Why Observe the Lord's Supper? | Dr. John Ewart

Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Englewood

Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.

Thank you so much for tuning in to our podcast.

You're going to hear from God today as we share from His word

about important issues facing your life that can guide you

according to the Bible. Well, good morning, Englewood.

Good to see you here this morning.

I know we have a lot of folks traveling on the holiday weekend

praying for their safe return. My wife's actually in Oklahoma

right now herself. So I appreciate you all being

here. Appreciate gifts who might be in

town for the hollow holiday weekend as well.

So what a blessing this morning. Amen.

Yeah. I don't know how much you

realize what you just witnessed or not.

You know, the rarity of seeing someone in their 80s being

baptized, it's just an amazing thing.

And also these wonderful married couples not only being a

testimony to their families, but to one another.

What a wonderful commitment. I appreciate the folks who came

in the early service and the folks who wanted to join the

church. And maybe that's who you're

going to be today as well. I need to make one announcement

before we get rolling here because we've made a change.

So I know that Word scares you, so I'm glad you're sitting down.

By the way, we're going to have to treat Charles.

He's getting baptismal elbow. We're going to have to do

something about that. You don't have to look that up.

It's a real thing. Anyway, so in your worship

guide, it talks about the work day in Tarboro on September

27th. They had a great work day

yesterday. Several.

You were there. Thank you so much for your hard

work. We need to shift some things.

I had a long talk with our church planter yesterday and

this morning. And so on September 27th, we're

still going to go over there, but that we're going to do

another building day. We're going to do another work

day on the building. And then we're going to move the

the canvassing door to door, door hanging type experience to

October 11th and 12th. Our students are going to be on

a retreat that weekend, but we still feel like that's the most

strategic weekend. So those who can, we're going to

need you there. And then we're hoping the launch

day for the new church plant is October 19th.

So I think that's where we are. So the 27th is not the

canvassing day. Move that to October 11th and

we'll help you keep up with that.

This is also the last day that we're going to have the bins out

in the lobbies to collect toys for them.

So if you wanted to do that, we can still take them, just that

we won't have the boxes out there.

Also want to say welcome to Laura.

We appreciate her coming on board.

We're very excited about her experience and her expertise and

look forward to how she's going to live out her calling and

giftedness helping our our children and our families.

So that's very excited. Exciting time for us this

Wednesday night and our core training.

A lots of you been coming. Appreciate you being there

having a good crowd on Wednesday nights.

I'm going to talk about the problem of evil this Wednesday

night. So why?

Why does evil exist? Why do bad things happen?

It's an important study. Several of you have had

questions about that to me, and so we're going to address that

from Scripture this Wednesday night.

I've been sharing this sermon series and asking crucial key

questions along the way as a way to set the stage.

I wanted to invite you as part of the sermon series to Just

Come Be the King's Bride. Wanted to talk about who the

church is, why the church is. Each sermon has progressed.

You may not notice that, but each one builds.

What? Why should we be saved?

Why do we even need a church? Why should we ever be baptized?

What? Why do we need discipleship?

And this morning I want to finish this up, but we're also

using this as a kick off to what's next.

And I want to ask you, why should we observe the Lord's

Supper? As we talk about that in a

moment, we're going to celebrate the supper because this this

series of messages actually sets the stage for beginning next

Sunday, our next sermon series. Come live the church's vision,

the seven essentials of discipleship, what we're going

to present to you our new mission and vision statements,

but also we're really are going to be presenting to you over

several weeks what we believe the very definition of

discipleship is. We talk about discipleship.

We're supposed to be disciples, but what does that mean really?

I mean, specifically, what does that mean in my life?

What do I need to know? What do I need to do?

Who do I need to be? We're going to be talking about

those things and in a lot of depth over the next several

weeks. And then we're also going to

learn how that should guide everything we do.

How should that guide our planning?

How should that guide our programming?

How should that guide our special events, even as a

church? So we're going to put our

discipleship into practical application.

And, and I just can't encourage you enough.

You need to be here every week if you can.

And so I hope that that you'll do that.

And today, as we kind of move forward in that, today is a day

to commit to move forward as his bride.

I shared about the ordinance of baptism a few weeks ago and I

can't think of a better example than what you've just observed

where you see these these folks being baptized and testifying

and proclaiming what God is doing in their life.

Maybe that's you. Maybe that's something you need

to do. Maybe that's something you need

to. There's a couple who came up to

me after the service who who just felt like the Lord was just

leading them to join us to be members here and we were talking

about that. Maybe that's you.

So, so I hope that you'll go back and listen to that sermon

about baptism if you missed it, because in it I talked about the

difference between a sacrament and an ordinance.

And that's a big difference and you need to understand that.

But this morning I want to share about our other ordinance, the

the Lord's Supper, about this other visual of the gospel.

And that's what these are, this visual of the gospel where we

remember what Jesus did for us through his death, his life, his

death and his resurrection, right?

And so we observe these visuals of the gospel not in order to be

saved or not to maintain our salvation, but because we are

saved. And so baptism nor the Lords

Supper can save you. That's not what they are.

They are commands of obedience in the Bible in which we, those

of us who are already saved, not only obey those that biblical

teaching, but we also proclaim the gospel as a unified body.

We're never going to have secret private baptisms.

We're never going to have secret private Lord's suppers.

We're going to do that together in a unified way in order to

celebrate as his bride, as his body.

But as we look ahead, I couldn't think of a better way to begin

the new, but then by remembering the already.

And so that's what the Lord's Supper is going to help us do.

And that's why the new sermon series starts next week.

And so if baptism is a public confession, then the Lord's

Supper is a public commitment. And and so they work together in

very significant ways. Then we observe these together.

Now, our model for this came from Jesus.

But, but, but it's partly when he was celebrating what we call

the Passover. And so as he transforms the

celebration of the Passover into something brand new or, or, or

perhaps a better way to say it, as he fulfills the Passover in a

new way. So, so Paul also described this

to a church in Corinth that that was actually struggling with

this. The church in Corinth struggle

with a lot of things and they were abusing the Lord's Supper

for personal benefit and, and it was causing division in the

church. They were putting themselves 1st

instead of the body. They weren't thinking of one

another. And so they they weren't weren't

really thinking about Jesus either.

They were thinking about themselves.

And so because of that, Paul reminded them of the meaning of

this in Scripture and they needed to be reminded.

They needed to remember Christ, they needed to recommit

themselves to him. And so it's good for us to do

this as well. So, so why we gather and, and

why we do this and what is in our hearts and what's our motive

behind it? These are incredibly important

and they have to be driven by what he wants, not what I want,

not what I wish for myself. And so we, we cannot, in fact,

we will not, we never will as long as I'm here, we will never

partake of the Lord's Supper in some kind of flippant, add on to

a service kind of way. We're just not going to do that.

This is a very serious, important moment and we need to

slow down enough and recognize why we're doing this and what

this really, really means. The Bible takes this seriously.

So we need to take it seriously. We need to obey the commands of

the Bible. So Paul writes in First

Corinthians 11 and and reminds us what happened, but also helps

us out a lot. Verse 2023 he says, For I

received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the

Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said this is my

body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And in the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying,

This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.

For as often as you eat this bread or drink this cup, you

proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

So the first thing we're just going to see is I just want us

to see this new command that Jesus, you can understand the

setting. He's, he's in this Passover

celebration with his disciples. He's transforming it into a new

way. Listen to this new command

because he takes the Passover to a new level of meaning.

He fulfills the Passover in this new way.

And so he gives this command, do this in remembrance of me,

right? So, so the Bible doesn't tell us

anywhere how often we're, we're supposed to observe the Lord's

Supper. It doesn't tell us how often,

but it does tell us that when we do, we must do this for the

right reasons and we must do this in the right way.

And so we're, we're not commanded as to how often we do

it. And so we want to do it in a, in

a way that will help us to remember that they're going to

help us to understand it. So we take the supper together

to remember what Christ has done for us on the cross.

That's as simple as it gets. He gave His body for us.

He gave His blood for us. He gave it for our sin.

He to pay the price that had to be paid, and there was no way we

could pay it. That's called the gospel.

And so He calls us now to remember that.

Now you got to think about this in its original context.

He's sitting around the table with the disciples and for them

this is a future event. This hasn't happened yet.

So for them, it's like, remember guys, what I'm about to do for

you, you got to remember it because they were getting ready

to go through chaos. And you know, you got to

remember what I'm about to do for you and for us.

It's it's something that has already happened.

It's a completed work. So for us, he's saying to us

this morning, remember what I've already done for you, right?

Remember the sacrifice I made for you.

So I get, he says. I gave myself or to them I will

give myself. I gave myself to you for

salvation, to make salvation possible for you, to make

discipleship possible, for you to have a relationship with me.

This is why Jesus came. This is why he died.

This is why he rose, and we need to remember him and celebrate

that. Do this because we owe him

everything. Do this because he earned it.

Paul says in verse 25. He says in the same way he took

the cup after supper, saying this cup is the new covenant in

my blood. Do this as often as you drink it

in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this

bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until

he comes. So not only does he give a

command, but we see this new covenant.

We call it a testament. Jesus has sacrificed, ushers in

the New Testament, and we always use that word testament, but

that word testament just means covenant.

It's a new covenant. He declares a new agreement.

He declares our new inheritance because of what he did, the Old

Testament, the old covenant was sealed with blood.

In fact, throughout history, from Genesis on, when God had to

sacrifice animals to cover Adam and Eve with clothing, sin has

always been covered by blood. I've been reading in the Old

Testament in my personal quiet time about the dedication of the

Tabernacle and to think about all of the animals, all the

tribes brought, all these animals and the sacrifice.

Just think about animal after animal, after the amount of

blood that was shed for the sacrifices in that host system.

I mean, many an animal who sacrificed for the religious

relationship Israel had with God over and over and over again.

And then the Passover itself back in Exodus, the the Hebrews

had to kill a, a spotless lamb and paint blood over their

doorposts. So the Angel of death would

Passover them in Egypt. And, and that Passover was

remembered. That celebration was remembered

throughout those centuries. So Jesus comes and fulfills the

ultimate Passover at that Last Supper, what becomes the Lord's

Supper. He fulfills that Passover, and

then he fulfills the need for any future sacrifice.

When he shed his blood, he got to sit down because the job was

done and he never has to sacrifice again.

He's done enough. He's done all that we need as

the new perfect Passover lamb sacrifice for us.

Jesus brings us out of bondage. Just like back in Exodus, they

had to paint their doorposts so the Angel of death would

Passover them so they could get out of their slavery in Egypt.

So Jesus and his blood paints over our hearts and our spirits,

our souls, so that we can get out of the bondage of sin.

And so Jesus sheds his blood to establish this new, this

permanent covenant for us. But this new covenant doesn't

simply cover our past. It also gives us hope for the

future. And that, and that's

encouraging. We take the supper not only to

renew our remembrance, our commitment to the covenant, but

we do so to commit to the covenant to be the disciple who

Jesus wants us to be tomorrow and the next week and the next

week and the next week. So this next sermon series is so

important. We want to make disciples who

make disciples who make disciples who make disciples and

on and on. We want to be fruit producing,

multiplying disciples. You need to be here.

And so we take the supper to, to in celebration of this covenant

of truth that those who trusted in Christ are already saved.

This doesn't save us. He did.

So grace is not dispensed here in some way.

Grace doesn't come out of the, the bread and the cup.

That's not what happens here. It's a, it's, it's an

opportunity for us to remember and to cherish grace that has

already been given on the cross. So this is a time for renewal.

It's a time for revival. This is a time for a

recommitment of our participation in the covenant

relationship that we have with him.

Now, the supper again doesn't 'cause this to happen in some

supernatural way. We don't believe that the bread

and the juice somehow mysteriously turned into the

actual body and blood of Christ, but instead they, they

represent, they are symbols of Christ's body broken for us and,

and for his blood that was shed for our justification before

God. You got to remember that that

wasn't just anybody hanging on a cross.

And that's, that's crucial. It wasn't just anybody hanging

on a cross. He wasn't just a good man.

He wasn't just some incredible prophet.

It wasn't just anybody hanging up there.

It was the sinless perfect God man hanging on the cross.

And if that's not true, the cross doesn't work.

It doesn't work if that's not God Incarnate.

So this is another reason with that the symbols are actually

used. See, there's a reason why we use

unleavened bread, for example. Now look, if you're on a desert

island and I don't know why you're there, but you know, you

and Gilligan need to figure out a better plan, but it but if

you're out there and all you have is Oreo cookies and

kool-aid, use your Oreo cookies and kool-aid.

But when you have the opportunity to actually teach

using the best symbols, do that. There's a reason why you use

unleavened bread, because that ought not only represents the

symbolism of what took place back in Egypt, where they they

had to leave Egypt in haste, but there's a there's a the

symbolism is important. This is also something that that

helps us to understand the sinlessness of Jesus.

Leaven is often used in Scripture to represent sin.

Listen to 1st Corinthians 5 verse 7.

It says, cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be a new

lump, as you really are unleavened for Christ.

Our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival not with the old

leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened

bread of sincerity and truth. Jesus, other places in the

Gospels will warn his disciples about the leaven of the

Pharisees. Their hypocrisy, their

corruption, their sin is what's represented.

So the unleavened bread actually represents the purity of Jesus,

that he was a sinless sacrifice. He was a perfect sacrifice.

And that's the only way any of this works.

So it's an opportunity for us to remember and to proclaim what

Christ has already done. So This is why one of the

reasons why the Supper is only for believers.

It's only for believers to share because Jesus didn't just die,

He rose again and he's going to come again.

And we need to proclaim that truth until then.

And now we're preparing ourselves to do so.

Here's the church with a new vision, with a with a new plan

to fulfill his mission. So how do I move forward in my

covenant with Christ? How do I lead my family into

better discipleship? How do I show and share with my

friends about the King who loved us so much that he sacrificed

himself for us? Now listen, whether you

understand the connection or not, we have been seeing healthy

churches and healthy church members in our study of the book

of Acts. There's a reason why we did

that, and now we're going to put what we've learned into an

action plan for living and for growing together in this next

sermon series. So it's all going to come

together, I pray, and we're going to get to get on board

that connected train and move forward.

But let us remember 1st and celebrate this morning what he's

done in the past as we also rejoice in what he's going to do

in the future. Now to do this truly, the third

thing last thing is that we've got to be a new creation.

So look at First Corinthians 11/27.

Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in

an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and

blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself

then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body,

eats and drinks judgment on himself.

That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

So the Corinthians again, just didn't get it.

There's so many things they struggled with.

They were sometimes remind me of me and this didn't get it.

And they were, they were in it for themselves and they used it

for themselves, right? So we need to be careful.

We carefully approach this table with a sense of reverence, with

a sense of awe. With this, a sense of respect

for what he's done for us, that that better be our attitude this

morning. It's a serious thing to come to

the Lord's table and it's a very serious thing to come to this

with an unprepared heart. Christ wants us to remember his

death, but not just the facts. See, that's what you heard in

those testimonies. What beautiful testimonies,

Amen. I mean beautiful and and more

than one of them said I knew about God.

See, a lot of people know about Jesus, but they don't know

Jesus. See, we don't want to just know

the facts about Jesus. We need to understand the

results of what he has done for us and the fact that it changes

us. His body was broken, but it

wasn't just broken, it was broken for us.

Peter says it this way in Peter 2/24.

He himself bore our sins and his body on the tree, that we might

die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

So at the Lord's table, we we cannot, we must not approach

this moment lightly. And though we can never fully be

worthy, we're never going to be spiritually perfect.

We're sinners saved by grace. We're an imperfect people.

We acknowledge that, but we are to partake in a worthy manner.

And therefore the Bible says you got to examine yourself.

Now that word examine is an interesting word.

It's a word that's used to test metals.

Is this really gold or not? Is this really silver or not?

And so you're testing what you're made of.

You're testing who you really are.

So, so this isn't just whether somebody thinks you're

something. This is who and what you really

are that you are to examine. You are to test yourself.

What, what, what stuff am I made of?

And, and notice what it says You're, you're to do this for

yourself, not everybody else. Now the Corinthians were experts

at everybody else. They were expert at judging

others. But I can't fully examine you.

I can't see in your heart. I can't see in your soul.

I can't see in your spirit. You need to do that.

You must honestly look at your own soul in life.

But to come to this table with unconfessed sin is to be guilty

of the blood and the body of Christ for which he was nailed

to the cross. And listen, if, if, if you've

never trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, that must

happen first. You need to be saved 1st.

And if you're not living in obedience and you know you have

unconfessed sin in your life and your heart, that confession

needs to come first. You need a homologia.

You need to say the same words about your sin that God would

say about your sin, about anything that you say that you

do or you think that's contrary to God's word and will.

And so we need to repent, we need to turn away from our sin,

and that needs to come first. And then we need to replace that

sinful part of us with the things that God wants in our

lives called discipleship. We're going to start talking

about those things next week because a growing disciple is

going to pursue God's own heart. And that's what this morning's

for. So the question that you have to

ask yourself is, am I ready to partake in the Lord's Supper in

a worthy manner? If not, it's not too late.

That's the thing about grace. It's not too late here in a

moment, I'm going to pray and we're going to have some

instrumental music and you can take time and you could commit

yourself to Jesus Christ this morning.

I'm just in challenging you. Draw a line in the sand.

Say enough and commit your commit your life in a new way of

trusting a new depth of discipleship.

I had the opportunity of sharing Christ with a couple of folks in

the last couple of weeks and that's kind of what they said.

You know, I've, I've known about this, but you know, it's time to

draw a line in the sand and to commit myself in a new way to

him. For some of you that might be

salvation. For others, it might be a new

discipleship. So as we just as we celebrate a

new future, let's begin with a new commitment.

And that's what this morning will help us with as well.

So all who know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior

are more than welcome to participate with us in the

supper. Because only the one who has

experienced salvation can really prepare to take the supper in a

worthy manner. Because only those who've

experienced salvation could recognize the sin that would

create the unworthiness that would make you not ready.

So a non believer has not yet experienced the saving grace

which the supper proclaims, but they can't remember.

You can't celebrate. You can't proclaim something

that you haven't experienced personally already.

So for those who have not personally trusted in Christ,

listen, I encourage you either to ask Christ into your heart

right now, But if not, I encourage you not to partake of

the supper. I encourage you to observe us

first, taking the supper. Now listen, the people sitting

around you, if you don't take the elements, nobody's going to

judge you. They're going to be proud of you

for being honest. They're going to be a proud of

you for, for really taking this seriously.

So, so listen, for those of you who have not personally trusted

in Christ, we encourage you to observe the rest of us as we

take this first, be saved, then take the supper.

Right now. We're going to have a moment of

reflection, and in that moment it could be a time of salvation

for you. You could ask Jesus Christ into

your heart to be your Lord and Savior if you understand what

He's done for you. This is also a time of

recommitment. This is also a time of

repentance. So there's not going to be

anybody up here to greet you. We're not going to be standing

at the front. There's nobody over there in the

Next steps room yet. That's all going to happen after

the service. This is just a time for you and

the Lord right where you're sitting, just to talk to him, to

make sure that you're ready as you talk to him.

So I'm going to pray that we're going to have just a few moments

of music and then we'll partake in the supper.

Father, we thank you so much for your truth.

I thank you, Father, that that Lord, you call us to these

moments, moment like baptism, where we're publicly declaring I

have trusted in you and, and I identify with you and I want the

whole world to know. I'm not ashamed of that.

I'm not only not ashamed of it, I'm excited about it and I want

everybody to know it. And then, Father, we thank you

for the Lord's Supper where we can have communion with you.

Father, this isn't a moment of salvation as we partake of the

supper. It's a moment of remembrance.

It's a it's a moment of celebration.

It's a moment of proclamation. But Father, maybe there's

someone here who needs salvation.

Father, in the last service there was.

And so, Father, I pray that right now, if there's somebody

here, that your Holy Spirit would move into their hearts and

minds so powerfully right now in this very instant, that they

would have no doubt that you're real and that you love them.

And that the only way they can be saved is to trust in Jesus

Christ alone. Because of what he did, because

of who he is, because he sacrificed himself on the cross

to pay for our sins. And he rose again so that we

could defeat death. And he's the only one who can

save. And Father, I pray that you'd

help them to understand that truth and that they'd pray and

ask Christ into their heart to be their Lord and Savior.

Others here who've made that decision in the past, maybe some

of them recognize they haven't been walking with you will.

And so this is a moment for them to to recommit.

This is a moment to confess. This is a moment to repent,

maybe even a moment of revival. It's a serious moment.

So, Father, help us, speak to us, guide us as we spend just a

few moments with you, just us alone with you.

Speak to us now. Father, thank you for your

grace. Thank you for the gift of

salvation. Thank you, Father, for the

church which we can gather together to build one another up

and to bring you glory. Now bless us as we celebrate the

Supper as your bride in Christ's name, Amen.

I'm going to ask those deacons and pastors who are going to

help us help serve the Supper this morning to make your way to

your positions. I appreciate these men so much.

I've enjoyed visiting with the deacons as we go see some of the

members, and I love serving with these pastors daily.

I hope that you'll express your appreciation to them at some

point before you go. As we begin our celebration and

our remembrance, let us pray over the bread and what it

represents. Father, we're so thankful,

Father, that it wasn't just anybody on that cross.

It wasn't just a good moralist, wasn't just a good teacher, It

wasn't just a good man, the Father, a perfect, sinless God.

Man fully, God, fully man. And the Word became flesh and

dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.

Glory is of the only begotten, full of grace and truth.

That's who hung on that cross. And because of that, our debt

could be paid. Father, we thank you for the

body that was broken. We thank you, Father, that in

your grace you saw past our sin, our wretchedness, our lostness,

and a perfect sacrifice was made on our behalf.

So, Father, bless us, bless the bread, as we celebrate together

in Christ's name, Amen. All goes on in his word.

And he says that on the same night in which Jesus was

betrayed, Jesus took the bread, and after giving thanks he broke

it. And he says, This is my body

which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Father, I think, I think of all the sacrifices that were made

throughout the Old Testament. I think of what Jesus saw when

he first went to the temple and saw what was happening there,

the blood that was shed, the animals that were sacrificed.

And Father, I thank you that that you said enough and that

Jesus shed his perfect blood for us to cover our sins, to cleanse

us. And I thank you, Father, that

when he hung on that cross, he could declare to tell us die.

The debt is paid, it is finished because of that blood.

So Father, bless us as we remember, bless us as we look

forward, as we celebrate and remember you through the cup.

Please bless it in Christ's name.

Amen. In a similar way, after supper,

Jesus took the cup, and he says this cup is the New Testament or

the New Covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it

in remembrance of me. He goes on to say that as often

as we do this, as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup,

you proclaim his death until he returns again.

And my friends, I can promise you he's coming back.

And so we're going to celebrate him.

We're going to serve him until then.

And so here's what we're going to do.

We're going to worship for a few moments and, and I'm going to be

in the lobby. Others are going to be in our

Next steps room over here after we worship.

If you want to talk to me about salvation or you want to talk to

me about some prayer need, come find me.

I'll be right there in the lobby.

Others will be right here. They'd love to have a private

conversation with you, people who would just love to pray with

you and share with you. So some of you can go this way,

some of you can go that way. But first, let's stand and let's

worship and let's celebrate Him. Thank you so much for listening

today and I also hope that you'll go to our website at

englewoodbaptist com as well as our app and find many other

resources that will bless you and your families.

Thank you once again.