September 8, 2025 • 32 mins
What if everything you thought you knew about communion was missing the point? Jesus didn't create a religious ritual when He broke bread with His disciples that final night—He established a celebration of our complete union with Him.
Throughout church history, communion has been weighed down with religious baggage. From Constantine's era when it became a tool for control to modern churches where it's approached with unnecessary fear, this beautiful celebration has often been misunderstood. The original purpose was remarkably simple: remember Jesus and celebrate what He accomplished.
When we share the bread, we're not just thinking about Jesus' body broken on the cross—we're acknowledging that His death became our death and His resurrection our resurrection. The cup doesn't just represent His blood shed for forgiveness—it reminds us of the entire new covenant He established: complete forgiveness for all sins (past, present, and future), the indwelling Holy Spirit writing God's laws on our hearts, and an intimate relationship with our Creator.
The Corinthian church struggled with this concept. Coming from pagan backgrounds where worship involved wild celebrations, they brought that energy to communion but missed the focus—making it about themselves rather than Jesus. They created class divisions, with wealthy believers feasting while poor ones went hungry. Paul didn't tell them to stop celebrating; he challenged them to recognize that all believers are equal at the foot of the cross.
When was the last time you approached communion with genuine joy? Not the somber, guilt-ridden ritual many churches practice, but the authentic celebration of already being forgiven, already being accepted, already being united with Christ? Next time you take communion, remember you're not trying to earn anything—you're celebrating what's already yours through Jesus.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, sure, we have a sure.
Okay, I'm excited to talk toyou.
We're going to be talking aboutcommunion today, so let's just
pray and then we'll get started.
Father, please teach us fromyour words, show us exactly how
you feel and think aboutcommunion.
Lord, we love you and weworship you, and we just want to
know what this whole businesswith communion is about.
(00:48):
Amen, all right.
The sermon today is titled wePut the Union in Communion.
I love it.
Okay, so communion is somethingthat has been around for a
couple thousand years, right,you know, back in Egypt they had
Passover, and during Passoverthey would have bread and
(01:09):
unleavened bread, they'd havewine and they would celebrate
these things, and it was toremember a few specific things.
But when Jesus came, he toldhis disciples hey, I want you to
take communion, and it was onthe night of Passover.
So what Jesus was basicallydoing is he was hijacking
(01:31):
Passover and changing itcompletely so that we would have
something new to celebrate.
And he kind of did the samething to the entire Old Covenant
, the entire Old Testament.
He hijacked the whole thing,transformed it, and so we don't
celebrate Passover anymore.
We're not, under any rule, anylaw to celebrate Passover, but
(01:53):
Jesus has given us communion.
Now the church did some reallyamazing hijacking of its own
when it came to communion.
So around 300 AD 310 to bespecific do you guys know what
happened?
And to be specific, do you guysknow what happened?
Constantine you ever heard ofConstantine?
(02:15):
Okay, well, constantine was theemperor of Rome.
Okay, rome was a pagan nation.
They worshipped all kinds ofdemons and all kinds of other
gods, and Constantine at onepoint.
So Jesus came.
You know about zero.
About 33 AD, he died, and sohe's, you know all of his
followers.
The church is growing, but Romehated the church, and so Rome
(02:37):
is persecuting the church andkilling everybody.
And the more they killed peoplein the church guess what?
The more the church grew, themore dangerous it was to be a
Christian, the more people werelike maybe that's the right way
to be.
And so people started.
More and more people in Romeand in the Roman Empire became
Christians, and by the time 300AD came, the majority of people
(03:06):
in Rome, the whole, all ofEurope, were believers.
And so what happened isConstantine became a believer as
well.
Well, I don't know technicallyif he became a believer, but he
basically said well, it lookslike we're a Christian nation
now, so I better get along witheverybody in the nation, because
we're tired of killingeverybody and we can't just keep
killing everybody.
So he kind of mergedChristianity with the states,
(03:26):
you know, with the government,and it became like the Holy
Roman Empire from 310 on.
Why am I talking about all this?
Because once that happened, thechurch became, they got very
rich overnight and so they built.
They just took all the pagantemples and made them churches
and then they called them allCatholic, which just meant
(03:48):
universal.
It was the one church and soall the you know priests would
have a building and they hadmoney and so they wanted to
control what was being said allthe time.
So they invented a liturgy,they invented a way that they
would do church every singleweek and part of that was
communion.
(04:09):
And so we got off track for manylike 1,500 years basically,
where communion became somethingthat people said if you take
communion, you're saved.
If the church gives youcommunion, it means you're born
again, you're saved.
They wouldn't say the word bornagain during that time, but
(04:29):
you're saved and you can send asmuch as you want during the
week, as long as you come andtake communion, so have fun.
That, basically, was themindset, and they believed in
something calledtransubstantiation.
There's your $2 word for theday and, as you guys know, that
means they believed that as soonas you bite the bread, it
(04:50):
becomes Jesus' body in yourmouth.
And as soon as you bite thebread, it becomes Jesus' body in
your mouth.
And as soon as you drink thegrape juice well, they used wine
it would become the blood ofJesus in your mouth.
And the reason they wanted tohave it this way is so that they
would make people afraid, ifyou didn't come to church and
take communion, that you weredenying Jesus and you didn't
(05:11):
have Jesus inside you anymorefor that week.
Okay, so all of this in 1500,there was the Great Reformation,
where Martin Luther came andsome things changed and some
beliefs changed, and we startedlooking to the Bible more,
because the Bible doesn't sayany of that.
And so in the Bible, you know,they tried to get back on to
(05:31):
what the Bible said, which wasit's symbolic of his body and
his blood.
And so that's what communionreally is.
It's something that Jesus askedus to celebrate, to celebrate
what he did.
So, with that being our contextand our introduction, we're
(05:53):
going to dive into what wasgoing on in this church.
Okay, so you remember, inCorinth they were a Gentile
church and before they all metJesus, they were partying
hardcore at their temples.
This is how they worshippedtheir other deities, their other
demons and all the false pagangods.
(06:14):
They would have parties withalcohol and whatever other vices
they could get into.
That's how they worshipped.
So the culture was very muchabout partying.
And you know what?
Today is the first day of whatAnybody know NFL football.
That's right, and I think weknow what this is like, what
(06:37):
their culture was like.
Have you just watched?
Has anyone been to an NFL game?
Yeah, it's like it's a wildparty.
People yell and scream theirheads off.
People love going.
It's almost like they're at agiant worship service.
Right, it's almost like weintrinsically know how to
(07:00):
celebrate something that reallymatters to us.
And the church in Corinth wasactually pretty cool because
they took that attitude likewell, we know how to party and
they brought it into the churchand they were like let's
celebrate God, like we werecelebrating at these pagan
temples, and let's go crazy,let's get drunk celebrating
(07:22):
Jesus.
That's what was going on.
And Paul, he writes them aletter.
He's writing them this letterand he's going to bring some
correction into their life, butnotice, he doesn't tell them you
need to calm down.
He doesn't correct everythingthat they're doing.
He corrects what they weredoing that wasn't loving, and
(07:44):
how they were creating classdifferences and some other
things that we're going to seetoday.
But the point is, thecelebrating was good, they knew
how to celebrate, but they weredoing it wrong, and so that's
our context of what's going onin Corinth at this time.
So let's begin studying, let'sbegin reading.
We put the communion in, we putthe union in communion, verse
(08:07):
17 of chapter 11.
Now, in giving theseinstructions, I do not praise
you, since you come together notfor the better, but for the
worse.
Uh-oh, uh-oh.
They made a mess of communionright, just like many churches
today.
To be honest, they made it allabout themselves.
(08:29):
That's the problem here.
That's the mistake.
They made it all aboutthemselves.
That's the problem here.
That's the mistake.
They made it all aboutthemselves.
Again, the pagan style was crazygluttony and sinful actions at
their feasts.
And so, from theirpre-Christian days, they knew
how to celebrate, they knew howto part, they kept it 100, as
the kids say, but theycompletely missed the life of
(08:51):
Jesus that Jesus had given them.
They weren't celebrating Himdirectly.
You know, this is reallyimportant.
In Matthew, chapter 9, verse 14, it says then the disciples of
John came to Him saying why dowe and the Pharisees fast often,
but your disciples do not fast?
(09:12):
And Jesus said to them can thefriends of the bridegroom mourn
as long as the bridegroom iswith them, but the days will
come when the bridegroom will betaken away from them and then
they will fast.
No one puts a piece of unshrunkcloth on an old garment, for the
patch pulls away from thegarment and the tear is made
worse.
Nor do they put new wine intoold wineskins, or else the
(09:34):
wineskins are ruined.
But they put new wine into newwineskins and both.
So the new wine that Jesus istalking about is the Holy Spirit
in us.
It cannot exist in an oldwineskin.
What does that mean?
(09:56):
The law-based religious lifethat we used to live, the
law-based religious life that weused to live, the Holy Spirit
and the new covenant of gracedoes not fit in that life.
We need new hearts to be aproper vessel for the Holy
Spirit that God wants to livethrough us.
So God starts by giving us newhearts.
(10:17):
That's how we all start outwith God.
God gives us new hearts and hemakes us a pure, new vessel.
And that's the first part ofgrace.
We're forgiven and we're madepure, and so the Spirit can live
through us.
That's the second part of grace.
First part of grace you getsaved, you're made pure, you're
forgiven.
That's called justification.
And then all the rest of ourlife, we're growing.
(10:40):
But what are we doing?
We're letting the Holy Spiritlive through us.
And the church in Corinth wasnot remembering that part.
They were not remembering thatthey were pure and holy vessels
of the Holy Spirit.
So they were living andcelebrating how they used to,
how they used to, with totalself-focus.
(11:01):
They were getting drunk andindependently gorging themselves
on the food that was intendedto feed the whole church and
bless the whole church.
And classes they had richclasses and poor classes were
the only thing that reallyseparated people back then not
(11:22):
cars or technology or even racesso much because there wasn't
even very many different racesin that culture.
So they really leaned intotheir class.
What class are you?
Are you from a rich family orfrom a poor family?
And it's kind of the onlydivision that they had in that
day.
And so let's continue on ourtext here.
For first of all, when you cometogether as a church, I hear
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that there are divisions amongyou, and in part I believe it.
This tells us what happened.
Okay, this was supposed tocelebrate how good Jesus has
been to all of us, and theyturned it into a thing that
divided people and made peoplefeel embarrassed and not good
enough.
Isn't that sad?
(12:06):
He says for there must also befactions among you that those
who are approved may berecognized among you.
Well, that's a weird verse andI had to really study this verse
to figure out what he wassaying.
So he's not saying thateveryone has to be best friends.
That's not what unity lookslike.
If he's not saying thateveryone has to be best friends,
(12:27):
that's not what unity lookslike.
If you look around this room,not everyone is your best friend
, and God doesn't say they haveto be your best friend.
He totally understands thatyou're gonna be closer with some
people than other people,especially as the church grows.
We're gonna find our ownspecial group of friends that we
can have a close relationshipwith and really share life with,
and these little groups give.
Actually the Bible says give usa chance to learn leadership
(12:47):
skills and connect more easilywith the other groups.
So when there's these differentlittle groups in the church, it
can actually serve to help thechurch and to purify the church
and make the church stronger.
But or sorry, because peoplewho are genuinely living out
their faith, they're keepingtheir focus on Jesus and the new
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covenant and the way they'retreating people with love is
teaching their own little groupsand their friend groups how the
life of Jesus is supposed to belived out.
So that's better than justshowing up at church on Sunday
and then ghosting everybodythroughout the week and not
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having any real fellowship.
So it's better to have a smallgroup in the church that you can
connect with, and so Iencourage you that that's a good
thing.
But he says when you cometogether in one place, is it not
to eat the Lord's Supper?
So what their tradition was,what they were doing, was they
would all eat a meal togetherwhen they got together and they
(13:54):
would celebrate what Jesus gaveus at his last supper.
Do you guys remember the lastsupper?
And that's what we'recelebrating here?
And that's when he gave us thenew covenant of grace.
And so he said I'm doing awaywith the old way of religion and
rules and laws and I'm totallyreplacing it.
I'm hijacking it, I'm replacingit with grace.
(14:18):
So what is this grace?
Well, I'm going to give youthree things you can just
remember and think about.
First, it's forgiveness of sins.
So that's the first part Jesusgives us.
That's the easy part, everyoneknows you.
Ask a hundred Christians outthere what did Jesus do for you
when he died for you on thecross?
They'll say he forgave my sins.
That's the easy part.
Okay, but the sad thing is mostpeople think it ends there.
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Well, what am I supposed to donext?
I guess I'm just supposed totry as hard as I can to be a
good person and to pay him back,maybe and that is not what the
new covenant declares, that isnot what he paid his blood to
give you.
He gives you forgiveness.
And the second thing he givesyou an internal new life called
(15:02):
the Holy Spirit.
And it says he writes his lawson our minds and in our hearts.
So he says I'm doing away withthe entire Ten Commandments and
all the laws of the OldTestament and I'm replacing it
with one thing the Holy Spirit'sgoing to live inside you and
you're going to be absolutelymiserable if you do anything
that offends him, because helives inside you and he's not
(15:24):
leaving you.
He's never going to leave you.
He loves you, he cares aboutyou and it's that spirit that
teaches us what God's will isand gives us the power to do
that.
The third thing you can knowabout grace today is that it
provides a really closerelationship with God.
He says I will be their God,they shall be my people.
(15:45):
That's a promise of grace.
What Jesus gave us is a newcovenant where he wants a
personal relationship with us.
How much closer can you be thaninside Jesus?
He says we're in Christ andJesus is inside us.
So this is a united closeness.
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It's as close as you couldpossibly be.
It always is a pet peeve of minewhen I go around and I'm not
feeling necessarily close toJesus and so I say I need to go
draw near to God.
I need to go get closer to God,but that's not really
theologically accurate.
Get closer to God, but that'snot really theologically
accurate because I can't get anycloser to God than I am when
(16:25):
I'm a believer in Christ.
The moment you became abeliever, Jesus said I'm in you
and you're in me, and that'sdone, sealed, done forever.
You're good.
What am I saying then?
When I'm saying I need to drawnear to God?
Well, I need to delight in Hispresence.
That is a good thing.
To spend time connecting andenjoying that connection.
(16:50):
That's what we mean, and so youknow it's okay.
But it's not religion.
That's what all this grace is.
Grace is not a religion.
It's not the self-life either.
It's Jesus living our lives forus.
So look what he says.
He says, for, in eating, eachone takes his own supper ahead
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of others, and one is hungry andthen another's drunk.
He says what Do you not havehouses to eat and drink in, or
do you despise the church of Godand shame those who have
nothing?
What shall I say to you?
Shall I praise you in this?
I do not praise you.
Yeah, it sounds like Jesus.
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It doesn't sound like Jesus isreally living through them, or
they're not allowing Jesus tolive through them when they come
to church.
Well, what is this supposed tobe all about?
Paul's going to tell us whatare we celebrating?
Paul's going to tell us Look,for I received from the Lord
that which I also delivered toyou that the Lord, on the same
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night in which he was betrayed,took bread and when he gave
thanks, he broke it and said Inthe same manner he also took the
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cup after supper, saying thiscup is the new covenant in my
blood.
This do as often as you drinkit in remembrance of me, for as
often as you eat this bread anddrink this cup, you proclaim the
Lord's death till he comes.
So what is communion?
We've already said somechurches make it a religious
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thing and they call it asacrament, and I understand what
they're trying to say.
It's a sacred thing that we doand it is sacred, okay, but it's
not a religious thing.
They make it a thing that youhave to do to earn points with
God or obtain his favor or hisforgiveness.
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And let me just tell you, thisis a very theological term for
that.
It is trash.
Okay, that is trash theology.
It's terrible theology becauseit's selfish and self-centered
theology, and that's not whatcommunion it's supposed to be
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all about.
Jesus, not you, he says when youeat this bread and drink this
cup, think of yourselves.
No, he says, remember me.
That's what he said.
And this, like I said, this wasall based on the Passover meal
back from the book of Exodus,where they made unleavened bread
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and they baked it and they werein a hurry so they didn't put
leaven in it, and so when theybaked it, it made stripes on it
from the coals that they hadbaked it on and the stripes.
When they would see it, theywould remember the stripes of
Jesus when he was beaten for us,and they would even stab it and
there would be holes in it toremind us how Jesus was tortured
(20:02):
for us.
And as we break the bread,we've already pre-broken it.
Today we remember how his bodywas broken.
For us, it's a picture of hisbody.
This is his sacrifice, what hedid for us.
Do we celebrate our works?
(20:22):
No, right, I love when you guysrespond, so yell at me more.
We don't celebrate our works,what we do, right, we only
celebrate Jesus.
It's a complete, 100% focus onJesus.
And now we share his body.
(20:47):
Okay, so we're going to takethe bread, we're going to eat it
, which means we share in hisbody.
What that means is that whathappened to him happened to us.
So his body was killed for aprice for sin.
Our sin deserved death, right?
So his body was pierced andkilled for us and we share in
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his body and as you eat it, youcan picture it's becoming part
of you.
So his death becomes part ofyou, but not just his death and
his body, also his resurrection,because his body didn't stay in
the grave.
His body was raised to new lifeand that new life is now my new
life.
I share with his death and hislife and I celebrate that when I
eat the bread.
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His body is my body, I am hisbody.
It's the same.
We share a life, we are one,and we're celebrating that with
the bread.
And they ate the bread and itgave them strength to go all the
way in through the desert.
And so eating his body by faith, taking him into you, will give
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you strength also for the lifeGod has called you, for the
journey that God has called youto.
It's all about our union withhim.
Okay, so when I say we put theunion in communion, what I want
you to think is the wordcommunion is all based around
union, our union with Christ.
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Does that mean you're God?
No, but it means he livesinside you and you're still you.
You have your personality, yourmind, but you allow him to live
through you in your heart, andit's the union we have with
Jesus.
And then the cup.
So we have this cup and it'sgoing to represent the blood
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that he paid, the price that hepaid to give us all this new
covenant right, which wasforgiveness of all sin, and I
want to say that again.
How much sin.
Good job, guys, you're doinggreat.
All sin that means past sin,present sin and future sin have
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already been paid for.
Well, how can he pay forsomething I haven't even done
yet?
Well, he kind of knows thefuture and he signed up for that
when he said he would save you.
When he offered you his spirit,it wasn't that you might
someday do a sin and kick himout and he wouldn't be accepted
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in your life.
No, it's all done, you're good,you're saved, all sin.
But it's not just forgiveness,like we said, it's a new heart,
also a new spirit.
You've been adopted in yourlife with God.
You have an adopted heart, anew heart.
The new covenant is all thatJesus has given us, and it
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points us to his life and hisdeath.
Why did Jesus come?
Just forgiveness, no, but a newcovenant, a new life.
He said behold, I make allthings new, and that's my
favorite quote.
Jesus makes all things new forus.
He says for as often as you eatthis bread and drink this cup,
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you proclaim the death till hecomes.
So when we accept what Jesusdid, when you just believe it,
you can celebrate it.
And Jesus says it's good tocelebrate because it helps you
to remember, because our minds,our minds didn't change.
Nothing changed about yourbrain when you got saved.
Your brain was still the sameold dumb brain that we had
(24:27):
before, and it needs to bereformed and renewed.
And remembering truth is a greatway to train your brain how to
think.
And so he's saying here this isa remembering thing.
And what does he say?
We proclaim his death.
That's in the past, till hecomes again.
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That's in the future.
We're living this life here inthe present with Jesus.
We're in union with him.
And what are we remembering?
What are we keeping our mindsfocused on All the crazy stress
we have right now in this life?
No, he wants us to take a breakback up.
Look at the big picture, whichis Jesus died for you and you're
forgiven and you live in a newcovenant.
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Jesus is coming back and it'sall going to be about him, then
as well, your life here back up,let go and keep your eyes
focused on proclaiming his deathtill he comes again.
Does that make sense?
Your life matters.
Your life totally matters hereon this earth.
You make a kingdom impact inyour life when your heart is set
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on Jesus, when your eyes arefocused on what he did and what
he's gonna do.
That's how we can make animpact in this world.
We're in the middle of thosetwo events, you know.
So what do we do while we're inthe middle?
We celebrate him.
We celebrate him.
So that's what we're going todo.
(25:53):
Okay, so let's keep reading.
Therefore, whoever eats thisbread or drinks this cup in an
unworthy manner will be guiltyof the body and the blood of the
Lord.
But let a man examine himself,okay, so this verse gets a
little squirrely sometimes,because people think, oh my gosh
(26:19):
, am I going to go to hell if Ihave sin and eat this, and am I
just going to?
Is the floor going to open upand send me to hell?
Okay, so people are like I'mnot going to take communion
because I know I'm reallystruggling with some stuff right
now and I don't.
Okay, that is literally theopposite of what is being said
(26:40):
here.
Many people think this means youneed to examine yourself for
sin, like, ooh, have I sinned?
But that's actually not true,because where is our sin?
Where's my sin?
My sin was hung on the cross.
Where's your sin?
Your sin was hung on the cross.
Then what happened to it?
It was murdered.
Then what happened to it?
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It was buried.
And then what happened to it?
It was buried, and then whathappened to it?
God said he cast it as far asthe east is from the west, an
infinite distance, and it'sremembered no more.
So there's my sin.
Okay, so what is he talkingabout?
We are to celebrate the factthat our sin has been paid, and
then it's a call for the peopleof God, for us and for them, to
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consider their actions andpartake in a manner that honors
the body and the blood of Jesus,not to focus on confessing
their sins and feeling unworthy.
So there's a difference betweenwhat am I doing and I'm feeling
unworthy and living in the lifeof guilt.
The examination that he'stelling us to do here is
recognizing the significance ofthe new covenant, of what did
(27:47):
Jesus give us in this dinner, inthis supper, in this bread and
wine.
He gave us a new covenant, soparticipating in that new
covenant changes the way I lovepeople.
It reflects the unity of Jesusthat we are all equal.
It reflects the unity of Jesusthat we are all equal At the
foot of the cross.
Every single one of us has beenguilty of sin, but we've been
(28:10):
completely forgiven, so we'reall children of God together.
No one's better than anyoneelse.
It's not about trying to becomemore purified or get right with
God.
Let me tell you, nothing hereis magical.
It's not.
This is not going to bring youforgiveness.
This is not going to bring youforgiveness.
This is not going to changeyour life.
There's nothing magical aboutforgiveness.
(28:32):
It's all truly about faith.
It's not about becomingforgiven or getting right with
God.
We're already forgiven becauseof what Jesus did for us on the
cross.
Communion is about celebratingthat truth and we're to
encourage every believer to takeit and remember Jesus's
(28:54):
sacrifice for them.
Okay, so it's about celebratingJesus, but they were not doing
this.
It says here for he who drinksor eats in an unworthy manner,
eats and drinks judgment onhimself, not discerning the
Lord's body.
Okay, when he says the Lord'sbody there, he's talking about
(29:16):
all the people in this room arethe Lord's body.
We are the body of Jesus hereon this planet, his church and
the actions that they were doingwere disrespecting and
dishonoring Jesus because theyweren't loving the people.
So they were having a race toget communion and some people
were drinking it all and gettingdrunk and it was all a big
(29:38):
party and they were reallyexcited about it, but they were
not being loving to each other.
So he's correcting them hereand it says check out this verse
.
For this reason, many are weakand sick among you and many
sleep.
That means are dead.
Well, this is crazy.
So it says their actions, whatthey were doing at their parties
, were so intense and they wereso bad that they were having
(30:02):
serious consequences.
Intense and they were so badthat they were having serious
consequences.
Some were getting so drunk theywere dying, or maybe they were
having, I don't know, getting,you know, drunk driving on their
donkey.
By the way, do you guys knowhow farmers party?
They turn up the beats, allright.
(30:33):
So what's the lesson here?
Well, look what he says, for ifwe would judge ourselves, we
would not be judged, but when weare judged, we are chastened by
(30:54):
the Lord that we may not becondemned with the world.
Therefore, my brethren, whenyou come together to eat, the
lesson here is your life matters, okay, and if we choose to live
self-centered lives, it harmsthe body of Jesus, okay.
This is just why you come tochurch and then why you, when
you're at church, celebrateJesus, not yourself.
(31:20):
It's about everyone else.
He loves his body so much andhe will protect it.
There will be natural andsometimes even supernatural
consequences for self-centeredliving.
He says Communion is never aboutgetting forgiven or making
things right with God.
It's about remembering that weare right with God.
There's nothing you can do toget more right with God, more
(31:42):
forgiven.
You're either 100% forgiven oryou're 0% forgiven.
There's no 99% forgiven or 50%forgiven.
You're forgiven and you havethe permission to celebrate it,
to hoot and holler about it ifyou want.
We are forgiven and free and wewill not be condemned and we
should.
That should be very, veryexciting for us, just like when
(32:05):
we're cheering at a footballgame.
So we freely offer Jesus ourlives as a response to His love
for us.
Okay, sure, we have a sure.
Okay, I'm excited to talk toyou.
We're going to be talking aboutcommunion today, so let's just
pray and then we'll get started.
Father, please teach us fromyour words, show us exactly how
you feel and think aboutcommunion.
Lord, we love you and weworship you, and we just want to
know what this whole businesswith communion is about.
(00:48):
Amen, all right.
The sermon today is titled wePut the Union in Communion.
I love it.
Okay, so communion is somethingthat has been around for a
couple thousand years, right,you know, back in Egypt they had
Passover, and during Passoverthey would have bread and
(01:09):
unleavened bread, they'd havewine and they would celebrate
these things, and it was toremember a few specific things.
But when Jesus came, he toldhis disciples hey, I want you to
take communion, and it was onthe night of Passover.
So what Jesus was basicallydoing is he was hijacking
(01:31):
Passover and changing itcompletely so that we would have
something new to celebrate.
And he kind of did the samething to the entire Old Covenant
, the entire Old Testament.
He hijacked the whole thing,transformed it, and so we don't
celebrate Passover anymore.
We're not, under any rule, anylaw to celebrate Passover, but
(01:53):
Jesus has given us communion.
Now the church did some reallyamazing hijacking of its own
when it came to communion.
So around 300 AD 310 to bespecific do you guys know what
happened?
And to be specific, do you guysknow what happened?
Constantine you ever heard ofConstantine?
(02:15):
Okay, well, constantine was theemperor of Rome.
Okay, rome was a pagan nation.
They worshipped all kinds ofdemons and all kinds of other
gods, and Constantine at onepoint.
So Jesus came.
You know about zero.
About 33 AD, he died, and sohe's, you know all of his
followers.
The church is growing, but Romehated the church, and so Rome
(02:37):
is persecuting the church andkilling everybody.
And the more they killed peoplein the church guess what?
The more the church grew, themore dangerous it was to be a
Christian, the more people werelike maybe that's the right way
to be.
And so people started.
More and more people in Romeand in the Roman Empire became
Christians, and by the time 300AD came, the majority of people
(03:06):
in Rome, the whole, all ofEurope, were believers.
And so what happened isConstantine became a believer as
well.
Well, I don't know technicallyif he became a believer, but he
basically said well, it lookslike we're a Christian nation
now, so I better get along witheverybody in the nation, because
we're tired of killingeverybody and we can't just keep
killing everybody.
So he kind of mergedChristianity with the states,
(03:26):
you know, with the government,and it became like the Holy
Roman Empire from 310 on.
Why am I talking about all this?
Because once that happened, thechurch became, they got very
rich overnight and so they built.
They just took all the pagantemples and made them churches
and then they called them allCatholic, which just meant
(03:48):
universal.
It was the one church and soall the you know priests would
have a building and they hadmoney and so they wanted to
control what was being said allthe time.
So they invented a liturgy,they invented a way that they
would do church every singleweek and part of that was
communion.
(04:09):
And so we got off track for manylike 1,500 years basically,
where communion became somethingthat people said if you take
communion, you're saved.
If the church gives youcommunion, it means you're born
again, you're saved.
They wouldn't say the word bornagain during that time, but
(04:29):
you're saved and you can send asmuch as you want during the
week, as long as you come andtake communion, so have fun.
That, basically, was themindset, and they believed in
something calledtransubstantiation.
There's your $2 word for theday and, as you guys know, that
means they believed that as soonas you bite the bread, it
(04:50):
becomes Jesus' body in yourmouth.
And as soon as you bite thebread, it becomes Jesus' body in
your mouth.
And as soon as you drink thegrape juice well, they used wine
it would become the blood ofJesus in your mouth.
And the reason they wanted tohave it this way is so that they
would make people afraid, ifyou didn't come to church and
take communion, that you weredenying Jesus and you didn't
(05:11):
have Jesus inside you anymorefor that week.
Okay, so all of this in 1500,there was the Great Reformation,
where Martin Luther came andsome things changed and some
beliefs changed, and we startedlooking to the Bible more,
because the Bible doesn't sayany of that.
And so in the Bible, you know,they tried to get back on to
(05:31):
what the Bible said, which wasit's symbolic of his body and
his blood.
And so that's what communionreally is.
It's something that Jesus askedus to celebrate, to celebrate
what he did.
So, with that being our contextand our introduction, we're
(05:53):
going to dive into what wasgoing on in this church.
Okay, so you remember, inCorinth they were a Gentile
church and before they all metJesus, they were partying
hardcore at their temples.
This is how they worshippedtheir other deities, their other
demons and all the false pagangods.
(06:14):
They would have parties withalcohol and whatever other vices
they could get into.
That's how they worshipped.
So the culture was very muchabout partying.
And you know what?
Today is the first day of whatAnybody know NFL football.
That's right, and I think weknow what this is like, what
(06:37):
their culture was like.
Have you just watched?
Has anyone been to an NFL game?
Yeah, it's like it's a wildparty.
People yell and scream theirheads off.
People love going.
It's almost like they're at agiant worship service.
Right, it's almost like weintrinsically know how to
(07:00):
celebrate something that reallymatters to us.
And the church in Corinth wasactually pretty cool because
they took that attitude likewell, we know how to party and
they brought it into the churchand they were like let's
celebrate God, like we werecelebrating at these pagan
temples, and let's go crazy,let's get drunk celebrating
(07:22):
Jesus.
That's what was going on.
And Paul, he writes them aletter.
He's writing them this letterand he's going to bring some
correction into their life, butnotice, he doesn't tell them you
need to calm down.
He doesn't correct everythingthat they're doing.
He corrects what they weredoing that wasn't loving, and
(07:44):
how they were creating classdifferences and some other
things that we're going to seetoday.
But the point is, thecelebrating was good, they knew
how to celebrate, but they weredoing it wrong, and so that's
our context of what's going onin Corinth at this time.
So let's begin studying, let'sbegin reading.
We put the communion in, we putthe union in communion, verse
(08:07):
17 of chapter 11.
Now, in giving theseinstructions, I do not praise
you, since you come together notfor the better, but for the
worse.
Uh-oh, uh-oh.
They made a mess of communionright, just like many churches
today.
To be honest, they made it allabout themselves.
(08:29):
That's the problem here.
That's the mistake.
They made it all aboutthemselves.
That's the problem here.
That's the mistake.
They made it all aboutthemselves.
Again, the pagan style was crazygluttony and sinful actions at
their feasts.
And so, from theirpre-Christian days, they knew
how to celebrate, they knew howto part, they kept it 100, as
the kids say, but theycompletely missed the life of
(08:51):
Jesus that Jesus had given them.
They weren't celebrating Himdirectly.
You know, this is reallyimportant.
In Matthew, chapter 9, verse 14, it says then the disciples of
John came to Him saying why dowe and the Pharisees fast often,
but your disciples do not fast?
(09:12):
And Jesus said to them can thefriends of the bridegroom mourn
as long as the bridegroom iswith them, but the days will
come when the bridegroom will betaken away from them and then
they will fast.
No one puts a piece of unshrunkcloth on an old garment, for the
patch pulls away from thegarment and the tear is made
worse.
Nor do they put new wine intoold wineskins, or else the
(09:34):
wineskins are ruined.
But they put new wine into newwineskins and both.
So the new wine that Jesus istalking about is the Holy Spirit
in us.
It cannot exist in an oldwineskin.
What does that mean?
(09:56):
The law-based religious lifethat we used to live, the
law-based religious life that weused to live, the Holy Spirit
and the new covenant of gracedoes not fit in that life.
We need new hearts to be aproper vessel for the Holy
Spirit that God wants to livethrough us.
So God starts by giving us newhearts.
(10:17):
That's how we all start outwith God.
God gives us new hearts and hemakes us a pure, new vessel.
And that's the first part ofgrace.
We're forgiven and we're madepure, and so the Spirit can live
through us.
That's the second part of grace.
First part of grace you getsaved, you're made pure, you're
forgiven.
That's called justification.
And then all the rest of ourlife, we're growing.
(10:40):
But what are we doing?
We're letting the Holy Spiritlive through us.
And the church in Corinth wasnot remembering that part.
They were not remembering thatthey were pure and holy vessels
of the Holy Spirit.
So they were living andcelebrating how they used to,
how they used to, with totalself-focus.
(11:01):
They were getting drunk andindependently gorging themselves
on the food that was intendedto feed the whole church and
bless the whole church.
And classes they had richclasses and poor classes were
the only thing that reallyseparated people back then not
(11:22):
cars or technology or even racesso much because there wasn't
even very many different racesin that culture.
So they really leaned intotheir class.
What class are you?
Are you from a rich family orfrom a poor family?
And it's kind of the onlydivision that they had in that
day.
And so let's continue on ourtext here.
For first of all, when you cometogether as a church, I hear
(11:45):
that there are divisions amongyou, and in part I believe it.
This tells us what happened.
Okay, this was supposed tocelebrate how good Jesus has
been to all of us, and theyturned it into a thing that
divided people and made peoplefeel embarrassed and not good
enough.
Isn't that sad?
(12:06):
He says for there must also befactions among you that those
who are approved may berecognized among you.
Well, that's a weird verse andI had to really study this verse
to figure out what he wassaying.
So he's not saying thateveryone has to be best friends.
That's not what unity lookslike.
If he's not saying thateveryone has to be best friends,
(12:27):
that's not what unity lookslike.
If you look around this room,not everyone is your best friend
, and God doesn't say they haveto be your best friend.
He totally understands thatyou're gonna be closer with some
people than other people,especially as the church grows.
We're gonna find our ownspecial group of friends that we
can have a close relationshipwith and really share life with,
and these little groups give.
Actually the Bible says give usa chance to learn leadership
(12:47):
skills and connect more easilywith the other groups.
So when there's these differentlittle groups in the church, it
can actually serve to help thechurch and to purify the church
and make the church stronger.
But or sorry, because peoplewho are genuinely living out
their faith, they're keepingtheir focus on Jesus and the new
(13:10):
covenant and the way they'retreating people with love is
teaching their own little groupsand their friend groups how the
life of Jesus is supposed to belived out.
So that's better than justshowing up at church on Sunday
and then ghosting everybodythroughout the week and not
(13:31):
having any real fellowship.
So it's better to have a smallgroup in the church that you can
connect with, and so Iencourage you that that's a good
thing.
But he says when you cometogether in one place, is it not
to eat the Lord's Supper?
So what their tradition was,what they were doing, was they
would all eat a meal togetherwhen they got together and they
(13:54):
would celebrate what Jesus gaveus at his last supper.
Do you guys remember the lastsupper?
And that's what we'recelebrating here?
And that's when he gave us thenew covenant of grace.
And so he said I'm doing awaywith the old way of religion and
rules and laws and I'm totallyreplacing it.
I'm hijacking it, I'm replacingit with grace.
(14:18):
So what is this grace?
Well, I'm going to give youthree things you can just
remember and think about.
First, it's forgiveness of sins.
So that's the first part Jesusgives us.
That's the easy part, everyoneknows you.
Ask a hundred Christians outthere what did Jesus do for you
when he died for you on thecross?
They'll say he forgave my sins.
That's the easy part.
Okay, but the sad thing is mostpeople think it ends there.
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Well, what am I supposed to donext?
I guess I'm just supposed totry as hard as I can to be a
good person and to pay him back,maybe and that is not what the
new covenant declares, that isnot what he paid his blood to
give you.
He gives you forgiveness.
And the second thing he givesyou an internal new life called
(15:02):
the Holy Spirit.
And it says he writes his lawson our minds and in our hearts.
So he says I'm doing away withthe entire Ten Commandments and
all the laws of the OldTestament and I'm replacing it
with one thing the Holy Spirit'sgoing to live inside you and
you're going to be absolutelymiserable if you do anything
that offends him, because helives inside you and he's not
(15:24):
leaving you.
He's never going to leave you.
He loves you, he cares aboutyou and it's that spirit that
teaches us what God's will isand gives us the power to do
that.
The third thing you can knowabout grace today is that it
provides a really closerelationship with God.
He says I will be their God,they shall be my people.
(15:45):
That's a promise of grace.
What Jesus gave us is a newcovenant where he wants a
personal relationship with us.
How much closer can you be thaninside Jesus?
He says we're in Christ andJesus is inside us.
So this is a united closeness.
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It's as close as you couldpossibly be.
It always is a pet peeve of minewhen I go around and I'm not
feeling necessarily close toJesus and so I say I need to go
draw near to God.
I need to go get closer to God,but that's not really
theologically accurate.
Get closer to God, but that'snot really theologically
accurate because I can't get anycloser to God than I am when
(16:25):
I'm a believer in Christ.
The moment you became abeliever, Jesus said I'm in you
and you're in me, and that'sdone, sealed, done forever.
You're good.
What am I saying then?
When I'm saying I need to drawnear to God?
Well, I need to delight in Hispresence.
That is a good thing.
To spend time connecting andenjoying that connection.
(16:50):
That's what we mean, and so youknow it's okay.
But it's not religion.
That's what all this grace is.
Grace is not a religion.
It's not the self-life either.
It's Jesus living our lives forus.
So look what he says.
He says, for, in eating, eachone takes his own supper ahead
(17:10):
of others, and one is hungry andthen another's drunk.
He says what Do you not havehouses to eat and drink in, or
do you despise the church of Godand shame those who have
nothing?
What shall I say to you?
Shall I praise you in this?
I do not praise you.
Yeah, it sounds like Jesus.
(17:32):
It doesn't sound like Jesus isreally living through them, or
they're not allowing Jesus tolive through them when they come
to church.
Well, what is this supposed tobe all about?
Paul's going to tell us whatare we celebrating?
Paul's going to tell us Look,for I received from the Lord
that which I also delivered toyou that the Lord, on the same
(17:53):
night in which he was betrayed,took bread and when he gave
thanks, he broke it and said Inthe same manner he also took the
(18:14):
cup after supper, saying thiscup is the new covenant in my
blood.
This do as often as you drinkit in remembrance of me, for as
often as you eat this bread anddrink this cup, you proclaim the
Lord's death till he comes.
So what is communion?
We've already said somechurches make it a religious
(18:37):
thing and they call it asacrament, and I understand what
they're trying to say.
It's a sacred thing that we doand it is sacred, okay, but it's
not a religious thing.
They make it a thing that youhave to do to earn points with
God or obtain his favor or hisforgiveness.
(18:58):
And let me just tell you, thisis a very theological term for
that.
It is trash.
Okay, that is trash theology.
It's terrible theology becauseit's selfish and self-centered
theology, and that's not whatcommunion it's supposed to be
(19:19):
all about.
Jesus, not you, he says when youeat this bread and drink this
cup, think of yourselves.
No, he says, remember me.
That's what he said.
And this, like I said, this wasall based on the Passover meal
back from the book of Exodus,where they made unleavened bread
(19:41):
and they baked it and they werein a hurry so they didn't put
leaven in it, and so when theybaked it, it made stripes on it
from the coals that they hadbaked it on and the stripes.
When they would see it, theywould remember the stripes of
Jesus when he was beaten for us,and they would even stab it and
there would be holes in it toremind us how Jesus was tortured
(20:02):
for us.
And as we break the bread,we've already pre-broken it.
Today we remember how his bodywas broken.
For us, it's a picture of hisbody.
This is his sacrifice, what hedid for us.
Do we celebrate our works?
(20:22):
No, right, I love when you guysrespond, so yell at me more.
We don't celebrate our works,what we do, right, we only
celebrate Jesus.
It's a complete, 100% focus onJesus.
And now we share his body.
(20:47):
Okay, so we're going to takethe bread, we're going to eat it
, which means we share in hisbody.
What that means is that whathappened to him happened to us.
So his body was killed for aprice for sin.
Our sin deserved death, right?
So his body was pierced andkilled for us and we share in
(21:11):
his body and as you eat it, youcan picture it's becoming part
of you.
So his death becomes part ofyou, but not just his death and
his body, also his resurrection,because his body didn't stay in
the grave.
His body was raised to new lifeand that new life is now my new
life.
I share with his death and hislife and I celebrate that when I
eat the bread.
(21:31):
His body is my body, I am hisbody.
It's the same.
We share a life, we are one,and we're celebrating that with
the bread.
And they ate the bread and itgave them strength to go all the
way in through the desert.
And so eating his body by faith, taking him into you, will give
(21:54):
you strength also for the lifeGod has called you, for the
journey that God has called youto.
It's all about our union withhim.
Okay, so when I say we put theunion in communion, what I want
you to think is the wordcommunion is all based around
union, our union with Christ.
(22:16):
Does that mean you're God?
No, but it means he livesinside you and you're still you.
You have your personality, yourmind, but you allow him to live
through you in your heart, andit's the union we have with
Jesus.
And then the cup.
So we have this cup and it'sgoing to represent the blood
(22:39):
that he paid, the price that hepaid to give us all this new
covenant right, which wasforgiveness of all sin, and I
want to say that again.
How much sin.
Good job, guys, you're doinggreat.
All sin that means past sin,present sin and future sin have
(22:59):
already been paid for.
Well, how can he pay forsomething I haven't even done
yet?
Well, he kind of knows thefuture and he signed up for that
when he said he would save you.
When he offered you his spirit,it wasn't that you might
someday do a sin and kick himout and he wouldn't be accepted
(23:21):
in your life.
No, it's all done, you're good,you're saved, all sin.
But it's not just forgiveness,like we said, it's a new heart,
also a new spirit.
You've been adopted in yourlife with God.
You have an adopted heart, anew heart.
The new covenant is all thatJesus has given us, and it
(23:44):
points us to his life and hisdeath.
Why did Jesus come?
Just forgiveness, no, but a newcovenant, a new life.
He said behold, I make allthings new, and that's my
favorite quote.
Jesus makes all things new forus.
He says for as often as you eatthis bread and drink this cup,
(24:05):
you proclaim the death till hecomes.
So when we accept what Jesusdid, when you just believe it,
you can celebrate it.
And Jesus says it's good tocelebrate because it helps you
to remember, because our minds,our minds didn't change.
Nothing changed about yourbrain when you got saved.
Your brain was still the sameold dumb brain that we had
(24:27):
before, and it needs to bereformed and renewed.
And remembering truth is a greatway to train your brain how to
think.
And so he's saying here this isa remembering thing.
And what does he say?
We proclaim his death.
That's in the past, till hecomes again.
(24:48):
That's in the future.
We're living this life here inthe present with Jesus.
We're in union with him.
And what are we remembering?
What are we keeping our mindsfocused on All the crazy stress
we have right now in this life?
No, he wants us to take a breakback up.
Look at the big picture, whichis Jesus died for you and you're
forgiven and you live in a newcovenant.
(25:09):
Jesus is coming back and it'sall going to be about him, then
as well, your life here back up,let go and keep your eyes
focused on proclaiming his deathtill he comes again.
Does that make sense?
Your life matters.
Your life totally matters hereon this earth.
You make a kingdom impact inyour life when your heart is set
(25:32):
on Jesus, when your eyes arefocused on what he did and what
he's gonna do.
That's how we can make animpact in this world.
We're in the middle of thosetwo events, you know.
So what do we do while we're inthe middle?
We celebrate him.
We celebrate him.
So that's what we're going todo.
(25:53):
Okay, so let's keep reading.
Therefore, whoever eats thisbread or drinks this cup in an
unworthy manner will be guiltyof the body and the blood of the
Lord.
But let a man examine himself,okay, so this verse gets a
little squirrely sometimes,because people think, oh my gosh
(26:19):
, am I going to go to hell if Ihave sin and eat this, and am I
just going to?
Is the floor going to open upand send me to hell?
Okay, so people are like I'mnot going to take communion
because I know I'm reallystruggling with some stuff right
now and I don't.
Okay, that is literally theopposite of what is being said
(26:40):
here.
Many people think this means youneed to examine yourself for
sin, like, ooh, have I sinned?
But that's actually not true,because where is our sin?
Where's my sin?
My sin was hung on the cross.
Where's your sin?
Your sin was hung on the cross.
Then what happened to it?
It was murdered.
Then what happened to it?
(27:01):
It was buried.
And then what happened to it?
It was buried, and then whathappened to it?
God said he cast it as far asthe east is from the west, an
infinite distance, and it'sremembered no more.
So there's my sin.
Okay, so what is he talkingabout?
We are to celebrate the factthat our sin has been paid, and
then it's a call for the peopleof God, for us and for them, to
(27:23):
consider their actions andpartake in a manner that honors
the body and the blood of Jesus,not to focus on confessing
their sins and feeling unworthy.
So there's a difference betweenwhat am I doing and I'm feeling
unworthy and living in the lifeof guilt.
The examination that he'stelling us to do here is
recognizing the significance ofthe new covenant, of what did
(27:47):
Jesus give us in this dinner, inthis supper, in this bread and
wine.
He gave us a new covenant, soparticipating in that new
covenant changes the way I lovepeople.
It reflects the unity of Jesusthat we are all equal.
It reflects the unity of Jesusthat we are all equal At the
foot of the cross.
Every single one of us has beenguilty of sin, but we've been
(28:10):
completely forgiven, so we'reall children of God together.
No one's better than anyoneelse.
It's not about trying to becomemore purified or get right with
God.
Let me tell you, nothing hereis magical.
It's not.
This is not going to bring youforgiveness.
This is not going to bring youforgiveness.
This is not going to changeyour life.
There's nothing magical aboutforgiveness.
(28:32):
It's all truly about faith.
It's not about becomingforgiven or getting right with
God.
We're already forgiven becauseof what Jesus did for us on the
cross.
Communion is about celebratingthat truth and we're to
encourage every believer to takeit and remember Jesus's
(28:54):
sacrifice for them.
Okay, so it's about celebratingJesus, but they were not doing
this.
It says here for he who drinksor eats in an unworthy manner,
eats and drinks judgment onhimself, not discerning the
Lord's body.
Okay, when he says the Lord'sbody there, he's talking about
(29:16):
all the people in this room arethe Lord's body.
We are the body of Jesus hereon this planet, his church and
the actions that they were doingwere disrespecting and
dishonoring Jesus because theyweren't loving the people.
So they were having a race toget communion and some people
were drinking it all and gettingdrunk and it was all a big
(29:38):
party and they were reallyexcited about it, but they were
not being loving to each other.
So he's correcting them hereand it says check out this verse
.
For this reason, many are weakand sick among you and many
sleep.
That means are dead.
Well, this is crazy.
So it says their actions, whatthey were doing at their parties
, were so intense and they wereso bad that they were having
(30:02):
serious consequences.
Intense and they were so badthat they were having serious
consequences.
Some were getting so drunk theywere dying, or maybe they were
having, I don't know, getting,you know, drunk driving on their
donkey.
By the way, do you guys knowhow farmers party?
They turn up the beats, allright.
(30:33):
So what's the lesson here?
Well, look what he says, for ifwe would judge ourselves, we
would not be judged, but when weare judged, we are chastened by
(30:54):
the Lord that we may not becondemned with the world.
Therefore, my brethren, whenyou come together to eat, the
lesson here is your life matters, okay, and if we choose to live
self-centered lives, it harmsthe body of Jesus, okay.
This is just why you come tochurch and then why you, when
you're at church, celebrateJesus, not yourself.
(31:20):
It's about everyone else.
He loves his body so much andhe will protect it.
There will be natural andsometimes even supernatural
consequences for self-centeredliving.
He says Communion is never aboutgetting forgiven or making
things right with God.
It's about remembering that weare right with God.
There's nothing you can do toget more right with God, more
(31:42):
forgiven.
You're either 100% forgiven oryou're 0% forgiven.
There's no 99% forgiven or 50%forgiven.
You're forgiven and you havethe permission to celebrate it,
to hoot and holler about it ifyou want.
We are forgiven and free and wewill not be condemned and we
should.
That should be very, veryexciting for us, just like when
(32:05):
we're cheering at a footballgame.
So we freely offer Jesus ourlives as a response to His love
for us.
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