A little girl asked her mother one Sunday morning as she was preparing lunch, “Mommy, why do you cut off the ends of the ham before you cook it?” The girl’s mother turned and looked at her and said, “Oh, sweetie, I’m not really sure why, but I suppose you cut the ends off of the meat so that the meat can better absorb the juices and spices and make it more tender. Maybe you’d better ask Grandma since she was the one I learned it from. She always did it that way.” The little girl called her grandmother later that day on the phone and asked her the same question, “Grandma, why do you cut the ends off of the ham before you cook it?” The little girl’s grandmother responded, “Oh, sweetie, I’m not really sure. I think it is so that the juices will be absorbed better. Call your Nana. She is who I learned it from.” The little girl began to get a bit frustrated with the whole idea, but decided to call her great-grandmother anyway. “Nana, mom was preparing lunch the other day and she cut the ends off of the ham before she cooked it. I asked her why and she said that she did it because the juices would absorb better, making it more tender. She told me to ask Grandma to make sure since she learned it from her. Well, I called Grandma and she said the same thing about the juices and all, but that she learned it from you and I should ask you. Nana, why do you cut the ends off of the ham before you cook it?” There was a long pause in the conversation and then the little girl heard what sounded like muffled laughter coming from the other end of the line. “What’s so funny, Nana?” “Oh, sweetie, I cut the ends off of the ham before I cooked it because my pan was too small!” Many times, we end up doing things for the wrong reasons because no one ever stopped to ask why. Every Sunday, we take a few minutes to partake of the Lord’s Supper and some don’t even know why. Why do we take the cracker and drink grape juice every Sunday.
I. Understanding weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper from a historical perspective.
A. Church history shows that for centuries Christians around the world celebrated the Lord’s Supper with great frequency.
1. Cyprian a third century leader in the church at Carthage spoke in his writings of daily participation in the Lord’s Supper.
2. Ambrose one of the most distinguished of the fourth century church fathers and a leader of the church in Rome spoke of daily observance of the Lord’s Supper.
3. Basil the most prominent leader of the church in Asia Minor during the fourth century wrote, “We commune four times a week.
4. The early church writers from Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, to Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Cyprian, all are in agreement that the church observed the first day of the week. They are equally agreed that the Lord’s Supper was observed weekly, on the first day of the week.
5. The practice of less frequent observance of the Lord’s Supper has its roots in the medieval church and in the sixteenth century reformation, not within the early church.
B. The leaders of the Restoration movement chose to return to the practice of weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper based on the precedent they saw in Scripture.
1. During the period from 1794 through 1835, six separate groups were organized without any knowledge whatsoever of another’s existence. In all six cases, the purpose for organization by the groups was that they might restore the New Testament Church as it is found in the pages of God’s Word, the Bible.
a. In every case they settled upon the name "Christian" for their members and "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ" for their congregations.
b. Their baptism was by immersion for the remission of sins.
c. The Lord’s Supper was observed the first day of every week.
2. Alexander Campbell believed that the Lord’s Supper was a Divine Institution and noted that Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11 demonstrate that partaking of the Lord’s Supper was “the chief object of their meeting”.
3. President James A. Garfield wrote, “We observe the institution of the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day. To this table we neither invite nor debar; we say it is the Lord’s Supper for all of the Lord’s children.”
4. So in keeping with the goal of using the New Testament Church as the pattern leaders such as Campbell and Stone taught the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper.
II. In Scripture observance of the Lord’s Supper is taught by precedent.
A. God often teaches by precedent or inference.
1. A precedent or inference in Scripture many times is important to establish Biblical authority.
2. A necessary inference is something that is clearly implied by the things that are stated. Necessary inference is simply a part of the reasoning process. When evidence is collected and a conclusion is drawn, that conclusion is our inference. It is "necessary" to the extent that the evidence demands it.
3. Jesus often taught through parables or illustrative stories, and then called upon men to infer the necessary spiritual lesson and apply it to their lives.
4. We learn how often to partake of the Lord’s Supper through necessary inference. It was the practice of the New Testament church to observe the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week.
5. Consider these instructions that Paul gave to the Philippian Christians. “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9—NIV)
6. Since there is a precedent for weekly observance and considering the fact that we believe that the Bible should be the rule of faith and practice, we see a weekly Sunday observance is a common basis for the unity of all believers.
B. There is no Scripture which can show a weekly assembly that does not suggest the observance of the Lord’s Supper.
1. We see in Acts 20:7 that Paul and the Christians at Troas came together on the first day of the week to break bread which implies the Lord’s Supper. The structure of this sentence in the Greek implies that this was a habitual practice.
2. When using this verse to prove that the church should meet on the first day of the week one cannot ignore that the Lord’s Supper was a part of this.
3. If one is optional then they are both optional. If something is optional then it is not necessary.
4. We discover in our text that the Lord’s Supper was a regular part of worship in the Corinthian Church.
III. Why modern Christians should observe the Lord’s Supper at least on a weekly basis.
A. When Christians meet at the Lord’s Table they are participating in a living memorial to Christ.
1. Jesus is echoing the purpose of the Passover as He tells His followers to do this in remembrance of me.
2. This is more than remembering Jesus the way we would George Washington but living with an awareness of what he did for us on Calvary.
3. As we eat the bread and drink from the cup we are to recall His death for our sins and His life given that we might live.
4. As we remember we are called to renew the covenant that we made with Him through baptism.
B. When Christians meet around the Lord’s Table they commemorate this supreme sacrifice and mediation of the new covenant.
1. When Jesus held the cup before His disciples, they did not understand everything that was about to happen, but they did understand that God was about to rewrite His contract with man through Jesus.
2. After they encountered the victorious risen Christ, they recalled His words and understood what had taken place on the cross.
3. He who was called the Son of man and the Son of God personally offered His life and the life of God upon the altar, forever changing the terms of God’s agreement with His people.
4. Hebrews 9:26 tells us that Jesus appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
C. When Christians meet around the Lord’s Table they express their partnership in Christ’s cause, death and resurrection.
1. The breaking of bread in Bible times meant table fellowship. In the eastern culture to share table fellowship with someone means friendship.
2. Since common meals hold this significance, then how much more does this significance exist in the meal that Jesus invites us to.
3. Jesus invites His followers to the table on a weekly basis so that they may be assured of the relationship in which their salvation lies.
4. During this important time of table fellowship forgiveness is offered and forgiveness is accepted. He reaches out so that we may continually enjoy His blessing.
5. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper we are renewing our loyalty to Christ and our identification with His cause.
6. Is at least once a week too much to fellowship with our Lord?
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the moon in the Apollo 11 space mission. Michael Collins the third member of the group was in charge of the command module, essential for their return to earth, which circled the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin landed. The moon lander touched down at 3:17 Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, July 20, 1969.
Aldrin had brought with him a tiny communion kit, given to him by his church, which had a silver chalice and juice bottle about the size around of the tip of his finger. During the morning he radioed, "Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moments the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way."
"In the radio blackout," he wrote later, "I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ’I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.’ I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly..." "Eagle’s metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements."
