hehad given thanks, he said Take
this and divide it amongyourselves, for I tell you that
(02:47):
from now on, I will not drink ofthe fruit of the vine until the
kingdom of God comes.
And he took bread and when hehad given thanks, he broke it
and gave it to them, saying thisis my body, which is given for
you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
And likewise the cup, afterthey had eaten, saying this cup
(03:10):
that is poured out for you isthe new covenant in my blood.
But behold, the hand of him whobetrays me is with me on the
table, for the Son of man goesas it has been determined, but
woe to that man by whom he isbetrayed.
And they began to question oneanother which of them it could
(03:31):
be who was going to do this.
This is God's Word.
Let's pray, bow your head andwe'll pray for the Spirit to
help us.
Let's pray together.
Father, please come throughyour Spirit, be with the one who
preaches, give me humbleboldness as I deliver your word,
and I pray for those that arelistening.
(03:53):
You brought us here for thisword this morning and I pray
that you would help thoselistening to receive the word
and faith and that you would doa deep work in us through this
passage this morning.
Show us Jesus, show us thegoodness of the gospel through
(04:13):
this passage.
It's in Christ's name, I pray,amen.
We partake every week of theLord's Supper at our church,
week of the Lord's Supper at ourchurch, and of course there are
theological and biblicalreasons behind it, but one of
the reasons, important reasonsthat we do it, is that our loves
(04:34):
are shaped by our habits.
Our loves are shaped by ourhabits.
Jka Smith, in his book you Arewhat you Love, says that our
hearts are like compasses, thatthey're constantly being trained
to point towards something andin the direction of something.
(04:57):
And the things that werepeatedly do, especially in
worship, they actually shape usand shape our affections and
train us way more than werealize.
And so our order of worship,from the welcome every week,
through the singing, through thesongs and confession and
(05:20):
through the preaching of theWord and especially weekly
communion.
It is intentionally designedthis service to set our hearts
on Jesus, to set the compassesof our hearts on the message of
the gospel, so that our livesare shaped and formed by the
(05:41):
realities of the gospel, by therealities of Jesus' love for us.
However, it is possible that aswe approach the Lord's Supper
every single week and as weapproach worship every week, to
do so mindlessly, it's possiblethat we become overly familiar
(06:07):
and this becomes the Lord'sSupper rote ritual.
And when that happens, itactually robs us of joy and
transformative power.
And we experience this all thetime, don't we?
I mean, think about.
I'll give you several examples.
But you plant flowers here inthe spring, or maybe you paint
(06:30):
your house, or you paint a room,or you get some new furniture,
or you hang a picture and you goby and you go, wow, that's
beautiful and it captures you.
And if you paint your house,you go out to the curb and you
look and you go out for thefirst couple of weeks.
Then you see the flowers andyou're in awe and marvel at them
(06:51):
.
Then what happens?
You quit noticing.
It becomes so familiar that youdon't even notice it anymore.
And if we're not careful, we cando the exact same thing with
the Lord's Supper.
And if we're not careful, wecan do the exact same thing with
the Lord's Supper.
We can do the exact same thingwith worship.
(07:11):
We can mindlessly go throughthe motions so that it becomes
overly familiar and so that itrobs us of joy and cuts the
heart out of its life-changingpower.
We don't want that to happen,and in order for that not to
(07:34):
happen, we have to engage inthis weekly rhythm with
attentiveness.
And then the question is okay,well, how do we do that?
How do we make sure that we areengaging in the Lord's Supper
and in worship every week withattentiveness?
Well, lots of ways that wecould talk about this morning.
But one way is to slow down andto go back to the first supper,
(07:56):
to go back to the first Lord'sSupper and remember again,
marvel again, what this meal isall about.
And that's what we're going todo this morning.
We're going to go back to thefirst Lord's Supper and we're
going to look at this passageand my hope is that it would
(08:18):
refresh us, that it would renewour perspective and our joy and
our love for Jesus as we look atthis passage this morning.
Three things, three headings, ifyou're taking notes the
preparation of the Lord's Suppernumber one.
Secondly, the recipients of theLord's Supper number two.
(08:38):
Lastly, the meaning of theLord's Supper.
The preparation, the recipientsand the meaning.
Let's look at those in turn.
First, the preparation.
Look with me at verses.
If you have your Bible or ifit's on your phone or the
bulletin, look at verses 7through 13 with me.
You'll see four times you'llsee the word prepare mentioned.
(09:04):
You'll see four times you'llsee the word prepare mentioned.
Jesus and the disciples are nowin Jerusalem.
It's Passover and so thereneeds to be preparation.
For 1,500 years God's peoplehave been celebrating the
Passover.
It was a monumental moment inIsrael's history.
You find it in Exodus, chapter12.
(09:24):
Pharaoh would not let God'speople go.
God sends the plagues, and ifyou remember the story, the last
plague was when the angel ofdeath was going to sweep through
Egypt, killing all thefirstborns.
The only way you escaped God'swrath was God's people had to
(09:46):
put the blood of a slain lamb onthe doorpost.
And if you had the blood of thelamb on your doorpost, the
angel of death would pass overyour home and your firstborn
would be spared.
And that's what they'recelebrating.
The Passover was a meal tocelebrate the night that God had
(10:07):
delivered them and saved them,and so for 1,500 years they've
been celebrating this throughthe Passover.
And so it's obvious any good Jewat this point would be saying
where are we celebrating?
We got to make preparations.
Where are we celebrating?
(10:29):
We got to make preparations,and so Jesus sends out Peter and
John into the city.
He says you're going to seesomeone with a jar of water.
They're going to meet you.
They're going to take you intothis home.
The master of the house.
Tell them that I sent you.
He will point you to the room,make preparations there.
And the disciples go and doexactly what they're told.
Verse 13, and everything happens.
(10:51):
This is where we're going tofocus.
Everything happens exactly asJesus said it would, and that is
what I want us to see underthis first point, and that is
what I want us to see under thisfirst point.
Notice who's in control ofevery detail that is happening.
(11:12):
They went and found it, just asJesus had told them.
Jesus is in charge of everydetail, even the hard and the
chaotic things, like thebetrayal, his own death that is
coming is under his control.
Look at verse 22.
For the Son of man goes as ithas been determined.
(11:34):
John 10,.
Jesus says no one takes my lifefrom me.
I lay my life down on my ownaccord.
Why is that so important?
Well, because in a few hoursthings are about to get really
(11:57):
crazy In a few hours.
Things are about to get chaotic.
Jesus is going to be betrayed,which he's predicted here and
knows is coming.
He's going to be arrested andtried and nailed to a cross.
It's about to get reallydifficult.
And it's going to look to thedisciples and to Jesus'
(12:20):
followers.
Like Jesus is not in control atall.
It's going to look likeeverything that they had staked
their life on is coming apart atthe seams.
And Jesus is reminding thedisciples, and he's reminding us
(12:41):
this morning as we sit here,that things are not as they seem
, that this is all part of theplan, that none of this is
taking Jesus by surprise, istaking Jesus by surprise that
(13:08):
he's in control of every singledetail that comes to pass in
your life and in the world.
So what?
What does that have to do withyou sitting here this morning?
And what does that have to do?
Remember our theme.
What does that have to do withweekly communion?
(13:28):
Every single week, when youcome forward and you huddle up
in groups and the elders takethe elements and they preach the
gospel to you, it is a reminderto you that Jesus is in control
of your life, that Jesus hasnot left the building that he's
(13:52):
in control of your life and he'sin control of the world, even
when it doesn't look like it,even when it doesn't feel like
it and doesn't look like it,even when it doesn't feel like
it and I realize that's probablydifficult for some of us to
hear this morning, because someof you are in very difficult
situations and your life feelsreally, really hard.
(14:12):
And so hearing that God's incontrol, maybe that's
frustrating, maybe that'sconfusing, maybe it pushes you
towards all sorts of whyquestions.
We don't know the answers tothe why questions.
He's God and we're not.
But here's what I do know Jesusis good, jesus knows your
(14:40):
specific situation, jesus caresabout your specific situation,
jesus loves you, he holds yourlife in his hand and not a hair
can fall from your head withoutJesus, your Savior, knowing it,
(15:06):
jesus, your Savior, knowing it.
So, while we don't have all theanswers, we don't need to be
afraid, because Jesus is withyou wherever you go and he will
never leave you and he willnever forsake you.
And so in a few minutes, whenwe come to this table, remember
that when you take the elements,remember Jesus has not left you
(15:31):
, that he is in control.
Even when you don't understand.
Lean in and find comfort inthat fact.
Secondly, the recipients of theLord's Supper.
Did you notice who's around thetable?
The disciples are around thetable with Jesus.
(15:54):
Look at verse 21.
Behold the hand of him whobetrays me is with me at the
table.
Then verse 23,.
Very significant, easy to miss.
They began to question oneanother which of them it could
be who was going to do this.
Isn't that interesting?
In Matthew's account it saysone by one around the table,
(16:20):
they said is it I?
I found that very interestingBecause every single person
around the table knew they werecapable of betraying Jesus.
And my question for you thismorning is what would you have
(16:42):
said that night if you werearound the table with Jesus?
Would you have said no way, notme.
Friends, if you do not thinkyou're capable of betraying
Jesus, then you don't know thedepths of sin within your own
heart.
Betraying Jesus, then you don'tknow the depths of sin within
(17:03):
your own heart.
We know, because we know thatwe have the whole Bible, that
Judas is the one who betraysJesus.
And if you look at the contextof this passage, it's really
interesting.
Right after this passage, jesuslooks at Peter and says look,
you're going to deny me threetimes.
(17:23):
And then, after that passage,jesus, in the worst night of his
life, goes to pray and he looksat his friends, his closest
friends, and he says will youstay awake with me, will you
just please pray?
And what do they do?
(17:47):
They all fall asleep.
Do you see who's at the table?
You see, the point is that thepeople that are at this table
sharing a meal with Jesus aresellouts, betrayers.
They're slothful.
(18:10):
Everyone around this table atthis Passover meal is a sinner
desperately in need of rescue.
And here's the amazing thingthat's also easy to miss.
Look at verse 15.
Jesus said to them, to thesellouts, to the betrayers and
(18:32):
deniers Jesus looks at them andsays I not just desire, I
earnestly desire to eat thismeal with you before I suffer.
My goodness, I mean, thinkabout that.
(18:58):
Jesus knows what they're goingto do and he says I want to be
with you, I'm going to stay atthe table, I want to share this
meal before I suffer.
If you were sitting down at ameal with your spouse and you
(19:24):
knew they were going to get upfrom the table and be unfaithful
to you, would you stay?
If you were going to sit downat a meal with a co-worker or a
friend and you knew that theywere going to get up from that
meal and they were going to stabyou in the back and deny you
(19:44):
and betray you and turn on you.
Would you stay at the table?
No, who in the world would stayat the table?
No, jesus would stay at thetable.
(20:06):
Jesus would stay at the table.
Jesus has the same knowledge ofthe disciples.
He knows they're going to beunfaithful to Him, yet he
doesn't leave the table.
He says I earnestly desire toeat this meal with you.
Please do not miss the heart ofJesus for desperate, unfaithful
(20:31):
sinners.
It is full of compassion and itis so tender.
And we instinctively think don'twe the things we're deeply
ashamed of and the failures inour life?
We think it's those things thatkeep us away from Jesus.
And so we run and hide or weblame someone else, or we get
(20:54):
defensive or we deflect Friends.
Jesus knows you, he knows me,he knows us all the way to the
bottom.
He knows our unfaithfulness.
He knows our secret sins andour shame.
He knows the things in ourlives that we've never told
anyone.
Jesus knows that we're nevergoing to love him as much as he
(21:18):
loves us.
And yet he says I earnestlydesire to share this meal with
you.
And in a few days or a few hours, jesus says I'm going to walk
to a cross and I'm going tospread out my arms and I'm going
to be crucified and die for allof those things that make you
(21:41):
ashamed.
To say it another way, theLord's Supper is not centered
around your commitment to Jesus,thank goodness.
The Lord's Supper is centeredthe entire meal is about Jesus'
(22:02):
commitment to you.
Everything Jesus has done andeverything he's going to do on
Good Friday when he's crucifiedis not for the good people, it's
not for the righteous, it's forsinners.
And so when you come to thetable in a few minutes, rest in
(22:25):
the goodness and tenderness andcompassion of our Savior for
unfaithful sinners who went to across and took all of our sin
and our shame and our failureson Himself and got what we
deserved.
What we deserved, jesus.
(22:47):
It was placed on Him.
Lastly, the meaning.
Look at verses 17,.
The meaning of the meal Verses17 through 20.
The Passover was not.
It was a long meal.
It was drawn out.
They were celebrating andlingering and remembering and
(23:07):
Luke brings us to the table,actually, in the middle of there
were several courses, and Lukebrings us to the table.
In the middle of of there wereseveral courses and Luke brings
us to the table in the middle ofthe meal.
And at this point the disciplesare not thinking this is
anything different, that there'sjust simply going through the
meal, like they've gone throughfor 1500 years as the people of
God, celebrating God'sdeliverance in Egypt.
(23:30):
And so they had a lamb at thetable and they had unleavened
bread and bitter herbs anddrinking wine.
All of this was going rightaccording to schedule.
And then Jesus stands up and hesays something that would have
floored them.
Verses 19 and 20,.
(23:53):
Took the bread, after givingthanks, he broke it and he said
this is my body, which is givenfor you.
And then he took the cup and hesaid this is my blood, the
blood of the new covenant that'sbeen poured out for you.
Jesus here is saying that hissuffering is going to lead them
through the ultimate exodus,that Jesus was going to rescue
(24:18):
them not from Pharaoh, but froman even greater enemy, the enemy
of sin and death, not throughputting blood on a doorpost, but
through his blood that he wouldshed, and it would cover them
and protect them from the wrathof God.
The disciples, most certainly atthis point, are starting to
(24:41):
realize there's somethingdifferent happening at this meal
on this particular night, thatthis meal is not about something
that happened 1,500 years ago.
It's about something that'sabout to happen.
It's about the Lord, jesusChrist.
And it's interesting that noneof the gospel writers actually
mentioned that a lamb wasactually on the table at the
(25:05):
Passover feast.
They mentioned bread, but alamb is not mentioned.
Why, tim Keller?
I love this.
He says because the lamb wasnot on the table.
The lamb was at the table,jesus, the Passover lamb.
(25:29):
All of the lambs that had beenslaughtered for 1500 years
pointed to this lamb, theultimate and final lamb of God,
jesus, who would be thesacrifice, once and for all, for
our sins.
And then the Bible all of asudden starts to make sense,
doesn't it?
Isaiah 53.
Remember what it says, talkingabout Jesus's suffering,
(25:52):
suffering, jesus would be likewhat a lamb going to slaughter.
You get to revelation, chapterfive.
Every nation, tribe and tonguesgathered around the throne of
god and they're saying worthy isthe lamb of God who was slain.
(26:12):
John the Baptist, in Johnchapter 1, sees Jesus and he
doesn't say oh, here comes theshepherd.
What's he say?
Here comes the Lamb of God, whocame to take away the sins of
the world.
On this night, jesus isinstituting the Lord's Supper.
(26:34):
He's instituting a new meal forhis followers, a meal that
would sustain and nourish andencourage them.
Not only is this meal that wepartake of meant to remind us
and help us to remember the pastand sustain us in the present.
(26:55):
It's also meant to give us hopefor the future.
There is a forward pointingelement to the Lord's Supper.
You see it in verses 16 and 18.
Twice there is reference to thecoming kingdom of God.
I will not eat of this bread ordrink the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God comesagain.
(27:17):
Think of the Lord's Supper likestanding next to a grill.
I used to do this all the timewith my girls, still do some,
but I would be cooking outback,cooking steak.
They would come up they wouldsay what are you cooking?
I would give them a piece ofsteak and they would say, wow,
(27:39):
that's good.
I can't wait for dinner.
When are we eating dinner?
It was a foretaste of the mealto come.
It's the exact same with theLord's Supper.
This is a foretaste, it's anappetizer of the great wedding
(28:00):
feast of the Lamb that is tocome.
We know it's coming becausewe've tasted it.
Jesus wants our eyes, as thepeople of God, on the future,
and one of the reasons wepartake of this meal every
single week is that it fills uswith hope and it keeps our eyes
(28:21):
on the future, on the comingkingdom of God, when Jesus will
come and wipe away every tearfrom our eyes, make all things
new, and we will feast with himforever.
And so let's come to the tablethis morning.
Are you ready?
(28:44):
And as you come, remember thismeal points you to the control
of Jesus over your life in theworld, it points you to the
tenderness and compassion heartof Jesus for sinners, it points
you to his work on the cross asthe Lamb of God and it points
you forward to the day Jesus isgoing to wipe away every tear.
(29:10):
And so let's come now to thetable.
Let's pray every tear.
And so let's come now to thetable.
Let's pray Father, thank youfor living for us and thank you
for dying for us.
Forgive us for the ways that webetray you and deny you and
sell you out, and I pray thatyou would help us this morning
(29:35):
to remember that you are incontrol, that you would help us
to remember your work and thatyou would fill us with hope.
Would you do that as we partakein this meal together?
In Jesus' name, amen.
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to
Luke, chapter 22 this morning.
Luke, chapter 22.
We have been this year, havebeen studying the gospel of Luke
, and we've been looking at Lukethrough the angle and through
the perspective of the table.
(00:20):
Every gospel has some emphasisand one of the emphasis of Luke
is meals.
Jesus is either at a meal orhe's going to a meal or coming
from a meal, and so we've beenmaking our way through the
gospel of Luke by looking atthose meals and they've taught
us a lot about who Jesus is, whyJesus came into the world.
(00:40):
They've taught us a lot aboutthe realities of his grace.
But last week, if you were here, we shifted gears.
We're going to trying toprepare our hearts for Easter
and for the resurrection, and sowe shifted gears from looking
at the meals in eating withJesus to walking with Jesus to
(01:01):
the cross.
Last week we looked at thetriumphal entry Jesus enters
into Jerusalem for the last weekof his life and we will be
walking with Jesus in this lastweek and we will obviously end
on Easter Sunday by looking atthe resurrection.
This morning we are looking,interestingly enough, at another
(01:21):
meal, the last supper, thePassover meal in which Jesus
celebrates with his disciplesthe night before he was
crucified.
So follow along with me.
This is God's word Luke 22, 7through 23.
Then came the day of unleavenedbread, on which the Passover
lamb had to be sacrificed.
(01:42):
And so Jesus sent Peter andJohn saying go and prepare the
Passover for us that we may eatit.
And then, or they said to him,where will you have us prepare
it?
And he said to them behold,when you have entered the city,
a man carrying a jar of waterwill meet you.
Follow him into the house thathe enters and tell the master of
(02:04):
the house.
The teacher says to you where'sthe guest room where I may
prepare or eat the Passover mealwith my disciples?
And he will show you a largeupper room furnished.
Prepare it there.
And they went and found it,just as he had told them.
And they prepared the Passover.
And when the hour came, hereclined at table and the
(02:26):
apostles with him.
And he said to them I haveearnestly desired to eat this
Passover with you before Isuffer, for I tell you I will
not eat it until it is fulfilledin the kingdom of God.
And he took a cup and when hehad given thanks, he said Take
this and divide it amongyourselves, for I tell you that
(02:47):
from now on, I will not drink ofthe fruit of the vine until the
kingdom of God comes.
And he took bread and when hehad given thanks, he broke it
and gave it to them, saying thisis my body, which is given for
you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
And likewise the cup, afterthey had eaten, saying this cup
(03:10):
that is poured out for you isthe new covenant in my blood.
But behold, the hand of him whobetrays me is with me on the
table, for the Son of man goesas it has been determined, but
woe to that man by whom he isbetrayed.
And they began to question oneanother which of them it could
(03:31):
be who was going to do this.
This is God's Word.
Let's pray, bow your head andwe'll pray for the Spirit to
help us.
Let's pray together.
Father, please come throughyour Spirit, be with the one who
preaches, give me humbleboldness as I deliver your word,
and I pray for those that arelistening.
(03:53):
You brought us here for thisword this morning and I pray
that you would help thoselistening to receive the word
and faith and that you would doa deep work in us through this
passage this morning.
Show us Jesus, show us thegoodness of the gospel through
(04:13):
this passage.
It's in Christ's name, I pray,amen.
We partake every week of theLord's Supper at our church,
week of the Lord's Supper at ourchurch, and of course there are
theological and biblicalreasons behind it, but one of
the reasons, important reasonsthat we do it, is that our loves
(04:34):
are shaped by our habits.
Our loves are shaped by ourhabits.
Jka Smith, in his book you Arewhat you Love, says that our
hearts are like compasses, thatthey're constantly being trained
to point towards something andin the direction of something.
(04:57):
And the things that werepeatedly do, especially in
worship, they actually shape usand shape our affections and
train us way more than werealize.
And so our order of worship,from the welcome every week,
through the singing, through thesongs and confession and
(05:20):
through the preaching of theWord and especially weekly
communion.
It is intentionally designedthis service to set our hearts
on Jesus, to set the compassesof our hearts on the message of
the gospel, so that our livesare shaped and formed by the
(05:41):
realities of the gospel, by therealities of Jesus' love for us.
However, it is possible that aswe approach the Lord's Supper
every single week and as weapproach worship every week, to
do so mindlessly, it's possiblethat we become overly familiar
(06:07):
and this becomes the Lord'sSupper rote ritual.
And when that happens, itactually robs us of joy and
transformative power.
And we experience this all thetime, don't we?
I mean, think about.
I'll give you several examples.
But you plant flowers here inthe spring, or maybe you paint
(06:30):
your house, or you paint a room,or you get some new furniture,
or you hang a picture and you goby and you go, wow, that's
beautiful and it captures you.
And if you paint your house,you go out to the curb and you
look and you go out for thefirst couple of weeks.
Then you see the flowers andyou're in awe and marvel at them
(06:51):
.
Then what happens?
You quit noticing.
It becomes so familiar that youdon't even notice it anymore.
And if we're not careful, we cando the exact same thing with
the Lord's Supper.
And if we're not careful, wecan do the exact same thing with
the Lord's Supper.
We can do the exact same thingwith worship.
(07:11):
We can mindlessly go throughthe motions so that it becomes
overly familiar and so that itrobs us of joy and cuts the
heart out of its life-changingpower.
We don't want that to happen,and in order for that not to
(07:34):
happen, we have to engage inthis weekly rhythm with
attentiveness.
And then the question is okay,well, how do we do that?
How do we make sure that we areengaging in the Lord's Supper
and in worship every week withattentiveness?
Well, lots of ways that wecould talk about this morning.
But one way is to slow down andto go back to the first supper,
(07:56):
to go back to the first Lord'sSupper and remember again,
marvel again, what this meal isall about.
And that's what we're going todo this morning.
We're going to go back to thefirst Lord's Supper and we're
going to look at this passageand my hope is that it would
(08:18):
refresh us, that it would renewour perspective and our joy and
our love for Jesus as we look atthis passage this morning.
Three things, three headings, ifyou're taking notes the
preparation of the Lord's Suppernumber one.
Secondly, the recipients of theLord's Supper number two.
(08:38):
Lastly, the meaning of theLord's Supper.
The preparation, the recipientsand the meaning.
Let's look at those in turn.
First, the preparation.
Look with me at verses.
If you have your Bible or ifit's on your phone or the
bulletin, look at verses 7through 13 with me.
You'll see four times you'llsee the word prepare mentioned.
(09:04):
You'll see four times you'llsee the word prepare mentioned.
Jesus and the disciples are nowin Jerusalem.
It's Passover and so thereneeds to be preparation.
For 1,500 years God's peoplehave been celebrating the
Passover.
It was a monumental moment inIsrael's history.
You find it in Exodus, chapter12.
(09:24):
Pharaoh would not let God'speople go.
God sends the plagues, and ifyou remember the story, the last
plague was when the angel ofdeath was going to sweep through
Egypt, killing all thefirstborns.
The only way you escaped God'swrath was God's people had to
(09:46):
put the blood of a slain lamb onthe doorpost.
And if you had the blood of thelamb on your doorpost, the
angel of death would pass overyour home and your firstborn
would be spared.
And that's what they'recelebrating.
The Passover was a meal tocelebrate the night that God had
(10:07):
delivered them and saved them,and so for 1,500 years they've
been celebrating this throughthe Passover.
And so it's obvious any good Jewat this point would be saying
where are we celebrating?
We got to make preparations.
Where are we celebrating?
(10:29):
We got to make preparations,and so Jesus sends out Peter and
John into the city.
He says you're going to seesomeone with a jar of water.
They're going to meet you.
They're going to take you intothis home.
The master of the house.
Tell them that I sent you.
He will point you to the room,make preparations there.
And the disciples go and doexactly what they're told.
Verse 13, and everything happens.
(10:51):
This is where we're going tofocus.
Everything happens exactly asJesus said it would, and that is
what I want us to see underthis first point, and that is
what I want us to see under thisfirst point.
Notice who's in control ofevery detail that is happening.
(11:12):
They went and found it, just asJesus had told them.
Jesus is in charge of everydetail, even the hard and the
chaotic things, like thebetrayal, his own death that is
coming is under his control.
Look at verse 22.
For the Son of man goes as ithas been determined.
(11:34):
John 10,.
Jesus says no one takes my lifefrom me.
I lay my life down on my ownaccord.
Why is that so important?
Well, because in a few hoursthings are about to get really
(11:57):
crazy In a few hours.
Things are about to get chaotic.
Jesus is going to be betrayed,which he's predicted here and
knows is coming.
He's going to be arrested andtried and nailed to a cross.
It's about to get reallydifficult.
And it's going to look to thedisciples and to Jesus'
(12:20):
followers.
Like Jesus is not in control atall.
It's going to look likeeverything that they had staked
their life on is coming apart atthe seams.
And Jesus is reminding thedisciples, and he's reminding us
(12:41):
this morning as we sit here,that things are not as they seem
, that this is all part of theplan, that none of this is
taking Jesus by surprise, istaking Jesus by surprise that
(13:08):
he's in control of every singledetail that comes to pass in
your life and in the world.
So what?
What does that have to do withyou sitting here this morning?
And what does that have to do?
Remember our theme.
What does that have to do withweekly communion?
(13:28):
Every single week, when youcome forward and you huddle up
in groups and the elders takethe elements and they preach the
gospel to you, it is a reminderto you that Jesus is in control
of your life, that Jesus hasnot left the building that he's
(13:52):
in control of your life and he'sin control of the world, even
when it doesn't look like it,even when it doesn't feel like
it and doesn't look like it,even when it doesn't feel like
it and I realize that's probablydifficult for some of us to
hear this morning, because someof you are in very difficult
situations and your life feelsreally, really hard.
(14:12):
And so hearing that God's incontrol, maybe that's
frustrating, maybe that'sconfusing, maybe it pushes you
towards all sorts of whyquestions.
We don't know the answers tothe why questions.
He's God and we're not.
But here's what I do know Jesusis good, jesus knows your
(14:40):
specific situation, jesus caresabout your specific situation,
jesus loves you, he holds yourlife in his hand and not a hair
can fall from your head withoutJesus, your Savior, knowing it,
(15:06):
jesus, your Savior, knowing it.
So, while we don't have all theanswers, we don't need to be
afraid, because Jesus is withyou wherever you go and he will
never leave you and he willnever forsake you.
And so in a few minutes, whenwe come to this table, remember
that when you take the elements,remember Jesus has not left you
(15:31):
, that he is in control.
Even when you don't understand.
Lean in and find comfort inthat fact.
Secondly, the recipients of theLord's Supper.
Did you notice who's around thetable?
The disciples are around thetable with Jesus.
(15:54):
Look at verse 21.
Behold the hand of him whobetrays me is with me at the
table.
Then verse 23,.
Very significant, easy to miss.
They began to question oneanother which of them it could
be who was going to do this.
Isn't that interesting?
In Matthew's account it saysone by one around the table,
(16:20):
they said is it I?
I found that very interestingBecause every single person
around the table knew they werecapable of betraying Jesus.
And my question for you thismorning is what would you have
(16:42):
said that night if you werearound the table with Jesus?
Would you have said no way, notme.
Friends, if you do not thinkyou're capable of betraying
Jesus, then you don't know thedepths of sin within your own
heart.
Betraying Jesus, then you don'tknow the depths of sin within
(17:03):
your own heart.
We know, because we know thatwe have the whole Bible, that
Judas is the one who betraysJesus.
And if you look at the contextof this passage, it's really
interesting.
Right after this passage, jesuslooks at Peter and says look,
you're going to deny me threetimes.
(17:23):
And then, after that passage,jesus, in the worst night of his
life, goes to pray and he looksat his friends, his closest
friends, and he says will youstay awake with me, will you
just please pray?
And what do they do?
(17:47):
They all fall asleep.
Do you see who's at the table?
You see, the point is that thepeople that are at this table
sharing a meal with Jesus aresellouts, betrayers.
They're slothful.
(18:10):
Everyone around this table atthis Passover meal is a sinner
desperately in need of rescue.
And here's the amazing thingthat's also easy to miss.
Look at verse 15.
Jesus said to them, to thesellouts, to the betrayers and
(18:32):
deniers Jesus looks at them andsays I not just desire, I
earnestly desire to eat thismeal with you before I suffer.
My goodness, I mean, thinkabout that.
(18:58):
Jesus knows what they're goingto do and he says I want to be
with you, I'm going to stay atthe table, I want to share this
meal before I suffer.
If you were sitting down at ameal with your spouse and you
(19:24):
knew they were going to get upfrom the table and be unfaithful
to you, would you stay?
If you were going to sit downat a meal with a co-worker or a
friend and you knew that theywere going to get up from that
meal and they were going to stabyou in the back and deny you
(19:44):
and betray you and turn on you.
Would you stay at the table?
No, who in the world would stayat the table?
No, jesus would stay at thetable.
(20:06):
Jesus would stay at the table.
Jesus has the same knowledge ofthe disciples.
He knows they're going to beunfaithful to Him, yet he
doesn't leave the table.
He says I earnestly desire toeat this meal with you.
Please do not miss the heart ofJesus for desperate, unfaithful
(20:31):
sinners.
It is full of compassion and itis so tender.
And we instinctively think don'twe the things we're deeply
ashamed of and the failures inour life?
We think it's those things thatkeep us away from Jesus.
And so we run and hide or weblame someone else, or we get
(20:54):
defensive or we deflect Friends.
Jesus knows you, he knows me,he knows us all the way to the
bottom.
He knows our unfaithfulness.
He knows our secret sins andour shame.
He knows the things in ourlives that we've never told
anyone.
Jesus knows that we're nevergoing to love him as much as he
(21:18):
loves us.
And yet he says I earnestlydesire to share this meal with
you.
And in a few days or a few hours, jesus says I'm going to walk
to a cross and I'm going tospread out my arms and I'm going
to be crucified and die for allof those things that make you
(21:41):
ashamed.
To say it another way, theLord's Supper is not centered
around your commitment to Jesus,thank goodness.
The Lord's Supper is centeredthe entire meal is about Jesus'
(22:02):
commitment to you.
Everything Jesus has done andeverything he's going to do on
Good Friday when he's crucifiedis not for the good people, it's
not for the righteous, it's forsinners.
And so when you come to thetable in a few minutes, rest in
(22:25):
the goodness and tenderness andcompassion of our Savior for
unfaithful sinners who went to across and took all of our sin
and our shame and our failureson Himself and got what we
deserved.
What we deserved, jesus.
(22:47):
It was placed on Him.
Lastly, the meaning.
Look at verses 17,.
The meaning of the meal Verses17 through 20.
The Passover was not.
It was a long meal.
It was drawn out.
They were celebrating andlingering and remembering and
(23:07):
Luke brings us to the table,actually, in the middle of there
were several courses, and Lukebrings us to the table.
In the middle of of there wereseveral courses and Luke brings
us to the table in the middle ofthe meal.
And at this point the disciplesare not thinking this is
anything different, that there'sjust simply going through the
meal, like they've gone throughfor 1500 years as the people of
God, celebrating God'sdeliverance in Egypt.
(23:30):
And so they had a lamb at thetable and they had unleavened
bread and bitter herbs anddrinking wine.
All of this was going rightaccording to schedule.
And then Jesus stands up and hesays something that would have
floored them.
Verses 19 and 20,.
(23:53):
Took the bread, after givingthanks, he broke it and he said
this is my body, which is givenfor you.
And then he took the cup and hesaid this is my blood, the
blood of the new covenant that'sbeen poured out for you.
Jesus here is saying that hissuffering is going to lead them
through the ultimate exodus,that Jesus was going to rescue
(24:18):
them not from Pharaoh, but froman even greater enemy, the enemy
of sin and death, not throughputting blood on a doorpost, but
through his blood that he wouldshed, and it would cover them
and protect them from the wrathof God.
The disciples, most certainly atthis point, are starting to
(24:41):
realize there's somethingdifferent happening at this meal
on this particular night, thatthis meal is not about something
that happened 1,500 years ago.
It's about something that'sabout to happen.
It's about the Lord, jesusChrist.
And it's interesting that noneof the gospel writers actually
mentioned that a lamb wasactually on the table at the
(25:05):
Passover feast.
They mentioned bread, but alamb is not mentioned.
Why, tim Keller?
I love this.
He says because the lamb wasnot on the table.
The lamb was at the table,jesus, the Passover lamb.
(25:29):
All of the lambs that had beenslaughtered for 1500 years
pointed to this lamb, theultimate and final lamb of God,
jesus, who would be thesacrifice, once and for all, for
our sins.
And then the Bible all of asudden starts to make sense,
doesn't it?
Isaiah 53.
Remember what it says, talkingabout Jesus's suffering,
(25:52):
suffering, jesus would be likewhat a lamb going to slaughter.
You get to revelation, chapterfive.
Every nation, tribe and tonguesgathered around the throne of
god and they're saying worthy isthe lamb of God who was slain.
(26:12):
John the Baptist, in Johnchapter 1, sees Jesus and he
doesn't say oh, here comes theshepherd.
What's he say?
Here comes the Lamb of God, whocame to take away the sins of
the world.
On this night, jesus isinstituting the Lord's Supper.
(26:34):
He's instituting a new meal forhis followers, a meal that
would sustain and nourish andencourage them.
Not only is this meal that wepartake of meant to remind us
and help us to remember the pastand sustain us in the present.
(26:55):
It's also meant to give us hopefor the future.
There is a forward pointingelement to the Lord's Supper.
You see it in verses 16 and 18.
Twice there is reference to thecoming kingdom of God.
I will not eat of this bread ordrink the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God comesagain.
(27:17):
Think of the Lord's Supper likestanding next to a grill.
I used to do this all the timewith my girls, still do some,
but I would be cooking outback,cooking steak.
They would come up they wouldsay what are you cooking?
I would give them a piece ofsteak and they would say, wow,
(27:39):
that's good.
I can't wait for dinner.
When are we eating dinner?
It was a foretaste of the mealto come.
It's the exact same with theLord's Supper.
This is a foretaste, it's anappetizer of the great wedding
(28:00):
feast of the Lamb that is tocome.
We know it's coming becausewe've tasted it.
Jesus wants our eyes, as thepeople of God, on the future,
and one of the reasons wepartake of this meal every
single week is that it fills uswith hope and it keeps our eyes
(28:21):
on the future, on the comingkingdom of God, when Jesus will
come and wipe away every tearfrom our eyes, make all things
new, and we will feast with himforever.
And so let's come to the tablethis morning.
Are you ready?
(28:44):
And as you come, remember thismeal points you to the control
of Jesus over your life in theworld, it points you to the
tenderness and compassion heartof Jesus for sinners, it points
you to his work on the cross asthe Lamb of God and it points
you forward to the day Jesus isgoing to wipe away every tear.
(29:10):
And so let's come now to thetable.
Let's pray every tear.
And so let's come now to thetable.
Let's pray Father, thank youfor living for us and thank you
for dying for us.
Forgive us for the ways that webetray you and deny you and
sell you out, and I pray thatyou would help us this morning
(29:35):
to remember that you are incontrol, that you would help us
to remember your work and thatyou would fill us with hope.
Would you do that as we partakein this meal together?
In Jesus' name, amen.
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