HoHum:
It is possible in one accident to lose my left arm, the watch on the arm, and a significant amount of blood. The fact that I lose all of them at the same time does not mean, however, that all the losses are equal. My left arm is important, but not essential for my life to continue; my watch is nice, but not important or essential; now my blood is both important and essential for life.
WBTU:
What is essential and important for a Christian? Baptism is essential for salvation. This Sunday night we are saying that the Lord’s Supper is essential and important in two ways:
1. The Lord’s Supper is essential for keeping alive the reality and results of Jesus crucifixion in our lives. We remember the reality of Jesus’ death by partaking of the bread and juice that symbolize his body and his blood. We experience the results of that death by proclaiming it (“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26, NIV). With Jesus’ death and sacrifice we have a part in His Kingdom and we testify to this through the Lord’s Supper. Vertical relationship
2. One of the essentials for Christians is commitment to the “one anothers” of the NT. The Lord’s Supper is a meal of fellowship- and expression of unity with other members and the Master. No wonder Jesus introduced the “one anothers” around the first Lord’s Supper (John 13:34-35: Love one another X 3). The Lord’s Supper is essential for both recommitting ourselves to the cross of Christ and to reflect His love and care for the church (“body”). Horizontal relationships.
Thesis: To help us understand the essential and important features of the Lord’s Supper, we will look at 3 things
For instances:
Christ’s Presence at the Lord’s Supper
Toward the end of the Last Supper- “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:26-28, NIV.
But what did Jesus mean by those words, “This is my body, this is my blood? Jesus meant that in some sense He is present at the Lord’s table. But how? In what sense are the bread and cup His body and blood? Do they literally become His body and blood when we partake?
To answer simply, Christ is not physically present in the bread and cup, but is spiritually present in the action of the Lord’s Supper. The bread and the cup symbolize Christ’s body and blood as He is dying on the cross. When a Christian partakes in the action of receiving the bread and juice and meditating on the death of Christ which they symbolize, Jesus spiritually comes to us and feeds our souls. Other views contains two flaws:
1. That physically we partake of Jesus actual blood and body is not proven from Scripture. At the end of the discussion in John 6, we find Jesus saying this, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” John 6:63, NIV. Here Jesus is saying that eating His physical flesh and blood cannot benefit our souls. “The Spirit gives life”- not Christ’s physical body. 1 Corinthians 11:26 teaches that we are to observe the Lord’s Supper “until He comes.” Now He is here spiritually, but not physically. The physical presence of Jesus is absent from the earth until His Second Coming.
2. The physical view is contradictory to Scripture. Scripture condemns all cannibalism and drinking blood is forbidden even in the NT. If Christians eat Christ’s flesh and blood in the Lord’s Supper, they commit the sin of cannibalism.
The Meaning of the Lord’s Supper
Consider the 4 “C”s of the Lord’s Supper: Commemoration, Confession, Communion, Covenant
Commemoration. “Do this in remembrance of me” Luke 22:19. This reminds us that Jesus loves us and died to save us from sin. We remember or commemorate this fact every time we gather at the Lord’s Table.
At the Lord’s Supper we remember the evil of sin. Our sin was the reason He died. As we eat the broken bread and drink from the cup, we remember that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and was crushed for our sins (Isaiah 53:5). The Supper reveals to us how much God hates our sins but loves our souls.
At the Lord’s Supper we remember the justice of God. At Calvary Jesus became the propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). This means that Christ’s death turns away the wrath of God from us. At the cross Jesus endured the full punishment of eternal hell that we deserve for our sins, bearing God’s wrath and justice as our substitute (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13-14; Isaiah 53:6)
At the Lord’s Supper we remember the love of Jesus. He loved us even while we were His enemies, and died on the cross to save us.
At the Lord’s Supper we remember the worth of a human soul. All people are valuable when seen from the perspective of the cross. In the Lord’s Supper, we see how much we are truly worth; we are worth the very blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Confession- At the Lord’s Supper we confess our sins to God. Realizing that our sins nailed Him to the cross, we confess them with broken and contrite hearts. This calls for self examination. Without that, we “shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:28). Don’t misunderstand, the Lord’s Supper is not designed to give us forgiveness, but to remind us how we have been saved.
Communion- The act of sharing something in common among two or more persons. In the KJV of 1 Corinthians 10:16, Paul declares the Lord’s Supper to be a “communion” of Christ’s body and blood. At His table we share together the blessings Christ gives. He feeds our souls as we partake of the bread and cup. Together we share the knowledge that Christ’s death has saved us from all sin. This feast is far more than just a memorial; it strengthens and revives.
Covenant- Luke 22:20- This cup is the new covenant in My blood. At the most basic level, a covenant is “an agreement between two people or two groups that involves promises on the part of each to the other.” Important to understand that God initiated the covenant as an act of grace. Though man shares a covenant with God, this does not imply that man shares equal status with God. God, as the superior, approaches humans, the inferior, with a covenant as an expression of love and compassion- as an expression of grace. Mankind’s obedience to the covenant grows from our gratitude for the grace God extended. Christians express gratitude for grace by honoring the stipulations set forth in the covenant. In grace God offers us a covenant; in gratitude we obey its stipulations. What covenant stipulations between God and His church are renewed at this meal?
God promises to be our God. God is faithful reminds us of His covenant pledges.
The church promises to be God’s people. We promise to serve Him faithfully. In what?
We promise to oppose all sin. We offer our bodies as living sacrifices and will not yield to sin
We promise to make godliness the rule of our lives. We will seek to cultivate a holy heart. “be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14, NIV.
We promise to love one another fervently from the heart (1 Peter 1:22-23; 4:8-9). At the Lord’s Supper we see how dearly Jesus loved the church, for he bought her with His blood. And here we see how dear they (the church) should be to us.
Frequency of the Lord’s Supper
We show the importance of the Lord’s Supper by observing it every week. What I mean with frequency here is that it is essential to observe this habitually and regularly. Maybe no thus saith the Lord because some might think that to not observe this would be a grave sin. What if one is sick and not able to digest the bread and juice. What if one is not able mentally to partake. What if one is not in a proper frame of mind. Yes, then do not partake on these rare occasions. But here is the rule: it is essential to partake habitually and regularly.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42, NIV. “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” Acts 20:7, NIV. By joining these two together notice what we get
We learn that the Lord’s Supper was a regular part of Christian worship
We learn that Sunday was the time and the Lord’s Supper was the main purpose for the meeting. This provides Biblical evidence for weekly partaking of Lord’s Supper.
What are we saying when we do not partake habitually and regularly? Two things
1. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ for my sins is not that important to me.
2. The church is not that important to me.
But I don’t want to partake in an unworthy manner as is said in 1 Corinthians 11:27! Paul didn't say that we had to be worthy to partake of the Lord's table. No one is worthy. He just said that we shouldn't participate in an unworthy manner. I read about a communion service in Scotland in which the preacher noticed that a woman in the congregation didn't accept the bread or the cup from the server, but instead just shook her head and wept. The preacher left the table, went to her side, and said, "Take it, my dear. It's for sinners." The Lord's Supper is a continuing reminder that there is forgiveness for the sinner, and there is strength for the person who is struggling with a sense of their own weakness.
“That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.” 1 Corinthians 11:30, NIV.
