Teague Bible Church

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER                                                            Teague Bible Church

                                                                                                     December 29, 2013

 

 

Every year they have a memorial at Normandy, France to remember the ones who died for freedom. For anyone there, who actually fought back at that time, it means much more to them than to their children or grandchildren.

 

 Ex. “Private Ryan” the older man remembers as he kneels beside the grave.

 

Ex.  Gideon ,

(He was NOT there when many miracles took place) Judges 6:13 “Then Gideon said to him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘did not the Lord bring us up from Eqypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” (Exodus was 1445 B.C.  Gideon lived in 1051 B.C. )   394 years had passed.

 Each generation does not need fresh miracles of  historic proportion,( I Pet. 1:8, John 20:29, Matt. 12:38- 41) but each generation and each person in this room needs vital experiences of communion with the Lord and with each other as a body of believers.

Ex.  I John 2: 7-8  “ Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard,” (John 13:34 love on another,  John 15:12).

“On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, (increasing love, vital communion) because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” (What John is fascinated by is the fact that communion with the Lord and other believers never gets stale because the Holy Spirit energizes the Word of God in us, making it fresh and like it is brand new.)

 

We come today to remember what the Lord has done for us on that cross over 2000 years ago. We are in danger of missing the true significance of the Lord’s Supper if we resign it to be only a ritual. We cheapen it if we get too get focused about the elements involved or the way it is done, or how often it is done.

By the way, the above illustrations are incomplete. The first Lord’s Supper was tragic for the disciples, who saw no way in which Jesus would live. The second Lord’s Supper, that was recorded in the book of Acts, was a celebration of the price Jesus paid, but also the fact of His resurrection! A joyful occasion! NOT a memorial service for some dead hero! Critical to remember this when we partake of the Lord’s supper!

 

QUESTION:  What keep’s the Lord’s Supper fresh, vital, immediate, new to us and not a faded memory?  

 

ANSWER: (The presence of the Holy Spirit.)

 

There is no such thing as , “ Getting used to” the Christian life! No more than you will ever be bored with heaven and get “used to” it. The very Spirit of God makes all things fresh and new as we adjust ourselves to His working in us.

 

 

QUESTION :  As Christians, how do we adjust ourselves,

           so the Spirit can accomplish all that He wants to within us today?

 

 

1.  Be clean, confess your sins   I John 1:9   (Too many only get this far then fall back and do not grow much)

 

2.  Be surrendered   Rom. 12 :1-2

 

3.  Be Filled with the Spirit    Eph 5:18   “ and do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation ( sqandered energy, uncontrolled useless activity),but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of the Lord.” (confession and surrender makes room for the Spirit to work)

 

4. Determine to “keep walking” in the Spirit   Gal. 5: 16-25  

 

Ex. Rechargeable flashlight.

        ( can’t stay “unplugged” too long , must have continual abiding with the source)

 

  The typical experience for believers :

      A great experience with the Lord ;

        Then you think that will carry you;

          You fall;

            Big , emotional repentance;

               Repeat pattern.

Not that this does not happen to you and me at times, but I mean looking as if this is the normal way to walk. Kind of a , “I wait till my life totally falls apart, then I turn to the Lord, when nothing else works!”  That is just deliberate carnality! An attitude that the Christian walk is only “inevitable carnality.”

 

 Some churches cater to this by always having a 3-ring circus going of “special events, so people do not get bored .” External stimuli, to substitute for what can only be done in your heart by being “spirit- filled,” in a steady, sensitive walk with the Lord.

 

 

 Where are you in your life right now?  { Share time}

 

 

 

Read Luke 22: 14-20  

 

 

Read  Luke 22: 21- 30  Will you “stand by Him?”