BIBLE VERSES on COMMUNION
WHAT DO THE FOLLOWING PASSAGES HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE LORD'S SUPPER?
LK. 22:14-20 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is by body given for you; do this in remembrance of me. " 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."
Symbolic / figurative NOT real Flesh or Real Blood!!! Like did Jesus ever look like a lamb? Why?
Acts 15:20 20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
Acts 20:29 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
Leviticus 17: 10-12 10 ‘And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’ 12 Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.’
Act 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
I COR.. 11:26-28 ." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's
What is Communion/ The Lord's Supper?
● The Lord's Supper/Communion is not a necessary step toward salvation. We are saved by believing on /about what Christ did on the Cross (Born again)
● The term “communion” means “a shared or mutual participation.” It is not a word that we find in the Bible
● There is a shared or a mutual participation of the redeemed community; therefore, it is called communion by most churches
● The Bible has a word that it uses for this celebration, and the term is “the Lord’s Supper” in 1
Corinthians 11:20
●This celebration is the clearest symbolic expression of our redemption in Jesus Christ: the body of Christ that was broken for us, and the blood of Christ that was shed for us, giving us the remission of sins (blood on the cross sacrificed there)
● We are to devote ourselves to this symbolic representation of all Christ did in redeeming us, Acts 2:
● Communion represents the best time that Christians can have together. Celebrating the Lord’s Table is our finest hour as Christians
● In Acts 2:42 we are told that the early Christians devoted themselves to 4 things:
1) the apostles’ teaching. (The Word of God)
2) fellowshipping with one another
3) prayer
4) the breaking of bread (the Lord’s Supper)
The 2 Purposes of Communion:
1) A time of Memorial
Luke 22, starting at verse 17: “Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” In Luke 22:17-20 and 1
Corinthians 10:16-17 the memorial view of the Lord’s Supper is stated, “Do this in remembrance of me.” We are reflecting upon our redemption. We are reflecting upon his body and his blood that purchased for us our salvation. Some churches believe this remembrance a big part of their worship. This is the first purpose in our practice of communion. It is as a redeemed community that we reflect upon our redemption that we have in Jesus Christ. What a beautiful picture! The bread and the wine (or grape juice) act as symbols -- tokens -- that represent the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us, the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins. What a beautiful tangible picture the Lords Supper is. It is because of the statement, “Do this in remembrance of me,” that we know how much this supper means to Christ. He wants us to never forget how great a price He paid to make us His own!
2) A time of Fellowship
The second purpose in our celebration of communion (the Lord’s Supper) is a time of special
fellowship with other believers. In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, Paul highlights the unity of the body during the communion celebration. Paul writes this: “Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share the one bread.” The practice of communion two thousand years ago seems like they were sharing a meal together around tables, so that they were looking at other redeemed individuals in the eyes as they remembered what Christ did for each person sitting there. The way most Christians take communion today is with all facing the same direction. You do not get to look other redeemed individuals in the eyes, rejoicing in their salvation in addition to your own. When we celebrate communion we shouldn't be thinking about the first purpose of communion only. We should be very grateful for our redemption. We rejoice in the common bond and the unity that we share in Jesus Christ. This is the second purpose of communion
The Practice of Communion
● We see in 1 Corinthians 11 that the early church seemed to celebrate communion every Sunday as they joined together
● The New Testament is clear that you must practice the Lords Supper repeatedly
● Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread ….”
● They did not meet on Saturday (the Sabbath). They wanted to distinguish themselves from Jewish assemblies, so they met on the first day of the week in celebration of Jesus’ resurrection
● They probably ate it after a full meal, like Jesus and the disciples did after the Passover, which was a full meal
● Church history tells us that soon after the turn of the second century, churches began to do token communion services when they gathered together. They would eat their dinners at home and then they would drink just a little bit of wine and eat just a little bit of bread for communion
● the early church also practiced it with one loaf of bread, and with one cup
● In the New Testament the method of how we are to do it is not explicitly laid out or demanded
● The reasons or purposes for which they did in the first century are explicitly laid out and should not change
Who is allowed to participate in communion?
1 Corinthians 11, from verse 27-29: “For this reason, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
A person should examine himself first, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. For the one who eats and drinks without careful regard for the body eats and drinks judgment against himself...”
● Clearly, the Lords Supper is for born again believers, however Judas was there when the first supper took place as a nonbeliever. (unworthy manner)
● The Lords Supper is a powerful witness to nonbelievers.
● Believers should examine themselves for unworthy manner (Feeling superior and better than other saved ones) sin in their lives before taking the bread and the cup. We are to look at our own attitudes towards other believers before we come to the table
● Baptism is NOT a prerequisite to celebrating communion together
● The most spiritually mature person present at the time is the best person to administer the emblems of communion. Believing heads of households are able to lead communion in their homes. The person who gives out the communion does not really do anything to the elements
● There is no place in the Bible that says that you have to be a member of a particular assembly in order to take communion
The Emblems of Communion
● It says that these elements are merely tokens, only symbolically representing the body and the blood of Jesus Christ
● Jesus was killed, he rose again, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. That is where his body and blood are.
● Use bread and wine/grape juice unless you have a good reason to substitute them or other things,
● A good reason for using grape juice instead of wine is because alcohol in the twentieth and twenty first centuries in the United States is a stumbling block for a lot of people
● Eskimos could use water and fish for communion if that's all they have, or island residents could use coconut meat and milk