COMMUNION SUNDAY
THE PRESENCE OF GOD
DR. JIM DIXON
JANUARY 9, 2005
MATTHEW 26:26-29, 1 CORINTHIANS 10:16
“He agape.” That’s what the early church called communion. “He agape” are Greek words meaning literally “the love,” but words which came to refer to the love meal or the love feast. This morning, as we come to the love meal, as we come to “he agape,” as we come to communion, we focus on the subject of love.
I have two teachings, and the first teaching concerns the scope and the depth of God’s love. It’s through communion that we see the incredible scope and depth of the love of Christ. Now, I know many of you have probably heard of Karl Barth. Karl Barth was a Swiss theologian, perhaps the most famous Protestant theologian in history. Karl Barth died in 1968 at the age of 82. He was brilliant. He had been educated at the finest universities throughout Europe, and he ultimately taught at the University of Bonn. He was also a professor at the University of Basel and at the University of Gottingen. He was also a professor at the University of Muenster. He was a brilliant man, and it took him 30 years to write his 12-volume masterpiece called Church Dogmatics. I remember when I was in seminary, I thought it was going to take me 30 years just to read the 7,500 pages in that masterpiece.
But even though Karl Barth was brilliant, he understood the simple beauty of the Christian gospel. When Karl Barth was once asked what he believed to be the most profound truth of Christianity, Karl Barth smiled, and he quoted the words of a Sunday school song. Karl Barth said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That is the most profound truth of the Christian gospel. Jesus loves me, this I know. Anyone in the world can say those words, because Jesus loves everybody. He died for everybody. This is the scope of the love of God. It doesn’t matter what your race is—red, yellow, black, or white. It doesn’t matter what your gender is, male or female. It doesn’t matter what your socioeconomic status is, rich or poor. Jesus loves me, this I know. It doesn’t matter where you live. A Hindu living in India, a Buddhist in Sri Lanka, a gay or a lesbian anywhere in the world. Jesus loves everyone. He died for everyone. He invites everyone to come to Him, to embrace Him, to believe in Him.
Jesus loves me, this I know. There’s no limit to the scope of His love. And of course, we who believe in Him, we who have embraced Him as Lord and as Savior, have been called to the same scope and the same depth of love. It’s been hard for Christians to understand this through the centuries. It was hard for the early church to understand this. You see, communion in the early church was called “he agape,” the love meal, but only for a period of time. I mean, we see the words “he agape” in the Didache, written around the year 100 AD, and we know that communion around the year 100 AD was called “he agape.” And we look at the writings of Ignatius around AD 110, and we see communion again, always called “he agape,”—the love feast, the love meal. We see these same words in the little book of Jude in the Bible, in the 12th verse (there’s only one chapter in Jude). In some early manuscripts we see these words “he agape” in 2 Peter chapter two, verse 13. Of course, the words mean “the love meal.” But there came a point in time when communion was no longer called the love meal, and it had to do with problems in the churches.
You see, the love meal, the “he agape,” was a feast. It wasn’t like communion today. It wasn’t just a wafer and a little bit of grape juice. It was a real meal. It was like the first communion which Jesus celebrated with His disciples in the context of the Passover feast. They’d had a full meal together and then He broke the bread and he blessed the cup. It was in the context of a full meal. That’s how it was in the first century of the Christian church. The church would gather not in church buildings, because this was the Roman era and Christians were not allowed to build churches. The Christian movement was more or less underground. And so, they gathered in homes and the largest houses possible, and there they would have their common meal. Everybody would be bring food, kind of like a potluck. And it was a time of joy. It was a time of rejoicing. It was a time of festivity, a time of fellowship and friendship. And it was in that context at the end where the bread would be broken and the cup blessed and communion taken. “He agape,” the love meal.
But something happened around the year 150 AD, and we can look at the writings of Justin Martyr in the year 150 AD and he tells us that no longer was communion called “he agape.” The agape meal still existed, but it was now separate. The common meal was still called the agape, but communion was now separated from it. We look in the year 200 AD and we see the writings of Tertullian and we see the same thing. Communion is now separate from “he agape,” no longer called the love meal. And we know what happened, because the agape meal had been abused by the church. We see it in 1 Corinthians 11.
You go to 1 Corinthians 11 and Paul is describing the agape meal. He’s describing communion and he’s describing abuses. To understand the abuses, you need to understand the Roman world. In a Roman house, the two most important rooms were called the triclinium and the atrium. This was true throughout the Roman world and throughout the Hellenized world. The most important rooms in a house were the triclinium and the atrium. The triclinium was like our dining room, and it consisted of three sofas around a table. Typically, they would seat nine people—in larger homes, 15. That was the dining room. But then there was the atrium, and the atrium was like the family room. It was the inner court of a Roman house. Throughout the Roman world it was where people could gather in friendship or fellowship.
Now, when there was a great dinner, when there was a party and a whole bunch of people were invited to a home for a meal throughout the Roman world, it was always the same. The people of the upper classes ate in the triclinium. They ate in the dining room, and they were given the best food. But into the atrium the rest of the guests were sent—lower classes, middle classes—and the food was different and not as good. This was just accepted throughout the Roman world.
So, Paul brings the gospel to the Roman world. He brings the gospel to Corinth, and people in Corinth understand that there is to be this meal called “he agape,” the love meal. It’s in the context of communion and it’s to be a gathering of the whole church. But they still have their prejudices from the Roman world. And so, you have Christians gathering in houses and the upper class Christians meet in the triclinium and they have nicer food and the lower class Christians are sent into the atrium with lesser food.
This is the body of Christ, and in Christ there’s neither Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. We’re all one. It’s a violation of love itself. And yet it’s called the love meal. And so, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11 warning the church at Corinth about their abuses of communion and the love feast. And of course, some of the wealthy were bringing wonderful food. Some of the poor were not able to bring any food at all. In the church of Christ, those who have are meant to share with those who have not. But they were being selfish, not loving. Paul says some of the wealthy were eating too much and drinking too much in gluttony and drunkenness. Paul warns them. He says, “Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in?” And he doesn’t really mean get drunk at home. I mean, he’s just saying, you know, when you come together as a church, you really need to be careful. It’s all about love.
These abuses continued, just as they were at Corinth, in many of the churches through the decades. Finally, communion was just separated from the love feast. What a tragedy. But it’s always been hard for Christians to understand the demands of love, the scope of love, and the depth of love that Jesus calls His people too. Paul says, “Make love your aim.” Now, the Greek word there means “supreme focus.” I think God would ask you, what is your supreme focus?
I read a kind of humorous story in Sports Illustrated about Bill Cowher, the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He became coach in Pittsburgh in 1992. And of course, has had considerable success, good years and bad. Last year, Bill Cowher led the Pittsburgh Steelers to one of the best records in the NFL and into the NFL playoffs.
In 1997 Bill Cowher led his team to the AFC championship game, where he lost to the infinitely superior Denver Broncos. And of course, this is a man who loves football. Well, according to Sports Illustrated, some years ago, Bill Cowher went to a civic luncheon. He had lived in Pittsburgh for three and a half years, and he was respected by Pittsburgh’s community. So he’s at this civic luncheon and they put him at a special table right next to the mayor of Pittsburgh. And Bill Cowher turns to the mayor, who is a woman. And he thinks he recognizes her, but he’s not sure who she is. He introduces himself and she introduces herself. Her name sounds a little familiar, but he’s still not sure. So finally, he says to her, what do you do? And she says, I’m the mayor of Pittsburgh. People who know Bill Cowher say they’re not even surprised that he could live in Pittsburgh for three and a half years and not know the name of the mayor. They’re not surprised because he has a supreme, singular, focus on football. I mean, his whole life is consumed by football. He just doesn’t know much outside of the world of football.
We live in a crazy world like this, where for many people their supreme focus is sports. It’s crazy. I mean, of course in the world of sports there’s always something to focus on. So now we have the NBA playoffs going on. The Denver Nuggets played last night. Some of you look like maybe you stayed up and saw the end of the game and saw them lose. Of course, baseball season has started. The Colorado Rockies are already in desperate need of divine intervention. We’re in the midst of golf season. Tiger Woods won the Masters. In the National Hockey League, there’s this battle still going on between the owners and the players union. And the NFL just recently had its draft. There’s always something going on in the world of sports. But boy, if that’s your supreme focus, how tragic.
What does the Bible say? What does Jesus say? What does Paul say? “Make love your aim, your supreme focus.” It’s all about love. I mean, Jesus said the Torah is all about love. Divine instruction is all about love. The law and the prophets are all about love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself. It’s all about love.
Some people focus on wealth. What a tragedy, because if you love God and you love your neighbor, you’re wealthy in every way that counts. I think sometimes, even as Christians, we don’t understand, and we make our supreme focus truth and morality. But our supreme focus in Christ should be love, for God is love. If you love God and if you love your neighbor, morality will follow. Morality is a byproduct of loving God. It’s all about loving God. So, when you wake up in the morning, think about that. As you come to the table today, think about this: Loving God and loving people with all the scope that God intends and all the depth. We lay down our lives for each other. That’s what the gospel’s about.
Well, secondly and finally and briefly, when we look at communion, we see the power of love. Nothing has more power than love. We come to this table, and it was love that led Christ into our world. It prompted Him to leave His throne of glory. It was love that brought Him here—His body broken because of love, His blood shed because of love. Salvation is offered by the power of love. There’s power in love.
In the year 1906, a man named W.J. Seymour came to Los Angeles to a little church on 312 Azusa Street in LA. W.J. Seymour was a pastor. He was young. He had one eye. He was black, African American, descended from slaves. He was loved of God, called to the ministry. It was April 9th, 1906, when amazing thing happened at Seymour’s Church at 312 Azusa Street. The Holy Spirit just descended in power upon this little congregation, like the original Pentecost in the Book of Acts, when 120 believers gathered in Jerusalem experienced the power, the infilling, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. At 312 Azusa Street, April 9th, 1906, that congregation began to speak in tongues—”glossolalia.” And the church of Jesus Christ hadn’t seen anything like this in hundreds of years. Some of them spoke in earthly languages, some in heavenly languages, some in angelic languages.
The Los Angeles Times began to pick this up and it spread to newspapers around the country. People came en masse. It was the Azusa Street Revival. It lasted three years and changed the Christian world. All the Pentecostal denominations today grew out of the Azusa Street Revival. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel was established in 1909 out of that Azusa Street Revival. The Assemblies of God was established in 1912, indirectly but surely from the Azusa Street revival.
And of course, from the Pentecostal churches came the charismatic movement and the charismatic movement has spread all over the world. Where you see the charismatic movement, you oftentimes see an emphasis upon glossolalia, upon the gift of tongues. It’s a beautiful gift. Sometimes it is counterfeited, sometimes abused. I mean, some people who speak in tongues view themselves as somehow better than other Christians, and that grieves the Holy Spirit of God. But the gift of tongues is still wonderful. It’s beautiful. And when a person speaks in tongues corporately, there needs to be a person with the gift of interpretation. And the whole body of Christ is edified. When the gift of tongues is used privately in one’s home as a prayer language, it provides the exhilaration, power, and presence of the indwelling Lord. It’s an amazing gift, and yet Paul says it’s nothing compared to love.
Paul said, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have prophetic powers and I understand all knowledge and all mysteries and have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.” Because love trumps the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is more powerful than love.
My mother is here today. My mother’s always here at the second service. My mother has the gift of tongues and was given that gift young in her Christian walk, and that gift is precious to her, and rightly so. But you see, it wasn’t that gift that transformed me or transformed my brothers, Gary and Greg. It was mom’s love. It was Christ’s love in mom. That’s where the power is. That’s where the power is. The power of Christ is in love. So make love your aim.
As you come to the table today, this could be a new beginning that you resolve that you want to learn what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Because that’s where the power is. Of course, as we come to this table, let it be a new commitment that we would seek the scope of love and the depth of love that Jesus demonstrates in dying for us. There’s much, much more I wanted to say, and our time is obviously up as we come to the Lord’s Table. But as you come to the table, would you make this commitment with me, to make love your supreme focus? It’s all about love. Let’s look to the Lord with the word of prayer.