Celebrate Christ: The Fulfilled Lord’s Table

In said sermon, he promised to put my notes online. Below you will find the sermon notes and an included online post about the Lord’s Supper from preacher Steve Baisden.

Sharing in the Lord’s Table
Communion = Fellowship

Celebrate Christ Sermon Series – 2 Peter 1:3

“Turn you eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”. – Helen Howarth Lemmel

“Home is not a heavenly mansion in the afterlife but a safe place in the midst of our anxious world”. – Brenning Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

“Let no one deceive himself. He who has no sight of Christ’s glory here and now, shall never see it in the hereafter”. – John Owen

Move into this with the right mentality – Psalm 139:23-24

Who are regarded as the beneficiaries of Christ’s provisions?

What can we do to deepen our understanding of and appreciation for the wonder of Christ’s presence?

How does the Lord’s Table provide insight for a new world in our day? 

WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF THE LORD’S SUPPER?

Alot of thoughts shared in this message will be paraphrased quotes from “Bread Broken and Shared”.

(eternal life- John 17:3; salvation, baptism, covenant, His death, His life, His flesh, His blood, His presence and glory, etc)

“The danger…to be satisfied with only partial vision, the full brightness of the Truth might blind us and make us realize to what extent the Lord’s Table is a ongoing mystery of SURPASSING greatness and beauty”.

Let’s turn to 1 Cor. 11 – The Apostle Paul speaks of the Lord’s Table as a reality which all know and could agree on, in order to make a statement about the quality of the Christian life of the Corinthians. The main thing Paul was concerned about was what it means to love as brothers and sisters.

“The New Testament problem was unique: to find words to describe an experience of coming together as a community to share a meal at which Christ was both participant and nourishment”.

“The Lord’s Table is the way Jesus has found to transcend time and space”.

WHAT SHOULD COME TO MIND?

“Unless our life choices, our value systems, our actions, are informed by the Lord’s Table, they are not fully Christian”.  – “…it is the life of Christ which God offers us”.

“If we are to continue the work that Jesus has started, if our Lord’s Table celebration is to be reflected in our lives, we must learn to extend the reach of this celebration beyond it’s present limits”.

The Lord’s Table is all about RELATIONSHIP
“Attachment is the foundation of the soul’s existence”. – Boundaries
“Our deepest need it to belong, to be in a relationship, to have a spiritual and emotional “home”. The very nature of God is to be in relationship: “God is love”, says 1 John 4:16. Love means relationship – the caring, committed connection of one individual to another”. – Boundaries

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
“…the reality of our incorporation in Christ”.
“The Lord’s table is the source and summit of the Christian life” (define source and summit)

“The Lord’s Table perpetuates aspects of Jesus’s life and gives us the strength to pattern our lives after His”.

Eucharist prayer –  Through him, with him, in him,  in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours,  almighty Father,  for ever and ever.

GAINING A SCRIPTURAL UNDERSTANDING

“We are struck with a further realization: The four accounts of the Lord’s Table that we now possess were not written primarily to teach us about the Lord’s table! Rather, in each case the writers used an accepted tradition – one familiar to their readers – as a means to develop a specific truth”.

(Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-35; Luke 22:17-20)

“…situating these texts in the heart of Jesus’s last days, their concern was to use the Lord’s Table to clarify the meaning of Jesus’s suffering and death”.  cf. brought to mind – Jer. 31:31-34; Isaiah 42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12

CHRIST IN US – HIS BODY – FILLING UP AND BEING FORMED
Ephesians 3:17
Colossians 2:7

Christ formed in you – Galatians 4:19; Colossians 1:24 -27

His death – Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 2:20; 2 Cor 4:10;

His life – glory (John 14 & 17); changed (1 Cor. 15😊; 1 Thess 4- gathered and glorified.

1 John 3:2 is to be interpreted through the lens of John 14 & 17
Glory (weight/value)- love- presence = relational terms

HOW SHOULD WE CONSTANTLY CELEBRATE HIS PROVISION OF “HIS LIFE IN US” AND REFORM OUR THOUGHTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS TRUTH WE LEARNED TODAY?

“In memory of Me” – “In saying that the Lord’s Table is Christ’s memorial, we are acknowledging that through His grace and power God is able to even today to insert us into a past moment (“Dynamic Transcendence”) – keeping the reality actual and authentic for subsequent generations”.  – “God and man insert themselves in the accomplishments of the past”

“Examine Yourself” – True reflection at the Lord’s Table “…is never a passive, comforting moment alone with God that allows us to escape the cares and concerns of everyday life. (contrary to popular thought). Rather, the Lord’s Table is where all these cares and concerns come to a focus, and where we are asked to measure them against the standard lived by Jesus Christ..”

“When we meet Christ at His table and say “amen” to His body which is offered for us, we say in the words of St. Augustine, “amen, to what we are”.

“And when our supportive network is strong enough, we will all help each other mature into what God intended us to be: “bearing with one another in love. Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3)”.  – Boundaries

“Fundamentally, the Lord’s Table is a victory – a victory of One who is absent from the world to become present in a world which conceals Him”. – St. Cyril of Alexander

“The presence of Christ demonstrated in and through the Lord’s Table is at the heart of the church. But it will be a redeeming presence for us only if the whole ministry of Christ’s life is accepted and lived. Only in this way will the Church become the presence of Christ to the world”.  Essentially, “It moves us to become Christ for others”.

“By joining in on the Lord’s Supper, the provisions of the Son, we commit ourselves to do our part to continue His mission on earth”.  “The more authentic our commitment to mission, to share the broken bread, the more will Christ’s presence (God’s glory) will be recognized”

Our Lord’s Table message to the world – His Life in and through us:
“Faithful obedience is active remembrance”
“The first thing that we must come to understand is that seeing the glory of God means having friendship with God”. -Alan Bondar  (contrast of covenants, Heb 12:18-24; 2 Cor. 3-5)
“Only those who continue to seek the praise of God through genuine, self-sacrificial love for others will see more and more of God”. Why? Simply: Because God is love (cf. 1 John 4:15-16)

Steve Baisden
January 5 at 10:18 PM
“ye do show the Lord’s death till he come”

Invariably, whenever people want to dispute the idea that the Lord has already come a second time for the judgment and the resurrection they will bring up 1Cor 11:26 which says “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” They will contend; “if you believe that the Lord has already come, then why do you still partake of the Communion because you are only supposed to do that till the Lord come”?

On the surface this seems to be a valid argument, and certainly it must be answered. In order to do this we will look at both the immediate AND remote context of (1Cor 11:26). We will examine the type/antitype (the Old Testament shadow compared to the New Testament’s reality of the Communion). We will show what the Lord said regarding the ‘when’ of the partaking would actually take place, and we will also show how the word “till” is used in scripture.

Jesus instituted and commanded the Communion observance. He instituted this act of worship at the Passover Meal in the upper room with the twelve the night before His crucifixion. He told them that He would not eat any more thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God (Lk 22:16). He also told them He would not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God would come (Lk 22:18). The “fulfillment” and the “kingdom” had to both take place before our Lord would partake of those elements with His people. In Lk 21:20-32 Jesus said that the kingdom would come when Jerusalem was compassed with armies in that generation. This is the kingdom that Jesus was referring to as coming when all would be fulfilled! “When you see Jerusalem compassed with armies… these be the days of vengeance when all things written may be fulfilled” (Lk 21:20,22). In Lk 21:27-31 Jesus spoke of His coming in redemption and that is when He was bringing the kingdom in fulfillment. Jesus was not alluding to Pentecost. We know this because contextually (Lk 21-22) the kingdom Jesus was referencing would not come till Jerusalem was compassed with armies in its fulfilled sense in that generation.

Obviously Jesus planned on having communion with His disciples after his coming in the fulfilled kingdom. The communion’s actual observance with the Lord being present could not be observed until all be fulfilled, including that kingdom that was promised to come WHEN Jerusalem was compassed with armies in that generation (Lk 21:20-32).

Partaking of the Communion was a command for ALL Christians. Those who would partake of it before the Lord’s actual coming, Pre AD 70, would do it looking forward to that day when they could partake of it new with Him in His Kingdom. But we, on this side of His coming, post AD 70, partake of it with Him as He promised, in His fulfilled kingdom! Christians today can observe the communion as our Lord desired it to be observed, not as the Corinthians that Paul wrote to who were looking forward in anticipation to His coming in His fulfilled kingdom.

Context is key; Paul was writing to the Corinthians BEFORE the encompassing of Jerusalem in that generation when all would be fulfilled with the coming kingdom! Ask yourself which side of the encompassing of Jerusalem in that generation (2000 years ago) are you on.

“Till” in (1Cor 11:26) is translated from the Greek word “Achri” meaning (until, unto, up-to). Rom 5:13 uses this same word and says “For “UNTIL” the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Since the word “till” is used here does this mean that sin did not continue after the law came? CERTAINLY NOT! “Till” does NOT necessitate termination! It may simply mean a point in time when a change would happen. Paul would say “I have lived in all good conscience “until” this day” (Acts 23:1), does that mean after that day he did not live in good conscience anymore? Certainly not! The same is true with the Communion. The Communion for the CORINTHIANS pre AD 70 was to be taken in expectance of the Lord’s return. They would partake of it as a command waiting for His return at which time, they then, could partake of it with Him “new in His Father’s Kingdom” having been fulfilled (Lk 21,22, 32). “Till” only represents a point in time which a change would take place, NOT TERMINATION!

How many times have we all heard something to this affect “Till daddy gets home I want you to be a good boy for mommy.” Whenever a dad says this to their children, does this mean that when dad gets home it is then ok for the children to misbehave and be bad? After all Daddy did say “TILL’ I get home…” Doesn’t “till” mean that at that particular point a change will happen? Yes it does, but the question now must be, what is the change? It is NOT the little boys attitude that must change from good to bad, it IS the change in the household that now the father has returned. “TILL” does NOT necessitate termination! If it did then the little boy would have to terminate his good behavior. But we all know better than this… don’t we? In like manner, the change that would come with the “till” of (1Cor 11:26) was NOT an ending of the Communion, it was the change of the Lord returning to be with the saints when they partook (Mt 26:26-29, Lk 21-22).

Considering the communion is a command that all Christians are to observe, and certainly this includes the pre AD 70 Christians, then just as Jesus explained, they couldnt observe it as He promised “TILL” the fulfillment in His kingdom and Paul was simply reminding the Corinthians of this very thing!

This is the exact scenario we find in the type/antitype relationship with the Passover in the Old Testament as it foreshadows the Communion of the New Testament.

When the children of Israel were in Egyptian bondage they were commanded to partake of the Passover meal; this signifying that the spirit of death would pass over all the homes where the blood of the Lamb was applied and the death would not affect them. This was instituted the night before the death of the firstborn. In like manner, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper the night before the death of the firstborn of God; Jesus. After that the nation of Israel passed through the red sea being baptized of Moses (1Cor 10). In like manner, after Jesus institution, His people were delivered from Judaism through baptism (Acts 2:37-47).

The nation of Israel, after passing through the Red Sea, entered a forty year time period of wandering before they crossed the River Jordan into the promised-land. After they crossed into the promised-land they continued to keep the Passover (Jos 5:10). In like manner, Christians entered into the forty year time period until they were delivered into the promised-land (Kingdom of God that was to come with the Lords return when Jerusalem was compassed with armies Lk 21:20-32, Mt 16:276-28). And in like manner, Christians are to continue in keeping the Communion, just as the Israelites continued in keeping the Passover!

God gives the shadow in the Old Testament, so that it will help us in understanding the actual in the New Testament (Rom 15:4, Heb 10:1)! The proper application of the type/anti-type of the communion is that after the fulfillment of the promise, we are to continue in observing the communion just as the Israelites continued in observance of the Passover!

Remote context also demands our continued observance. Isa 9:7 “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah promised the kingdom that our savior would bring, would never end! Luk 1:32-33 “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Isn’t it sad that so many Christians today expect the everlasting kingdom and its blessing of communing with Jesus to end at some future time?

Another angle; The same people that make this argument will also argue that they partake of the communion WITH THE LORD. So, if it is true, if they do commune with the Lord, and the Lord is there with them, then the Lord MUST have returned! Sometime between when Paul wrote the Corinthians and told them they partook showing the Lords death till He come and today when Christians say they partake with the Lord in their presence. The Lord must have returned and the ONLY logical biblical choice of His return is EXACTLY when He said He would… AD 70 when Jerusalem would be destroyed and all would be fulfilled (Lk 21:20-32)!

Now please tell me >WHEN< will the futurist commune with the Lord? They say once the Lord returns there is no more communion, but the Corinthians were taking it looking for His return. So, they were NOT taking the communion with the Lord, they were taking it looking for His return, yet when He comes the futurist say the communion ends, which means they will NEVER partake WITH HIM! 0h the blind hard-hearted position they have put themselves in….. never communing with the Lord, all the while Jesus said He would commune with all in his house….

May heaven help us to get back on the straight and narrow and continue to observe the communion as the Lord wills, WITH the Lord Jesus, not waiting for Him! [SB]