The Cup of Blessing

Introduction

Last week we stood in Egypt. We watched families gather around a lamb. We saw that Passover was not merely about a lamb being slain, but about a lamb being eaten. The redeemed people of God gathered around the provision God had given and shared a meal together.

That meal was eaten in anticipation of their deliverance from bondage. Let us turn to something God said concerning the celebration of the Passover

‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a perpetual statute. Exodus 12:14

God instructed them to celebrate the feast throughout their generations as a memorial. Celebrating this memorial feast would be much more immersive than simply re-telling the story to their kids. It was to be a re-entering into the story. Notice the language:

“And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ Exodus 13:8

The father speaking centuries later says for me, not merely for our ancestors. Likewise in Deuteronomy

Then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us from Egypt with a strong hand. Deuteronomy 6:21

The generation in Deuteronomy wasn't physically in Egypt, yet they identify themselves with the Exodus. The memorial feast enabled each generation to participate in the story of God's redemption as their own story. In Scripture, a memorial is not merely the recollection of a past event. It is a covenant act by which God's people identify themselves with that saving event.

As time went on, the nation of Israel strayed away from God and suffered the consequences of covenant curses — the pinnacle of which is exile. From that point on and even after, we see a sustained hope for another Exodus.

Even after the Exodus, Israel's story was not finished. Exile would come, and the prophets would begin speaking of another redemption, another deliverance, another Exodus still to come.

Then at the event we all know as the Last Supper, Jesus does something remarkable. While the whole nation remembered Egypt, He reoriented the feast around Himself. He wasn’t canceling the memorial of Egypt; instead He was carrying it forward in the line of its redemptive purpose.

And when He had taken some bread and 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 in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Luke 22:19–20

The disciples came expecting to remember Moses. Jesus directs the meal toward Himself. The meal is still Passover, but now Christ stands at its center.

The first Passover was eaten in anticipation of Israel’s deliverance while subsequent memorial feasts were eaten in remembrance of that event. Jesus re-orients the last Supper around Himself, such that the last Supper was eaten in anticipation of the greater Exodus, while subsequent gatherings around the bread and the cup would look back in remembrance of the event of His death and resurrection.

We might therefore expect Paul simply to speak about remembrance in 1 Corinthians 10. But Paul says something more.

Participation With Christ and One Another

Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Look at the nation Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? 1 Corinthians 10:16–18

Paul first tells us that the bread and cup are a sharing in Christ. Then, anticipating the question of how this can be so, he points to Israel's sacrificial system. "Look at the nation Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?" Paul is not changing subjects. He is explaining the principle behind his language of participation.

We established last week that the eating of the Passover lamb was an essential part of the sacrificial act. This is true not only of the Passover, but also many of Israel’s other sacrifices.

A sacrifice was an offering presented to God, and many sacrifices culminated in a sacred meal in which portions were shared between God (through the altar), the priests, and sometimes the worshipper.

Consider the peace offering. Portions were burned on the altar, portions belonged to the priest, and portions were eaten by the worshipper. The meal itself was part of the sacrificial worship. The understanding is that God’s portion is placed on the altar (also known as the table of the Lord), although God is clear that the purpose of sustenance is not divine nourishment but expression of reverence and fellowship.

“I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, as well as its fullness. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? Psalm 50:11–13

When Paul speaks of sharing in the body and blood of Christ, he is drawing on this entire biblical understanding of sacrificial meals. The worshipper who eats is not a spectator. He is a participant. The meal expresses fellowship with the one to whom the sacrifice is offered.

But Paul says something more. Participation in Christ creates participation with His people.

Notice verse 17:

"Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."

The Lord's Supper is not merely an individual act. It is not simply me and Jesus. The same meal that proclaims our fellowship with Christ also proclaims our fellowship with one another.

This has always been true of redemption. Israel was not delivered from Egypt as isolated individuals. God redeemed a people. Likewise, Christ does not merely save individuals. He forms a body.

Every time we gather around the bread and the cup, we declare not only that we belong to Christ, but that we belong to one another.

This emphasis on the gathered people of God is one we desperately need to recover.

Many of us instinctively measure our spiritual health almost entirely by private experiences. Did I pray enough this week? Did I read enough this week? Did I feel close enough to God this week?

Those are important questions. Yet Paul's emphasis here is different. He points us to something God has given not merely to individual believers, but to the church gathered together.

The Lord's Supper is not something you do alone. It is something the people of God do together.

In fact, the earliest Christians experienced much of their Christian life in gathered worship. They heard the Scriptures together. They prayed together. They sang together. They gathered around the Lord's Table together.

So do not think lightly of gathering with God's people. Do not think lightly of the bread and the cup. When you gather with the church, hear the Word, pray with the saints, and come to the Lord's Table, you are participating in one of the chief ways Christ reminds His people that they belong to Him and to one another.

Having established that the meal expresses participation and fellowship, we can now understand why Paul points to Israel's sacrifices.

If participation in a sacrificial meal expresses fellowship with the one receiving the sacrifice, then the issue is no longer merely food. The issue is worship. The issue is allegiance.

Participation Demands Allegiance

What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? 1 Corinthians 10:19–22

Paul advances the idea to show that participation/fellowship is not without consequences. Fellowship demands allegiance.

The table reveals who your lord is. The table reveals who you trust. The table reveals where your fellowship lies.

This sacrificial consciousness is one that must be quickly restored to the church. We must realize that partaking in the communion is a statement of allegiance.

So every time we come to the table, we are saying: “I belong to Christ."

Sacrifices involve meals. Meals create participation. Participation creates fellowship. Fellowship implies allegiance.

The Exclusivity of the Lord's Table

Paul's point is not that idols are real gods.

In fact, he explicitly says:

What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 1 Corinthians 10:19

The idol itself is nothing. But worship is never nothing. Allegiance is never nothing. Participation is never nothing.

This is why Paul says: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons”.

Notice that he does not merely say you should not. He says you cannot. The two tables represent two different allegiances, and no one can belong fully to both.

The Tables We Still Sit At

Most of us are not tempted to attend pagan temple feasts or eat food sacrificed in idol shrines. Yet the principle remains.

We may not bow before carved images, but we are still tempted to seek life from rival masters like success, tribe, wealth, power, control, status.

Every one of these invites us to sit at another table.

Every one of these promises blessing.

Every one of these demands loyalty.

And every time we gather around the Lord's Table we are declaring:

Christ alone is my Lord.

Christ alone is my hope.

Christ alone is my salvation.

The Table of the Risen Lamb

And here is the glorious truth.

The One with whom we share fellowship is not dead.

The Passover lamb died. The sacrifices of Israel died. But Christ did not remain in the grave. When Paul speaks of sharing in Christ, he speaks of fellowship with a living Savior.

So the Lord's Table is not communion with a memory. It is communion with the risen Lord. This is why it is fitting that one of the clearest resurrection appearances occurs around a meal at Emmaus.

The risen Christ still gathers His people to Himself. Our Passover lamb lives and reigns! And every time we gather around the bread and the cup, we proclaim:

the Lamb was slain,

the Lamb is risen,

the Lamb will come again.

The Cup of Blessing

Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 10:16

Therefore the cup is rightly called a cup of blessing. Not because it is merely a religious ritual, but because it reminds us who we are. We are a redeemed people. We belong to Christ. We belong to one another. We have fellowship with the risen Lord.

Every time we gather around the Lord's Table, we are remembering a redemption greater than Egypt, participating in a Savior greater than Moses, belonging to a people greater than Israel, and proclaiming allegiance to a King greater than Pharaoh.

The cup of blessing reminds us that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us, Christ our Passover has been raised for us, and Christ our Passover even now gathers His redeemed people around His table.