Maundy Thursday: Date: April 1, 2021
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Theme: He Gave His Body and Blood for Me!
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (NKJV)
PRAYER, LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN 163:1-4 The Death of Jesus Christ, Our Lord
1. The death of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
We celebrate with one accord;
It is our comfort in distress,
Our heart’s sweet joy and happiness.
2. He blotted out with His own blood
The judgment that against us stood;
He full atonement for us made,
And all our debt He fully paid.
3. That this is now and ever true
He gives an earnest ever new:
In this His holy Supper here
We taste His love so sweet, so near.
4. His Word proclaims, and we believe,
That in this Supper we receive
His very body, as He said,
His very blood for sinners shed.
THE CONFESSION OF SINS AND ABSOLUTION:
C: Almighty God, merciful Father, we are sinful by nature, and have sinned against You in our thoughts, words, and actions. But we are sorry for our transgressions and pray You, of Your bountiful mercy, to be gracious and merciful unto us. Forgive us for Jesus’ sake, renew us by Your Spirit, and lead us in the way everlasting. Amen.
P: God’s Word says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It also tells us that God has in Christ reconciled the world to Himself, not charging our sin to us. Therefore, by the authority and command of our Lord Jesus, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (1 John 1:9; 2 Cor.5:19; John 20:21-23)
Pastor: The Words of Institution
Pastor: The Peace of the Lord be with You alway.
Congr.: Amen
THE DISTRIBUTION: (Since participation in communion is
a profession of oneness of faith, we ask that only those who are members of this congregation, or a congregation in fellowship with us in CLC, and have previously registered, to partake of the sacrament.)
Pastor: Prayer. Congr.: Amen.
THE BENEDICTION: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit be with you all.
Congr.: Amen
HYMN 173:1
1 Lord Jesus, we give thanks to Thee
That Thou hast died to set us free;
Made righteous thro’ Thy precious blood,
We now are reconciled to God.
2021 LENTEN MEDITATIONS
IT’S ALL ABOUT REDEMPTION!
February 17: Text: Romans 5:12, 18
Theme: He has Redeemed Me, a Lost and Condemned Person
Responsive Reading: Psalm 51:1-12
Passion Lesson: The Passover (p. 170-172)
Hymns: 140:1,4,5; 369:1,4,5; 163:1-4; 313:1
February 24: Text: Titus 2:13,14
Theme: He Purchased and Won Me
Responsive Reading: Psalm 130
Passion Lesson: Lord’s Supper Instituted (p. 174-175, 183)
Hymns 351; 153; 158; 558:1-4
March 3: Text: 1 John 1:7-9
Theme: He Set Me Free from All Sin
Responsive Reading: Psalm, 103:1-14
Passion Lesson: Judas Betrays Jesus (p.185-186)
Hymns: 156; 342; 157; 653
March 10: Text: Romans 6:23
Theme: He Saved Me from the Death
Responsive Reading: Psalm 73:21-26
Passion Lesson: Peter’s Denial (p.189-190)
Hymns: 149; 143:1-5; 151:1,2,6,7; 551:1,2
March 17: Text: Genesis 3:15
Theme: He Saved Me from the Devil’s Power
Responsive Reading: Psalm 2
Passion Lesson: Trial Before Herod, Barabbas (p.192-194)
Hymns: 145; 141; 159; 552: 1,6,8
March 24: Text: 1 John 3:1
Theme: He Made Me His Own Forever
Responsive Reading: Psalm 23
Passion Lesson: Jesus Is Crucified (p.196-197)
Hymns: 155; 154; 353:1-3,6 554:1,5,6
April 1: Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
Theme: He Gave His Body and Blood for Me
Responsive Reading: Psalm 32
Passion Lesson: Dying Thief, Three Dark Hours (p. 198-199)
Hymns: 149; 157:1-4; 163:1-4; 173:1
April 2: Text: 1 Peter 1:18-21a
Theme: He Redeemed Me Through His Innocent Sufferings and Death!
Responsive Reading: Psalm 22:1-19
Passion Lesson: Jesus’ Death and Burial (p.199-201)
Hymns 171:1,2,4,6; 172:1-4; 153; 172:8
( Pastor Theodore Barthels )
Bulletin: Read Bulletin
Sermon: Read Sermon
Hymns: 140:1,4,5; 369:1,4,5; 163:1-4; 313:1
Sermon
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
2100 16th Street SW
Austin, MN 55912-1749
Pastor Ted Barthels
Sermon preached on
April 1, 2021
Maundy Thursday
Responsive Reading: Psalm 32
Passion Reading: Dying Thief, “It is Finished!”
Hymns: 149; 157; 163:1-4; 173:1
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (NKJV)
This is the Word of God.
Sanctify us, oh Lord, through Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, our crucified Savior, dear fellow Redeemed:
INTRO: It’s All About Our Redemption
We continue that theme in this our Maundy Thursday meditation even though this evening’s meditation isn’t taken directly from Luther’s explanation of the 2nd Article to the Apostle’s Creed. This evening we consider the events in the upper room surrounding the Last Supper, the last true Passover Supper. With that feast of the Passover Jesus did something special, instituted something that is very precious to His Church on earth, and should be very precious to each of as individual believers.
Indeed, what He did fits well with our broader theme, It’s all About Our Redemption! Jesus communicates that blessing of redemption to us directly and personally, might we even say intimately through the blessings of the Sacrament of the Altar; what we commonly refer to as “The Lord’s Supper.” What the Spirit reveals through the sacrament concerning our redemption is that —
THEME: Jesus gave His Body and His Blood for Me!
I. Jesus started the Lord’s Supper.
We use the word “institution” regarding the beginning of the Lord’s Supper because it was something Jesus did with care and determination. He not only started the Lord’s Supper He established it as something His disciples of all ages were to do, and do just as He presented it to us. So, Jesus presented this new Supper and how it was to be carried on with care.
This is confirmed by the Apostle Paul in our text. Paul needed to address certain abuses concerning the practice of the Lord’s Supper in the Corinthian congregation to whom the words of our text were written. To establish his authority to teach them concerning the Sacrament, Paul began by making it clear that he didn’t receive this information second hand. Our text reports:
1 Corinthians 11:23-25 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Through direct revelation Jesus communicated to Paul the truth about the institution and practice of the Lord’s Supper. The words of our Lord are accurately recorded for our edification that the truth of what Jesus did might be established for all time.
It was on that night in which Jesus was betrayed. Jesus and His disciples were gathered in that Upper Room where they were observing the last Passover Supper before all was fulfilled in Jesus’ sufferings and death. That is what the true meaning of the Passover was all about. While it commemorated the deliverance of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, from the very first time it was observed in Egypt, it looked forward to the coming of the true Paschal Lamb who was perfect in every way, and of whom no bones were to be broken.
As they kept the Passover the sacrifice was to be made in the temple where the blood of the lamb was offered at the altar as the symbol of Christ’s blood. Then the lamb was prepared and all in the household ate of the sacrifice, symbolizing how the sacrifice was including them in its benefits and blessings. Now all was to be fulfilled in Jesus, the Lamb of God who was to be offered upon the altar of the cross for the sins of the world. There was no longer any purpose for the Passover to continue. It was a shadow of things to come, but the substance was in Christ. (Colossians 2:17)
So it was that as the Passover feast neared its end that Jesus started a new and better Supper. It was new for it was not a duplication of the Passover but a replacement. It was better because it didn’t symbolize a sacrifice that someday would be made but was part and parcel of that real sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood. Even as the believers of old ate of the symbolic sacrifice that was presented every year because it was only a symbol, so the believers in the New Testament age are presented with the actual sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood in a supernatural way. Again, while believers of old received a symbol of the forgiveness that would be secured by the coming Messiah, we, the believers in the New Testament age, receive forgiveness from Christ Himself, even as we partake of His body and blood that was given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.
There is a clear message, an important message connected to the sacrament of the Altar.
II. You Proclaim the Lord’s Death.
Paul wrote in our text: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (v. 26)
This isn’t simply a matter of acknowledging that Jesus died on the cross. It is all about the why Jesus died, and what was accomplished in His death.
This evening we will once again celebrate the Lord’s Supper and we will proclaim the Lord’s death. We will testify that Jesus died for us, for our salvation. He died to appease the wrath of God over our sin. He did this once and for all by giving Himself into death, the holy and righteous for the lost sinner. We proclaim that His death was the propitiation for not only our sins, but also the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2) The cross of Christ lies at the very heart of the gospel. The cross of Christ lies at the center of our faith. In his Small Catechism Luther taught us regarding the benefit of Sacrament, “God gives forgiveness of sins, life and salvation through the Sacrament. For where there is forgiveness of sins there is also life and salvation.” That is what we proclaim for all who see and know that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper as an integral part of our Christian worship.
We proclaim the Lord’s death as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup! What we find in these words is Paul’s instruction regarding the use of the sacrament. While Scripture clearly presents the Sacrament of Baptism to be done once, and then held in our remembrance, we see here that the Lord’s Supper is something to be done regularly, otherwise that expression, as often as you do this would be nonsensical.
We ought to look at this from both the perspective of the congregation and the perspective of the individual believer. Of course, for Christians to receive the sacrament regularly it must be presented regularly. Many have long discussions about just how often a congregation should include the Lord’s Supper in the worship service, and there are different associated practices. That is all within Christian liberty, but it ought to be regular, so the individual Christian has ample opportunity to receive the Lord’s Supper. If done in a haphazard way people will not know to prepare, or even be present for the Sacrament.
Now a word concerning the diligence of individual Christians to receive the sacrament. It is a blessing; one that brings peace and strengthening to the soul. It is something that came to us from Christ Himself, which He presents to us that we might be blessed by Him. It should not be neglected. It should not be regarded as if it were insignificant. Too many Christians deprive themselves of this important and special presentation of the gospel when it should be cherished as the rare blessing of salvation it is.
To receive its full blessing there needs to be —
III. Proper Reception.
Paul writes in our text:
1 Corinthians 11:27-29 “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
One immediately notes that receiving this sacrament in an unworthy manner is possible, and when that occurs guilt is associated with that reception rather than forgiveness. That should get our attention. Again, it gets our attention as a congregation of Christians presenting the Sacrament. It needs to be done with care, that a Christian congregation does not encourage an improper reception of the Lord’s Supper that may be to one’s harm rather than blessing.
One might ask, “How can one know?” Precautions can be taken. It starts with instruction; that those who are being communed have been taught the truth concerning the Sacrament. Many churches, MANY churches fail to comprehend, and therefore fail to teach the truth of the Lord’s Supper. The very things that Paul emphasizes in these verses of our text, Scripture truth drawn from the words of our Lord Jesus Himself, are found unreasonable, therefore they are found to be less than true by many Christian denominations. They fail to do what Paul exclaims as essential to a proper and worthy reception of the Lord’s Supper, they fail to discern the presence of the Lord’s body and blood.
Secondly, Paul teaches us that we need to examine ourselves before we receive the Lord’s Supper. People need to understand that the Lord’s Supper is for the penitent sinner. The penitent grieves over his sin., is repulsed by it, and seeks to turn away from sin as he turns to the Savior for forgiveness. Too many are invited to find assurance of peace in impenitence. Those who are hoping to find comfort for continuing in sin are most certainly receiving the sacrament in an unworthy manner. Such a one eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body, the precious sacrifice offered for our sins.
It is all about our Redemption! When we come forward to the receive the very body and true blood which Jesus offered upon the cross, we are receiving the redemption price offered for our salvation. One might say this is the same gospel we hear in the sermon, or that we read in the Scriptures, and that is absolutely true, and yet in the Sacrament it comes so personally. Christ comes to ME with His body and His blood, given and shed for ME for the forgiveness of MY sins. This personal, intimate application of the gospel to this sin burdened soul pushes aside those false doubts, “Could it be for ME that He died?” Yes, we each may know the peace of sins forgiven. He died for our redemption, and in this blessed sacrament He comes to us to proclaim, “Yes, your sins are forgiven.” You, too, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Oh, blest is each believing guest Who in this promise finds his rest;
For Jesus will in love abide With those who do in Him confide.”
(The Lutheran hymnal 163:6)
AMEN.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.