Scripture reading: Psalm 78:1-25.

Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

Note: We’re breaking from Romans today to celebrate Baptism and Holy Communion.

Today, we gather as the congregation of New Hope Baptist Church in Romulus, Alabama and welcome a new believer into the Church, the Body of Christ. We’re following traditions that the Church has enacted countless times over the centuries.

Why do we follow these traditions? Why do we baptize new believers and partake of a holy meal?

After His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Following St. Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, the Apostles baptized the 3,000 new believers into their fellowship (Acts 2:41). In other words, the Church brought new members into the Body through baptism. Baptism, according to St. Paul, signifies the death of our old life and the beginning of our new, eternal life: “We were buried therefore with [Jesus] by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

St. Luke recorded that the Church that day “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Following baptism, the Apostles taught the new believers the doctrines of the faith, including the teachings of Jesus they would later record in the Gospels; and they celebrated His sacrifice for humanity in the service of Holy Communion.

Holy Communion itself builds on the tradition of Passover, the Jewish festival celebrating Israel’s redemption from slavery in Egypt. The Passover meal served as Jesus’ last meal before His crucifixion. Following His commemoration with the disciples, Jesus took the leftover bread and wine and gave the disciples a concrete way to remember the events of the next day.

Only a few decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection, St. Paul wrote the words of the sermon passage. The Corinthian church suffered division, and turmoil over the most basic issues. St. Paul used the table of Communion as a uniting point to bring the congregation back to its basic identity: The Church of the risen Christ.

St. Paul quoted the words of Jesus to the Corinthians: “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” When we hear these words, we remember Jesus’ broken body on the cross. We remember that our rebellion against God brought death into the world in the first place, that the just reward of our sin is death. Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, came into the world a lived a perfect life, fulfilling the covenant God established with the Jews at Mt. Sinai. Jesus died for our sins, not for His own; He took the curse of death on Himself and thus freed us from the curse.

St. Paul then continued, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” When we lift the cup of Holy Communion, we remember that Jesus’ blood atoned for our sins. Every ancient civilization you care to name believed in blood sacrifice for the wrongs of humanity; only blood could appease the anger of their deities for the sins they had committed. God had given the Hebrews the sacrifices of the Law in the book of Leviticus. Every Hebrew who had ever drawn near to God in the sanctuary, offering the sacrifices in faith, had received forgiveness of his sins. As St. Paul wrote in Romans 3, God looked down through time to the blood of Jesus and accepted the blood of the animals as atonement for the sins of the world (Romans 3:21-26). John the Baptist had said at Jesus’ baptism, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). At His crucifixion, Jesus atoned for the sins of all who believe in Him, confessing Him as Lord of their lives.

The earliest teachings of the Church outside the Scriptures come to us from a document called the Didache. Scholars date the Didache from the first century A.D., only a few decades after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. The Didache tells us how the early Church celebrated Baptism and Holy Communion:

1. But concerning baptism, thus shall ye baptize. Having first recited all these things, baptize {in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit} in living (running) water. But if thou hast not living water, then baptize in other water; and if thou art not able in cold, then in warm. But if thou hast neither, then pour water on the head thrice in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
   

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3. But as touching the eucharistic thanksgiving give ye thanks thus. First, as regards the cup: “We give Thee thanks, O our Father, for the holy vine of Thy Son David, which Thou madest known unto us through Thy Son Jesus; Thine is the glory for ever and ever.” Then as regards the broken bread: “We give Thee thanks, O our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou didst make known unto us through Thy Son Jesus; Thine is the glory for ever and ever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and being gathered together became one, so may Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever and ever.”
   

And thus we come to this Table: Confessing Jesus as Lord of our lives, baptized into His Church, and, by His grace, partaking of His Body and Blood through faith.

Many have wondered about this meal over the centuries. Men have even argued over its power and significance. I find the advice of C.S. Lewis highly applicable here: “The command was, after all, ‘Take eat:’ not ‘Take, understand’” (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer). Today, we join believers throughout the centuries in celebrating the baptism of a new believer in the Church, rejoicing in our salvation at this Table. Christian, this is your table. Come and dine.