GVCC Communion service handout

Garden Valley Community Church

Pastor Shane Moffitt   October 14^th 2012

 

Preparation for the Lord’s Supper
1 Corinthians 11:27-30

 

KEY:  Your Opinion of Jesus Christ
is Revealed in Your Attitude Toward Communion

 UNWORTHY            1 Corinthians 11:27

 Though we are “unworthy” ~ we can  
Celebrate Communion because:

1)   have a MIND that understands

   what Communion really is

2)   have a HEART free from sin

              3)   have a HEART filled with love for
   Jesus Christ & His people

4)   have a WILL in obedience to

   God’s Word

UNWORTHY….

          #1: treats it as UNIMPORTANT

·        11:17-22 divisions & strife

          #2: treats it as a CEREMONY

·        Psalm 51:16-17

          #3: partakes with 

                       UNCONFESSED SIN
·        1 John 1:9, Luke 15:18                          

State employment officials in Tucson, Arizona, posted a sign over a full-length mirror. Directed to job hunters, “Would you hire this person?”

 

EXAMINE                 1 Corinthians 11:28

 

      KEY: examine yourself not others

 #1:  a rigorous self-examination                   

of your life
·        Psalm 139:23, 1 Cor. 10:31

#2.  a rigorous self-examination             
of your motives
·        Psalm 19:14, Proverbs 21:2

#3.  a rigorous self-examination             
of your attitude towards God                            
·        Matthew 22:37, Deut. 10:12

#4.  a rigorous self-examination             
of your attitude towards              
   Lord’s Supper
·        1 Corinthians 11:17-22

#5.  a rigorous self-examination
   of your attitude toward                    
   other Christians
·        John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:7-8

 KEY:  we do NOT come to Communion PERFECTLY

But we DO come to Communion HONESTLY & HUMBLY

Thoughts on Communion

 God instituted the PASSOVER feast when He delivered His people from their 400 years of bondage in Egypt. 

The meal celebrated the death angel’s passing over the houses of those whose doorposts were smeared with lamb’s blood. 

The lamb was roasted and eaten, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  EXODUS 12:1-14

Throughout her history, Israel celebrated this meal in remembrance of the Lord’s deliverance of them, from Egypt to the Promised Land. 

It is still the holiest of Jewish feasts. 

Jesus transformed the Passover meal into the Celebration of a GREATER deliverance that He came to bring.

The Passover was simply a prophecy pointing to the great deliverance of the Messiah. 

When we eat His body and drink His blood, we remember the spiritual and eternal redemption that Jesus bought with the sacrifice of His body and the offering of His blood.  Hebrews 9:22

The Passover celebrated the temporary, physical deliverance of Old Covenant.

The Lord’s Supper celebrates the permanent and spiritual deliverance of the New Covenant.  Luke 22:20,

“This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood”. 

The Lord’s Supper reminds us of the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Luke tells us that there were 4 distinguishing marks in the daily life of the early Christians:                 Acts 2:42

a)   Obedient to the Apostles teaching

b)   Fellowship

c)   Breaking of Bread

d)   Prayer

 The “Breaking of Bread” included the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. 

 The early church developed special fellowship meals that they called “love feasts” (Jude 12) that concluded with the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

 “love feasts” were much like our "pot lucks”.