A few weeks ago a man told me that they don’t serve communion very often in their church. When I asked him why not, he said, “We’ve done it so often it’s kind of lost its meaning. After all,” he said, “how many times do you have to eat some wafers and drink some juice before you figure it out?” What would you have said to him?
Through the history of the church there have been three major theological perspectives on communion. There have been a multitude of opinions on the frequency of serving communion. Of all the topics of biblical and theological inquiry throughout the past 2000 years, few rival communion in the amount of ink dedicated to discussing it. But what’s striking to me in all of it is how little attention the contemporary Christian church pays to the precise context in which Jesus Christ instituted it. Think of it. It’s Passover week. It’s the Passover meal. Instead of celebrating the feast with biological family members Jesus earnestly desires to eat the meal with His own disciples, even Judas! In fact Jesus orchestrates the whole event. In all of the Gospels only the triumphal entry rivals the last supper as a “Jesus-planned event.” Have you ever wondered why? What precise point is Jesus making to these eleven disciples that will inform their ministries after the resurrection and the ascension? What lessons do they learn in that upper room that night that they will carry with them as they execute the charge of Jesus in Matthew 28? And more importantly for us, what should we learn from it? (In fact, I would submit that the lessons of the Upper Room are the perfect answer to the man’s question cited above.)
This Sunday we will travel to a town 24 miles south of Ephesus to see in strikingly clear terms the essence of communion. The texts for the morning are I Peter 2:1-6 and I Corinthians 3:16-17 where Peter and Paul are talking about the nature of the church and its principle purpose in the world. All the time I hear people say, “I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian” or “I don’t need ‘organized religion’ to have contact with God.” Well, Peter and Paul would beg to differ. In fact, they would be so bold as to say that’s bovine scatology. The fact is that the church of Jesus Christ is essential to both being a Christian and having contact with God. And you know what proves it? Communion!
When the church of Jesus Christ exploded through Asia Minor not long after the Ascension, the evidence of the lessons of the Upper Room learned with the head and the heart were vividly apparent. Rather than capitulating to Greek culture the church established itself as a defiant antithesis to the common practices of the day. The church of Jesus Christ was a powerful alternative to the common convictions of every Gentile and every Jew. And the truth is that today’s church, Hebron Church, should be that same striking alternative in our culture. May we all see it and desire it, and may God grant it.
As the message, “Lessons from Legion” was a “warm-up” to our new fall series, so is Sunday’s message, “The House of God.” In preparation for Sunday, you may wish to consider the following:
God’s words to ancient Israel in Isaiah 51:1-3
The history of Priene
What was Alexander the Great’s role in Priene?
What was the significance of the Temple of Athena to the lives of those in and around Priene?
What relevance do the words of Peter and Paul in Sunday’s text have on the people of Priene?
How did the church begin to fulfill the role of the temple?
How does the Upper Room table compare to the role of the tabernacle and temple in Israel?
Why did the Prienians stop going to the Temple of Athena and head to the church?
How do the words of Jesus in the Upper Room fulfill the words of His Father concerning the tabernacle and the temple?
What “first love” is Jesus referring to in Revelation 2:4? How does that relate to communion?
See you Sunday at the table.
