1. The Meaning of Communion
One of the acts that defines who we are as Christ followers is the sharing of communion. Jesus told His disciples that this was something that was important to recall and re-enact together until He comes again.
“Why?” is a fair question.
Today, I hope to give you some answers to that question on this Palm Sunday.
Let’s start with one of the passages that recounts the last meal that Jesus shared with His closest friends.
The Meaning of Communion

2. Luke 22:7-20 NIV
7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.
10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

3. 13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them
13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 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.”

4. 20 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.”

5. great saving acts 1. Communion connects us to God’s
____ _____ ___ in the past. (7-12)
Jesus reinterpreted the Passover meal that commemorates God’s rescue of Israel from Egypt.
great saving acts

6. Exodus 12:1-17 NIV
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

7. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

8. 12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day

9. hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day
hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
It goes even farther that the fact that Jesus overlayed His ministry with the Passover. The truth is that Jesus is our Passover lamb. Honestly, there are more passages that point to this. I challenge you to do you own study on this.
I want to point out three passages in the New Testament that lead us to this conclusion.

10. John 1:29 NIV 1 Corinthians 5:6-7 NIV
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
1 Corinthians 5:6-7 NIV
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

11. 1 Peter 1:17-19 NIV
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
God has spoken in the past; He has acted in the past; He has kept His promises. This communion reminds us of His faithfulness.

12. It goes even farther that the fact that Jesus overlayed His ministry with the Passover. The truth is that Jesus is our Passover lamb. Honestly, there are more passages that point to this. I challenge you to do you own study on this.
I want to point out three passages in the New Testament that lead us to this conclusion.

13. intensely
2. Communion defines the _______ _______ purpose of Christ’s ________ for us. (14-15)
Just as Jesus would die for His friends, He has also died for us. He died to forgive our sins, to take the penalty for our sin choices. It is not an impersonal generic act. He knew; he knows; and He still chose to die for each one of us so we would not be alienated from the Father.
personal
crucifixion

14. 3. Communion connects us to _____ ____ .
_____ ____ .
spiritual reality

15. Hebrews 9:11-15 NIV
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered

16. himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Communion is not just about this day. It is not just about us. It is about a reality that we only touch upon now. It is declaring actions and transactions that have occurred in heavenly places. Just like the magi in the nativity story who worshiped better than they understood, when we share communion, we declare realities that we do not fully comprehend.
Yet, the scripture calls us to trust their power and see them as more tangible and concrete than our lives.

17. 4. Communion calls us to be _____ ____ now. Christ’s body
Communion beckons to us that we live as the body of Christ in the here and now.
Christ’s body

18. 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 NIV
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.

19. 5. Communion points us forward to the _______ of _____ _______.
(14-16)
Jesus did make a promise. This communion is a glimpse of a future celebration that we are invited to attend and enjoy.
fulfilment Jesus’ promises