I. Introduction
We come to what I plan on being the final lesson in this series on our worship to God. I hope these lessons have been helpful reminders about why we do what we do in our worship as the royal priesthood of our King. Today we are going to look at some things that we need to think about as we partake of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is indeed a special meal that we are commanded by Christ to partake of, and we need to make sure that as we partake, we are pleasing the Lord in what we do. And to be pleasing to the Lord, we need to make sure that not only we use the correct emblems (the bread and the fruit of the vine), but that we are doing so from a heart that is devoted to Him and focused on what we are doing as we partake. I will be focusing in this lesson on some of the things that we need to be thinking about as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, which I believe, is not just one meal, but four meals in one. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial meal, a covenantal meal, a communal meal, and a sacrificial meal.
II. Body
A. A Memorial Meal “…do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19).
1. Usually one of the first things that we think of when we think of the Lord’s Supper is Jesus’ instructions to partake of it in remembrance of Him.
2. The concept of a memorial feast/meal is not new in the New Testament. This idea is all throughout the Old Testament. The Feasts of the Old Testament system had the purpose of reminding those under the covenant of the great works that God has done for His people:
a) The Passover. Probably the feast we are most familiar with is the Passover, where the Jews remembered how God delivered His people from Egypt.
(1) God says in Exodus that He wanted this feast to be a day of memorial:
(a) Exodus 12:14 - 'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
(2) God also wanted this memorial to be a teaching event:
(a) Exodus 13:8-9 - "You shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.' "And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
(b) God desired that parents would take the observance of this memorial feast as an opportunity to teach their children about the Lord and what He has done for His people
b) Feast of Tabernacles – God’s care for them in the wilderness.
c) Day of Atonement – God providing yearly atonement through the scapegoat and the blood of the goat which was taken into the Holiest Place.
d) Feast of Firstfruits – God’s providing them with their yearly crops.
3. Jesus and His Supper, I believe, is the culmination of all of the Old Testament memorial feasts. Usually we think of the Lord’s Supper as only a fulfillment of the Passover Feast because of when Jesus inaugurated it and because Jesus is called our Passover. We miss at times that Jesus is also called our firstfruits and our Atonement sacrifice also. Because of His sacrifice, he sustains us spiritually in our earthly tabernacles as we sojourn as pilgrims on earth (fulfillment of feast of tabernacles). I believe it is actually the fulfillment of all these memorial feasts. We remember how Jesus’ sacrifice
4. The Lord’s Supper is a weekly reminder of us of Christ’s sacrifice for us. We need to make sure, if we want to be pleasing to God in our partaking of it, that we do so by remembering what He has done for us; the deliverance from the bondage of sin that He has provided.
a) And while we partake, we need to think of it as an opportunity to teach and to proclaim the Lord’s death. When Paul says that we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes in 1 Corinthians 11, I believe He means much more than someone giving a talk before the Lord’s Supper. It gives us an opportunity in our actions to make a proclamation about our faith in what the Lord has done, but it also gives parents an opportunity to speak to their children about why we do what we do. They are watching you partake. And they need reminded also about who it is that we are remembering.
B. A Covenantal Meal “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20).
1. In Old Testament times, when covenants were made, those who the covenant was between would have some kind of meal together. This is not common today so we may not think of this as we partake of the Lord’s Supper. These meals were external acts of ratifying the covenants.
2. One of the coolest examples in the Old Testament of a covenantal feast in in Exodus 24. Sacrifices were made and everything associated with the covenant was sprinkled with blood, then 74 men (Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 elders) went onto the mountain and had a meal with the Lord.
a) “Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!" So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself” (Exodus 24:7-10).
b) This meal ratified the covenant and showed that:
• All parties associated agreed to the terms of the covenant
• All parties were going to be committed to the terms of the covenant
• They were understanding the consequences not only for obedience to the covenant, but also for disobedience; the blessings and the curses.
3. When we partake of our covenant meal, the Lord’s Supper, we are showing these same things. We are showing our agreement to the terms of the covenant; along with placing ourselves under the blessings and the curses of the covenant, and we are showing that we are committed to it
C. A Communal Meal
1. Communion is not merely one of the many titles given in scripture of the Lord’s Supper. It is a description of what is happening between the Lord and His body as they come together to partake of this feast. This feast brings the body of Christ together to share together in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
a) “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. 18 Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?” (1 Cor 10:16-18).
(1) Paul in this text is trying to show the dangers of eating meats sacrificed to idols. He shows them that we have fellowship with the one in whose table we sit. If they were to eat meats sacrificed to idols in the idols’ temples, they were communing with Satan. Whenever Christians come together to partake of the body and blood of Christ, they are having communion, not only with their brothers and sisters in Christ, but with Jesus Christ.
(2) I don’t believe this is only talking about communion between us. Paul uses the pronoun we (even though He is not a member of the church in Corinth). I believe Paul is referring to communion between the body of Christ not just in a local sense, but a universal sense. We as Christ’s church and spiritual priesthood are communing with priests all over the world at the table of God, and communing with Christ as we do so. We as Christ’s church locally and universally are a community. As a community, we share together in the body and blood of the Lord.
D. A Sacrificial Meal “this is My body…this is my blood” (Luke 22:19-20)
1. I do not mean by this that when we partake of the Lord’s Supper that we are offering a sacrifice to God. Unlike the other acts of worship we have studied, the Lord’s Supper is not explicitly referred to as either a sacrifice or an offering or as worship that we offer. The language used in the New Testament in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians refer to the Supper as a “sacrificial meal;” that we in a figurative sense are partaking of our sacrifice as we partake of the bread and cup.
a) Under the Old Covenant, the priesthood would take a portion of the sacrifices they gave on behalf of the people for themselves. They would partake of the sacrifices. I see the Lord’s Supper as a fulfillment of this. We as the priesthood partake of the body and blood of our sacrifice as we partake of the Lord’s Supper. Remember that Jesus said when He inaugurated the Lord’s Supper as He held the bread in His hands, “This is my body.” And when He took the cup, He said, “This is my blood” (Luke 22:19-20). Jesus did not say, “this symbolizes my body,” or “this symbolizes my blood.” I agree that this idea is there, but I think there is more to the language that He uses than that. We take away some of the force of the passage when we insert the word “symbolizes” into it. He could have said this symbolizes my body and blood, but He didn’t. He is giving sacrificial language in the passage. This is my body and blood which is given for you... then he gives them instructions to take the bread and fruit of the vine and to partake. Whenever we are partaking of this sacrificial meal, we are making His sacrifice real to us. THIS IS His body which was given for me. THIS IS His blood which was shed for me. Our partaking of the Lord’s Supper shows our participation in the sacrifice of our Lord.
b) 1 Cor 10:18: Paul in this context is talking about eating at two tables, which are partaking of the Lord’s Supper and partaking of meats sacrificed to idols. He is trying to show them that when one partakes of what is on one of these tables, they were partaking in the altar and having fellowship with demons. He talks about the Lord’s Supper in this same kind of context. “partaking in the sacrifice idea:” “Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?” Those who eat of the sacrifices are participants in the altar. They are in fellowship with the altar, sharing in the blessings of the altar’s sacrifice, and having fellowship with the One in whom the sacrifice was made to.
2. I don’t believe in the Catholic interpretation of this idea, that the emblems actually literally become the body and blood of the Lord before we partake. I do believe Jesus is using figurative language. He is speaking metaphorically, but I would argue from these passages that we should think about it in the sense of what the passages say. “This is My body,” and “This is my blood.” We are partaking of the body and blood of the Lord.
3. As we partake, we are reminded of how this sacrifice is our sustenance as priests, but not like the Old Testament priests who received their physical sustenance from the sacrifices, but Christ’s sacrifice sustains us spiritually.
III. Conclusion
Let us remember these things as we partake of the Lord’s Supper today (and every week). The Lord’s Supper is a memorial meal. We must be focusing on the sacrifice of our Lord as we partake. It is a covenantal meal in that we need to be remembering what it is we signed up for when we become disciples of Christ. We need to be examining ourselves. It is a communal meal in that we have fellowship with Christ and His people all over the world, including our brethren here as we partake. And it is a sacrificial meal, in that we are reminded each and every week as we partake of our sacrifice that we are provided for by the body and blood of our Lord.
