Sermon 9/27/2025
I want to start off this sermon by describing our church. When we Elders were praying and planning this ministry, we had no idea how it would turn out. We were uncertain about the future of this church plant. We also didn’t know how much fellowship would play such an important role.
Since the very beginning, we would go out to dinner after service. It isn’t always easy to do that, though. Sometimes socializing batteries are low, or we can’t agree on a place to go. But, as time has gone on, fellowship is the GLUE that has kept us together, whole. And tonight I want to affirm this because, without conscious knowledge, we have been faithful in having meals together. It is biblical and holds up to our faith traditions all the way back before the first Christians. How can that be? I’m glad you asked!
“When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
-Luke 22:14-20
The institution of communion is what I want to start with. This imagery of Jesus blessing bread and wine originated from an even more ancient biblical holiday called Passover. Chabad.org, a Jewish educational site describes Passover as commemorating “the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.” Think of the story of Moses, Prince of Egypt for those who know the movie. He was born a slave but he was given up in order to save his life and he was adopted into the Pharaoh’s family. He ran away as an adult after killing a man who was beating another Hebrew. God came to Moses via a burning bush to send him to set God’s people free. Passover, is a meal that memorializes this story. Let’s hear how they did so.
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. You shall observe this as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this observance mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ ” And the people bowed down and worshiped.
-Exodus 12:21-27
As you can see, this Passover meal (Hebrew: Seder) was just that, a meal. And Jesus took part. He reshaped what the Passover was pointing towards—himself! Jesus Christ! The Messiah! The Savior! The final Passover lamb! He said, “Do this in memory of me.”
The first Christians took this command seriously. They would have what was called Agape Feasts. What exactly does AGAPE mean?
The New Testament defines Agape in four ways:
- an emotion
- a type of behavior
- a bond
- for the LOVE of God
1 John 4: 7-8 shows this AGAPE that God is:
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
God loved us each so much, AGAPE, that He sent His one and only Son to sacrifice Himself on our behalf. Jesus said, “Do this in memory of Me.” As Christians, by having an Agape Feast, just as the first Christians did each Sabbath evening, we are following His command. We are in unity with Christ when we share meals together. Everyone eats together, no matter your station in life.
This is where I’m going to get nerdy with you all. The first Christians were part of a Roman society. Their “churches” took place in homes, that much most know. But these homes were in a different setup than in our modern understanding. They had these rooms that were reserved for esteemed guests. They wouldn’t use them for everyday events or meals. There were long tables. And in Roman society only the male head of the house, his male heirs, and guests would be seated, while the women stood on one side and the servants on the other.
What was wild about Christians is that people would sit around the table no matter their gender or societal standing. This is where church would take place. They would sing, pray, read scriptures, and ultimately feast, an agape feast. This defined the ancient Christians, and this defines us here at Christ’s Redemption Church.
- Connection
- Community
- Hospitality
- Fellowship
- AGAPE
THAT is what makes us up. THAT is who we are.
Amen!
Further Study
Agape: Social Aspects of the Early Christian Love (Dissertation / Thesis)
Looks at the social dimension of the Love-Feast: who participated, what food, how feasting correlated with Eucharistic practice, how social stratification and class affected the meal. It shows that although textual evidence is limited, the social dimension is important for understanding the practice.
THE LORD’S SUPPER REVISITED
The Absence of Agape Context in the Lord’s Supper Today
The celebration of the Lord’s Supper has traversed the course of history for more than two thousand years since Christ instituted the practice. However, the manner in which Holy Communion is practiced today in many Reformed churches would be foreign to that of first-century Christianity. Indeed, crucial elements from the earliest custom, namely the agape context, are missing in the
present—a fact that has bearing upon contemporary notions of spirituality. This study observes the absence of a proper meal in the celebration of the Eucharist today, especially in the Reformed/Evangelical churches in Indonesia. Pointing to Jesus’ Last Supper, the observation of the Passover, as well as the early Christian custom of breaking bread in reference to agape (love meal
or communal meal), this essay argues for the importance of the agape meal context in the ongoing celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The development of the Lord’s Supper, as historically traced through the medieval Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformation, bears witness to the shifts of bread and wine into being both a sacred meal and a symbolic meal. This article promotes a non-dichotomous view of the meal to incorporate the ordinary and the sacred—a real meal and a symbolic meal, together. Finally, this paper demonstrates how retrieval of the agape setting
of the Lord’s Supper bears significance for collective spirituality.
The Bible Project breaks down the feasting table in the link below.
Pastor Alex