2011 9-25’Where Is Jesus in Communion’ (Selected Scriptures)

“WHERE IS JESUS IN COMMUNION?”

I. Introduction
Many of you know I’m a sort of a “history buff.” Regardless of whether it is world history or American history, I’ve always believed that the famous statement, usually credited to eighteenth century British statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke, is true. He said “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

The American Civil War and World War II have always been of particular interest to me. The country we live in today was shaped largely by the outcome of the former. And the world we live in today was shaped largely by the outcome of the latter. Over the years I’ve read and studied much about both conflicts. And in both cases there were countless examples of those who did not learn from history. And more often than not those who did not learn from history were doomed to repeat the errors of the past.

One thing I’ve learned is that war can bring out the very worst in everyone from a world leader to a lowly foot soldier. Perhaps, ironically, I’ve also learned that war can bring out the very best in everyone from world leaders to foot soldiers as well.

When it comes to world leaders, I think Winston Churchill was one of the most inspira-tional men of the last several hundred years. Among other things he’s well known for some great and insightful quotes. Some of them are quite humorous. For example –
~ “From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.”

~ “Show me a young Conservative and I will show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I will show you someone with no brains.”

~ Regarding his political rival, Clement Atlee, he said, “Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has much to be modest about.”

~ When speaking on the virtues of democracy, he qualified his remarks by saying, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

~ A verbal joust between Churchill and Lady Astor went something like this – She said, “Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink.” To which, it is said, Churchill replied, “Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.”

Most of Churchill’s famous quotes were quite serious. Speaking of the Royal Air Force pilots killed in aerial combat with the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in 1940, he said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

In and around the city of Bastogne in Belgium, in what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II raged during the months of December, 1944, and January, 1945.
In a furious battle lasting five weeks, the German army threw everything it had left at the allies. In those five weeks more than 19,000 American soldiers were killed. Over 38,000 more were wounded and another 24,000 others were captured. The sacrifice of those men is remembered on a memorial in the city of Bastogne. The inscription reads, “Seldom has so much American blood been shed in the course of a single action. Oh, Lord, help us to remember.”

That’s a fitting tribute to those courageous men who laid down their lives. We need to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to defend us from our enemies and to protect us from harm. We should remember. We don’t want to forget.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

II. Text
And that is what this morning is all about. We are here to remember the One who sacri-ficed His life for us. We have great respect for the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who have died on our behalf, and rightly so, but Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf was infinitely greater, and the stakes involved were infinitely higher.

Jesus’ suffering on the cross was far beyond anything we can imagine. I am not merely referring to His physical suffering, as horrendous as crucifixion was, but to the spiritual dimension of His agony. You and I have nothing by which we can measure it. We simply cannot comprehend it. The man Jesus was without sin. He lived His earthly life in perfect communion with His Father in heaven. They were united as one. In fact, Jesus said that very thing. “I and the Father are one (John 10:30).”

They have never been apart. From eternity past to eternity future God the Father and God the Son were, are, and always will be united and in perfect communion – except during those three hours when the Father crushed the Son under the weight of your sin and mine. And as incomprehensible as that was, for Jesus, it was even worse.

The Prophet Habakkuk tells us, “(God’s) eye’s are too pure to approve (or to look upon) evil” (Habakkuk 1:13). When God poured the sin of the world on Jesus, the Father turned away from the Son, broke eternal fellowship with Him, and left Jesus alone to suffer the horrors of hell. The physical darkness that fell over the earth during those three hours was symbolic of the spiritual darkness that results from divine judgment. Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless, holy Son of God was literally left hanging between heaven and earth.

That was far beyond anything you or I are capable of comprehending. But we do know the result. Jesus sacrificed His life to deliver us from the grip of Satan, the power of sin, and the separation and spiritual darkness of eternal judgment. He saved us from what the Bible calls the second death (eternal death), and made us right with God.

So, before Jesus went to the cross, He instituted the Lord’s Supper. This morning we remember Him. Not with Churchill’s famous quote, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
This morning we remember Jesus with, “Never in the history of humanity have so many owed so much to One!” We need to remember. We must not forget. It is our memorial to Him. Jesus told us to, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

In Luke 22:14-20 Jesus is instituting the Lord’s Supper. He is commanding us to remem-ber Him whenever we eat of this bread and drink of this cup. The Bible gives us only two ordinances or, as they are sometimes formally called, sacraments. These are baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Over the centuries men have added to them. The Roman Catholic Church now names seven sacraments. In Roman theology the baptism of believers has become the baptism of infants. In the Eucharist the symbols of the bread and the fruit of the vine have become the literal body and blood of Christ. But Rome has added five more.
• There is the Sacrament of Confirmation, which is said to strengthen baptismal grace.
• There is the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation, which includes sorrow for sin, confession to a priest, forgiveness bestowed by the priest, and then some sort of payment or satisfaction for the sins committed.
• There is the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick. This became “extreme unction,” or the Sacrament of Last Rites.
• There is the Sacrament of Holy Orders, which is essentially the ordination of bishops, priests, and deacons.
• There is the Sacrament of Marriage.

While sorrow for sin, confession before God, anointing the sick, ordination, and marriage are all good things, and all prescribed for us in Scripture, Jesus personally commanded us to observe only two, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They correspond to the two OT ordinances or sacraments – circumcision and the Passover. Jesus observed both of these and thus instituted baptism and the Lord’s Supper for us. Consider the following.
• Jesus was not confirmed in the faith. He is the One in whom we put our faith.
• Jesus was not sorry for His sin. He had no sin for which to be sorrowful.
• Jesus did not anoint the sick. He healed the sick.
• Jesus was not ordained to the priesthood. He is our Great High priest.
• Jesus did not marry a woman. We, the church, are the Bride of Christ.

So we baptize and we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Think of them this way.
• Baptism is the ordinance that symbolizes spiritual birth.
• The Lord’s Supper is the ordinance that symbolizes spiritual growth.

You can’t grow unless you have been born, can you? That’s why many churches do not allow one to partake of the Lord’s Supper unless they have been baptized in water. But real baptism, “dry baptism,” baptism in the Holy Spirit, is the real issue here.
All true believers have already been “immersed” in Christ, whether or not they have gone into the water. When you have been immersed in Christ, you have been born again.
Jesus said to Nicodemus…
*John 3:3-5
3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

Jesus was no more referring to literal water here any more than Paul was speaking of water in Romans 6. The issue in Romans 6 is being completely united to Christ in His death and then subsequently, united to Him in His eternal life.
Romans 6:5
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.

In John 3 Jesus is speaking symbolically of the need for spiritual cleansing. Such cleansing comes from above. It comes to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is teaching that if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you are not spiritually “clean.” If you have not been made spiritually clean, you are not a Christian. If you are not a Christian, you will not go to heaven.

Conversely, when speaking to believers, Jesus said this…
John 15:3
3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”

In Ephesians Paul includes the whole church in this beautiful symbolism.
Ephesians 5:26
26 that (Christ) might sanctify (the church), having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

Baptism by immersion in water symbolizes this spiritual cleansing and the new birth.
The pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit upon His people is a figurative way of saying that Jesus sends His Holy Spirit to apply the work of redemption to His people, to wash away their sins and to give them spiritual life.

When we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes down upon us and baptizes us. He begins in us the life-long process of sanctification, that is, making us holy, and He unites us to Christ. In baptism the Holy Spirit fully immerses us in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Water baptism symbolizes all of this. We are not baptized by the Spirit in water baptism. We are not made holy in water baptism. We are not united to Christ in water baptism. But all of these things are symbolized by water baptism.
How many times were you born physically? Only once! How many times were you born spiritually? Only once! Therefore, we are baptized in water only once, because baptism is symbolic of spiritual birth. Ask yourself two questions.
• What did you have to do with your physical birth? Nothing!
• What did you have to do with your spiritual birth? Likewise, nothing!

Now, with all that being established, let’s look at the Lord’s Supper. How many times do you eat and drink? Only once? No, you eat and drink frequently and regularly. So we partake of the Lord’s Supper frequently and regularly. We do so because Communion symbolizes, not spiritual birth, but spiritual growth.

Jesus spoke symbolically about spiritual birth in John 3. In John 6 He spoke symboli-cally about spiritual growth.
*John 6:51-55
51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I give for the life of the world is My flesh.
52 The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

Let’s be clear about something here. This passage does not refer directly to the Lord’s Supper. If it did, then everyone who ever took Communion would automatically be saved. Just as being baptized in water does not prove someone is born of the Spirit, neither does partaking in communion prove someone is growing in the Spirit.

What Jesus is doing here is using a figure of speech. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,” speaks metaphorically of feeding on Jesus, of consuming Him. We go to Him for spiritual food and drink.

Just as immersion in the waters of Baptism symbolizes immersion in Christ and the spiritual birth, so consuming the elements of the Lord’s Supper symbolizes spiritual growth in Christ. It is critically important that Christians keep on maturing in their faith.

Without physical food you will become physically malnourished. In like manner, with-out spiritual food (continual communion with Christ), you will become spiritually underfed, even malnourished. I suspect that every one of you knows that to be true because, at one time or another in your own Christian lives, you’ve been spiritually starved.

It is for this reason that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, again and again.
We understand that eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood in John 6:51-55 is a metaphor. There is truth here to be sure. But the question is in what sense is there truth? This has been debated for two thousand years. Jesus is certainly with us in communion, but how is He with us? There are essentially four different views.

1. The first is the Roman Catholic view called “transubstantiation.” This says that even though the bread looks, smells, and tastes like bread, and even though the wine or juice looks, smells, and tastes like wine or juice, they are really the flesh and blood of Jesus Whether the one who eats and drinks is a believer or not he or she is receiving Jesus.

The problem with this view is that it requires Jesus’ physical presence. It requires His body and blood to be here with us on earth every time someone celebrates the Lord’s Supper. This is categorically untrue for two very important reasons.

For one thing, transubstantiation is untrue because the Bible tells us that Jesus is physic-cally in heaven. He’s here with us today, not physically but spiritually, in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus made it clear He was returning the place from where He had come.
*John 16:7
7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (the Holy Spirit) shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

Jesus is in heaven. If Jesus’ body is still here on earth the Second Coming makes no sense. He can’t come back if He’s already here.
Regarding Jesus’ return to heaven –
Acts 1:11 (two angels speaking)
11 “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Regarding Jesus’ stay in heaven –
Acts 3:20-21
20 …Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
21 (is the One) whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His prophets from ancient times. (the Millennial Kingdom)

Regarding our waiting for Jesus’ return to earth from heaven –
Philippians 3:20
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…

The second reason the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation is untrue, where supposedly the two elements in the Lord’s Supper actually become Jesus’ body and shed blood, is this:
The Bible teaches that Jesus gave His life once and only once. It teaches that Jesus shed His blood once and only once.
*Hebrews 10:10-14
10 …we have been sanctified (made holy) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

These things can never be repeated. A modern priest has no more authority or ability to call Jesus down from heaven and/or transform bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood than you or I have to save our own souls. The Roman Catholic doctrine of transub-stantiation simply collapses under the weight of Holy Scripture.

2. The second view of the Lord’s Supper is called “consubstantiation.” It is the view held by Lutherans. It says that when Jesus was glorified, His physical body became omnipresent. Unlike transubstantiation, which says Jesus is in the elements physically, consubstantiation says Jesus is in the elements spiritually. It teaches that Jesus is “with, in, or under” the elements. It says that He is present in the elements in the same sense that magnetism is present in a magnet.

The problem with the Lutheran view is not unlike the problem with the Catholic view. It requires Jesus’ glorified body to somehow “coexist” with the elements. But this assumes that Jesus’ glorified body is omnipresent. But it is not. In this age Jesus’ glorified body is limited to being in the presence of God the Father. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is omnipresent. The physical body of Christ is not.

Stephen was martyred after Jesus’ ascension to heaven. Just before his murder, he said…
Acts 7:56
56 “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

That is perfectly consistent with what we just read in Hebrews 10:12 – “…having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, (Jesus) sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.” When is that? That will take place at the Second Coming. So Jesus’ body is not here on earth, either physically or spiritually.

The Holy Spirit is most definitely here. He inhabits God’s children. But Jesus is not.
So Scripture plainly contradicts both the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation.

3. The third view of the Lord’s Supper is generally known as the Reformed or Calvinistic view. It says that the bread and the cup merely represent the body and blood of Christ.
The Calvinistic view holds that there is one sense in which Jesus Christ is, in fact, present at the Lord’s Supper. He is present at the Lord’s Supper. He is not present in the Lord’s Supper. That is to say, the Holy Spirit is present in the Christians who have come to the Lord’s Supper. That is certainly biblically accurate.
Romans 8:9b
9b …if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
1 Corinthians 6:19
19 …or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God…?

The Reformed or Calvinistic view says that when a Christian partakes of the elements, the Holy Spirit of God uses the symbolism as spiritual food. Our union with Christ is there-fore illustrated and enhanced, and in that, our faith is nourished and strengthened. We here at LBC would not disagree with that statement. But there is also a fourth view.

4. The fourth and final view of the Lord’s Supper is called the Zwinglian view. It’s named after the Swiss theologian Ulrich Zwingli. He saw the Lord’s Supper simply as a memorial involving mere symbols. He denied any bodily presence of Christ at all.

Personally, I believe there is truth to be found in both the Calvinistic and Zwinglian views of the Lord’s Supper. In most respects they are quite similar. Certainly, neither one is heretical.
• Calvin was right. In Communion the Holy Spirit is present in God’s people.
“…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?”
• Zwingli was right. In Communion we remember Christ and what He did for us. It is a memorial. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III. Conclusion
The important thing to keep in mind this morning is this – these elements are food for our souls. We are remembering Christ. We are proclaiming His death. In that we are obeying Him. And we are being spiritually strengthened.

This is true worship in every sense of the word. So let us come to the table and worship.
Just before we prepare our hearts, let us remind ourselves what Jesus said about this time together.
*Luke 22:14-20
14 And when the hour had come (Jesus) reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.
15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this is remembrance of Me.”
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

Deacons come forward ~