Luke 22:1-23

Discussion Questions

• What meaning did the Passover hold for the Jews? What were they remembering, and why was it good to celebrate this festival annually?
• What meaning is attached to Jesus’ sacrificial death occurring during Passover?
• In what ways is Jesus in control of His path to the cross?
• Read Jer. 31:31-34 and discuss the relevance to Luke 22:20.
• What does it say about humans/sin that someone like Judas walked with/witnessed Jesus, yet chose to betray Him as he did?
• What does it say about God/Jesus that He washed Judas’ feet and welcomed Him into His fellowship of believers?
• Alister McGrath says that sin is basically “failing to trust God”. Do you agree?
• C.S. Lewis says we were primarily created to be loved by God rather than being created to “do” anything for Him. Do you agree? Does this rub against any works-based perspective you may have previously adopted?

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. We have extra copies. If you didn’t bring one with you and you’d like one to follow along, slide your hand up real high. Somebody will drop on off at your row, your aisle. Always is good to have a copy of the text in front of you. And thank you so much to those folks who are doing that for us. Today we’ll be in Luke, Chapter 22, verses 1 through 23. Kim and I in the last couple years, we’ve gotten into the British murder mysteries. Anybody watch those? Yeah, I know that’s a terrible way probably to start a sermon, but we got a lot of Brits here today, so I’m kind of doing honor to them. But Kim and I like the whole idea of spy craft and espionage, international intrigue, all that stuff. And I think more than that though, we like the idea that there’s always some kind of twist or a turn to the murder mystery or to the spy movie or TV show or whatever it is. And I like it that there’s a story behind the story. Oftentimes, the story behind the story is actually bigger than the story that’s on the surface. If you know what I mean, those of you do like that kind of thing, Luke 22 is for you. I mean, this is a great passage. You’ll see from the get-go that it does indeed have that kind of look-behind-the-scenes as you read it. There’s some real stuff obvious on the front, but we’re going to look behind the scenes together and see it together.

Let me offer up this prayer for illumination as we open the text or swipe on your devices to Luke, Chapter 22: Father, as we read and study Your Word today, help us not to let these words pass quickly from our eyes as we move on to the next sentence, the next thing in our minds or lunch, whatever it might be. Lord, You brought us to this place in a moment like this, to this passage, that we might be stopped by and quickened by the Holy Spirit, captivated by Jesus, left standing in awe at Your great love for us. So please, as You have inspired this passage, so move in our hearts now. Teach us, transform us, rescue us, redeem us. Produce in us lives shaped by Your truth in this passage. Greater faith is what we’re interested in, in Your power and also, Lord, a more confident assurance of Your love for us. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.

So, we’ll call the sermon, “The Divine Conspiracy,” a little nod homage to an old book by a friend, an acquaintance of ours, a guy named Dallas Willard. Some of you probably read the book. It’s a nice, really beautiful treatment on the Sermon on the Mount. And if you haven’t studied the Sermon on the Mount with someone, Dallas is now home with the Lord, but his book is a true delight. But that’s what we’ll call this sermon today. Maybe you’ll see as it unfolds. Let’s read through the text first: “Now, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.” Remember, we’re in the week, the Passion Week. We’re in the middle of the week. And in a matter of just a few hours, Jesus is going to be betrayed, formally arrested, put through these mock trials, some of which are religious, some of which are political. And then He will be tortured. He will be nailed to a cross. And He will die pretty horrible and a very public death. But all because He loves you and He loves me. That’s what motivated Him. And so, we’re going to see that as that’s approaching, these first six verses in particular are the sort of the dark cloud approaching. So that’s the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the Passover, and it was approaching.

“The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him [Jesus] to death; for they were afraid of the people.” Now, it’s not the first time we’ve read that. We’ve read before that they have murder on their minds. We’ve read before that they, supposedly good Southern religious people from the South part of Israel, would have expected them to have faith, but they don’t have that. They’re not open. As a matter of fact, they’re working at odds with God’s plan through Christ. So, where you live matters not. It’s where your heart is, and their heart is dead set against Jesus. See, there’s such a popular movement rising up for and behind Jesus, remember Palm Sunday? And so, they are afraid to do something that would cause the crowds to come after them or disrespect them or that they would upset the crowds. But “Satan [verse 3] enters into Judas, who was called Iscariot.” We don’t know the exact meaning of his name, but some suggest that he may have been a member of the Sakari; the assassins that would go into the marketplace and were politically driven. They would seek to do away with Romans who might be in the marketplace on a given day. And with small knives, they would attack and try to kill some of the Romans.

But he has been a part of, as it says right here, belonging to the number of the 12. Do not miss that. Judas has been a part of the 12 disciples. He’s been with the 12 apostles now, as Jesus has started to even send them out on mission. And Judas has gone on mission. And Judas may have even preached and may have healed people. He may have even been around as Jesus healed and raised people from the dead, three of which we know about, Lazarus, the widow of Nain. So, we see that Judas is really a part of this whole thing. And yet at the same time, we see that he’s a part of this very dark story here in the first six verses. “He went away [Judas did] and discussed with the chief priests and the officers how he might betray Him [meaning Jesus] to them.” Okay, so he’s now gone to these chief priests, describes these religious leaders that are conspiring that they’re frustrated, but they’re still wanting to do away with Jesus. And now one of Jesus’ 12 followers, closest disciples, has come to them and has started a conversation with them. And as I was reading, as I was meditating on it all week, I kept thinking to myself, “How did this happen? How did this guy, who sat for three years, possibly, around campfires with Jesus and heard Him preach things like what we call the Sermon on the Mount, and saw Him perform miracles, walk on water, cast demons out…how did that slide happen? And how do I need to be aware of those things?”

And he leaves the 12 disciples. That’s at least metaphorically interesting that he separates himself from God’s people, and he goes and actually engages with those who are working at odds with Jesus. And that’s another thing that happens, I think, to a lot of folks, even in our own day and time. And now he’s conspiring with them how to betray Jesus. Well, verse five tells us exactly how they responded to this. Imagine them frustrated as they were, having tried so many times like they have. Now they have a mole in the 12 disciples. They’ve got one of their own now, because Judas has switched from one side to the other. Verse five, they were what? Delighted. And they agreed to give him money. And if any of you have read John’s gospel, I think it’s chapter 12 or 13, right there it says, he was a thief. He used to skim off the money bag all the time. So, what’s important to Judas has really never been Jesus. It’s been Judas. And so, they were delighted. They gave him money. He consented. So, he’s agreed now, 100% in. “And began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him [Jesus] to them apart from the multitude. Then came the day [and this is such an amazing shift] of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.”

This would be 14th of the month, the Jewish month Nisan, and for us in our calendar, Western calendar, it would change a little bit. It might be late March, could be early April, just as we see Easter itself, in our Western calendar move around, it’s not always on the same Sunday of our calendar month. But it’s now being pointed out to us by Luke that the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed had come. Now watch what happened. This is amazing. This is an insignificant detail. This is something that’s important, that what’s about to happen connects to that statement. You see verse eight. “He sent Peter and John,” this is Luke, he’s the only one that tells us which of the two disciples Jesus sent to go prepare this, “He sent Peter and John saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat it.’ And they said to Jesus, ‘Where do you want us to prepare it?’ And He said to them, ‘Behold, when you’ve entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house that he enters.’” And you might think, there’s probably a hundred men carrying pictures of water. How’s he going to know? Is he going to have a T-shirt on? “I’m one of the disciples of Jesus.” Is he, is it, how is it they’re going to know? In their culture, in their day and time, and I’m not saying this is right or wrong I’m just simply saying, in their culture this was women’s work. This is what the women did. They went to the well. Think back in the Old Testament, Rachel at the well. They did that. And so, Jesus’ disciples are supposed to go into Jerusalem and look for not a woman, but a man carrying a pitcher of water. And even if there were five or 10 of them, at least they’d stand out a little bit.

Is this a miraculous thing that Jesus just does in the instant or is this something He set up in advance? I don’t know. I don’t think that matters. I think what matters is that it happened exactly as Jesus told them it would happen. So, watch what happens. Go, and he’s carrying a pitcher of water. “Follow him into the house that he enters. And you shall say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where’s the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” And he [Jesus tells them] will show you a large furnished upper room; prepare it there.” Such great detail, foresight, on Jesus’ part. “And they departed and they found everything just as He had told them.” I assure you, we will all find everything just as Jesus has said. At the end of all history and time, that’s the way. He’s in charge of all outcomes. And if He’s in charge of the ultimate outcome, He can handle this outcome. He can handle the little outcome I’m worried about too. And the little outcome you might be worried about. So, they do this in obedience to what Jesus says. And they prepared the Passover, which was 14. “And when the hour had come, He reclined at table, and the apostles with Him. Underline the hour. That’s important too. Jesus for a long time has been saying, “This is not the hour. My hour has not yet come.” I want you to know, He’s in charge not only of the day, but of the hour of his sacrifice of His life. And it’s going to be meaningful as we look back on it through the eyes of this side of history and looking back, we’re going to say, “He’s the one that’s actually in charge of this. Nobody took his life; He laid it down.”

He even timed the laying down of his life to an hour that He wanted to lay down His life. The hour had come according, as Luke sets up the narrator as he tells us, “Jesus reclined a table with them, and the apostles were with Him. [Verse 15] And He said to them, ‘I’ve earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” There’s so much there, we can unpack that. We could be there all this morning right there. Please don’t be afraid, we won’t do all of that. But Jesus, the ultimate Passover lamb, Jesus, the Lamb of God. Look at the word fulfilled there. He has come to fulfill all of the hope and promises that are wrapped up in the Passover. And these Jewish men would have, for years, they would have been celebrating Passover. It was part of their culture, part of their religion. And what they did was they looked back on that time when the Lord God saw and heard all of the suffering of His people in Egypt. And He delivered them from Egypt. Exodus means “a delivery.” He freed them from their bondage and slavery there, set them free and told them to celebrate or observe this Passover feast and this meal every single year so they would never, ever forget what God had done. Now God sovereignly rules over every single nation. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge. He’s in charge of the outcomes. And He took the initiative, and He brought them out of slavery. And they were to remember that. And they forgot it over and over and over again. And they drifted into worshiping things and different religious symbols and idols. All through the years they had just wavered like this.

And here comes the ultimate Passover lamb. Jesus, the Lamb of God, going to lay down His life at the time of Passover in the hour that He is going to do it in. And He is doing this because God is taking initiative here. And this is really amazing. He says, “I wanted to eat this, but I’ll never eat it again until it’s fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Verse 17, “And having taken the cup, when He had given thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves.’” I love the communal aspect of that. His prescription for us is that we would do this communally. We would be the gathered people of God and that we would do this partaking of communion and the Eucharist, as it’s called in so many churches. And He goes on with further instruction. “I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” And we know He’s going to eat with them after the resurrection. His resurrected body, His physical body, once dead, come now back to life, is going to eat food. He’s not an apparition; He’s not a ghost. They don’t eat food. So, He eats food with them. But this is probably a reference to the complete fulfillment of the kingdom of God when it comes in its fullness, when He returns and sets the world to rights. We’ll have Him taking some bread, verse 19, “When He had given thanks, He broke it and He gave it to them saying,” and you know these words, “’This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’”

“In the same way, He took the cup after they had eaten saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Me on the table. For indeed, the Son of Man,’” His most often used self-reference, His most often used title that’s drawn right out of Daniel Chapter 7, and is essentially saying, “I’m the Messiah.” “’Indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined by…’” Who? By Jesus, by God. This isn’t determined by Judas. It’s not determined by Satan. It’s not determined by the religious leaders. The hour, the day is in Jesus’ control, okay? “’But woe to that man through whom He is betrayed!’” And He’s certainly referencing Judas here. “They began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.” So, there’s just so much here. We’re going to call the study today, “The Divine Conspiracy,” but it really, as you look at the first six verses as I read them, you might have thought this should be called the demonic conspiracy, and that’s the first six verses. It’s really the three of them conspiring, isn’t it? The devil, aka Satan. The defecting disciple, Judas Iscariot. And then the delighted, and you could probably put that in quotes if you wanted to, because verse five says they’re delighted, but they’re delighted for all the wrong reasons. They’re delighted because their evil plan, they think their evil plan is coming together. They think they’re the ones in charge, and so they’re deluded, but they’re delighted.

Judas Iscariot is referred to 22 times in the New Testament. Each of the four gospels mentions him, and he’s also mentioned in the book of Acts as well. In the list of the disciples that are given, you know, where all 12 of them are mentioned, Judas is always named last. It’s not insignificant. The apostle and the disciple Peter, or Simon Peter, is always mentioned first, and I find that interesting because when a lot of us think about Judas, we also think about Peter, well, and some people even say, well, I see what happened to Judas, but what about Peter? And they want to compare and contrast Judas and Peter, and the betrayal by Judas, the denial by Peter. But I don’t think I have to make too much of an argument to suggest to you that Judas, while remorseful, we’re told, was never repentant, and there’s a big difference. We’ll make that point in just a minute, but, and there’s a real good reason why all you young couples, when you’re searching through the book of baby names, do not choose Judas. That’s what you name your Rottweiler, or your boa constrictor, your pit bull. It is not what you name your son. I don’t know anybody named Judas. I could be wrong. You might be able to set me straight later. And I’m sure that some of you in the room, just like me, have some questions about Judas. What ultimately happened? How’s it that it feels a little like maybe this was sort of a setup or whatever? And I have some questions too, and there’s some questions I have that I’m sure I’m not going to have an answer for until the Lord returns, and we can sit down and talk and find out some of these things.

But let me just give you a few things about the story of Judas that I think we can learn from. Number one, a person could claim to be a follower of Jesus but ultimately prove not to have been. That’s Judas. Jesus predicted this very thing would happen. He even knew that Judas would betray him and turn from him even early on in his ministry. Matter of fact, we read in Matthew, Chapter 7: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name cast out demons? And in your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them [He’s very clear there]  ‘I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’” So, there it is. He knows in advance Jesus does that this is what’s going to happen. And yet He still chooses Judas. And Judas is still included in the campfire when they’re all sitting around after they’ve had a hard day of ministry. And they’re saying “Tell me one more time, Jesus, what that parable meant. I really am not getting it.” And Judas was sitting right there. And Jesus walks across the water and yes, Judas is probably in the boat and sees all of it. So, what is it we’re supposed to do? You got to have some questions about Judas, just like I do. But I know this, a person can pretend like this. And maybe you know somebody in your own life, I do. I’ve had pastors that turned inside out like a squirrel on a branch of a tree that can literally go this way. And then all of a sudden just jerk right back that way, turn inside out. And I’ve had pastors that have done that. And so, they ultimately proved not to have been actually following Christ, they were following themselves.

Secondly, a person can have access to spiritual privileges, even serve in ministry, but never come to love the Lord. And see, this is what it gets down to. ‘Cause there’s a whole lot of people, even in our own day and time, who are performing the duties of religion and might be standing up and opening a Bible and expounding on it or might be leading worship even. And they actually don’t love the Lord. Their heart is far from Him, from the Lord. They’re rearranging the sacrifice on the altar. They’re moving some things around, they’re doing stuff, but they actually don’t love the Lord themselves. And there’s massive differences, isn’t there, when you think about it? Judas Iscariot, we’re told in John, Chapter 12, loved money. That’s why he used to skim off the top of the offering. And that’s what he was really all about. As I said earlier, we learned this from Judas too. Remorse is not the same as repentance. He will have remorse in Matthew, Chapter 27. We’re told he did have remorse. And then he actually went back to those religious leaders and took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them on the ground. And then we’re told in Matthew, Chapter 27, he went out then and hung himself. He did not go out then and repent. He didn’t go back to Jesus and say, “Master, Savior, will You forgive me?” There’s no indication whatsoever that that was happening. And fourthly, this leads me on my last on Judas in terms of things we might learn from him. You cannot lose God’s salvation, but you can most certainly fake your own. So, if that was what Judas was doing, if for him it was just wearing the t-shirt but not being on the team, just wanting to hang around with people that are believers, but not actually be one himself. It looked like he was a part of it, but he was not really a part of it.

You see, your biography flows from your ontology. Ontology is a study of being. What kind of being are you? Have you been born again is what it gets down to. Have you trusted Christ as your savior is what really matters. Do you love Him, or are you just faking it? You’re just a poser, just a pretender. One day you may become a betrayer of Jesus as well. Last thing I think we can learn from Judas for now anyway, is really something we learn about Jesus. He loves sinners. Jesus loves sinners of all kinds, even those who betray Him and end up rejecting Him. Essentially the question becomes how will we respond to Jesus. Listen, you can read the parallel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You can read all the commentaries and you’re probably still going to get the impression that Judas was in the room when Jesus was washing feet, when Jesus was breaking the bread. You know? And if that’s the case, do you understand how much Jesus loved the man He knew was going to betray Him? “His hand is on the table with Me right now,” He said. And that’s when they all go: Who is it? Me? Who is it? Is it me? Am I the one? And He’s making it really clear, Jesus is, how much He loves even the sinner that will betray Him. And he even knows who he is. He already knows that in his own heart. The love of Christ for sinners, we can’t talk about it enough. It’s a part of the great news of the Gospel of grace. Lewis put it this way in the problem of pain. “We were made not primarily that we may love God, though we were made for that too, but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the divine love may rest well pleased.”

Oh, are you here today? And you are one who you say, believe the Gospel, you believe in grace, but sometimes you struggle with living that out, believing that, trusting that completely. Do you sometimes fall back into sort of scale mentality where you’re trying to balance out the scale? Some of us grew up in churches that taught that all the time. It’s about your works; it’s about your sort of performance-based religion. And instead of saying, “You know, it’s about what Christ has done; it’s not about what we do. It’s about what He did for us. We trust Him; He took my sin to the cross; He gave me His righteousness.” What a great exchange that is. And it’s on offer to you today. And I submit to you that Judas heard the Gospel over and over and over again. And yet no remorse, I mean, no repentance, no turning to Him, no wanting to receive His love. Jesus had not performed the way Judas would want Him to or was not in that particular moment doing that. And so, Judas frustrated because he thought Jesus was going to go downtown and just overthrow the Romans and all that sort of thing, maybe that’s what he had in his mind, or maybe he thought, “There’s no more money in this, I gotta get out of this.” And Jesus still loved him up until the very minute when he leaves the room to go and conspire with these religious leaders.

Alistair McGrath, one of my favorite living theologians said, “While the biblical concept of sin has many aspects that could rightly be described as forensic or legal (such as the idea of ‘missing the mark’ or ‘falling short’ of what is required), the idea of the betrayal of a personal relationship is fundamental to a biblical understanding of sin… Sin is about failing to trust God, challenging His authority, or failing to take his promises seriously.” And folks, that’s Judas, that describes who we read about in the first six verses. That’s where he’s at, failing to trust God, not wanting God’s promises, God’s plan, to be accomplished. And so, this I would call what we’ve just read about in the last few verses, this is the divine conspiracy. It’s the bigger story behind the little story in the first six verses. The first six verses are, “Oh my goodness!” At the end of them, you might find yourself going, “Oh man, the forces are arrayed against Jesus. There’s no hope, this thing’s going down.” And yet here in vivid display, in the form of a meal, is God saying, “I got this, I’m in charge of all of this.” Yes, his body, my body, Jesus says, “Yes, My body’s going to be broken, My blood is going to be shed, but it’s going to be that, my death will be that you can have life if you trust and believe in Me.”

Some of you, most of you, I would bet, this is probably one of the most famous paintings in the world. It’s the Divine Conspiracy at dinner. That’s exactly what it is. When they went, Peter and John made reservations at the room, the joke is that they got a table for 26 ’cause they were all going to get on one side of the table and take a picture, and they needed a table twice as big as the number of them that would be there. So, I don’t think that’s true, but when you look at this painting, and it’s in a little place outside of Milan, any of you that have been there, you’ve seen it, it’s quite a moment to be there and to see it. It is, for me anyway, it’s pretty amazing. Look at the way the disciples are clustered in threes there. Jesus in the middle, right? That’s very interesting, isn’t it? Judas is the one that, as you look at the screen there, he’s kind of leaning back. His face is shattered, it looks like his skin is dark, but I don’t think that’s the idea. I think the idea is that he’s not in the light. I think this artist brilliantly has given us a visual of the one disciple who has recoiled, repulsed at what Jesus is doing, what He’s saying. It doesn’t align with what Judas’ plan would be and the divine conspiracy, which does not make sense to, in worldly terms, in worldly wisdom, the divine conspiracy is going to be fulfilled. And the apostle Paul talks about this, where he says, “He, God the Father, chose us in Him [Jesus] before the foundation of the world.” In other words, way before that meal, way before today, way before the foundation of the world means before the creation of everything that exists in this physical universe, God was planning for you and me a way of reconciliation. He already had that in his mind, and I really love that Luke 22, the timing and the juxtaposition of the betrayal of Christ being planned in verses one through six, and this amazing meal, the Passover meal, the last final Passover meal that becomes the first communion.

You know, that’s amazing. And what Jesus is literally doing there is He’s saying, “I am in charge of the outcomes, and I have your highest good in mind. I love you so much, and if you will simply turn to me in repentance of faith believing, I will do everything necessary. My body’s going to be broken; my blood is going to be shed for you, that’s true. And that will, my death will, win your life.” And then He will even emphasize it more, of course, three days after when He rises from the dead Himself, permanently dismantling the power of death itself. Bunyan said, “And, indeed, this is one of the greatest mysteries in the world; namely, that a righteousness that resides in heaven should justify me, a sinner on earth.” That deserves my friend, at least, a wayward Methodist, amen. Sort of a lapsed Catholic, amen. How about a cold Presbyterian, amen? Give me whatever you got, but I mean, that’s, Bunyan is right there. How, that’s, listen, the biggest question that you Christians and me as a Christian, that we have to answer is, we don’t have to answer so much, you know, a lot of people think this is the big stumper. Was there only one way? How come there’s only one way? No, the biggest question is: Why is there even one way? You see the difference? Why should there be a way?

See, those of us that think that’s, that it’s the other way around, that God needs to somehow or another justify having come up with one way, I mean, you would never do that if there were a medicine that would cure you of whatever your ailment is. You would simply take the medicine. You wouldn’t say, “No, there’s only one, I’m not taking it.” Well, you’re a fool. Let’s don’t be foolish spiritually. Look what He’s done for us. It’s amazing. Now I know you also have questions about, a lot of you maybe, about communion. How is Christ present in the Lord? And it does, you’re right, most of you know this. It gets down to that little, tiny word “is” and what he meant by it. Did he mean literally, this is my body and my blood? Is it figurative? If it’s figurative, is there some other spiritual meaning or something else that happens? And I got news for you. We’re not going to solve the problem today. There have been for a long, long, long time, a lot of people who feel differently about this, but who claim the name of Christ.

Transubstantiation is the Roman Catholic view. I’ll give you the four views real quick. The elements literally become Christ’s body and blood, not merely symbols, or accompanied by His presence. This goes all the way back to Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century and the 12th century, back in that era. The view teaches that as the priest consecrates the elements of bread and wine, they literally become in substance, the real body and blood of the Lord. So, when Christ said is, he meant take it literally. So trans, it changes, transubstantiation. The benefits of the sacrament are realized in the priestly administration of the element. So, it’s a sacerdotal system. It’s about a priest doing something that now brings this thing about. The physical elements themselves become the body and blood of Christ. There’s concept, instantiation, or as Lutherans, some Lutherans will call it the sacramental union view, that Christ’s body and blood are truly present alongside them received by all who portee. View formulated in part by Martin Luther in the 16th century, teaches that rather than a change of the elements into the literal body and blood of Christ as elements are consecrated, there is woven together with the elements the presence of the body and blood of the Lord. The presence is in, with and under, thus con, that first syllable is with, and so that’s why it’s called consubstantiation.

There’s, for most other Protestants in the reform view, one that I myself lean to as well. The bread and wine are signs and symbols, but Christ’s spiritual presence is real for those who protect by faith. This emphasizes spiritual presence through faith, not a physical or localized presence in the elements because Christ’s localized body, his physical body, is actually in heaven right now. He ascended to heaven and that means something. He actually is there, his lungs and His heart are there. You know, his physical presence is the only thing up in heaven right now that’s a physical presence, like we are used to a physical presence here on the planet. But the good news is he’s there representing us and he’s coming back one day to set the world to rights, and I rejoice in that. That’s way more important than my understanding of communion and how it ought to be thought of. In the memorial view, which is the fourth view, major view, the elements are purely symbolic and in a good way, that’s meant in a good way. And Christ’s presence is in the gathered community or in the believer’s heart, not the bread and wine itself. This goes back to people like Zwingli, 16th century Swiss reformer. And what’s prominent in this view is a strong emphasis on the sacrament to bring to mind the death of Christ and its efficacy on behalf of the believer. Communion is essentially a commemoration in this view of Christ’s death on the cross as a propitiatory sacrifice averting the wrath of God away from the believer and expiating or carrying away the sin of the believer.

Now, if all of those words have made you fall asleep, I apologize. You know, theologians, I love, we’re all theologians in the sense that we believe something about God, right? But professional theologians, some of my friends who are professional theologians, have told me that their entire job is to come up with words that we don’t understand. So that they can keep working. And they’re doing a pretty good job, I think, really, don’t you? Yeah, it’s funny because they talk about the perspicuity of scripture. And what that’s supposed to mean is that scripture can be understood. (laughs) And yet they use a word that we don’t understand very well, a lot of us. All right, so which of these views is right? Look, look, you could be a Christian and I believe this is not self-vific. I know this. Unless, see, unless you think that it’s all about the elements, you understand it’s not about the elements, you see? Unless you’ve gone off the charts into just thinking it’s all about your view and it’s your view and everybody else’s. I lean toward the real presence view and maybe in between that and the memorial view a little bit. I’ve always been a fellow that I think some people get frustrated with because they would like to pin me down and make me say it’s this. And I know it’s this and they want to go to a church where everything’s squared out like that. And look, I do a whole lot of wondering, not wandering but wondering, in my walk with the Lord.

And I open the Bible, and I look at that word is and man, that’s a big two letter word. And I think too that if you get too far down this road, of separating yourself from others who happen to see it differently, listen carefully and you will hear the hissing of a snake who wants to divide the church of Jesus Christ. And also ask yourself the question, have you forgotten what we just read about? Because if for you it’s just all about the elements, I want to encourage you to think that through again because I don’t believe that it really is. “It is not by the mere outward administration of water in baptism that we are cleansed and receive the Spirit, nor by the mere gift of bread and wine in communion that we feed on Christ crucified, but by faith in the promises of God, thus visibly expressed…” Augustine was the one that called the sacraments verbal, verbavisabilia, visible words. In other words, we can see what Christ has said. It means something real. And then Stott goes on to say, “…a faith which is itself meant to be illustrated in our humble, believing acceptance of these signs. But we must not confuse the signs with the promises which they signify. It is possible to receive the sign without receiving the promise, and also to receive the promise apart from receiving of the sign.” So just that word of caution for all of us, I think, is to say, Lord, what would You have us do?

The purposes of Lord’s supper to me as I look across Scripture seem to be pause to examine, review, your great need for redemption, reflect, meditate on Christ’s greater sacrifice. Again, this is about what Christ has done, not about what we should do or ought to do. When we celebrate communion like we will here in this church next Sunday, we’re coming to say thanks. We’re coming to the table. Eucharist means thanksgiving. So, we’re coming to say thanks to the Lord for what He has done, what He has accomplished. Renewal, deepening our union with Christ. Something does happen spiritually. There is, in my view, a real presence. You have to define the word presence and the word real, both. If you’re going to talk about that, I get it. But as I think about it, as I meditate on it, the Lord is really present with us in a special kind of way when we partake of communion as He commanded us to. Proclamation, we’re declaring God’s covenant promises. Here at the church, at this church anyway, we have you come forward, and you partake of the elements up here, its intinction is the method you dip the cracker into the juice and partake of it. It’s personal, it’s intimate that you do that, but it’s also public. I see you go up and say, as a sinner, I know Jesus is my savior, and at the table, I’m remembering His death on the cross, His body broken, His blood shed for me, and I receive that with joy and thanksgiving. And so, it’s a proclamation as well, and it’s also a means of restoration, renewal by grace, through faith in God’s promises.

Let’s join, can we? This is my final thought to you in this sermon. Can we not join the divine conspiracy? Let’s be, let’s go. Let’s follow the Lord as He leads us on, let’s be in the wake of His grace, reflecting the grace of the Gospel along the way, and joining Him. So, here’s the encouragement: The love of Christ pursues you, inviting you to receive and walk in His gift of salvation. So be encouraged by this passage, not discouraged. Don’t be. I’m sorry if you’re confused about the four elements thing. You can find experts that will tell you they’re right. But go ahead and research it, go if you would like to, prayerfully do that. But look to the Word. I mean, ultimately, Scripture is our standard. And when I find myself struggling with the word “is”, and I don’t know what it means exactly, it doesn’t mean I turn away from Him. I still want to receive His grace and mercy. So be encouraged, an invitation is to examine your heart, if you surrendered every category of your life to Christ. Listen, if He’s not a Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all, that’s really true. There’s no such thing as partial sovereignty. He’s sovereign Lord. He’s in charge of every verse in this passage we studied today. The first six verses did not scare Him. As a matter of fact, it was all part of His plan. He came to die, and he came to purchase your salvation and mine.

The challenge is to live as His apprentices, follow Christ, and follow Him through obedience and faith. And then the response, of course, is participating in the fellowship of Christ’s church in the Word and sacraments, trusting Christ as your Savior, Lord and King. The churches like ours, most of the Protestant churches, celebrate two sacraments, water baptism and communion, the Lord’s supper, Eucharist, as it’s variously called. Catholic churches and maybe Eastern Orthodox churches, some of those, have seven sacraments. The five additional ones aren’t ones that we find the Lord Jesus instituting in the New Testament. So, we’ve chosen to just go with what Jesus has instituted. Doesn’t make us better. It’s just we’re following and adhering to what we see in Scripture itself. But I have so many lovely brothers and sisters and friends who are Catholics, so many lovely brothers and sisters who are Methodists, who are not milk toast Methodists, but they’re solid Methodists. And Baptists and Pentecostals and Presbyterians and on and on it goes. And just like the beautiful leaves that turn so many different colors in the fall, I’m so glad the body of Christ is a many, varicolored body of Christ. And it takes more than just us to make up the body of Christ. And I think we do well to understand that and be humble and honest, honest about what we don’t know and humble in the face of not knowing some things. That will serve us well and serve the witness that we have for the Gospel well as the days press on and get darker. That’s right.

Lord, thank You for this passage. All that it has held for us, all that we’ve learned, especially about Your great love being so amazing as You came. You didn’t have to. But as you came to lay down your life and as we move closer to our study of the cross itself and the resurrection. Lord, I pray that You would fill our hearts with a greater understanding of Your great love for us. There at the cross, Your love for justice, there at the cross, Your love for mercy, Your love for wisdom and power, all of that on full display in the person of Christ on the cross. And O Lord, we look so forward to studying the resurrection as well. Thank You for being in charge of every outcome. We trust You with the big and the small. And we pray Lord that You will fill us with fresh measures of faith and with fresh measures of grace as we continue to walk with You as a community of faith, trusting in You. In Jesus’ name, we pray this, amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“Crown Him With Many Crowns“ by Sir George J. Elvey, Matthew Bridges, Godfrey Thring arr. Bailey, Mickle
“Holy, Holy, Holy“ by John Bacchus Dykes
“Revive Us Again“ by John Jenkins Husband and William Paton MacKay
“Come to the Upper Room” By Larry Nickel
“We Will Feast In The House Of Zion“ by Sandra McCracken and Joshua Moore
“Christus Victor (Amen)“ by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty. Matt Boswell, Matt Papa, Bryan Fowler
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: Holy, Holy, Holy (Song)

Classic Prayer:

Bless all who worship Thee, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same. Of Thy goodness, give us; with Thy love, inspire us; by Thy spirit guide us; by Thy power, protect us; in Thy mercy, receive us now and always. Amen.

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