2026 Summer Gospel Meeting: James Luedecke - Restoring a Biblical & Meaningful Observance of Communion

Want to thank each of you for being here tonight

if you consider yourself a visitor want to echo

the warm welcome That's already been extended

to you. We're glad you're here Hope you can come

back and be a part of this gospel meeting as

we continue on through the week We're going to

continue tonight studying our subject our theme

that being restoring New Testament Christianity

we see a desperate need and we have a sincere

desire to restore the church that Jesus built.

And the key to doing that, we believe, is going

back to the Bible to find our faith, find our

doctrine, and find our practices as they are

revealed and authorized by the Scriptures. Tonight,

we're going to turn our focus to restoring a

very important part and practice in our assemblies

on the first day of the week, and that's communion.

We're going to talk about the Lord's Supper tonight.

Tonight we're going to talk about restoring a

biblical and meaningful observance of communion.

And to introduce, move that down a little bit,

to introduce the topic of communion, I want us

to go back in our minds to the eve of Christ's

betrayal and arrest. Jesus knew he only had a

few more hours with his disciples and he spent

the final hours with his disciples. The Bible

tells us celebrating the Passover. Now the Passover

was an annual Jewish celebration. It had been

celebrated by God's people for centuries. God

told his people to celebrate it once a year in

Leviticus chapter 23 verse 4. And you'll remember

Leviticus 23:4

the Passover was a meal that the Jews ate together

in remembrance of how God had delivered them

so many generations ago. from the bondage that

they were in in the land of Egypt. You can go

back to Exodus chapter 12 and you can read about

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

those events. And during the Passover the Bible

tells us that God told his people to sacrifice

a lamb, a spotless lamb without blemish. He told

them to take the blood of that lamb and apply

it to the doorposts of their homes. He told them

to roast and eat that lamb with unleavened bread.

And you'll remember at the first Passover in

Egypt, God told His people, when I see the blood

of that lamb on the doorpost of your house, I

will pass over you. No harm would come to the

people of God as the death angel passed through

the land of Egypt. So Jesus... and the apostles

were celebrating this ancient tradition, this

holy day of the Passover. They were engaging

in these activities together. And after they'd

finished eating the Passover, Jesus did something

very, very special and very, very significant.

What we have to remember is that everything pertaining

to the Passover was a shadow and a symbol of

better things to come in Christ. And how appropriate

it was for Jesus to spend his final hours celebrating

that Passover because it all pointed to him and

what he was about to do and going to a cross

and being that spotless sacrificial lamb and

dying for the sins of the world and you know

the Bible reassures us of that in Hebrews 10

Hebrews 10:1

verse 1 it says the law which contained all the

ordinances and holy days like the Passover it

was a shadow of good things to come The law was

a shadow of good things that were to come in

Christ. In Colossians 2 .16, we read that all

the holy days pertained in the law, such as the

Passover, pointed forward to Jesus. Paul told

the Colossian Christians, let no man therefore

judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of

an holy day. And he goes on to talk about some

of those holy days, and he comments on those

holy days in verse 17. What does he say? Those

holy days were a shadow of things to come but

the body or the substance is of Christ. Jesus

was shortly going to go and fulfill every shadow

and be everything the Passover had ever symbolized

when he would hang and die on a cross for our

sins. In 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 Paul

looks back and he wants the Corinthians to understand

that he told them purge out there for the old

leaven that you may be a new lump. Even as ye

these Corinthian Christians ye are unleavened

for even Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for

us we as Christians today don't have to go out

and sacrifice a Passover lamb once a year why

we have our Passover lamb we have our our sin

sacrifice, and that's the sacrifice of Jesus

as I mentioned The Jesus knew the hour of his

death was drawing near and as he finished eating

the Passover He did something very unexpected

with his disciples, and we're going to read what

he did from Mark chapter 14 verse 22 Mark 14

Mark 14:22

22 the Bible says as they did eat Jesus took

bread and Blessed and break it and gave it to

them and said take eat. This is my body And he

took the cup And when He had given thanks, He

gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And

He said unto them, This is My blood of the New

Testament, which is shed for many. He said, Verily

I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit

of the vine until that day that I drink it new

in the kingdom of God. What Jesus did here is

He had what people commonly call the last supper.

You've probably heard that term, the Last Supper.

This is Jesus having the Last Supper with His

disciples. Now in Scripture, this event is referred

to one of several ways. In Acts 2 42, we're going

to see tonight, this is called breaking of bread.

In 1 Corinthians 11 20, this is called the Lord's

Supper. And in 1 Corinthians 10, it's called

the Lord Table and it's also called communion.

Those are four different scriptural terms that

are used to describe what we just read when Jesus

ate the Last Supper and instituted the Lord's

Supper for His people. Whatever you want to call

it, breaking bread, communion, or the Lord's

table, here's what it is. It was Christ's chosen

and Christ's approved way of memorializing Him

and the sacrifice that He would soon provide

for the sins of the world. It was His way. that

he chose for us to remember him and to remember

his death. Now, we want to restore a meaningful

and a biblical observance of communion. We are

almost 2 ,000 years. removed from when Jesus

first ate this meal with his disciples. And we

want to make sure today that when we come around

the table, when we have communion, we are doing

it in a way that God would approve of. We're

observing communion in a biblical and a meaningful

manner. You know, that should characterize every

aspect of our worship. All of our worship to

God should be biblical and meaningful. For Jesus

taught us in John chapter 4 verse 23, Jesus talks

John 4:23

about worship here. Jesus said to the Samaritan

woman in John 4 23 he said the hour cometh and

now is when the true worshipers Shall worship

the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father

seek as such to worship him God is a spirit and

they that worship him must worship him in spirit

and in truth We want to worship God in spirit

and in truth to be the true worshipers Jesus

speaks about and I'm here to tell you tonight

when we Come around the table and have communion.

We will also want to do that in spirit and in

truth To worship in truth means to worship according

to the truth of God's Word. Our worship has to

line up with the teachings of the Bible. And

when our worship is in line and in agreement

with the authorized teachings of Scripture, we

can say our worship is biblical and we can say

we're worshiping in truth. But we also want our

worship to be in spirit. Our worship is meaningful

to us when we worship in spirit. We don't need

to just be going through the motions and doing

things to check off boxes to please God. God

wants us to worship Him with a sound mind and

a sincere heart. The very essence, the core of

our being, our spirit needs to be in our worship.

It's not just outer forms and mechanics and things

that we do without any heart and mind in our

worship. And when our heart and mind are engaged

fully in our worship, We can say that we're worshiping

in spirit and our worship will be meaningful

to us. So this is what I mean when I say we want

to observe communion in a biblical and a meaningful

way. All I'm saying is we want to be the true

worshipers that do it in spirit and in truth.

So we're going to start tonight like we did last

night by going to the New Testament and seeing

the pattern that God's Word gives us for communion.

We're going to go to the Word and study the pattern,

the blueprint. We're going to see how communion

was in that first century church that Jesus built.

And to do that, we're going to start by examining

the church at Jerusalem. In Acts chapter 2, verse

Acts 2:41–42

41 to 42, Acts chapter 2, as we've mentioned,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

is the day, the time, the place that Jesus built

His church. On Pentecost Day, fifty days after

his death, the church was established by Christ

in Jerusalem. Three thousand people heard, believed,

and obeyed the gospel. We read that in Acts 2

.41, those that gladly received Peter's word.

The preaching of the gospel were baptized. And

the same day they were added unto them about

three thousand souls. Now we go on into the next

verse, verse 42, and it's going to... Tell us

some things about those first three thousand

Christians, those first three thousand baptized

believers in Christ. What did they do? The Bible

says they continued steadfastly in several things.

Let's notice what they continued steadfastly

in the Bible says that these first Christians

continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine

That's the teaching of the Apostles and the fellowship

of the Apostles and indeed their fellowship one

with another They also continued steadfastly

the Bible says in the breaking of bread and in

prayers The breaking of bread here is a reference

to the Lord's Supper or communion It's one of

the ways the Bible talks about or describes coming

around the table and observing communion. The

first Christians continued steadfastly in observing

the Lord's Supper. Now, here's something I want

you to know about this phrase, breaking bread.

Sometimes in scripture, the phrase breaking bread

does not necessarily refer to eating the Lord's

Supper. Sometimes it refers to eating a common

meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, sometimes the

Bible calls that breaking bread. And I want to

give you an example of that. It's just a little

bit further down in this same chapter in Acts

2. In Acts 2, 44, it describes those first baptized

believers in Jerusalem, those first members of

the church. It says all that believed were together

and they had all things common and they sold

their possessions and goods and parted them to

all men as every man had need. And they, those

Christians, continued daily with one accord in

the temple, and they were breaking bread from

house to house. They did eat their meat with

gladness and singleness of heart. Now I'm convinced

by the context of this passage that the breaking

of bread here In verse 46 is different than the

breaking of bread we read about in verse 42.

Let's back up just a minute and look at the breaking

of bread in verse 42. Notice here the breaking

of bread is listed among several other spiritual

exercises that the church engages in when they

come together to worship God. Things like teaching,

things like prayer. This breaking of bread is

listed among those exercises and activities that

the church engages in. When the church comes

together, we have a special breaking of bread.

It's the Lord's Supper. And we understand that

according to the context. But when we get down

to Acts chapter 2 verse 46, the context is a

Acts 2:46

little bit different. It's talking about breaking

bread in the context of everyday daily activities.

You know, every day we eat maybe two or three

meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's

what the Bible is talking about. How first century

Christians continued to spend time together away

from the assembly and during those times, what

did they do? You all know what they did. They

did the same things we do when we get together,

right? They shared meals together. Okay, they

shared their meals together from house to house.

So I just want you to be aware of that. Not every

time we see breaking and bread in Scripture does

it refer to the Lord's Supper. Sometimes it is

a common meal. How do you know? If it's Lord's

Supper or a common meal, you have to look at

the context. If you look carefully at the context,

it will help you understand if the Lord's Supper

or a common meal is under consideration. Context

determines so many things in our study of Scripture.

We've got to be good, careful students of Scripture

and to do that we have to consider the context

for everything that we're looking at. Now let's

move on from the church at Jerusalem and let's

look at another first century church. Let's look

at the church at Troas. The church at Troas.

The Bible tells us in Acts 27 that the church

at Troas came together on the first day of the

week to celebrate the communion. Acts 20 and

7. The Bible says upon the first day of the week,

that Sunday, when the disciples came together,

what did they come together for? Bible says they

came together to break bread and on that occasion

It says Paul preached unto them ready to depart

on the morrow and continued his speech until

midnight Now this passage gives us a little bit

more information About how the first century

church came together and had the Lord's Supper

Specifically this verse teaches us that the New

Testament Church observed communion on the first

day of the week That's what that verse says the

disciples came together on the first day of the

week to break bread and have communion. So today,

if we want to restore a biblical observance of

communion, we too will eat communion on the first

day of the week, just like they did. Now we understand

from the teaching of the New Testament that these

Christians observe communion every first day

of the week. They came together every first day

of the week to have communion. Now granted the

word every is not in Acts chapter 20 verse 7.

Acts 20:7

If you read it carefully and notice, the Bible

does not say every first day of the week. However,

we understand from scripture and also the testimony

of church history that the first church came

together every first day of the week for communion.

And here's why we understand that. We believe

it's inferred or implied in these passages that

the communion was a weekly observance. an observance

that they participated in every week, in the

same way that the Sabbath was understood to be

a weekly observance for God's people, the Jews.

In Exodus 20 verse 8 to 10, this is the Ten Commandments

Exodus 20:8–10

God gave the Jews at Mount Sinai, God told them,

remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Now notice

here, God didn't tell the Jews to remember every

Sabbath. Is the word every in that verse? The

word every is not in that verse. God never told

the Jews to remember every Sabbath. He just told

them remember the Sabbath. He told them six days

you'll labor and do on your work, but the seventh

day is the Sabbath of the Lord. You don't work

on that seventh day. God never told his people

expressly to remember every Sabbath, but you

know what they understood from commands like

this? They read commands like this and they understood

it to mean Every Sabbath. You know, every week

had a Sabbath, the seventh day. And if it was

the seventh day, it was the Sabbath. They were

honoring it and remembering it. In like manner,

every week has a first day of the week. And if

it's the first day of the week, we understand

the church should come together and they should

come around the table and break bread. We understand

that to be the practice of the first century

church. That was the frequency. Another example

of that before we move on. would be the Day of

Atonement. God told His people Israel in Leviticus

23, 27. He told them on the tenth day of the

seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement.

This was an annual holiday. The Day of Atonement

was an annual observance for the Jews. They observed

it in the seventh month on the tenth day. God

never told them every tenth day of every seventh

month. But you know what? They understood that

that day came around once a year and if it was

the seventh and if it was the tenth day, they

were going to celebrate the day of atonement.

It was implied it was understood. And it's implied

to us and we understand from Scripture, God wants

us to have the communion every Sunday. As we

continue to consider the original pattern that

God gives us in the Scripture for communion,

we're going to look finally at the church at

Corinth. Church at Corinth. Now, if you've read

1 Corinthians, you understand the church at Corinth

had a lot of problems. Nearly a different problem

for every chapter of the book and there's 16

chapters in all in 1st Corinthians So they had

a lot of problems All right one of the problems

the Corinthians had is they had changed the Lord's

Supper into a common meal and this common veal

Common meal involves some excessive feasting

They changed the Lord's Supper into something

the Lord had never intended it to be and you

know Paul actually teaches us a lot about the

right way to do communion in the correction that

he provided to the Corinthians because they were

doing communion the wrong way. In 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:17–34

chapter 11 verse 17 to 34 we learn some more

interesting details about God's original pattern

or plan for communion. Here's something we learned.

He told them, when you come together therefore

into one place, to have the Lord's Supper. The

Lord's Supper is something to do when we come

together into one place, when we assemble together

as a congregation. Paul also told them that when

they had the Lord's Supper, he said, Christ told

him to do it in remembrance of me, Jesus said.

Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me. The

Lord's Supper is. done in remember remembrance

of or to memorialize the death of Jesus and Then

another thing we learned from first Corinthians

11 Paul told the Corinthians you do shoe which

means to make manifest or demonstrate The Lord's

death till he come when we come around the table.

We do the same thing. We demonstrate we proclaim

We memorialize and remember the Lord's death

until he come So there's a lot of teaching there

in 1 Corinthians 11 about communion. Paul provided

that teaching in the process of correcting these

Corinthians because they weren't doing it properly.

Here's something else we learn in 1 Corinthians

10 about communion in the first century church.

Communion was really meant and designed to bring

all Christians together to the same table. It

was something God gave His church to draw all

believers closer together. In 1 Corinthians 10

17, Paul told them this. He said, for we being

many are one bread and one body. For we are all

partakers of that one bread. You know, there's

an element of unity that is demonstrated and

proclaimed when we come around the Lord's table.

And it was that way from the beginning when the

Lord set up communion for His people and as it

was practiced in the first century church. So

this is just a quick summary of some of the things

that we've learned by looking at the church in

Jerusalem, looking in the church at Troas, looking

at the church at Corinth, looking at how they

did communion. Here's what we've learned. Communion

was intended to be a commemoration of Christ

and His death. It was a vital part. of the early

life of the first century church. We understand

that it was for the disciples, it was for baptized

believers in Christ, it was for Christians, it

was not for everybody else out there in the world,

but it was a special meal for God's people who

were in a covenant relationship with Him. We

learn as we said that it was observed every first

day of the week, every Sunday when the church

came together, and it was given to draw all disciples

together into a closer bond. and a closer bond

of fellowship and unity. That's the original

pattern for communion as it's revealed in the

Scriptures. Now, as we've talked about this week,

we're going to move on now to consider how down

through the years of church history, down through

the centuries, changes were made. to the practice

and the doctrine of communion. We're going to

take a moment to survey church history and look

at some of the ways in which error concerning

communion and its practice slowly crept into

the church. One of the earliest changes that

was made to communion was a change in the name

for communion. Now earlier I gave you four scriptural

names. for communion, breaking bread, Lord's

Supper, Lord's Table, and communion. Those are

four scriptural ways to describe what we do when

we come around the table. But in the second century,

we see that they changed the name. This is Justin

Martyr. Justin Martyr was a second century Christian.

Justin Martyr was a leader in the church. He

was a very popular teacher in the church in the

second century. He wrote a lot about the church

and its doctrine in the second century. Justin

Martyr was a student of a disciple named Polycarp.

Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John.

Okay, according to church history and tradition.

So, you know Justin martyrs mentor was mentored

by the Apostle John That's how close some of

these men were to the original Apostles and the

ones who helped set up the church in 155 AD Justin

martyr wrote a work that's called the first apology

and the word apology there means a defense Justin

martyr wanted to write a defense of the faith

as he understood it. And he wrote some interesting

things about communion as it was practiced in

second century churches. It's in chapters 65,

66 and 67 of his first apology. You can go and

read and study this for yourself. Here's what

Justin Martyr said about how they were doing

communion in the second century churches. He

said they had communion every Sunday. They came

together every first day of the week and they

had communion. He said they had unleavened bread

and they had wine that they mixed and diluted

with water for the cup, the fruit of the vine.

He mentions the fact that it was given to those

who were baptized believers in Christ. He mentions

that prayers were offered for the bread and the

fruit of the vine before they were partaken of.

And then he mentions after those elements were

blessed, they were distributed to the members.

Isn't that interesting? We have a historical

record here. Now, the record of history is different

than the Word of God. The Word of God is infallible.

It's inspired by God. You know, history and the

works of men like Justin Martyr are not inspired

by God. They're not infallible. But it is an

interesting testimony, isn't it? To how in the

second century, most of what they were doing

for communion lines up with what we saw. the

original first century church is doing when they

had communion. It looks a lot like what we just

read from the New Testament. However, there was

one difference, one change, that they made to

communion in the days of Justin Martyr. Justin

Martyr said this in First Apology. He said, this

food, referring to the communion, the bread and

the cup, he said, this food is called among us

Eucharistia. The Greek word Eucharistia, or...

you might recognize the word Eucharist. Some

denominational churches today refer to the communion

as Eucharist. Now the word Eucharist comes from

that Greek word Eucharistia which means Thanksgiving

or gratitude. So you see, they took a new name,

Eucharistia, and they applied it to the observance

of the Lord's Supper. An unscriptural name, you

know, and the Lord's Supper is never called the

Eucharist or Thanksgiving or gratitude in the

New Testament. So this was man's idea to name

the communion something that it was not named

in the Bible. And a person says, well, Brother

James, what's the big deal with that, right?

Seems like a small thing. They just changed the

name. They're just calling it something different.

No big deal. Well, you know what? There's some

things that I want you to understand about that.

I think it's important that we call Bible things

by Bible names, OK? Here's what happens. When

we call Bible things by Bible names, it helps

to eliminate and prevent a lot of division and

confusion that we see around us in the religious

world. You know, you might have two different

religious groups. One says we have communion.

The other says we have the Eucharist and they're

divided and they can't get along. They might

be doing the very same thing. But they're just

calling it two different things. That's confusing.

That leads to division. So I believe the best

policy, the safest thing to do is let's just

call Bible things by Bible names and avoid all

the man -made labeling and man -made names that

can get applied to things in religion. I think

that'll actually help us to go about restoring

New Testament Christianity and preventing confusion.

And look, if that's the only thing they ever

did, if that's the only thing they ever did is

changed it from communion to Eucharist, Would

say that yeah, that would be a minor change,

but guess what? that first change Makes the second

change all that much easier And you know after

the second change the third change is not hard

at all and then the fourth change No one even

questions right we've already changed it so much

So far and then it just becomes really really

easy once you open the door with that first change.

Where do you close it? Where do we close it when

we start calling it something different than

what the Bible calls it? It's it's where do we

stop and? Unfortunately, that's what we're gonna

see that first change wasn't the final change

that was made to communion many more changes

followed over the centuries The next thing that

happened in church history concerning communion

and an error concerning it is Over time there

was a change in the elements now remember Jesus

instituted the Lord's Supper in connection with

the Passover meal. And in the Passover meal we

understand from scripture that the Jews celebrated

the Passover meal with unleavened bread. When

Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, He instituted

it with unleavened bread. How do we know that?

Because leavened bread was forbidden in the homes

of the Jews when they had the Passover. The Passover

was the beginning of the feast of unleavened

bread. And God told His people to remove all

the leaven from their homes before they even

ate the Passover. Exodus 12 19, He said, Seven

days shall there be no leaven found in your houses.

For whoso eateth that which is leavened, even

that soul shall be cut off from the congregation.

Verse 20, Ye shall eat nothing leavened. In all

your habitations ye shall eat unleavened bread.

This is what He told them to do during the Passover

and the feast of unleavened bread. So we know

when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, he did

so with unleavened bread. However, guess what

happened? Over the centuries, that changed. For

whatever reason, over the centuries, parts of

the Roman Catholic Church began to use leavened

bread in their observance of the Lord's Supper.

And you know, they tried it once and twice and

three times, and then it, like all things, it

became more and more and more and more common.

It became commonplace. in the Middle Ages for

the Roman Catholic Church to observe communion

with leavened bread. This is one of the points

of contention which actually divided the Roman

Catholic Church in the year 1054 AD. The year

1054 AD is called the year of the Great Schism.

That's when the Eastern Orthodox Church or the

Greek Orthodox Church split from the Western

Roman Catholic Church. There were many issues

that they were in disagreement about, and this

was one of the issues, whether or not it was

right to use leavened or unleavened bread in

the communion. Now here's something else that

changed concerning communion. Over the course

of time, not only was the name of communion changed

and not only were the elements changed, also

there was a change in the frequency in which

the church observed communion. We understand

from the testimony of church history That the

early church observed communion every first day

of the week for 200 years For at least 200 years

God's people came together every first day of

the week and had communion But let me tell you

something that developed on past the year 200

on into the year 400 and 600 ad what slowly developed

was a sacramental view communion. A view in which

communion is a sacrament, a sacred right or privilege

that is granted by the church to the faithful

and approved members of the church. It became

something that the church had the privilege of

and kept and maintained and only gave to the

members If they thought it was good to give it

to the members and if they thought the members

were worthy of receiving it that's that's what

I mean here what to say that communion became

a Sacrament there was a sacramental view that

developed around communion instead of all of

God's people coming together at the same the

same table eating the same bread drinking the

same cup Jews Gentiles male female bond and free

we all eat the same meal It was no longer like

that. It was a meal that the priests The clergy

the important religious people with the big long

robes right and the funny hats It was a privilege

that they would extend at their discretion to

the poor and lowly and uneducated church members

Okay During this time as communion slowly grew

to be more sacramental in nature. There was also

a growing gap in the church between the priests

and the common people. You see, the priests called

the clergy were highly educated. They lived in

castles that were giant and ornate and decorated

with gold and silver. And they were so much higher

above the common people. The common people lived

out under trees, in bushes, on the ground. They

had no education. They didn't have the privileges,

the rights, the protections that were afforded

to the priests. There was a very large growing

gap between the clergy, the priests, and the

laity, the common people. Another idea during

this time also developed, the idea that, you

know what, having communion too often lessens

its significance. This idea evolved that you

know what communion would just be more special.

It would just be more meaningful It would just

be more important to people if we would just

stop doing it so much and Maybe maybe they just

started doing it every other week. I don't know

But I know if it started every other week It

soon became maybe once a month four times a year

over a period of time as we study church history

we find that Fast forward just a little bit.

We find that from 300 AD to 600 AD the frequency

of observing communion declined from every first

day of the week to three times a year and by

the year 1215 AD in the Roman Catholic Church

They only took communion once a year and that

was on Easter. It began to be called Easter duty

One time a year they had communion now this idea

that having communion too often lessens its significance.

On some levels of human reasoning that might

sound good, but let's really stop and think about

that. Does the same apply for assembling and

coming together with the church? What would y

'all think if I came in here tonight and I said,

you know what? These church assemblies would

be more special and significant to you if you'd

just come less often. If you just come once a

month. Church service would be more meaningful

to you. Or what if I told you that about prayer?

You know, I think prayer would be better for

you and more significant and meaningful if you

just pray less. Maybe just pray once a week,

maybe just pray once a month, and maybe we just

pray once a year, then it'll be really meaningful

and really significant. What about giving to

the church? No church wants to do that any less

often than they do that, right? It's amazing

how these same churches that want to do communion

less want to do the offering more and more and

more and more. So you see, when we really stop

and think about it, this idea that praying less,

assembling less, Giving to the church less would

make it more significant. It's just not true.

It's just not logical The Bible says pray without

ceasing praying without ceasing doesn't make

prayer any less significant It tells us to exhort

one another daily while this called today exhorting

one another daily doesn't make it any less significant

Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13 And so we see a change

Hebrews 3:13

here in the frequency how often communion was

observed it was in the Middle Ages only observed

one time a year. All right, let's fast forward

to today and let's consider the practice of communion

as it's commonly practiced in Christianity today.

As we look around today, look, we're going to

see a lot of the same changes and errors that

we saw come in over the course of church history.

We look around today, communion is still called

by unscriptural names, it still involves unscriptural

elements, and it's still observed in an unscriptural

frequency. It's not observed in a lot of churches

every first day of the week. In many churches

today, communion no longer resembles what it

originally did in the New Testament church. It

doesn't look like what they did in the Bible

when we call it the Eucharist, have leavened

bread and do it once a year. That's something

completely different than what we've seen from

the Scriptures. And we have to clearly identify

this for what it is. We have to clearly look

at this honestly. And we have to size this up

and discern and say that this is man -made doctrines

and man -made traditions. That man has changed

the truth of God's Word into something that God

never intended. And that's, by definition, is

what man -made doctrines and traditions are all

about. And we remember Jesus condemned all forms

of man -made religion. He told the Jews... Pharisees,

the scribes and the Pharisees in Mark 7 -8. Laying

aside the commandment of God, he said, you hold

the tradition, the tradition of men. He said

unto them, full well you reject the commandment

of God that you may keep your own tradition.

You know, that's the nature of man -made traditions.

We have to let go or exchange or turn loose of

the commandments of God to take hold of man -made

traditions. Every time we take hold of one man

-made tradition, it means we've turned loose,

we've let go of the commandments of the Lord.

We want to be careful that we don't involve ourselves

in man -made religion, the doctrines and traditions

of men. We still see around us very much a sacramental

view of the Lord's Supper that is still present

and alive in Christianity today. I'm afraid that

it in too many churches in too many places at

too many times communion has just become a check

-off -the -box obligation That somehow makes

me right with God for another week, so I'll take

communion this week check off the box I'll walk

out. I'll come back in next week take communion

check off the box fulfilled my obligation to

the Lord You know if that's our attitude about

communion. That's very much a sacramental view

of communion as we've discussed tonight Here's

something else we see sometimes and I think we

ought to give careful consideration to this I

think sometimes maybe even in some time at some

times at some places in the churches of Christ

Maybe even we develop this idea or this mentality

concerning communion It's the idea that communion

is just something between us and God alone that

when we commune we are communing with God only

I want to say some things about that. I want

you to think about that with me. Let's talk for

a moment about the word communion. The word communion

comes from the Greek word koinonia. And koinonia

is defined as fellowship, community, or joint

participation. In essence, that's what koinonia,

that's what communion is all about. Fellowship,

community, and joint participation. Here's something

else I want you to be aware of. Remember early

I talked about 1st Corinthians 11? How the church

at Corinth had messed up the Lord's Supper, turned

it into a common meal. They were feasting. It

was about filling their bellies, satisfying the

flesh, and not doing what was pleasing to God.

In 1st Corinthians chapter 11, what's interesting

about that passage? The Lord's Supper issue at

Corinth was actually just symptom of a much larger

and greater problem that they had and That was

a lack of togetherness in unity if you go back

and read first Corinthians 11 verses 17 to 19

1 Corinthians 11:17–19

That's those verses leading right up to Paul's

correction about the Lord's Supper He introduces

the Lord's Supper problem as a problem stemming

from a lack of unity and a lack of togetherness

and divisions among them. Isn't that interesting?

How Paul connected the two. He connected corruption

of the Lord's Supper to a lack of strong unity

and togetherness. What does that teach us and

what does that tell us? It tells me that an element,

an essential element of the Lord's Supper, the

communion, Is that God gave it as something that

would draw us together and give us a greater

degree of togetherness in unity that that's one

of the reasons why God wants us to come together

and eat the Lord's Supper together to reinforce

that togetherness in unity. So when it comes

to communion Here's the idea. I would have you

to consider that communion is not just about

our individual communion with God Sometimes we

think about it exclusively in a vertical sense.

It's between me and God I do believe communion

is between us and God, but there's also another

element. There's a horizontal element. An element

of fellowship, community, and joint participation,

one with another. The communion was meant to

bring us all closer together, strengthen our

unity in the body of Christ. It's also about

our collective communion, one with another. When

we eat the same bread, and when we drink the

same cup. Let's move on to... considering how

that we can work today to restore the New Testament

pattern for communion. Remember that's what restoration

is all about, restoring something to its former

original condition. If changes have been made

to communion down through the years, if there's

parts or elements of communion that we identify

as not part of the original plan that God gave

us, we want to try to rectify that. We want to

try to restore and do communion just as it's

been revealed by God in the New Testament. To

do that, to be successful in that, what would

we do? Well, to restore biblical communion, of

course, we're going to have to go back to having

a weekly observance of the Lord's table, because

that's the pattern that we see in Acts 27, that

the disciples came together on the first day

of the week to break bread. Every first day of

the week, we need to come together and we need

to observe the Lord's Supper. There needs to

be an exclusive focus on Christ when we come

around the table. Our focus needs to be on Jesus.

Because after all, what did Jesus say about communion?

What did he tell Paul? And what did Paul tell

the Corinthians? Jesus told Paul, and Paul told

the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 11, 24, take,

eat, this is my body which is broken for you,

this do in remembrance of me. Jesus said this

do in remembrance of me. It's right here on the

communion table in front of me verse 25 the Jesus

told Paul Paul told the Corinthians this cup

is the New Testament in my blood this do ye as

off as you drink it in remembrance of me Do this

in remembrance of me. I I want you to see something

here Communion is a time for Christ examination

It's a time for Christ examination. I'm not so

sure that communion is a time for self -examination.

An examination of us. I think the communion needs

to be a time to examine Christ and do it in remembrance

of Him. Now this is where some of you are going

to say, well hold on brother James, I know there's

a verse in there that talks about examining yourself.

you're right there is a verse connected to this

that talks about examining yourself so we don't

want to ignore that let's go and look at that

just a little bit further down let's read it

and try to understand it because I don't want

you to misunderstand me when I talk about the

difference between self -examination and Christ

examination let's see what the Bible says about

examining ourselves in communion 1st Corinthians

1127 Paul told the Corinthians whosoever shall

eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord

unworthily Shall be guilty of the body and the

blood of the Lord. He says but let a man examine

himself Okay, there's there's examination there.

Let a man examine himself and so let him eat

of that bread and drink of that cup Person says

brother James. Aren't we supposed to examine

ourselves during communion like the Bible says

here? Let me try to explain that as best as I

understand it. I don't believe Paul was telling

these Corinthian Christians to examine the last

week of their life and try to figure out how

good or how bad of a Christian they had been.

But you know, I think sometimes we get to thinking

that way. I know I've thought that way. communion

at different times in my life I've thought that

this is a time that I just need to be thinking

about myself and how good of a Christian was

I last week and I get to thinking and I did this

good but boy I sure did a lot bad and I did this

and I did this and I did this and you know it's

not long before guess what the examination is

not on Christ anymore is it the focus is not

on Jesus what where's the focus the focus is

on me and then there's the bread right in front

of me okay you know Jesus did not say do this

in remembrance of the last week and try to analyze

how good or bad of a Christian that you've been.

He didn't say that. He didn't say that. Paul

was telling them to examine the way that they

were observing the Lord's Supper. The manner,

the way in which they were observing the Lord's

Supper was unworthy. We're going to talk about

that more in just a moment. The unworthiness

that's mentioned here is not a reference to personal

worthiness or unworthiness. It's not a question

as to whether or not we as God's people are worthy

or unworthy to partake. What Paul was telling

him is that the manner, the way you're having

communion, having it as a feast, having it as

a common meal, eating it to just fill your belly,

that is an unworthy observance of the Lord's

Supper. And he says you need to examine yourselves,

you need to examine what you're doing and realize

it's not the Lord's Supper and you need to repent

and you need to start doing communion properly.

I really believe that's what Paul was trying

to tell the Corinthians when he told them to

examine themselves. Examine the way you're doing

communion and see that it's wrong and change

it. As I just mentioned, another part of restoring

biblical communion I think will require us to

refocus and get a clear understanding of our

awareness of the fact that we are worthy to partake.

I believe Every baptized believer in Christ is

worthy to partake of the Lord's Supper. Let's

see that from 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:27

11 verse 27. Paul told them, wherefore whosoever

shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the

Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and

the blood of the Lord. For he that eateth and

drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation

or condemnation to himself not discerning the

Lord's body. Have we perhaps misunderstood here

what it means to eat and drink unworthily? Have

we misunderstood maybe at different times and

in different places what that means to eat and

drink unworthily? We need to give serious consideration

to it because there's some serious consequences

associated with it. We don't want to be guilty

of what Paul is warning the Corinthians about.

But what does it really mean in this passage

in its context to eat and drink unworthily? Here's

the first thing I want you to know about that

word unworthily. The word unworthily in that

verse is not an adjective. You remember what

adjectives are? Adjectives are words that describe

persons, people, or places. The word unworthily

is not an adjective. It is not describing a person.

It is not describing you or me. It is not describing

those Corinthian Christians. It is not describing

their personal worthiness or lack thereof to

take communion. The word unworthily there is

not an adjective. I'm going to tell you what

it is in just a moment. But before I do, let's

just stop and think about who these Corinthians

were. Have you read verse Corinthians? Have you

read how bad they were? Just go read chapter

four, five, and six. Just three chapters. You

know what you're going to find out about the

Corinthians? Paul says they were carnal. They

were envious. They were stirred up with strife.

They had all kinds of divisions among them. He

said, you're puffed up. Some of them were guilty

of fornication, sexual immorality, a very serious

type of it. And they were suing one another publicly,

openly in courts of law, among other things.

Among other things. That's the same Corinthians

Paul wrote to in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Do

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

these people sound personally worthy to partake

of communion? They don't look very worthy to

me. I mean, if we're going to size them up by

how good or how bad of Christians they were being,

I mean, that's a failing grade. It's amazing

that Paul just didn't tell them to stop. observing

communion altogether. You know, Paul could have

told them, you Corinthians just got way too many

problems. You might as well just stop or suspend

the Lord's Supper altogether, at least until

you can get your act together and regain your

worthiness. And then you can come together and

eat and drink at the Lord's Supper again. Is

that what Paul told them? It's not what Paul

told them. He could have told them that. It's

not what he told them. You remember when Jesus

instituted the Lord's Supper? Remember who he

ate it with? He ate it with Judas the betrayer,

Peter the denier, and Thomas the doubter. People

that he knew would betray him, deny him, and

doubt him. Isn't that something? He still ate

it with them. Before he had that first Lord's

Supper, did he say, Peter, Thomas, Judas, you

need to excuse yourselves. I'm going to have...

the Lord's Supper here with my faithful disciples.

He ate the Lord's Supper with all of them. That's

something to think about. I want to go back to

that word unworthily. That word unworthily there

in 1 Corinthians 11 is not an adjective. It's

not describing the Corinthians or their personal

worth. It's an adverb. The word is an adverb.

You remember what adverbs do? They modify and

describe verbs or actions. The word unworthily

is describing an action, not a person. It's describing

the action in which they were taking the Lord's

Supper, their observance of the Lord's Supper,

what they were doing, feasting and eating a common

meal and calling it the Lord's Supper. That's

what was unworthy. And that's what Paul was trying

to help them see and repent of and rectify. He

was describing the unworthy manner in which they

were observing the Lord's Supper. Who among us

is truly worthy to eat at the same table as the

perfect sinless Son of God? I think about my

life. I don't feel like I'm the least bit worthy.

I kind of feel like John the Baptist was. I'm

not even worthy to unloose his sandals, right?

John the Baptist said to Jesus, I don't feel

the least bit worthy to come to a table and eat

with the perfect and sinless Son of God but that's

the amazing and the wonderful and the beautiful

thing of communion that through Christ and through

what he did through his death which we remember

at the table through that death guess what we

are made worthy We are all made worthy if we're

a baptized believer in Christ to come together

and commune with him because he died for us and

That makes us worthy to come together and remember

his death. Isn't that wonderful? I Hope that

by understanding that that will help make communion

all that much more meaningful for you We need

to be aware of our worthiness to partake And

I think to restore biblical communion, we're

also going to need to recognize that communion

needs to be an expression of our congregational

unity. I think it would be good for us to think

less about communion as being only vertical between

us and God, but also realize and think more about

communion being horizontal between each member.

in the body of Christ, that fellowship, that

joint participation, that community that we enjoy

together as God's called out people. The Lord's

Table is the great equalizer. It's meant to bring

us all together. And for us, in our culture,

it's probably challenging for us to understand

the significance of this because in our culture

what do we do? In our culture we share food with

one another. We don't even think twice about

it. I mean it's just what we do. We share our

food one with another I want to tell you something

in the first century Back that wasn't the same

culture that they had Jews didn't eat together

with Gentiles That was completely out of the

norm Masters did not eat at the same table with

their servants That was completely out of the

norm males coming together and eating with females

again out of the norm But what was the Lord's

Supper intended to do? Galatians 3 .26, For you

are all the children of God by faith in Christ

Jesus, for as many of you, Jew, Greek, bond,

free, male or female, for as many of you as have

been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

And once we put on Christ in baptism and come

into the body of the church, there's neither

Jew nor Greek, bond or free, neither male nor

female, for you are all one. in Christ Jesus.

And if we're all one in Christ Jesus, guess what?

We come together around the same table, eat the

same bread, drink the same cup. That must have

been a sight to see. In a first century church

assembly, Jews and Gentiles eating the same bread,

drinking the same cup. Men, women, bond and free,

eating the same bread, drinking the same cup.

It's something God gave to bring us all together

and keep us all close together in Him. So when

we come together around the Lord's table, let's

always remember To honor Christ to respect Christ

to memorialize Christ and let's strive to do

this in a biblical in a meaningful way I hope

these things have been edifying informative and

encouraging you to you tonight. Thank you for

your careful participation