Confidence In Covenant | Rev. Elisha Satvinder

Good morning, everyone. Thank you, worship. Morning, morning! Turn around, look at somebody, and say, don’t—don’t say it to your spouse—say it to somebody else. Say, “So good to see you here.” Come on, just turn around, look at somebody, say, “Great to see you here this morning.”
Amen.

I want to continue in this. You know, we started looking at Genesis and understanding the whole issue that began with God giving this amazing promise—God’s creation, all that He did—and all He tells them is not to do just one thing. And we see how deception comes in, but also the place of independence—of not trusting God, wanting to do my own thing.

And that’s what happened to Eve, and we see how it translates into the place of sin coming in—Adam and Eve, you know, our parents in that sense—and how God’s redemptive plan begins. We looked a bit at covenants, and we continue to look at covenants.

Today, I want to talk about confidence in covenant. So it being also our first Sunday—and we’ve got the older kids as well—this being our first Sunday and we have communion, I want to relate confidence in covenant to tie it up with the communion today.

Because this is the New Covenant—this is Jesus making the covenant with mankind and saying, “You matter. I want to restore you. I want to draw you back. I want you to understand what it is to believe in Me, what it is to live according to what I want you to live—the life that is purposeful—how to live it with one another.”

So I want to kind of draw that together and bring something closer to God’s heart today and for us to celebrate this. So we’re going to read two scriptures from the Gospel of Luke and Matthew, both relating to the same thing. But I want to pick up one particular thing that is said there.

This is in Luke 22:14–20. It says:

“When the hour came, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.”

We’ve seen the picture—or we’ve seen the—not the picture, sorry—the artwork of the Last Supper, right? Okay, so that doesn’t depict actually what it was. They’re all at the table, and they’re not sitting on chairs; they’re actually all sitting on the floor. Okay? They’re sitting on the floor.

The fellowship today—you’ll be sitting on chairs, you’ll be having fellowship—unless some of you want to go lower, Japanese-style, and go down and sit down with each other.

So, I think we’ve abused the word “fellowship.” Malaysians: Fellowship = makan (food). You know?

So here, they come, and they’re all together, and we call this—it’s called the Last Supper, the Lord’s Table, Communion—but it is the Last Supper. Jesus is having His last meal with His disciples. So, obviously, what He says then is very critical, isn’t it? Very important.

If you’re going to—if somebody that you really care for is breathing their last, you want to hear intently what they say, right?

So, Jesus is not breathing His last. He’s going to go to the cross very soon. He’s going to be tortured.

So, this last—the “when the hour came.” So, He’s reclined at the table. He’s sitting there, and He’s going to have this conversation with them.

And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

I have eagerly desired. He uses this word “Passover” because the Feast of Passover is taking place in the city.

What is the Passover? If we go back to the Book of Exodus, chapter 12, what happened at the Passover?

God is going to rescue the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt.

So they are all in the place, they are all in their homes, and God says, “Now I’m going—I’m going to tell you what to do and why this is going to happen. You’re going to take a lamb, you’re going to sacrifice it, you’re going to put the blood over the house. And when the angel of death comes, it will pass over and not harm you. But whoever doesn’t have the blood that covers on the home, I will strike death.”

And that was a prophetic picture of what Jesus would do down the ages, where He would come as the sacrificial lamb—our Passover.

So that now, when we respond to Him, when we embrace Him as Lord and Savior, when we understand the blood that was shed, the body that was broken, then we also pass from death to life. We no longer have eternal death, but we have eternal life.

Something happens inside of us in our spirit—we are given new life, new hope. We are given resurrection life.

Amen, everyone?

So, every time when we celebrate this, we also understand what’s happening here.

So, Jesus is saying, “I have eagerly desired.” Why? Because He is seeing it, and He’s understanding it—that He is going to be that Passover lamb. That He is going to die the death that we may live—that mankind may live.

Where sin had entered, and covenant was broken, and relationship was fractured, and God constantly coming and restoring—and this was going to take place here now.

He says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you.”

And it’s in one sense Jesus is saying, “This is supposed to be the last that you sacrifice animals.”

When we read Hebrews, Jesus says—it says here—He is the one. Now we no longer need the blood of animals. It’s Him.

So, He says, “I’m so eager.” And He’s telling them, “That’s it. This is it. New life begins. But I have to give mine first.”

He said, “For I say to you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

And then, “And when He had taken the cup and given thanks, He said…”

I want you to notice this is only in Luke.

He says, “Take this cup and share it among yourselves.”

So, we see in more traditional settings where they would have one cup, right? And you go up and you take the wine.

Yeah, so now we have modernized versions, so sometimes we can miss the idea.

So can you imagine now He says, “We’re going to take communion,” and they didn’t think of putting a cloth around. Everybody just drank from the same cup.

So can you imagine we take this big goblet, and we have the wine—whatever it is—and say, “Okay, I drink first, now you drink.” Some of you say, “No, no, I’m not going to drink this, man.”

Okay?

So He says—look what He says.

He says, “Take this and share it among yourselves.”

It’s not that they didn’t want to wash cups. We need to just understand something a bit more.

And that’s something that I want to look at a bit later as we talk together.

So anyway, I’m a bit thirsty.

So He says, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now until the kingdom of God comes.”

“And when He had taken some bread, He gave thanks…”

So today, bread becomes this, okay?

So He’s taken some bread—it’s unleavened bread, it’s flat—and gave thanks, and He broke it.

I wonder what’s going through Jesus’s mind because when the wine is poured—I don’t know whether He’s seeing through the generations the animal being sacrificed, blood poured out—and I wonder whether He’s seeing Himself in less than a day’s time hanging there, bleeding and broken.

He broke it, and His body is going to be broken. He broke it.

And He said, “This is My body.”

The bread definitely is not His body, right? So, “This is My body, which is being 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.”

Now, some of us wonder—different churches have different names. Why do we have the church name “New Covenant Community”?

The significance for me and Patrina was this. We had come back from Portland, and the whole thought of the church coming, starting the church. We had gone for some meetings. Somebody had come from Canada—I can’t remember when—that time we had the renewal, you know, everybody is laughing and whatever not.

And as I sat there, and I remember this guy saying to me, praying for me. He says, he said, “I see a rainbow over you.”

And immediately the word struck in my mind very clearly: God’s covenant.

But we don’t sit in the old covenant; we sit in a new covenant. So hence, I coined the name “New Covenant Community.”

A community that understands God’s covenant. A community that will live by that covenant. A community that will function by that covenant, grow, mature, and do what is necessary by that covenant.

So for some of us who have forgotten, or some of us don’t remember, well, this is what it is.

This is why we call our church that. And prayerfully, we live that. Amen? Prayerfully, we live that. We do our best—we have our ups and downs, but we work at it.

So it says, “This is the new covenant in My blood.”

Matthew 26:26–30, similar, but just a few things different.

And of course, the other verse is missing, where He says, “Share it among yourselves.”

It says, “Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread.”

So obviously, they were eating. Jesus takes the bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, “Take, eat, this is My body.”

So if somebody says to you, “Take, eat My body,” would you not get a bit worried?

“Take, eat.” That’s bread.

Yeah.

“Take, eat My body.”

“And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said it to them…”

Sorry.

He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

So we realize this, isn’t it? The forgiveness of sins.

So today, when we take this up again, and we think of the scriptures, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of death has set me free.”

I’ve been set free from it—from the law, from the law of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.

So we are set free, no longer stuck in the past, but coming into the future—this new thing that God does in our lives.

And that’s why He said, “Born again.”

I’m alive. I’m a new creation. Old things have passed away.

I put off the old man.

So God is consistently speaking about the newness of life. And that’s why every day is a new day.

“Give us today our daily bread.”

Our daily life: Lord Jesus, come, give me life through Your Word, through communion with You.

Lord Jesus, speak to my heart, to my mind. Amen?

So that’s where we engage with God daily—daily, we have our nourishment through God’s Word, God’s life.

Okay?

So here—excuse me—so He says here, “Take the cup.”

“Give, giving.”

And He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

We must understand this amazing thing that Jesus does for us—the forgiveness of sins.

“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you new in My Father’s kingdom.”

“And after singing a hymn”—they sang hymns then, huh?—“they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

And there—I’ve said this before—it’s another garden. In one garden, it was all lost.

In the next garden, it’s all going to be restored.

Jesus is going to restore it.

Luke 22:17: “When He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves.’”

I want to draw from this, and I want to just bring four thoughts. But just to let you know, in my third thought, I’ve got six thoughts under it, okay?

So don’t worry. At least I tell you right at the beginning, okay?

Four thoughts—four covenant truths to pursue.

Four thoughts—four covenant truths to pursue.

Number one is this: the literal sharing of the cup.

He says, “Take this cup. Share it among yourselves.”

What is it that we can understand here? He said, “Share it among yourselves.”

So, Jesus is saying now, “Physically take it. Physically share.”

I would just put it in a simple way: it’s symbolic of something very powerful—very powerful.

Our hearts knitted together—it is the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus, the ability of God that gives us the ability to come together.

On our own, what covenants do we have? But in God’s covenant, God restores. Amen?

So this is the place now—we understand literal sharing of the cup.

What are we doing? We are participating in the covenant.

But as we participate in the covenant, we are participating in each other’s lives, and that’s the desire of God—participating, working.

We often hear this term: “Life is—you’re not an island.” But many times, I can live like an island.

I can live a very, you know, detached life from others.

So it’s a place of participation, engagement, together.

It’s representing what? A bond, a fellowship, a friendship.

It’s not just with one another but with the Lord, because it’s the Lord.

So today, when we have a meal, what are we doing? We’re coming together.

We’re saying, even through the meal, “God, bring our hearts together. Bring our lives together.”

So that’s why at a meal, you know, when they used to cut covenant those days, it was actually done over a meal.

Very important. They called it a covenant meal.

And if you sit down in the meal, and you have it, and when you walk away, you break that understanding—it is said now, “You need to suffer death.”

So strong was the understanding.

Today, we need contracts. We need lawyers—sue, countersue. Why?

We’ve all forgotten the place of keeping our word.

We’ve all forgotten the place of how we live in relationship.

So when you sit down and you talk, you don’t tear people down.

Why?

So we sit down, and we gossip about the church, or we gossip about the family, or we gossip about people—you know what we’re doing?

We bring shame to the sacrifice.

That’s the power of when He says, “Share the cup.”

When I make a commitment, I keep the commitment.

It’s powerful.

What Jesus was doing was more than just, “Here, here, drink, share, share, share.”

No.

He’s saying, “Look, share life. I’m going to share everything. I’m going to lose it so you will find it.”

So with Christ—with one another.

The second thing happens is this: it’s a symbolic representation of the New Covenant.

He says, “This—this is My New Covenant with you.”

He says, “This represents My blood.”

What is the blood? It was shed.

What does Matthew say here?

He says, “For this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

That is the power.

So today, when you and I, again, when we take this, understand the power of this symbol.

Understand the power of this symbol.

By sharing the cup, the disciples were entering what?

They were entering to experience the covenant.

That they accept Jesus, they understand His sacrifice, but they’re also saying, “Now we live and participate with one another.”

And you and I, down the ages, are invited to do the same.

We’re invited to do the same.

So we participate in our new relationship with God, and we participate in our relationships with one another.

You know, a house divided is a very noisy, painful house. Would you not agree?

Yes? No?

A house—can you imagine a home?

A home where there’s constant strife. A home where there’s constant conflict. A home where, you know, it’s just horrible.

Only at times there’s peace.

It’s a home that maybe doesn’t understand—if it’s a believer’s home now, Christians—that means we’ve not really understood covenant.

You’re constantly griping with one another—brother and sister, you know, different griping, striving.

So a home—we often said—one of them reminded me at the class this morning, “Welcome home.” You know, and we did that for a while, right?

Why?

As we come together—imagine—come, dear church, dear church.

Look, please look here.

Imagine the power of unity.

Imagine the power of relationships.

Imagine the power of agreement.

When two of you agree—how beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together.

Can you just imagine the removal of strife, the removal of griping, the removal of so many things?

And you begin to participate with joy.

And that’s why they said, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Come into the house of the Lord.’”

And then when we come, we participate, and we celebrate together—whether it’s sharing a meal today, whether it’s coming to communion, whether it’s worshiping together, whether it’s supporting each other, whether it’s giving, whether it’s praying for one another.

Can you just imagine the power of it all?

And if you were the devil, what would you attack?

What would you attack?

If you were the devil, what would you attack?

God has given us one of the most amazing things called His covenant.

It’s not just to rescue me and you—or you and me—from death and hell, from eternal damnation to eternal life with Him.

But He’s given us the power. Isn’t it interesting?

In John, He says, “By this, all men will know that you are My disciples when you love one another.”

Now, granted, we are different people. We have different personalities.

We get upset.

But imagine if we work on the basis of saying, “Let’s fix these things.”

Just imagine the power of relationship unleashed in this place.

Isn’t it odd? We say in-laws and outlaws.

Just imagine that if we unleash that power, healing flows in so many different ways.

Restoration.

When we come to the table today, reflect.

Deeply reflect.

Purposefully.

We share in His life.

We share in His life.

So the third, which leads to what I’ve been saying, is that it’s a call to community and fellowship.

So this can be seen in the early believers—how they did it.

Sharing the cup was a powerful reminder.

Jesus shared. What is Jesus reminding? That our salvation is not just a personal experience, but one that connects community.

One that connects community.

Broken relationships, fractured relationships always cause harm and pain.

And the one it causes most harm and pain to is the one who broke His body for us so that we could be one.

Can you imagine that?

So it’s for us to reflect this Sunday.

But the reflection—let it be, if I can invite you, is for us to say, “God, how do I pursue it?”

So it’s a community. It’s not an individual.

We are called to share what? Blessings, responsibilities of faith.

Now, one—this was right after the resurrection of Jesus, and Peter preaches this amazing sermon, and thousands get saved.

And when they come together, the first physical church comes together. This is how they lived:

“So then those who received His word were baptized.”

So we come—there’s a group that just finished the Belong Journey.

We have done it—the Belong Journey.

We understand what salvation is.

We understand what baptism is.

We understand what fellowship is.

We understand what expression of faith is all about.

So it says:

“For those who have received His word were baptized.”

Here is Peter speaking. Peter had spoken, and that day there were added about 3,000 souls.

Wow! That’s amazing.

“They were continually devoting themselves…”

You mean to say they didn’t go back home?

They didn’t go to work?

They did.

They did everything.

The idea is this: it became a lifestyle.

It became a culture.

It became an attitude.

People saw it.

So it says, “They were continually devoting…”

There—a strong word there—“themselves to the apostles’ teaching.”

That means they took the Word of God seriously.

They engaged the Word of God seriously.

And remember this, dear friends: even as we read different New Testament passages later—the Bible they had was the Old Testament.

The Bible that Jesus read was the Old Testament.

The Bible that Paul read was the Old Testament.

The New Testament was being written.

“All right? And to fellowship…”

Not just the word fellowship.

“To the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Just these four elements shook the world—the known world.

Just these four elements.

What is this in these four things that became so powerful?

“They were continual…”

Next verse:

“Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe.”

Everyone felt this.

It’s like, wow.

Every time they came together, it was a wow.

We come together, it’s ow.

It’s a wow.

It’s a wow moment.

Worship is wow.

Wasn’t that an amazing time in the presence of God?

“And many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all the believers were together and had all things in common. And they would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need.

Day by day, continuing in one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord God was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Now that’s so amazing, isn’t it?

So amazing.

It started with them sharing the cup.

It started with them taking that broken bread, understanding the New Covenant, and saying, “It’s a new day.”

It’s a new day.

It’s a new day.

So, six things I want us to look at here very quickly—six things.

I’m smiling because I’m looking at the time as well.

So let’s do this.

Number one: We see fellowship and community life.

Hebrews says this:

“And let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

The day drawing near, of course, is the return of the Lord.

So as we see the day drawing near, we’ll say, “Hey, look, you know what? Let’s understand what it is to build one another.”

So why?

Because after service, we can be very quick to go off, right?

After service, we can just—it can just be about me, or it can be about me all the time.

But we look at it, and we come today again.

When we come to the table here today, we say, “Lord, help me live the New Covenant. Help me live the New Covenant. Help me live this life that You have invited me into with others.”

Okay?

So covenant is never a one-way street.

I didn’t come to Jesus and say, “Okay, I’m saved now. Now, Jesus, what are You going to do for me?”

But covenant also means, “Lord, I surrender my life. What is Your will for me? What is Your will for me? Lord, I surrender my life to You.”

Covenant with one another is not a one-way street.

It goes two ways.

It goes two ways.

It’s difficult to hang on with a person who is always taking, isn’t it?

It’s a two-way street.

So just as the early Christians—we see that word—they devoted themselves to what? To the Word.

To fellowship.

This passage encourages us to do the same thing.

1 John 1:7 says:

“But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

There we come back.

The moment blood—what?

We come back to covenant again.

We come back to that again.

“If we walk in the light…”

I believe in Jesus, and therefore I’m walking in the light.

So fellowship is grounded in what? Walking in the light of Christ.

What does it do?

Light dispels darkness.

It dispels selfishness—things that are lurking in my own heart and my mind.

The light—so when I take hold of the Word, the Word shines light.

Number two: Devotion to teaching.

2 Timothy says this:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.”

How much of Scripture, dear ones? All.

All Scripture is inspired by God.

And what does it do?

It helps me become a better person—to mature, to multiply.

Hey, for rebuke.

We think it’s a negative word, but actually, it builds.

Correction—you’re going the wrong way.

“Come on, let’s come back here.”

For training in righteousness—not just training, but training in righteousness.

You know, Scripture says, “Iron sharpens iron.”

When you sharpen iron, some part of it goes off, right?

So areas that make us blunt are removed.

Number three: Breaking bread—communion and shared meals.

We are doing both today.

We have communion, and we’re going to have a shared meal today.

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 says this:

“Is the cup of blessing, which we bless, not a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is the bread that we break not a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”

What does it emphasize?

When we come to the Lord’s Supper, we again remind ourselves—as we are reminded of the Lord.

Our faith is to be shared.

Our life is supposed to be participatory with one another.

Number four: Prayer.

Philippians 4:6 says this:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

What happens here?

You are not alone.

We participate.

Number five: Sharing of resources and care for one another.

James 2:15–16 says this:

“If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”

Faith without works is dead.

Number six: Praising God and experiencing favor.

Psalms 133:1 says this:

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to live together in unity!”

Finally, the last thought: Preparation for what is to come.

Jesus, at the table, prepared His disciples for what was to come.

Today, as we take the bread and the cup, may we also be prepared—prepared for the days ahead, prepared for the challenges and victories, and prepared to live in covenant with God and one another.

Amen.

Let us pray and partake in communion together.