Understanding Divine Service Part 3

Let's pray and then we'll take a look at the Lord's Supper Lord keep us set steadfast in your word curb those who buy the cedar sword would rest the kingdom from your son and bring to Naught all that he has done we ask in Jesus name.

Amen Any questions that percolated up in your minds during the sermon today?

No It's kind of straightforward Today we're going to continue as we work through what's called the divine service and yes

Sure, what's one thing? Yeah, so So so here's the idea in kind of practical

Point of all this remember faith comes by hearing hearing by the Word of Christ We as Christians somehow think that it's our job to keep going at the person who doesn't want to believe at some point you just basically say

Let's talk about baseball You delivered the message they know what you believe and They haven't believed now that doesn't mean that God's Word is not doing something it might

One of the wonderful pictures that we see in the Prophet Isaiah is that it describes the

Word of God as either a rain or sometimes the Word of God falls like a snow and So what happens is you don't you're you're not responsible for their reaction you're

Responsible to deliver the message and that message might come and it might be like the Word of God.

It'll fall like a snow So it you sit there and for all intents and purposes.

It looks like the Word of God's done nothing but then God will cause something to happen in their lives where that snow then will melt and Then it'll do something

So the idea then is is that what a Paul say one plants and other waters, but it's God who gives the increase

He neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but it's God who brings the increase.

He's everything so this then frees up one of the the problems that I think a lot of people have as Christians and evangelicals is this this

Guilt that somehow it's my job to close the sale

I got to close the sale that did

Paul close the sale in Antioch Pisidia No There was no sales pitch

He had a message to deliver to preach Caruso is to be a herald to proclaim to deliver a message from somebody else

Not your own. So Paul literally shows up. He stands up rather than sits down.

He's not teaching This is not this is not a moment where it's up for discussion This for him is

I'm delivering a message to you what God promised to our fathers in the Old Testament in The Torah and the prophets he's now fulfilled in Christ and in him

There is salvation and the forgiveness of sins to all who believe but beware lest you Less what what the prophet wrote about you comes true, you know, behold you scoffers wander and perish so there was no you notice there was noticeably no close

No call to action Believe period so Evangelicals and we

Christians we feel like it's our responsibility You know, you know if you follow like evangelism explosion or you know

These other evangelism techniques that have been taught in the past a few decades You know you you want to get that person to the point where they pray the prayer

Reality is we want them to be baptized But we preach the word

Tell them about Christ call them to repent tell tell them of the forgiveness of their sins God will do his thing.

Yeah Yeah Yeah, yeah exactly and so that's the thing we are tempted over and again to soft pedal all this stuff

Because the reality is is that I forget who it was There was a great quote and now

I can't remember the person who gave it but this idea is is that in each generation there are different points in which the

Word of God is under attack and It's the call of the

Church of Christians to rally to that point to stand up for the

Word of God and boldly proclaim the truth and As many as don't do that, you know, that's that's that's sin.

That's a problem. And so in our day What have we seen happen the rallying points

For the attack against the Word of God are going to first and foremost be against particular sins

Our culture wants the church to progress To have progress and to progress beyond The the place where people have these beliefs that certain sexual sins are sins

So we need the church to embrace Homosexual homosexuality we need

Christians to bake the cakes we need all of these things to happen and this is this is a rallying point and What has happened rather than putting up a unified front and saying sorry

God says and there's no progress here that it has been a sin since The beginning of the earth will be a sin forever.

It is a sin instead Certain Christian churches have totally capitulated and have ordained in penitent homosexuals

They bless same -sex marriages and in certain parts of Europe There are churches that call that are called

Lutheran churches, but they are required by the state to Marry Homosexuals and where are we?

Is a church We all know that you stick your head up on this one.

You're gonna get you're gonna get your head cut off We all know this Social media or jobs, whatever

Yeah Yeah, you know in the creed it detect the word should be Catholic.

It should not be Christian We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church Catholics mostly universal

There used to be a day when the church fathers would boast

About the fact that it doesn't matter where you are Whether you are in Jerusalem Alexandria Ephesus or in Gaul and all the way up to where the

Celts are The church is there all preached the same doctrine

That can't even be said of Oslo This is a small place Forget Grand Forks.

I mean that's out the window. I mean do all the churches preach the same doctrine

But not even close What's happened Now Rome will sit there and they'll say well see this is what happens when you have sola scriptura

Because then it basically means that anybody can come up with their own interpretation You sit there and go that sounds like a plausible argument, but there's something wrong with that Spun tunes, that's what you call

Yeah The one the woman there gave a speech is all Catholics and she said

Ask of the Virgin Mother and she will help you Wow Yeah, that's

I Mary and I are not on speaking terms. So because there's only one mediator between God and man, that's

Christ Yeah, I've never met the woman so I don't think it would be appropriate for me to be talking to strange women like that so anyway

Yeah, I gotta be careful you guys need to pull it together here, I don't know what's gonna happen. All right So so the idea then is is that the problem is not

Scripture and see the Roman will say we have we have approved Interpretations of Scripture which then allow for all this other nonsense

Scripture says what Scripture says and one of the things we believe in is something called the perspicuity of Scripture Have you heard this phrase before?

perspicuity of Scripture first perspicuity It's a big $5 word and the idea then is is that when we talk about Scriptures, you know in this way is that they can be understood and Known and see post -modernism teaches that it doesn't matter what the author intended

To say it matters only what you the receiver of the message feel inside of you regarding what you you know

What it says to you in your heart in your situation but first the perspicuity of Scripture basically understands this that the single author of Scripture that's common for every book is the

Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit has Spoken to us in a way that he can be understood in fact, not only can be understood but understood on like a fourth or fifth grade level if you really want to get technical that the scriptures are understandable and that he intended to communicate particular things and those particular things can be understood by the person listening to and reading the text the

Bible is inherently Understandable and the wonderful thing about the scriptures if you will listen to it is the scriptures always and again will tell you what they mean and So one of the

I love how like even like a liberal scholar has noted the fact that the

Bible Has the closest thing in the ancient world to hyperlinks in it and that is is that the same thing is talked about multiple different times and so a

Text will reference this doctrine and that reference is talked about in another doctrine

And or another passage of Scripture and another passage will teach it you collect them all up and you can get a full picture of What the

Spirit has said and revealed in these ways This is why we understand that Old Testament is type and shadow

Because the biblical text says that it is and we understand that the Bible is about Jesus and the reason why we know it is about Jesus and that he's the central key to understanding the scriptures is because Jesus said that it is and So when you read the

Bible for the first time, you don't know these things I mean when I was a kid the first time I read the

Bible went to beat Alton bookseller bought a Black it wasn't even real leather.

It was just, you know kind of faux leather King James version of the Bible It did not have a zipper yeah,

I That was and that was an extra two bucks and I didn't want to pay it because you know,

I The money I earned doing the chores around the house What didn't add up quickly enough and I wanted the two dollars for like an ice cream or something.

So, you know But it didn't even have gilded pages it had this weird pink, you know

The the pages were pink and so I read that thing cover -to -cover in King James English didn't understand a word of it

But I was fascinated by the stories So first time through you kind of get the scope of these stories and you're going then you have to ask the question

Why are we focusing about these people in this place in at these times?

What is this all about and then you get to the parts about Jesus and you realize okay This seems to be like where the story comes to like a head and then everything changes from there like you'll notice that the

Old Testament flows perfectly into the life of Christ and then in the book of Acts everything kind of gets

Everything the whole everything changes and so your first impression on this is like, okay, that's interesting

But then as you study God's Word you come to church and you hear the preaching over and over and over again

This is one of the brilliant parts about the lectionary that we follow. Have you all noticed how the

Old Testament text? So often has something really much to do with what we're reading in the gospel text or in our epistle text

They all seem to be working together that whoever put this election area together Knows that the

Bible works in this way So when you can see how the front end of the book and the back end of the book are kind of working together

You can begin to realize okay. This is this is understandable now all of this is precursor for a little bit more of an in -depth study of some of the things we talked about last week as It relates to the

Lord's Supper Very important that we let the scriptures inform us about these things and over and again key phrase that is oftentimes a dividing line in Christianity when it comes to understanding the

Lord's Supper is How are you? Understanding the word remembrance

Jesus says do this into the remembrance of me. That's stiff wooden translation of the

Greek What does that mean? What's this remembrance stuff now?

It's 21st century readers. We would assume Well, that means we need to remember stuff

About Jesus, you know, well, what stuff you know The suffering stuff that we just need to remember that stuff.

Is that what remembrance means? No, not at all So what description?

Yeah, it didn't say remember it's a remembrance difference Into the remembrance of what is that?

I Referenced this last week and we'll spend a little bit of time. We'll actually look at the text.

I'm going to show you another piece of all of this is that remembrance is something that is talked about very specifically in the

Old Testament and when it shows up Oftentimes remember and remembrance show up in the context of a covenant covenant contract

God is making a contract with man and he does these things. So you look at for instance

Look at the Old Testament and you look at Genesis chapter 9 The establishing and we talked about this the noadic covenant

But I want to read out the text because I want you to see how this works Biblically, let the scriptures teach you what this remember stuff is.

So God said to Noah and his sons with him behold. I Establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you

Covenant and we see a formula if you would a format there's a way in which

Covenants and the the way they talked about in the ancient world they're cut how you cut a covenant that has

Transferred over even into our own modern English when people say let's cut a deal We can cut a deal together cut a deal a short talk for let's cut a covenant.

Let's make a contract Let's get an agreement between you and I so behold I established my covenant with you and your offspring after you and with every living creature that is with you the birds the livestock of Every beast of the earth with you as many as came out of the ark.

It is for every beast of the earth I established my Covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth and God said this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you

For all future generations. I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign

It shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds

I will remember My covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh and the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh when the bow is in the clouds,

I will see it and Remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth

God said to Noah this is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all the flesh that is on the earth

So here's the format there is promises oftentimes in a covenant there are promises or expectations or duties and It's very frequent in covenants that there are also blessings for doing and curses for not doing your part and they're usually between two parties and Then there's something that is a visible sign to invoke and remember that covenant what we do we have contracts, right?

So when we sign a contract, what do we do with the paper when we're done with it? That's right.

We put it in the file box. Okay, so in the days before file boxes You cut a covenant with somebody you don't have the piece of paper anymore

So, what do you do? You need something that would invoke that covenant? So if if we were to do this old -school style then when you go to the car dealership and you said you're gonna purchase a car and you cut it you get yourself in covenant with Toyota, you know of Grand Forks, which is a fine thing to do, right?

So you get yourself in a covenant with them and you sign all the paperwork and you get all this kind to go old -school what you should do is get a miniature of your vehicle and that miniature should be on your mantle and They should get a miniature of that vehicle as well and that should be somewhere in their display box

And so that when you don't make your payment, you know You know, you look at that.

You look at that little miniature goes. That's the sign of the covenant I gotta make my car payment.

They're gonna come and pound my car, right? So there would be some kind of a visual reminder We have a visual reminder in the covenant that is

Made between two families When there's a marriage contract, that's what they're called, by the way

They're called marriage contracts. What's the sign of the marriage covenant?

The rings that's the sign I'm married and I promised in sickness and in health for better for worse till death do us part and When people get divorced the rings come off there's no covenant in place

So in the same way then there are Visible signs of the covenant now when

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness Genesis chapter 12

God made a covenant with Abraham the covenant was a unilateral covenant and he promised to make his descendants as multi multitudinous as the sands on the shore as many as the stars in the sky and That from him all nations, you know, one of his descendants would all day through him all nations would be blessed

God cut that covenant Abraham was totally zonked out I mean he was asleep when that covenant was cut but then in the following chapters

God established the sign of that covenant. What was the sign of that covenant that God made with Abraham?

circumcision Circumcision he and all of his children That's the sign of the

Abrahamic covenant So When Jesus on the night that he's betrayed

He takes bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to the disciples

And I'm quoting what's called the verba which are the words of Christ the words of institution What is

Jesus doing? He's establishing the new covenant

What is the sign of the new covenant? Right the body and blood of Christ that we but we see bread and wine

But we we believe Christ's words that his body and blood are present

That's the sign of the covenant now the Presbyterians by the way Presbyterians are a branch of Calvinism What do they believe the sign of the new covenant is they get it wrong, but I can

I understand why they go this this route What do Presbyterians believe the sign of the new covenant is?

baptism Baptism and their thinking goes along these lines just as Circumcision was the sign of the old covenant

Baptism since Colossians says that when we were baptized our hearts are circumcised by Christ They believe then that baptism is the sign of the new covenant

But nowhere in Scripture is baptism referred to as a sign nor is it spoken of in remembrance talk

In relation to a covenant, so I think the Presbyterians have missed the mark here

They've missed the mark and I Am thankful that they baptized their infants

For the reason that they believe that it's a sign of the new covenant that being said though.

It's not sign It isn't the sign of the new covenant is the body and blood of Christ And here's the best part when we see that sign

Here at this church or when you're visiting another church and you see that sign The purpose of the sign is to do what?

Evoke the promises of the covenant in the preaching that you heard from the

Apostle Paul today When Paul was preaching at Antioch Pisidia when I mean with a few times in the book of Acts where we get

Really the the sermon itself what was delivered? Took all of just a couple minutes to deliver the message

What was the promise that was given to them in Christ We declare to you the forgiveness of your sins for all who believe

Now all of that being said you kind of get this then taking a look at First Corinthians chapter 10

I want to do a little bit of work in first Corinthians 10 and then go into 11 and look at the verba and Want you to see a few things here

Therefore my beloved first Corinthians 1014 flee from idolatry.

I Speak as to sensible people judge for yourselves what I say The cup notice that that's singular the cup singular of blessing that we bless

Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

What's the answer to the question? Yes. Yes it is the cup of blessing

That we bless. Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? You bet your

Bippy it is the bread that we break. Is it not a

Participation in the body of Christ. What's the answer to the question? Yes, it is

So, you know here we have a clear text That in the Lord's Supper it is a participation in both the body and the blood of Christ and Because there is one bread we who are many are

One body for we all partake of the one bread Consider the people of Israel are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar.

What's the answer to the question? Yes, they are Now this is kind of a fascinating Aspect the

Mosaic Covenant and let me go on a little bit of a digression here in the book of Exodus chapter 28

Exodus 28 We see some very interesting things here.

And this is talking then about the the vestments that the high priest

Aaron and his sons who are Levites Nadab Abihu Eliezer and Ithamar what they were required to wear as part of their service at the tabernacle that God had commanded that Moses have that made and so it describes in detail all of the different pieces of their vestments and the vest that specifically the vestments of the high priest which is different from the vestments of Common priests, but they were all vested up and then it goes on in chapter 29 just to describe the required

Sacrifices for their ordination, which is very fascinating, but I want to I want you to see a few things here exodus 28 12

God commands and says you shall set two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel Who was

God making a covenant with here the Mosaic Covenant He was making it with the children of Abraham and so as part of the remembrance of this covenant

God had commanded in the very Vestments that the priests were required to wear for their priestly duties that there were stones

That had the names of the sons of Israel literally engraved into them and And Aaron shall bear their names before the

Lord on his two shoulders for Remembrance and you shall make settings of gold filigree two chains of pure gold twisted like cords

You shall attach the cords so you get the idea here of all of these different things that are set up then by God and specifically for the purpose of remembrance and then chapter 29

Exodus 29 we get these details Regarding the ordination and the sacrifices required for ordaining priests into the priesthood

Exodus 29 now, this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them that means to set them apart that they may serve me as priests take one bowl of the herd two rams without blemish and Unleavened bread unleavened cakes mix with oil unleavened wafers smeared or anointed with oil and you shall make them fine

Of fine wheat flour you shall put them in one basket bring them in the basket bring the bull and the two rams and you shall

Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water a little bit of a note here

I think this is a wonderful type and shadow So this is describing in detail how the ordination service goes for the

Levitical priest First order of business you have to be washed with water

What does that sound like? Baptism Okay.

Now you're gonna note that in the New Testament It talks about how our sins are washed away in the waters of baptism

That's one of the ways in which it's described in the book of Acts and that as Christians We are clothed with heavenly garments

We are clothed white robes clothed with the very righteousness of Christ I find it fascinating that even in the

Levitical priesthood you get some of these these types and shadows So first order of business wash them with water.

They were probably washing what was called a mikvah Then you shall take the garments put on air and put on Aaron the coat the robe of the ephod the ephod the breastplate

And gird him with a skillfully woven band of the ephod You shall set the turban on his head put the

Holy Crown on the turban You shall take the anointing oil pour it on his head and anoint him

Yeah, by the way anointing wasn't just a mere touching of your body with a little bit of oil.

They would take a horn filled with oil and it would Dump they'd dump this thing on your head

So the oil would run off your head down your beard onto the ground and yet the psalmist actually talks about how it is

Wonderful or beautiful that brothers would dwell together in unity It is like oil flowing down the beard of Aaron Isn't that an interesting picture how you know, the unity of the body is described

By like this anointing of the the oil flowing down the beard of Aaron So you pour it on his head you shall bring his sons put coats on them

You shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes bind caps on them and the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute

Forever thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons ordained by the way, it means to publicly place somebody into an existing office

Have you ever thought that being the case How is it that we ordain our presidents?

We call it an inauguration Donald Trump for a while was the president -elect and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth in certain parts of the country continues to this day

He Was president -elect and then someday in January the third week of January Everybody gathered at the

Capitol and Donald Trump put his hand on a Bible Raised his right hand and gave the oath of office

It was a public ceremony now he is the man who currently fills the office of The President of the

United States the head of our country and that office exists

Independent of who is in it and there have been times for very brief moments that office has been vacant Like the death of Lincoln It took a while to find the other guy to get have the oath of office after the death of Kennedy Then Lyndon B Johnson and it's important that there are witnesses there have to be witnesses because an ordination is a public thing

So what is going on here? And by the way, this is what an ordination is for a pastor when a pastor is ordained

We recognize the pastoral office is an office created by God for the purpose of caring for Christ's sheep word

Sacrament reproving rebuking exhorting teaching all of these things and so guys can't just sneak in as pastors

It's required for them to be ordained because it's an office. And so an ordination then is the public

Placing of a man into the pastoral office With generally the laying on of hands

You see it. Okay, so here God has set up a Levitical priesthood

The priesthood is an office and now they're being ordained into it and all these are a little side notes

But we're gonna pick we're gonna pick up the parts that we need along the way You shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting

Erin and his son shall lay their hands on the head of the bull This is the transferring of their sin onto the bull the bull becomes the substitute for them rather than them dying

The bull dies so then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take part of the blood of the bull put it on the horns of the altar with your finger and the rest of the blood you

Shall pour out at the base of the altar. That's sacrifice. Number one You shall take all of the fat that covers the entrails the long lobe of the liver the two kidneys of the fat

That is on them burn them on the altar But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp

It is a sin offering then you shall take one of the rams This is sacrifice number two and Aaron and his son shall lay their hands on the head of the ram more sin being transferred

And you shall kill the ram shall take its blood throw it against the sides of the altar Then you shall cut the ram into pieces

Wash its entrails and its legs put them with its pieces on its head burn the whole ram on the altar

It's burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma and listen to this word a food offering to the

Lord Why are we talking about a sin offering being a food offering doesn't make sense quite yet You shall take the other ram

Sacrifice number three and Aaron and his son shall lay their hands on the head of the ram You shall kill the ram take part of his blood put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron So you got blood and watch where the blood goes blood goes right ear thumb big toe

When Christ was suffering he had a crown of thorns on his head He was pierced in his hands and his feet.

I Think this is kind of type and shadow that points us to Christ because we learn in the book of Hebrews That these sacrifices of animals could never and never did actually atone for sin

They were all pointing to the once -and -for -all sacrifice of Christ All right

So put blood on your thumbs right hands of the great toe right feet throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar

Then you shall take part of the blood that's on the altar of the oil Anointing oil and then sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments

So take that blood that's on the altar take part of it off and then sprinkle it on your clothes Which he have to wonder does that leave a permanent stain in the days before there were washing machines probably did

And on his sons and his garment with them and by the way scripture says without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins

He and his garments shall be holy his sons and his sons garments with them You shall also take the fat from the ram the fat tail the fat that covers the entrails the long lobe of the liver

Two kidneys the fat that is on them and the right thigh for it is the right It is the ram of ordination one loaf of bread one cake of bread made with oil one wafer out of the basket

Unleavened bread that is before the Lord You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron in the palms of his sons and then wave them for a wave offering before The Lord and then you shall take them from their hands burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering is a pleasing

Aroma it is a and here we go again. It is a food offering to the Lord Okay, that's weird

You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination wave it

For a wave offering before the Lord and it shall be your portion now. We see why it's a food offering.

So notice these sacrifices Which are for atoning of their sins in order to make them holy

There's a portion of that atoning sacrifice That is held out that is now their portion, which means it's for them to eat all

Of these sin offerings a portion of them were consumed

Jesus Christ is our atoning sacrifice

What is it that we receive at the altar when we have the

Lord's Supper? Jesus says the body and blood of Christ Now it's it's crazy when you think about it, are you saying that Jesus is a food offering?

Yeah Yeah, it it boggles the mind how can this be

I don't know why I don't know why

I Just know the scriptures teach this literally all over the place

Just like the Old Testament Sacrifices the atoning sacrifices were consumed

They were a food offering our atoning sacrifice in a very real way is also a food offering

It seems crazy. It seems offensive. It seems like it'll blow your mind and No, it's not cannibalism

Yet at the same time you can sit there and say well I am Yeah, so if this is where it gets interesting now all of that being said that's kind of giving you some of the

Old Testament Background for what we read the cup of blessing bless. Is it not a participation of the blood of Christ answer?

Yes, it is the bread that we break. Is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Yes, it is

There's one bread we who are many than our one body for we all partake of the one bread

So notice here that the Lord's Supper creates unity Which is one of the reasons why we get a little uppity about whom we have the

Lord's Supper with for so if somebody invites me to a Roman Catholic funeral and I've been to them before for family members and It's a funeral mass, which means the

Lord's Supper is going to be present Do I go and have the

Lord's Supper with my Roman Catholic? Family No, I don't because that would be me saying

I'm in unity with you and We're not so the

Lord's Supper Is a visible sign of unity now the sign then of unity is what the body and blood of Christ?

Does it matter and this is you know an important question? Does it matter if you receive the

Lord's Supper and what I like to call the holy shot glasses? or if you receive it in a common cup if you receive it in a common glass wine glass or a

Dixie cup does it matter? No, it's not the vessel that's holding it that matters the thing that matters is the contents in the vessel and It's that those contents that we take together

Which is a visible sign of our unity and is also a participation in the body and blood of Christ The mentality is kind of like the

Corinthian church Where does it go to when you're not showing that reverence or showing what it is?

I mean, yes, it's body and blood but a Dixie cup you're giving back to where you're going to be as you know what the

Corinthian church was going through Right now I understand what you're talking about here now in the thing

I had in mind as my mental referent when I talked about Dixie cups Was you might find yourself in a circumstance where you are going to be having a church service with a group of believers

In a place where you didn't expect to have it and so You know, we have the luxury of meeting

Sunday after Sunday after Sunday here in this beautiful sanctuary Yeah, it might be the best you travel to Africa they can't afford to put a roof on some of these churches

They have dirt floors and I assure you they probably can't even afford the little shot glasses

Yeah Yeah, that that's another story that's something totally

And I bring this up then in this sense is that In the context of like the radical informality that has become the

American evangelicalism I mean there is you don't even get the holy shot glasses.

I mean You get fish crackers and in punch, you know, that's that that I think goes off into a different direction

This is covenantal

We are in covenant with God The new covenant the signs of this covenant are the body and blood of Christ and when those signs are present we remember the promises of the covenant that we are forgiven and God remembers the promises of the covenant to not throw our carcasses into the lake of fire as we deserve

But to have mercy on us This is in that when you remember it in that sense now, it takes on a really different meaning altogether

And so as Luther pointed out the the emphasis then in the verba which are the words of institution are given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins

For the forgiveness of your sins and I can tell you there are times in my life long before I was a pastor when

Struggling against the temptations of the world the devil my own flesh

That I would come to church literally beaten bruised and bloodied and To be able to go to the altar and hear the pastor say these words

Take eat. This is the true body of Christ given for you for the forgiveness of your sins

That was like a drowning man being given a life raft. I could hang on to those words

And That's really what remembrance is about because I'm remembering the promises of the

Covenant The promises of the Covenant are though your sins be as scarlet. I will make you white as snow

And so this the fact that it's the blood and body of Christ and that we're participating and this is a unity

This is so important. And so, you know, I say all of this that because when it comes to practice then many of the

Lutheran churches I've been a part of They have a mixed thing where you know, you're allowed to you know for hygiene reasons

If you were kind of germaphobe You can have the Holy Shot glasses and for those who want to follow the way it was originally instituted because notice

It's a singular cup Jesus didn't pour 12 glasses of wine the cup singular

Jesus poured one cup and Said take drink and they

And went around the room One cup and so there are those who?

Prefer the common cup and I get it That's my preferred way of receiving the Lord's Supper, but we would not look down on People when it comes to freedom in this way

The vessel is not the important thing. That's the contents what you believe you're receiving So bring that up.

So then Consider the consider the text then so because there is one bread we who are many are one body will all partake of the one bread

Consider the people of Israel and this was where we went off and launched into that little excursion to Texas are not those who eat

The sacrifices participants in the altar Yeah, so what do I imply then food offered to idols is anything or that an idol is anything?

No, I apply that what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I don't want you to be participants

With demons you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons You cannot partake of the table of the

Lord and the table of demons Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he is answer?

No, we're not chapter 11 then gets into the thorny issue of the abuses of the

Lord's Supper Among the Church of Corinth and the practice that they were doing was absolutely abysmal.

So Corinth was Morally a really sketchy town

It's a good way to put it You know the closest thing I could liken it to is

Las Vegas today If we need traveled into Corinth It was a seaport between the

Aegean Sea and I forget the other sea there but there was a small isthmus and they would take boats out of the water and literally drag them across this isthmus so that you could you know to cut off a long stretch of Sea voyage and While they were doing that the sailors they would go into town and do their thing

You know what sailors do and and to help Accommodate this and relieve them of some of the money that was in their pockets at the top of the city there was a place called the

Acre Corinth and There at one point was a thousand shrine prostitutes were part of the

Temple complex at the top of the Acre Corinth hasn't gets you an idea. This is a really screwed up place morally and in Roman culture

Roman culture did not really have a true middle class The middle class was beginning to kind of come out a little bit but in in Roman culture there were really two classes you had the wealthy and Everybody else

The the middle class doesn't exist the way it exists in our economy today and so That being the case

Rome Roman citizens who had means who were in the upper class They consider themselves better than the people in the lower class

There was no second class. It was first class and then cattle, you know slaves and the poor and everything else

Christianity comes along and the message of the gospel says that we're all free in Christ that we're all equal in Christ there is neither slave nor free

Jew nor Greek male or female, but we're all one in Christ We're all equals before God and this then starts showing up in Christian worship where it gets very interesting where at the same altar you would have a slave owner and his slave or slaves

Hearing the Word of the Lord and being treated as equals and for some this was a bitter pill to swallow and it was gonna take some time for their sanctification to really kind of kick in the

Holy Spirit had some prejudices and Cultural ideas that you know They had learned in the

Roman society that he was gonna have to curb out of them And so as a result of it the wealthy in Corinth were keeping the poor from having the

Lord's Supper By consuming all of the elements even to the point of drunkenness so that they couldn't have any people in lower class couldn't

So Paul would not have been considered part of the upper echelon Paul was

Was kind of a skilled craftsman by trade So he was part of the burgeoning middle class that really hadn't come out in its fullness yet And so he was a guy who had skill as a tent maker

Which gave him the means to be able to serve as a missionary on his own dime Which that which was a thing for him, but in order for that for him to do this so he would go into a town and he would set up shop in the

Agora and you know as a tent maker and Get to making his trade and people would be purchasing tents from him.

And that's how he funded his missionary work Yes, so he's well -educated

Paul of Tarsus studied under Gamaliel. We know his parents were pretty wealthy in Tarsus, we know this from church history and So he was the best way

I could put it is is that he had more Opportunities that other people wouldn't have and it was not very common for people in the lower classes to actually be citizens

Okay, so as a citizen, he's already technically in the upper class, but he's still not in the in the he's not wealthy landed

He's he's in a different class. He's in a merchant class Oh, yeah, yeah

Yeah, indeed. He could lose his very livelihood and his life which he ended up losing And yes

Between the sacraments and ordinances, okay the

Yes, there is a branch in Protestantism that really hates the word sacrament and I understand, you know, you look through scriptures and you're not gonna see the word

Sacrament in it. It's a Latin phrase. And what does the Latin phrase mean? mystery

So what it's basically the word itself is saying that these things are mysteries given to us by God and We believe by faith what they are now the branch of Protestantism that denies that God is working in the waters of baptism and They deny that Christ is bodily present in the

Lord's Supper They Change the M the emphasis from mystery sacrament to ordinance and here's how they see it

Or an ordinance is something God has commanded us to do. Why do I need to get baptized?

Because Jesus said you need to get wet. What's what's gonna happen? Nothing? Nothing's gonna happen to you in the waters of baptism.

If Jesus says jump you say how high He said get in the water. So you get in the water

Ordinance is law sacrament Puts it in a different category

Because in the waters of baptism all the clear passages teach and the summary goes something like this that our sins are washed away

That we are buried with Christ that we are raised with Christ. Our heart is circumcised by Christ and This is all

God's work So Baptism isn't a law to be obeyed.

It is a gift to be received Ordinance isn't is in the in the way of law

So then you go to a church then when they talk about the ordinance of the Lord's Supper Why are we having?

grape juice and crackers every four months or so because Jesus said to Okay What's it for it's to show

Jesus that we're obeying his word Okay. Yeah But Jesus is body and blood they're not in there

It's not for the forgiveness of your sins It turned the ordinance turns it into law and these are specifically gospel

Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins is gospel sins washed away

That's gospel One baptism for the forgiveness of sins which comes straight out of Acts chapter 2

That's gospel Ordinance turns it into a law. Yeah Here when we're driving to Kongsvinger You're gonna notice something about the roads

They're up and on one side of the road, there's a ditch on the other side of the road.

There's a ditch This behooves us then that while we're driving to not end up in either ditch

Rome So they take the

Lord's Supper and They turn it into during the medieval times the bloodless re -sacrifice of Christ is how they would talk about it

And it became a law It became a law and There's a reaction against it and the overreaction ends up in the opposite ditch

Rome is wrong. So we're going to go the opposite direction of their error But the opposite error of an error is not the truth the

Lutherans come along and say Huh? Would you guys please just hold these things in tension the way scripture does?

because Rome says in the Lord's Supper there is only the body and blood of Christ present and That it just looks like bread and wine

The other side comes and says there's no body and blood of Christ presence It's just bread and wine the

Lutheran say do you guys not know how to read? This is how to Lutheran stock and we'll point this out and then we'll wrap this up here

So this is where we keep going from here So in the following instructions first first Corinthians 11 17

I do not commend you because when you come together It's not for the better for the worse in the first place when you come together as a church

I hear there are divisions among you and I believe it in part There must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized and when you come together

It's not the Lord's Supper you eat for an eating one goes ahead with his own meal one goes hungry and another gets drunk by the way

Grape juice was not Even invented and the fact that there were people getting drunk on the communion wine is proof positive

That that they were drinking Fermented wine.

This is most certainly true because you can't get drunk on Welch's Which wasn't going to come along until the 19th century anyway

So do you not have houses to To eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?

What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not And watch what he says next for I received from you from the

Lord what I also delivered to you That the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took bread

When he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is given for you do this in to the remembrance of me

Covenantal talk in the same way. Also. He took the cup after supper Saying this cup singular is the new covenant in my blood.

There's your covenant talk again Now that's explicitly he's establishing the new covenant do this as often as you drink it in Remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup you proclaim the

Lord's death until he comes Whoever therefore and watch this count it up Rome is wrong and the other side's wrong, too.

Therefore Whoever eats the bread Does it say that you eat bread

Yes, it does There's one Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup

So you got bread and wine of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the

Lord How many things is that? four Rome says to the other side says to they say the opposite to the text says for Bread wine body blood so whoever eats the

Bread and drinks the cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of Christ So let a person examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup

Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning and this Greek word by the way An oxy os can also mean

Recognize If anyone does not whoever eats and drinks without discerning or recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself

That is why many of you are weak and ill and have died Bread wine body blood.

How does it work? I don't know Faith says Thank you

Lord That you've given us this gift of your body and blood somehow mysteriously present with this bread and wine given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins and this is the sign of the

New Covenant and in doing so I am remembering that you have promised to forgive me of my sins and you

God have remembered Your promise that you will be merciful to me in the same way that the destroyer in Egypt passed over the houses where the blood was the destroyer passes over us because We have the blood of Christ on our lips and on our tongue.