FBCWest 680 | Initiating the Lord’s Supper
Recorded On: 10/05/2025
Bulletin
Hymn # 337 “The Solid Rock”
SCRIPTURE READING – 2 Samuel 22:1 - 4
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Battle Belongs”
“Your Love Awakens Me”
“Praise You Anywhere”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Initiating the Lord’s Supper”
CELEBRATING THE LORD’S SUPPER
“How Great Is Your Love”
Sermon Notes
Mark 14:10 & 11 Judas makes a deal to betray Jesus
Mark 14:12 – 16 Preparation for the Passover meal
Mark 14:17 – 21 Jesus reveals He will be betrayed by one of them
Mark 14:22 - 26 Jesus initiates Communion/Lord’s Supper
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
We're going to see that we've come to a place where Jesus initiates what we call communion or the Lord's Supper. But when he does, and with whom he does, shows that it has much more significance, both spiritually and doctrinally, than just some religious ritual. So I encourage you to come and look and see why we look at the Lord's Supper at such an important aspect and not just ritual.
Oftentimes, we teach with words. But sometimes more effectively, we teach by actions and by doing things that gives what we're trying to teach greater meaning. And this is what's going to be taking place in the next... And so as we take a look at the Gospel of Mark. We're coming to a phase where the public ministry, if you will, of Jesus is coming to a close, but the purpose of His ministry is being realized. And so if you have your Bibles, and you should, turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, and we're going to start with verse 10. And so it says, then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12, went off to the chief priest in order to betray him to them. And they were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money and began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time. Now we've got to remember, who is Judas? Judas Iscariot is one of the 12. He was one of those who was part of Jesus's public ministry, who was with him daily. Observed who Jesus was, how he loved, how he taught, how he was, and what he taught about the kingdom of God. And yet even in this, what he was upset about was that a woman feeling a grade of gratitude and debt for who Jesus was and what he had done and how he had forgiven, exorbitantly placed expensive perfume on his head to worship him.
And Judas, we're told in another gospel, because he was a treasurer, looking for a way, in essence, to skim the money, to steal the money from it. And so, in essence, he was upset that he did not get a portion of this. So let's even say that he decided to steal the whole amount. He was willing to betray Jesus, his rabbi, his teacher, and the one who could have been his Lord and Savior for a few dollars. Because let's face it, even if I were to give you a year's wages, it might help for a little time until next year, and then you wonder, what am I going to do next year?
But he was willing to betray him for some money, both from the chief priest and because he sought to steal it from the treasury. And it says, on the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, his disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? Now, the way this sounds, it's like the day of Passover in the sense of the daytime has come, you need to remember that in the Jewish way of reckoning things, the beginning of the day starts at sundown. So at sundown would become Passover day. But the lambs themselves would not be sacrificed in the evening. They would wait until the daytime. But they're kind of, because they're getting an idea that Jesus has an ultimate destiny that they're going to participate in the Passover Seder, that initial, if you will, morning as opposed to later. And so knowing this, they said, well, Jesus, where do you want to eat the Passover? And so Jesus does all things well and has it already planned. And he sent the two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him.
Now, people will say, well, Jesus got everything all planned out and whatever he set up initially and whatever. But it's interesting that Jesus is so aware of the moments and the movements of people that he knows exactly when this man carrying a pitcher of water will intersect with his two disciples. You see, even when we think things aren't in control, and Judas is betraying and all these things are happening, even the motions of individuals are controlled by our Lord. So he says, when you find this person, and he goes this, And whenever he enters, say to the owner of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And so Jesus is planning to eat the Passover with his disciples. Now, the Passover was to be eaten by household people. So in your household, you were to celebrate the Passover Seder. And if your household was too small to eat, of the lamb, then you invited another family so that you would be large enough to be able to consume the land. And so in essence, Jesus is saying, I'm going to celebrate this Passover with you, my disciples, my family, my brothers. And so it's important for us to understand the context that what he's doing when he's going to be teaching and radically changing our concept of the Passover meal. And so he goes, I want to celebrate it with you, my disciples. And he himself will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready, prepared for us there. And so the owner of the house has already prepared the Passover place, this large upper room. The disciples don't even have to do it. He says, where do we go to prepare a place? Jesus said, I've already got it taken care of. It's prepared for you. We as a family are going to go there and celebrate this
Passover meal. And the last one he's going to celebrate here on earth with his disciples. And the disciples went out and came to the city and found it just as he had told them. And they prepared the Passover, which meant that they got the lamb and all those types of things. And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. So Jesus is saying, it's not one of the attendants, it's not the owner of the house, it's one of my own disciples is going to betray me. You see, Judas may have thought that he did this in private, but Jesus was fully aware of his betrayal actions. And even so, Jesus still welcomes him into the group. And they began to be grieved and say to one another, to him to one another, surely not I.
Each of them said, it's not me, right? It's not me. I wouldn't do such a thing. And so they're convinced of it. And he said to them, it is one of the 12, I who dips with me in the bowl. So he's going to let them know, but they're kind of obtuse like disciples and like we are. Sometimes they don't get the obvious. So they're still not quite sure that it's them. He says this, for the son of man is to go just as it is written of him. But woe to that man of by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Now notice, Jesus says, what is going to happen is going to happen, and I'm not going to change it. Why? Because the scriptures say that one of you will betray me. It has been written, it has been prophesied, and it will happen.
So Jesus is not trying to change the scriptures. He's saying they're being revealed that this one, but the consequence of this one. is better if he had never been born. And if you will, to me, that's an understatement. It's bad enough to deny or reject Jesus, but to betray him. To be one who says, I'm so offended by you receiving perfume that I'll betray you. And it's interesting. Oftentimes, people will betray the faith for nothing that is really important, but insignificant. And he betrayed Jesus, even though it would have been better for him not to have been born, for inconsequential matter. And while they were eating, he took some bread, and after a blessing, he broke it and gave it to them and said, take it, this is my body. Now, we, as various doctrinal physicians and various denominations and views, love to argue about what's happening here. And so you'll hear some people talk about, well, He says, take this as my body. And so there's these doctoral says that his, when he does this, and then when we do it and celebrate it, literally becomes his body. And others say, well, it's, kind of represents his body and others, like my position, is that it's a symbol of his body. And why do I say that it's a symbol of his body?
Why do I think that I'm confident in that position? Well, for a couple of reasons. Number one, he's still there. He's not saying, I want you to take my flesh and eat it. He's saying, this bread symbolizes my body, which is broken for you. Second, The reason I do it, because there are other places the scriptures talk about the body of Christ. We as a church are his body. Does that mean we're his flesh and blood?
No, it means that we represent him here on earth and that he is our head and he is the one to lead us and guide us and tells us what to do. We aren't his physical body. We are his representation on earth of who he is. That's why there are people saying, we are his hands and we are his feet. We are to go and do and do good and those types of things. We represent him. We're not literally him. But he is, his symbols are exceptionally important. An example I give of this, I do frequently. Moses was told on one occasion to strike the rock. And he did, and water came forth that the people needed and supplied the water that was needed. Then later, he was told to speak to the rock. But because of his anger with the people and his frustration, he didn't take God seriously, and he struck the rock. a second time. And we are told in the scriptures in the New Testament that rock represented Jesus. It was a symbol of him that we were supposed to understand that Christ got struck once, but when you speak, he provides. And that symbol was wrong.
And so as a result of Moses not taking God's symbol seriously, he was prevented from entering the promised land. God takes his symbols seriously. And so when we come and celebrate the breaking and the consuming of the bread, we do so understanding that it doesn't necessarily represent his actual flesh, but we take the symbol so seriously as if we were actually consuming him. As a matter of fact, early in the Christian church, people thought that we were were eating, consuming, we were cannibals, that we were killing babies and eating flesh. That's how so much they misunderstood. But I want you to understand something, that he is doing this initiating of what we call communion or the Lord's Supper during the Passover meal, during the Passover Seder.
Well, what was the Passover Seder? It was celebrating the sacrifice of the lamb and then placing the blood on the doorpost and on the lentils. I'm going to talk about the blood in just a second. But we are told early in the scriptures in the New Testament that John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Abram, when he was told to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering, and Isaac asked him, where is the lamb, father? And Abram's response was, the Lord himself will provide the lamb. And Jesus is saying, this unleavened bread. This represents my body. I am the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and I am being sacrificed for you.
So we are to do this because we are doing it to take it as his body as if it was so that we understand that he is the Passover lamb. As a matter of fact, Paul understood it very well, and he tells us that Jesus is our Passover lamb. So all of the teachings are coming down to his showing them the doctrines and the understanding of who he is in his sacrifice. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it. And he said to them, this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. He's saying, this is my blood. Again, the symbol, this fruit of the grape. This represents my blood, which is poured out for you, that you might be forgiven, that you might receive forgiveness. And the important thing here that I want you to understand, again, because it's the Passover meal, the richness of that says, well, what was Passover?
It was After they slayed the lamb, they took the blood and placed it on the doorpost and the lintel. And the statement was, When I see the blood, I will pass over. Didn't say, when I see the blood, I'll check on the inside and see just how holy and righteous you are. He says, when I see the blood, I will pass over. And Jesus is saying, when you see the blood that I have shed for you and have sacrificed for you, and it's not about how wonderful you are and how righteous and holy you are. My blood causes your sins to be forgiven and the penalty of who you are is passed over. I don't look inside your soul, because I have forgiven you and my blood cleanses you from all unrighteousness. You see, it is so important when Jesus instituted, I mean, he could have instituted this ritual when he's with his disciples at some other place.
But he chose Passover to get us to understand the true teaching that he is the lamb of God, his body broken for us, that he is the Passover lamb, that when his blood has been given, that we are no longer accounted, that God doesn't look inside, but sees the sacrifice of Jesus. That's where a lot of non-Christians don't quite get it. They say, well, most of the world is more moral to you, and I'm probably right. But that's the awesomeness of what God is doing. It is grace on display. And what we do when we celebrate this is to acknowledge that He is the Lamb of God, even as Abram had said, that God Himself would supply. and that the blood would be a blood of a new covenant, one that is written in our hearts, not on stone tablets, but on our hearts, that we might truly understand. And he says, and I say, truly, I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of a God. There's going to come a time when Jesus is going to celebrate, but it'll no longer be Passover. It'll be the marriage supper of the Lamb. We'll no longer have to worry about our sins being passed over because His kingdom will have been initiated and He will be ruler and king and the King of kings and Lord of lords. And we will be around the table celebrating who He is and what He's done. He goes, I want you to remember these things.
And Paul tells us, and when he's teaching us, he says that when Jesus did these things, he told us to do this in remembrance of him, to declare his death. So when we do this, we celebrate declaring that Jesus is our Passover lamb, that his blood was shed for us, that our sins are forgiven. And we do that boldly, declaring not, oh, well, I'm kind of ashamed. No, declaring his death, but then a statement of faith until he comes. So we look at this and say, My Lord and my God, you sacrificed yourself for me and us. And even in my most hubris point, I also understand it was not a worthy trade.
But he did it anyway because of who he is. And so I will declare this. And Paul also tells us that we are not to do this in an unworthy manner. He didn't say, in essence, in a unworthily, not unworthy, because again, we are never worthy of what he has done. And then again, why he did it on Passover, so that we understand it's not about us, it's not about our morality, it's not about our holiness, it's not about our righteousness, it's about his.
And so we do this understanding that we are not worthy, but we do this with an understanding that he is our Passover lamb, that his blood was shed for us, and that in essence, the blood is on the doorposts and lintels of our lives, not the building. What an awesome, awesome God that we celebrate.
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