The Lord's Supper

This morning we celebrated the Lord's Supper.  First time we've done that at Orange Grove since I've been there.  Today, I wanted to deliver a sermon that focused on helping us better understand the significance of the Lord's Supper.  I think it would be fair criticism to say that Protestants - and probably more-so Baptists - often don't pay near enough attention to what the Lord's Supper means.  Given that the practice dates back to the very earliest of churches....and we're expressly commanded to observe it (Luke 22:19b)...it seems appropriate that we know as much as we can about its history, meaning, purpose and context.  Is there something more to the Lord's Supper than simply "do this in remembrance of me"? 

In preparing a sermon, I always start out with a summary to expand from.  For this week's sermon, the summary was.....

The Lord’s Supper is a time and place when a sharing, unified community of believers, in the course of their ordinary lives,  fellowship with Jesus Christ.  

I used 1 Corinthians 11:17 - 26 as support for the first part of the summary and Luke 24:13 - 35 for the second part of the summary.  While the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) give us much in the way of historical narrative of the Last Supper, it is these two passages of scripture in 1 Corinthians and Luke that offer deeper meaning to the Lord's Supper that we celebrate today.  Below are the notes from Sunday's message....and if you're interested in listening to the audio track, I've provided that as well.

Sermon Notes from Sunday, December 30th

Audio Recording of The Lord's Supper Sermon - December 30, 2012

I'm encouraged by the fact that there is a movement, among Baptist circles, toward a greater understanding of what the Lord's Supper means.  In Re-Envisioning Baptist Identity: A Manifesto for Baptist Communities in North America, The Lord's Supper is addressed as one of the areas of "reform" within the Church.  Check out Affirmation IV in the document by clicking on this link:

Re-Envisioning Baptist Identity Document