Communion

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins."

• Communion is a symbol of the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
• Christ was showing the disciples “this was the reason for all the animals slaughtered over your sin.  This is my body being broken, being ripped apart for your sin.  That is the fulfillment of the Levitical system. Now you can understand that this is how bad, how dirty, how disgusting, how bad this looks, how bad this hurts, this is price of your sin”!
• Communion is the display of the New Covenant.
• This is Christ saying that “it is no longer on you. That you no longer have to try and white-knuckle religion and try to please me in your works.  It’s finished.  You are no longer under law but under Grace.”

"Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread." 1 Corinthians 10:16-18

• Communion brings unity to the Church.  It is a common body of believers sharing in a common meal and a common fellowship.
• Through the sacrifice of Christ we not only have this commonality with God, this restored relationship with the Father; but by His death and resurrection we have the opportunity to have real communal relationships with other believers.  There is no competition between us for His love or mercy. 
• According to scripture (1 Cor 6) We were all once drunkards, and liars, and adulterers, and homosexuals, and revilers……
• Communion is the celebration that “while we were” his body was ripped apart.  That “While we were” we’ve been redeemed! Not by our own power.  So we take the bread and the wine together and we celebrate together that we don’t live under wrath but under mercy.
• By the taking of communion you are saying that there is no division in the body.  That “We who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread” 
• Very few people in church really embrace that idea.
• Communion is about remembrance
• To remember in Scripture means more than just recalling information or events.  It means to take something that happen and to recall it with the same weight and the same vitality that it had when it happened.
• In communion we are not to only know that Christ died but we are to feel the joy that comes from that death for us and to feel the weight of what it means.
• It should be done in a way that all the fullness of his saving power is felt through the eating of bread and drinking of wine as though it were him.
• This is not a reference to transubstantiation.  Christianity began as an Eastern religion where there was depth and layers to everything.  Christ constantly spoke using word pictures and symbolism.  The bread and the wine were yet another picture or “shadow” of Him, given by him, to help us understand. 
• Above all Communion is a celebration!
• It is the celebration of Him and not us.  We celebrate that while we were yet sinners Christ was slaughtered for us.  We celebrate communion because we know we didn’t do anything!! 
• You cannot be self-righteous and take communion in a worthy manner.  That’s what scripture means when it says people were taking it in the wrong way. 
• That verse has become so abused and many people are afraid to celebrate it because they have had a rough week, or a rough month or year spiritually and don’t feel like they are good enough to take it.  Communion is absolutely FOR those people.  It is FOR those who don’t feel like they’re worthy of salvation because we absolutely are not!! No, to take communion in an unworthy manner means that you take the bread and you take the wine and you celebrate what you’ve done and how good you are and you have no reverence and no fear of God in you. 
• That’s why men biblically have never been ashamed to admit their sins.
• Psalm 41, 1 Cor 6, 1 Tim 1:16
• Communion is absolutely the worship, and the understanding, and the display of a person who knows the depravity of their heart and the Saving Grace of Christ. 
• Communion is just a symbol but it is much more for those who understand the ransom paid for our lives.  It cannot be taken lightly.  It is a beautiful gift given by God to us so we can, in yet another form feel him.
• Things to think about during communion
  • Who would we be right now?  Where would we be right now?  What would life look like right now?  What would have consumed us?  What idol would we have pursued until it killed us?  Where would we find ourselves?  “While we were ____"