Two Great Ordinances of the Church
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Two Great Ordinances of the Church
Acts 8:22-40 & 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
There is a difference between a commandment and an ordinance.
A commandment is a command by God first disciples to perform an act as a religious duty.
An ordinance is a synonym of the word commandment, now a reminder of what a synonym is.
It's a word that means exactly or nearly the same as another word.
Again, scripturally a commandment is a command by God to be performed as a religious duty.
Scripturally, and ordinance is an edict or degree directed by God.
Similar in meaning? Yes
The two great commandments of many given by Christ are found in Matthew 22: 35-40 and Mark 12:28-34.
In response to a question by a lawyer Jesus said:
“Now shall love the Lord thy God, with although I heart, and with all I soul and with all thy mind.”
He continues saying this the second is like the first also “love thy neighbor as thyself.”
These are commands by God to be performed as a religious duty.
Love God with all our being, and love even those who don't believe deserve our love.
Two great ordinances decreed by Christ were water baptism and partaking of the Lord's supper or Holy Communion.
Let's take a bit of a look at both of these beginning with the Lord supper
we refer to this event also as the Holy Communion while some refer to as holy Eucharist.
We freely and willingly believe and partake of this that Christ decreed to be done.
First, the partaking in the acceptance of the bread in the cup is not an agent to or of one’s the maintaining salvation.
It is a reminder to our hearts, our souls and our minds of great sacrifice made by Christ as his body was beaten and mean and that his blood was shed from the atonement of our sins.
As Christ and his disciples sat together in the place we know only as the upper room.
The Jewish high holiday and festival of the Passover was beginning as the Jews they celebrated this yearly event in Jerusalem.
We know in scripture of Jesus being a partaker of the Seder or Passover meal on three different occasions.
This being the last, yet most important.
As Jesus celebrates with the disciples none of himself for the weight of these final moments as he did.
Seder which they shared was a traditional meal that all Jews shared on the eve of Passover
It likely consisted of: Lamb Shank, Beef Stew, olives, a bitter herb such as parsley, fish-based sauce, unleavened bread and wine.
This could vary in a bit from household to household, yet the plate of that night in the upper room was the most traditional.
The Passover was celebrated as a reminder of God's mercy as he was setting his people free of the bondage & slavery in Egypt.
On the eve of their departure God's people were instructed to prepare a meal.
It was also on this eve that the terrible 10th plague against the pharaoh in Egypt were unleashed.
The Angel of death would be unleashed to take the light of the first-born son of all men and beasts.
God’s people have exempt from the first nine plagues this one he had no preference.
The Hebrews were instructed to brush the doorjambs with blood of the paschal or sacrificial lamb.
When the death Angel went throughout Egypt the only household spared would be those who the blood of the lamb is protected it.
The Angel would Passover those homes and families.
That's the yearly Passover celebration that's the reason for the setter meal taken and accepted in the upper room period thus Christ pronouncement that he would be the everlasting Paschal or the Lamb of sacrifice.
Plus, his body being broken and slain thus his own shed blood spilled to become the atonement and substitutes for our sins. This is why Christ offered the bread and the cup to his disciples and to all who would believe in him.
Bread was flatbread that to some resembled a cracker.
It was without yeast, due to the Hebrews quick preparation to flee Egypt, they baked bread containing no yeast which would have required days to rise. It was this flatbread that Jesus took and broken passed among his disciples in which he spoke.
“This is my body which shall be broken for you take eat in remembrance of me."
Christ then offered was an object that held the element of the symbolic blood of our Lord. The cut may even have been a bowl, we don't know it would have been a simple kiln dried clay pottery object.
It was not a gold or silver ornate object, fanciful crafted as movies about the Holy Grail depict it to be.
It was not the object that The Crusaders fought and died to find, .and they that also killed for over three centuries.
People even today continue to search for what they call the Holy Grail.
The cup of Christ Last Supper was simple, it was not an object to be revered, it is not what people searched for today.
I don't personally believe it even exists any longer.
It was the symbolism of the elements that the cup contained the symbol a blood of Christ.
“This is the blood which will be shed for you, it is that which it will become remission of the sins of many. This is the blood of the New Testament covenant, take drink in remembrance of me.”
Christ himself decreed to them and ask that the reason we partake and accept the bread is so that we remember what his broken body and his shed blood really meant.
It is not the actual flesh and blood of Jesus; it is but two symbolic elements for us to remember.
It is never to be taken if one has unconfessed sins or is to be taken by anyone but a true Christian whose life was purchased and redeemed by Christ sacrifices.
There is no set to create of how often it is to be offered Paul said how many times do we do so for one reason to remember and two thanks for Christ gospel.