Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. [NIV]

Tonight, we celebrate the Lord’s institution of His Supper for us. It is one of the most, if not THE most treasured of all gifts from the Lord Jesus. It is a personal demonstration of His personal love for us. Being far more than mere ceremony, Jesus instituted this Supper to bring His body of believers real, spiritual nourishment. Through this meal, His risen body and divine blood come to us, nourishing us in the forgiveness of sin, comforting us in distress, filling us with hope for eternity while we yet live in this sinful world. Tonight, as a Christian family, united by faith in Christ and agreement in what God’s Bible Word teaches, we share this meal together.

As we celebrate the institution of His Supper, it is important to remember the circumstances that surrounded it. It was just days earlier that He had entered Jerusalem on a donkey to the cries of “Hosanna,” which means ‘God saves’! He had entered the city to die. It is now Thursday night, the night on which He would anguish in the Garden of Gethsemene, where His sweat would fall to the ground like great drops of blood (Luke 22: 39: 44). It is now Thursday night, the night Judas would betray Him into the hands of the priests and teachers of the law, those ‘religious’ men who did everything to undermine Jesus’ ministry as the true Messiah. It is now Thursday night, and He is only hours from His trial before Pilate, from His sentencing, and from His crucifixion for the world’s sins. Once on the cross, His Father would turn His back on Him as He bore our sins in abandonment. All this is rushing at Jesus now, and yet He takes the time to care for His church by instituting His Supper.

But before He could institute the Supper, the Passover needed to be celebrated that night. Jesus, in his concern for the disciples, even took care of these details. When the disciples asked Jesus where He wanted them to make preparations for the Passover, He replied: "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, `The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? ' He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."

The Lord and His twelve disciples arrive later that evening. They enter the upper room and recline at the table. They share the Passover. Now it is time for Jesus to share with them something even more important: Himself, that is, His body and blood through the bread and wine of the Supper. After finishing the Passover meal— and after Judas had left the room to betray Him— “Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples saying: ‘Take it; this is my Body. ’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. I tell you the truth, I will not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God. ’”

As heart-warming as this scene is, the true significance of what Jesus did here can easily escape us. We tend to see here only the symbolism of the meal. We tend to see the meal’s only purpose as a remembrance of what Jesus did for us.

There is that remembrance aspect to it, of course. It does help us to remember that on that night, He was ripped from His disciples by an armed guard. As His disciples fled in fear, it reminds us that He walked without fear to the cross for their sins and for ours and to rise again in victory over sin for us! In this, He completed His salvation mission for us all, fulfilling every last thing that the Old Testament had prophesied about Him concerning his identity, birthplace, and his work to save mankind from sin and hell. At the resurrection, He ushered in the New Testament fulfillment.

But there is more to the Supper than this remembrance. On the night of the OLD Testament Passover He instituted a NEW celebration to replace it: His Last Supper. This Supper was given as a means for Him to come to us personally and physically for forgiveness and strength every time we partake of the bread and wine. Jesus says of the bread: “This is my body.” He says of the wine: “This is my blood.”

Saint Paul teaches us regarding this one Supper: “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

“Flee from idolatry,” St. Paul says first, meaning “Flee to the Lord!” Applying this to the reality of the Lord’s body and blood in the Supper: “Flee to the Supper because there you will find your Lord.” How we need to find Him there because of our sins!

When we look at our sins as Christians, idolatry (from which we must flee) is still among them. This is hard to admit, but true. We all have things in our lives upon which we tempted to built our life rather than God. Is it money and the attending comforts of life? Is it spouse? Is it sexual pleasure? Is it success? Are you building your life on yourself — fancying yourself as a spiritual guru who is above any need for God’s Word in Christ? Idolatry can kill faith in Christ. Idolatry puts us on the broad road to hell upon which many walk. What are we waiting for? Flee to the Lord. Flee to His Supper! Flee to the true understanding of what the Supper is!

Regarding this true understanding, it is a deeper thing than the bread and wine we see and taste— as we have said already. It is far more than we can even comprehend with our minds. It is truly a mystery. But that’s all right. Simply believe that Christ himself is there in the bread and wine— not only spiritually, but also physically. Jesus “participates,” as God inspired Paul to write, in the meal. His risen, glorified body and blood attend the bread and wine supernaturally to enter our mouths and hearts. By faith and proper understanding of this Supper, we benefit from this as we commune— we benefit eternally! He brings us His forgiveness in a personal “one to one” way. We find salvation from every idolatrous thought and are renewed to flee idolatry!

As one body of faith in Christ and common belief in all that Scripture teaches, we commune tonight. St. Paul says: “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” We do so just as the disciples James, John, Peter, Andrew, Matthew, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James son of Alpheaus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, did on that first Supper. We also do so as the early Christians did. As recorded in Acts 2: 42: “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching (God’s Word), and to the fellowship (unity around the Word) , to the breaking of bread (The Lord’s Supper) and to prayer.”

It is our prayer that many in our community will join us in common faith in Christ and common belief in all that Scripture teaches so that many more can break bread in fellowship to receive Christ’s body and blood for forgiveness and salvation! SOLI DEO GLORIA

DEAR CHRIST, OUR LORD. THROUGH FAITH WE ARE YOUR ONE BODY. AS YOUR BODY WE NEED YOUR NOURISHMENT BECAUSE OUR SINS MAKE US FAMISHED. TONIGHT, BRING US YOUR GLORIFIED BODY AND BLOOD THROUGH THE BREAD AND WINE FOR FORGIVENESS AND STRENGTH OF FAITH. BRING OTHERS INTO OUR FELLOWSHIP THAT THEY TOO MAY SHARE THIS SUPPER WITH US. AMEN.

[NIV] New International Version used throughout.