“Nourished By Grace: The Spiritual Feat of Communion”

 Communion Meditation 

September 15th, 2024

Welcome:

Good morning Eastern Shore Baptist Church. What an honor it is to share this moment with you. Today we gather to remember the sacrifice of our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We gather to remember His body broken. We gather to remember His blood shed. The temptation for us this morning is to let this moment be mundane, routine. You’ve probably heard pastors and preachers say the following, “today we are taking common”. That could not be further from the truth. We don’t take communion. Communion takes us. It takes us back in time. We are there, sitting there with Jesus. We see the bread. We drink from the cup. My prayer is that you will be transported in time to that very moment. What we are doing together this morning is not by accident. It was modeled for us by the Master. Let’s go to God’s Word, Luke 22:15-20. 

Luke 22:15-23 ESV

And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. [16] For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." [17] And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. [18] For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." [19] And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." [20] And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

When Jesus provided the example of His Last Supper to His Disciples, He paved a path for the existence of the church. Eastern Shore Baptist Church would not exist if it were not for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. That, among many other reasons is why communion is important. 

Our sermon is titled “Nourished by Grace: The Spiritual Feat of Communion”—and what a fitting title it is for our time together!

Think about that word communion for a second. You know, communion is the root word of “community”. You cannot have community without communion. This church, this body, communes regularly. We are a community because we have in common one central truth. Jesus Christ is Lord. We have all sorts of differences. We differ politically. We differ on sports teams. We have differences economically, socially. Still, what draws us together as a community is Jesus. 

Another word where communion is the root word is “communication”. During the solemn remembrance of communion, we communicate with God and God communicates with us. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have no communication with God. It was that sacrifice that opened the door, that ripped the veil, so that we could step boldly into the presence of our Father. 

Friends, I want you to remember this morning that communion offers community. It also opens the line for us to communicate with God and for Him to speak to us. 

Communication, you might say, is sacred. Do you know what “sacred” means? It means holy, set apart. It means that something is dedicated to God. Communion is definitely sacred. 

Do me a favor this morning. Fill in the blanks under today’s thought. Communion is sacred, telling the story of our salvation and sanctification. Communion is like a Time Machine, taking us back to the upper room as Jesus passed the elements of the supper: bread and wine. As He breaks the bread, we see His body broken by the soldiers on the cross. As He pours out the red wine, we see His blood pooling at the bottom of the cross. 

Can you see it friends?

Years ago, I wrote a few words about what communion means to me. This is what I said…

“Communion reminds us that our debts have been cancelled. The Lord’s Supper points us towards the blessing of the blood and the benefit of Jesus’ broken body. Communion calls the believer to repent and the follower to return to faith. Communion is a time to inspect one’s soul, a time to respect the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, and a time to detect the Holy Spirit’s conviction. Communion is solemn and celebratory. It is a time of happiness and hopefulness. Communion is a calling for all Christians to come and…do THIS in remembrance of me!”

Open Communion:

I want to remind all of you that we possess two ordiances here at Eastern Shore Baptist Church. Naturally, the first ordinance is baptism. Specifically believer’s baptism by immersion. Next we celebrate the ordinance of communion. 

Eastern Shore Baptist Church, we practice what we call open communion. This means that anyone who is obedient to Christ’s commands, anyone who seeks salvation through Jesus Christ alone, can participate in the Lord’s supper. Even if you are joining us this morning from a different denomination, you are welcome here.   

Opening Prayer:

The Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 11:27-29 tells us that we should pray before we partaken in the Lord’s Supper. We should pray asking the Lord’s grace for our sins. We should pray thanking Christ for His love and sacrifice. We should pray praising God for our salvation. Listen to Paul’s words…

“[27] Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

No one wants to come to the table of the Lord in judgment or condemnation. Let’s go before the Lord in prayer this morning confessing our sin, praising His name, and thanking Him for our salvation. 

Heavenly Father,

As we come before You to partake in the Lord’s Supper, we first humble ourselves in Your presence. We acknowledge our need for Your grace and mercy, for we have sinned and fallen short of Your glory. Lord, we ask that You forgive us for the ways we have strayed from Your path and cleanse our hearts as we prepare to receive these elements that represent the body and blood of Christ.

We thank You, Jesus, for Your incredible love and sacrifice on the cross. Because of Your death and resurrection, we are set free from the power of sin and given new life. We remember with grateful hearts the suffering You endured for us, and we are deeply thankful for Your grace, which makes us whole.

Father, we praise You for the gift of salvation, for the new life You have given us through Your Son. May this time of communion remind us of the joy of our salvation and the hope we have in Christ. Help us to never take for granted the great cost of our redemption, and may our hearts overflow with praise and thanksgiving.

Be present with us now, Lord, as we partake in this holy meal. May it strengthen our faith, draw us closer to You, and unite us as one body in Christ.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.

Amen.

Scripture Reading:

This morning we are reading from I Corinthians 11:23-26. As we reflect on this moment, I want to remind you of something important: when Paul shared the instructions for the Lord’s Supper, he wasn’t there in the upper room with Jesus and the disciples. At that time, Paul was not a follower of Christ. In fact, he was far from it—he was actively persecuting Christians. But here’s the beautiful truth: through the power of Christ’s blood, Paul, once a violent enemy of the faith, became one of the most passionate followers of Jesus.

Paul didn’t witness that sacred night firsthand. Instead, he likely sat down with someone like Peter or another disciple who was there, hearing the story of what happened when Jesus took the bread and the cup. That testimony was shared with Paul, and now, through Paul, with us. It shows us the incredible power of God’s grace, how it transforms even the hardest heart. As we prepare to partake in the Lord’s Supper, let us remember that the same grace that transformed Paul is available to us, reminding us of Christ’s sacrifice and the hope we have in Him.

Let’s read together from I Corinthians 11:23-26. 

I Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The Bread:

Chances are you have never heard the name Earnest Gordon. Gordon was a British soldier fighting during World War II. Gordon was captured by the Japanese and forced to work in a concentration camp. He was sentenced to brutal manual labor. Forced to build the Burma Railway. If you know anything about that construction project, thousands of prisoners died. They either died from exposure, disease or starvation. The conditions were dark, bleak, and harsh. 

In the midst of the camp, something unusual happened. A group of prisoners were able to piece together a Bible. The captured prisoners began to read it, memorize it, and teach it to one another. Earnest Gordon was not a believer at that time. He had lost all hope. His body had withered way. Malnourished, Gordon weighed less than a 100 pounds. The men of this Bible study recognized Earnest Gordon’s dire situation. They began to take what little bread the Japanese gave them and they gave it to Gordon. They did the same with their ration of water. Their acts of sacrificial love, the giving of their bread and water, not only nursed Gordon back to health, it also converted him to Christianity. 

Later, Ernest reflected that the bread they shared, though physically small and insignificant, was life-giving because it represented something far greater: Christ’s presence and love. In their darkest moments, they were nourished not just physically, but spiritually, through the example of Jesus’ self-sacrifice.

In John 6:35, Jesus states, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to be me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”. Again, in John 4:13-14, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Know this my friends, the supper includes bread that nourishes. It was Jesus’ body broken on the cross that nourishes our souls back to life. 

Friends, the bread, the body of Christ, gives life to the dead man and nourishes the soul that is weak. Do you believe that this morning? Are you thankful for the bread of Christ?

His bread will satisfy ever need of your life.  

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

The Bread Passed

Luke 22:19 (NIV)

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.  

The Bread is Taken

The Blood:

The shedding of Christ’s blood is central to our faith and our salvation. The supper includes a cup that offers forgiveness. It is through His sacrifice, through His blood that we find grace and are made right with God.

In the book of Hebrews 9:22, we read, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” This verse underscores the necessity of blood for our souls to be  cleansed. Jesus’ blood was shed to fulfill the requirements of the law and to provide us with forgiveness for our sins.

Similarly, 1 John 1:7 tells us, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” Through the blood of Jesus, we are purified and made righteous, bridging the gap between us and God. His sacrifice was not just a symbol of His love but the actual means by which we are reconciled to our Creator.

The other day I was reading a story about the Chinese legal system. I was blown away by the story. I read that wealthy individuals in China have been known to hire body doubles to serve their prison sentences for them, escaping the consequences of their actions. In these cases, a stand-in carries the penalty on behalf of the guilty party. This practice, known as a “substitute criminal,” illustrates a parallel to what Christ did for us.

Jesus became our ultimate “substitute criminal.” He took our place and bore the penalty for our sins. Unlike the hired body doubles who escape true justice, Jesus willingly took our place to satisfy the demands of divine justice. He bore our guilt and took on the punishment we deserved. As Isaiah 53:5 proclaims, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

As we partake of the cup today, let us remember the incredible sacrifice of Jesus. His blood, shed for us, is not just a symbol but the means by which we are forgiven, cleansed, and made right with God. He is our true substitute, taking upon Himself the penalty for our sins so that we might be free.

Let this moment be a time of deep gratitude and reflection. As we drink the cup, let us give thanks for the precious blood of Christ that redeems and renews us, and let us rejoice in the new life and fellowship we have through Him.

Remember…

I Peter 2:24 ESV

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  

They Passed The Cup

Luke 22:20 (NIV)

In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."

The Cup Is Taken

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We come before You with grateful hearts, having remembered the incredible sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You for His broken body and shed blood, which were given for our forgiveness and new life. We are deeply moved by the depth of Your love and the magnitude of His sacrifice.

Lord, we invite anyone here today who has not yet accepted Christ into their hearts to step forward and receive the gift of salvation He offers. If anyone feels led to join our church family or to be baptized, we welcome you to come forward and take this step of faith.

We praise You for the immeasurable love You have shown us through Your Son. May we leave here today filled with joy and hope, fully aware of the grace that has been poured out on us.

In Jesus’ name, we pray,

Amen.