1 Corinthians 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
There are two ordinances that the Lord Jesus commanded for his church to perform. One is baptism, the other the Lord's Supper. I was convicted a few weeks ago, while reading a book on baptism, that for many years I have not preached on the meaning of the Lord's Supper. I preached four messages on baptism in 1997. But I have never done anything comparable on the Lord's Supper. So my intention is to devote this Sunday and the next to unfolding the meaning of the Lord's Supper from the New Testament.
Focus with History
A little history might help us focus here. On March 20, 1531 in the Netherlands a Baptist named Sicke Snyder (proper name, Freerks) was beheaded for being baptized as a believer. In the Criminal Sentence Book of the Court of Friesland, it reads: "Sicke Freerks, on this 20th of March, 1531, is condemned by the Court to be executed with the sword; his body shall be laid on the wheel, and his head set upon a stake, because he has been rebaptized, and perseveres in that baptism."1
Twenty years later across the English Channel from 1555 to 1558 (the reign of bloody Queen Mary), 288 Protestant Reformers were burned at the stake. Of these, 1 was an archbishop, 4 were bishops, 21 were clergymen, 55 were women, and 4 were children.2They included John Rogers, John Hooper, Rowland Taylor, Robert Ferrar, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, John Philpot, and Thomas Cranmer. Why were they burned by the Roman Catholic Queen? There was one central issue: the meaning of the Lord's Supper.
Here are the words of John Charles Ryle to explain:
The doctrine in question was the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. Did they, or did they not believe that the body and blood of Christ were really, that is corporally, literally, locally, and materially, present under the forms of bread and wine after the words of consecration were pronounced? Did they or did they not believe that the real body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary, was present on the so-called altar so soon as the mystical words had passed the lips of the priest? Did they or did they not? That was the simple question. If they did not believe and admit it, they were burned.3
I mention these two facts - the martyrdom of those who held that only believers shall be baptized, and the martyrdom of those who denied that the physical body of Christ was really there in the form of bread and wine - to show that there was once a time when the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper carried meanings that were very important - worth dying for, and some thought, worth killing for.
One of the happy things about being a Baptist - and I only mention it in passing, because it is good to remember it in these volatile days of controversy around the world - is that during the history of our existence, we have never been on the killing side of that transaction.
What Was at Stake?
Perhaps I should give just a brief word about why so much was at stake. With regard to baptism one crucial issue in the 16th century was the relationship between church and state. They were so interwoven that anything which threatened to distinguish between church and population also threatened the secular-religious authority over the population. If baptism was a voluntary act of a believer, then church would become a free and voluntary assembly. And that would compromise the rule of secular-religious authority over the population as a whole. When Felix Manz was drowned in 1527 in Switzerland for being a Baptist, the court records said, "They do not allow Infant Baptism. In this way they will put an end to secular authority."4 In other words, being a Baptist was a capital crime because it was seen as treason against the secular authority.
With regard to the Lord's Supper, the issue was more directly theological, but also political. Would England be a Catholic or a Protestant nation? Both used the sword against the other. So when the Catholics ruled, any serious attack on Roman Catholic doctrine was an attack on the crown. And there was no more serious attack than the rejection of the heart of the Catholic Mass. The heart of the Mass was the real physical, material presence of the incarnate body of Christ in the form of bread and wine. This was essential, not peripheral, because in the consecrating words of the priest another crucial sacrifice happened with this body. This is what the Protestant Reformers saw. And this is what they believed undermined the gospel of Christ crucified once for all for our sins.
Listen to Bishop J. C. Ryle express the Protestant conviction:
Grant for a moment that the Lord's Supper is a sacrifice, and not a sacrament . . . You spoil the blessed doctrine of Christ's finished work when he died on the cross. A sacrifice that needs to be repeated is not a perfect and complete thing. You spoil the priestly office of Christ. If there are priests that can offer an acceptable sacrifice to God besides Him, the great High Priest is robbed of His glory. . . . You overthrow the true doctrine of Christ's human nature. If the body born of the virgin Mary can be in more places than one at the same time, it is not a body like our own, and Jesus was not the "last Adam" in the truth of our nature.5
So, as we spend two weeks on this doctrine of the Lord's Supper, let no one say, "What's the big deal?" Rather let us humble ourselves and realize that while we may enjoy freedom of religion in this country, so that no one is burned or beheaded for religious reasons, we may also have lost all sense of the weight and wonder of what Christ has given us in the ordinances of his church. It would do us well to admit that if their age was marked by brutality, ours is marked by superficiality. They may have weighed things differently than we would, but it may be that we have lost the capacity to feel weighty truth at all.
Today I want to go to the heart of what Jesus meant by "This is my body" (1 Corinthians 11:24) and "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (1 Corinthians 11:25; see Luke 22:20), or "This is my blood of the covenant" (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24). Let's read again 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 where Paul passes on the tradition that he received from the Lord:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Four Reasons Why "This Is My Body" Does Not Mean Jesus' Physical Body Materializes in the Bread
First, I give four reasons why "This is my body" (v. 24) does not mean: the physical body of the incarnate Christ materializes in or under the bread through priestly consecration. Then I will give three positive meanings of "This is my body" and "This is my blood." First, then, why doesn't, "This is my body" mean, this bread has become the physical, material, incarnate body of Jesus?
1. The Natural Understanding: Representation
The most natural way to understand someone who picks up a thing and says that it is a person's body, is that he means it represents their body, not that it has turned into their body. For example, we show someone a picture of our family and say, "This is my family." They know we don't mean that this picture has mystically or physically turned into my family. Or we point to an actor on the stage of a Civil War reenactment and say, "That's Abraham Lincoln." Or we read the Chronicles of Narnia and point to Aslan and say, "That's Jesus Christ."
This is the most natural way to understand the words, "This is my body." This represents my body. It's very telling that in the modern Catholic Catechism the word "represents" is used but it is regularly hyphenated: re-presents. The implication seems to be: there is a real physical re-presenting of Christ. His physical body is presented again. I think that is an unnatural way of reading these words.
2. The Parallelism Between Bread/Body and Cup/New Covenant
If the words, "This [bread] is my body" was intended to mean, "This [bread] has turned into my physical body," then we would expect the same meaning to hold for the statement about the cup. In verse 25 he says, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." Here the words "This cup is the new covenant" are not forced to mean: The cup has turned into a covenant. Everyone agrees that the cup stands for its contents, and the blood secures or purchases or guarantees the blessings of the covenant. So if we are willing to let "This cup is the new covenant" mean something more natural than "This cup has turned into the new covenant," we should be willing to let "This bread is my body" mean something more natural than "This bread has turned into my body."
3. Jesus Explains That He Is Speaking Figuratively (John 6:63)
John 6:63 points away from seeing Christ's physical body in the bread of the Lord's Supper. Those who believe that Christ's physical body is there materially in the form of bread often base this on John 6:48-63. There Jesus foreshadows the meaning of the Lord's Supper and says publicly in the synagogue (v. 48), "I am the bread of life." Then he talks about eating this bread. He says in verse 51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." This sounds shocking and the Jews question how he might give them his flesh to eat (v. 52). Jesus responds (v. 53), "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."
Then he realizes that his own disciples were confused about what he was saying (v. 60): "When many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?'" So Jesus says to them the key interpreting word in verse 63 to help them avoid the very mistake that the synagogue was making: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." I take this to mean: Don't get hung up on my references to my flesh being eaten and my blood being drunk. I am speaking figuratively. I am referring to a spiritual action, not a physical one. So verse 63 protects the disciples from the very misunderstanding that I am warning against this morning.
4. Jesus Says That Eating and Drinking Are Spiritual Acts (John 6:35)
Finally, John 6:35 points us to the positive meaning of eating and drinking Christ. Jesus says, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." Here he gives himself to us to be received by eating and drinking. Hunger and thirst will be quenched by this Christ. And what is this eating and drinking? It is coming and believing. "Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." In other words, the eating and drinking refer to spiritual acts of the soul drawing near to Christ, and receiving him, and trusting him, and having the hunger and thirst of our souls be satisfied.
What Does "This Is My Body" Mean?
So if the words, "This is my body," does not mean, "the physical body of Jesus materializes in this bread," what then is the positive meaning of "This is my body" and "This is my blood"?
Here are three things the words mean (and there are more).
1. Proclamation (1 Corinthians 11:26)
1 Corinthians 11:26, "As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." "This is my body" means: By this representation of my broken body you proclaim my death for sinners until I come. You proclaim the gospel. The bread and cup proclaim the saving death AND resurrection of Christ (because "until he comes" implies the resurrection). (We will see next week how the triumph of the resurrection is implicit in the Lord's Supper.)
2. Remembrance (1 Corinthians 11:24, 25)
1 Corinthians 11:24 and 25, "Do this in remembrance of me." "This is my body" means: Let this representation of my body and blood remind you of me. First, the death of Christ is proclaimed. And then by this proclamation we are reminded of Christ. Remember me, Jesus says, sitting with you in fellowship. Remember me being betrayed - and knowing all along. Remember me giving thanks to the God who ordained it all. Remember me breaking the bread just as I willingly gave my own body to be broken. Remember me shedding my blood for you so that you might live because I died. Remember me suffering to obtain for you all the blessings of the new covenant. Remember me promising that I would drink this fruit of the vine new in the kingdom (Mark 14:25). Let the memories of me, in all the fullness of my love and power, flood your soul at this table. Which leads to the third and final meaning of the words, "This is my body."
3. Feast by Faith (John 6:35)
John 6:35, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." "This is my body," means, as you eat this bread and drink this cup come to me and believe on me. That is, sit with me at table and trust me to be your life-sustaining food and drink. Let the proclamation of my death and remembrance of all that I am for you awaken faith and draw you into deeper communion with me. "This is my body," and "This is my blood," mean eat spiritually, that is, eat by faith. That is, feed your soul on all that I am for you. Nourish your heart on all the blessings that I bought for you with my body and blood (see 1 Corinthians 10:16). That is what faith is: faith is a being satisfied in all that God is for us in Christ. Christ has given us the Lord's Supper to feed us spiritually with himself.
So, even though I think it is dangerously wrong to say that the bread and the blood turn into the physical, incarnate body of Jesus, nevertheless, I am not saying that what happens in the Lord's Supper is mere, intellectual recall of facts. The supper proclaims. And faithcomes by hearing and seeing and tasting that proclamation. And faith is a spiritual feasting on the risen, living Christ so that all that God is for us in him satisfies our soul, and sweetens our love for him, and breaks the power of sin in our lives.
Let's love the Lord's Supper together. And let's love Christ more and more as we meet him there together.
2 John Charles Ryle, Light from Old Times (Moscow, Idaho: Charles Nolan Publishers, 2000, first published 1890), p. 36.
3 Ibid., p. 55. See pages 55-58 for the actual words of the martyrs to support this.
4 Donald Bridge and David Phypers, The Water That Divides (Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publications, 1998), p. 75.
5 John Charles Ryle, Light from Old Times, pp. 58-59.
We believe that the Lord Jesus has commanded the church to observe two ordinances. One is baptism, which is unrepeated and signifies the beginning of life in Christ by symbolically burying a believer in water and raising him up again to signify new life in Christ. And the other is the Lord's Supper, which is repeated and signifies . . . What? That is what last week's message and this week's message are about.
I call them "ordinances" rather than using the word "sacraments." By ordinances I simply mean that they were especially "ordained" or instituted by Christ. The reason I avoid the word "sacraments" is that it tends to carry connotations that I don't believe are Biblical. Let me read a few sentences from a dictionary of theology to show what I mean:
The [Latin word] sacramentum meant both "a thing set apart as sacred," and "a military oath of obedience as administered by the commander." The use of this word for baptism and the Lord's Supper affected the thought about these rites, and they tended to be regarded as conveying "grace" in themselves, rather than as relating men through faith to Christ.1
The problem is in how grace is mediated to the recipient. The use of the word "sacrament" leans toward treating the bread and cup, when duly consecrated by a priest, as mediating grace to the recipient in and of the bread and wine themselves more materially, not spiritually through faith. But the use of the word "ordinance" - at least the way I am using it - leans toward treating the bread and the cup as means of helping the recipient to feed his soul on Christ spiritually, by faith, and in this way appropriate grace.2
Someone asked me, "Do believers receive an extra or a special grace by eating the Lord's Supper?" Let me try to answer that in a moment in the right place as I give you a very brief review.
"This Is My Body"; "This Is My Blood"
I gave three Biblical meanings of Jesus' words, "This is my body," and "This is my blood." So I will restate those meanings of the Lord's Supper and in this message today mention three more, but only deal with one of them today and save the last two for the next time we are together.
Proclaiming the Gospel
First, according to 1 Corinthians 11:26, the Lord's Supper is a proclamation of the gospel. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Every time we eat the Lord's Supper we proclaim the gospel. We proclaim it to ourselves to sustain faith, and we proclaim it to unbelievers, who may be watching, to awaken faith.
I promised last time to explain why I think the resurrection of Jesus - which is essential to the gospel - is implicit in the Lord's Supper itself. It's because of four words in verses 23 and 24.
1.1. "Lord"
First, the word "Lord." Verse 23: "I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread." When Paul calls JesusLord, it carries the meaning of his absolute authority and deity. We saw this in Romans 10 where Paul sees an Old Testament reference to Yahweh, the Lord, as a reference to "the Lord Jesus" (Romans 10:13). So when Paul says that the Lord's Supper was ordained by "the Lord" and represents "the Lord," it is clear that this one must rise from the dead anddid rise from the dead. It was impossible that death should hold the Lord.
1.2. "Betrayed"
Second, the word "betrayed." Verse 23: ". . . the Lord Jesus on the night when he wasbetrayed took bread . . ." This word calls to mind mainly the fact that at the Last Supper Jesus knew who would betray him, and when. "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it" (John 13:26). Therefore, Jesus was aware that this night and the crucifixion the next day was going exactly according to plan. Things were not falling apart, they were coming together. And the Planner had not planned to leave Jesus in the grave (Mark 8:31; 9:31). Jesus knew that. And we know it, and enjoy it, in the eating of the bread.
1.3. "Thanks"
Third, the word "thanks." Verse 24: When "he was betrayed [he] took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it." This calls to mind that Jesus was loving and trusting his Father who had planned it all. Jesus was giving thanks, not just for physical bread broken in his hand, for what it signified - his own broken body. How could he be thankful to God for his own broken body and bloody death? Because he would rise from the dead and be praised forever by those for whom he died. His thanks to the God who bruises and breaks shows his confidence in the resurrection.
1.4. "Broke"
Fourth, the word "broke." Verse 24: "When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you.'" Notice, Judas didn't break it. Peter didn't break it. A Roman soldier didn't barge into the room and break it. Jesus broke it. And then he said, in effect, I just broke this bread. And tomorrow I will break my body. What would that mean? It means what Jesus said in John 10:17-18, "I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." If he lays down his life, he takes it again. If he breaks his body, he will mend it. He will rise.
Conclusion: The Resurrection Is Implicit in the Lord's Supper
So I conclude that the resurrection of Jesus is implicit in the words of the institution of the Lord's Supper. Therefore, when Paul says in verse 26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes," the words, "until he comes" don't come out of nowhere. They assume and are built on the resurrection which is implicit in the Lord's Supper itself.
Remembering Jesus
The second meaning of the Lord's Supper I mentioned last time is that it reminds us of Jesus. Verse 24 "Do this in remembrance of me." Let the Supper as proclamation become the Supper as recollection. Remember me sitting with you in fellowship, betrayed willingly, giving thanks to my Father who planned it all, breaking the symbol of my body, pouring out my blood, sealing a new covenant, singing with you that last song, crying in Gethsemane, etc. etc. Oh, how much there is to remember!
Feasting on Christ
The third meaning of the Lord's Supper is feasting on Christ spiritually by faith for the satisfaction of the hunger and thirst of our souls. John 6:35, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." In the Lord's Supper feed your soul on all that God is for you in Christ. Nourish your heart on all the blessings that he bought for you with his body and blood (see 1 Corinthians 10:16).3
In other words, the Lord's Supper as a proclamation of the gospel which brings about a deep remembrance of the Lord Jesus himself does not stop with intellectual awareness of historical facts. But in the act we really feed our souls by faith on what the broken body and spilled blood achieved for us - a justified and sanctified fellowship with the risen Christ.
Do Believers Receive a Special Grace in the Lord's Supper?
Now here is the place to ask the question I mentioned earlier: "Do believers receive an extra or a special grace by eating the Lord's Supper this way?" I answer like this. God has provided many means to sustain and strengthen the souls of his children by faith. Each means is a gracious gift from God, mediating sustaining grace to our needy hearts. So yes, the Lord's Supper is one of those - a very precious and important one. But I do not see the grace, mediated through the Lord's Supper, as essentially different from the grace mediated by other means.
Grace strengthens my soul by faith when I meditate on the Scriptures (Psalm 1:3). Grace strengthens my soul by faith when I see saints love each other sacrificially by the power of Christ (Matthew 5:16). Grace strengthens my soul by faith when I see the heavens declaring the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). Grace strengthens my soul by faith when I fulfill my ministry with God's help (1 Timothy 3:13). Grace strengthens my soul by faith whenfellow-Christians pray for me (Ephesians 4:16). Grace strengthens my soul by faith when a brother or a sister exhorts me or admonishes me or hears my confession of sin and comforts me (Hebrews 3:12-13). And fresh grace strengthens my soul by faith when I remember Jesus in the eating of the bread and drinking of the cup, and feast on his risen life.
Now we turn to three more meanings of the Lord's Supper. The first three are: The Lord's Supper as proclaiming the gospel, the Lord's Supper as remembering Jesus; the Lord's Supper as feasting on Christ. Now I would add: The Lord's Supper as savoring the new covenant; the Lord's Supper as a call to love the church, especially the poor; and the Lord's Supper as a call to self-examination.
Savoring the New Covenant
Consider the Lord's Supper as a savoring of the new covenant. 1 Corinthians 11:25, "In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.'" Jesus did not say that out of mere historical interest. He said it because he wanted us to taste the sweetness of the new covenant when we put the cup to our lips. He wanted us to savor the pardoning and purifying power of the new covenant. So let me sketch for you what it is.
The key text is Jeremiah 31:31-34. Listen for the four precious promises in this covenant.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt [the Mosaic Law], my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: [first promise] I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And [second promise] I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And [third promise] no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For [fourth promise] I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
In the new covenant God promises to do four things.
God Promises to Forgive Sins
First, he promises to forgive sins (v. 34). This is why the cup is called "the new covenant in my blood" (1 Corinthians 11:25) - because Jesus had said in Matthew 26:28, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." The blood of Jesus - the death of Jesus by his blood-shedding - is the basis of our forgiveness. So the foundation of the new covenant is God's pouring out the blood of his Son in our place for the forgiveness of our sins. When we drink the cup of the Lord's Supper we savor the promise and the purchase of the forgiveness of our sins by the blood of Jesus.
God Promises to Write the Law on Our Hearts
The second promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 is that he will write the law on our hearts. In the old covenant - the law of Moses - the law was written on stone and could not justify or sanctify (Romans 8:3). It was external and powerless. God ordained that in its place would come a new covenant. By it he would put the law of God not before us on stone, but in us by his Spirit. And by his Spirit he would make his will our delight, not just our duty.
Paul described his whole ministry like this: "[God] made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter [written on stone outside of us] but of the Spirit [at work in us]. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). What we savor at the Lord's Supper, when we drink the cup, is that by his blood Jesus purchased not new law, but new life. By the blood of the new covenant he purchased not just our forgiveness, but also our transformation; not just our justification, but also our sanctification; not just our pardon, but also our purity. Not just our God's favor, but also our faith. Oh, if you understand the all-embracing grace of the new covenant, you will taste the sweetness of this cup when you drink. Indeed you will taste it, and live in it, all the time.
God Promises That All of the Covenant People Shall Know God
The third promise of the new covenant is that all of the covenant people shall know Godfrom the least to the greatest (Jeremiah 31:34). Everyone in the new-covenant people knows the Lord. The church, the true Israel, is the gathering of those who personally know the Lord. The covenant people are no longer defined as all the people born to covenant members. The covenant people know the Lord. That is, they have a relationship with the Lord. They trust the Lord. All of them. Not some of them. This is why the first sign of belonging to the new-covenant people (the first ordinance), namely, baptism, is not given to the children of covenant people. It is given only to those who give evidence of knowing the Lord. And the other ordinance - the ongoing ordinance of the Lord's Supper - is the savoring of glorious truth that the blood of Jesus purchased our personal relationship with the Lord. When Christ shed his blood he secured the personal knowledge of God for all his people. We savor that great grace when we drink this cup.
God Promises That He Will Be Our God and We Will Be His People
Finally, the fourth promise of the new covenant is "I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33). When our sins are forgiven, and the will of God becomes our delight, and we know him personally (not just about him), then we have become his people and he has become our God. All of his infinite wisdom and all of his unlimited power is on our side and works for us. All of his greatness and beauty comes to us for our enjoyment. He is our all-satisfying God. And we are his satisfied people. When we drink the cup of the new covenant we savor this - that God is our God and we are his people.
And in doing that we love Jesus because it was his blood that
- bought our forgiveness, and
- bought our delight in God's law, and
- bought our personal relationship with God, and
- so that God could stand over us as a church and say, "I am your God and you are my people."
Live by faith in the great gospel, new-covenant truth of the Lord's Supper all the time. By faith your sins are forgiven. The will of God is becoming increasingly your delight (and not just your duty). You know him personally. And he is your God. Savor this when you drink the cup. And make this truth the means by which you love each other and point others to it. Amen.
Notes
1. Everett Harrison, et. al., eds., Baker's Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1960), pp. 465-466.
2. Consider how the Westminster Confession, Chapter XXIX, vii, "Of The Lord's Supper," expresses this:
Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements, in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually, receive and feed upon, Christ crucified, and all benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:16, "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?"
Part 3
Today, Lord willing, we will finish the three part series on the meaning of the Lord's Supper. If you think this is all about a mere religious ritual with little relevance for your larger life-concerns, you are wrong, and I hope you will keep listening to see how wide and long are the implications of what happens at the Lord's Supper—as wide as love is wide, and as long as eternity.
I have described four biblical meanings of the Lord's Supper and promised that I would deal with two more today. The first meaning was that the Lord's Supper is a proclamation of the gospel ("As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 1 Corinthians 11:26). The second meaning was that the Lord's Supper is a remembering of Christ ("Do this in remembrance of me." 1 Corinthians 11:24). The thirdmeaning was that the Lord's Supper is a spiritual feasting by faith on all that God is for us in Christ ("I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." John 6:35). And the fourth meaning was that the Lord's Supper is a savoring of the promises of the New Covenant ("This cup is the new covenant in my blood." 1 Corinthians 11:25).
Now today we look at two final meanings—not that there are no others, but these are the two we will focus on in conclusion. One is that the Lord's Supper is a call to love the people of Christ, and beyond. And the other is that the Lord's Supper is a call to self-examination. Both of these meanings are found in 1 Corinthians 11.
Before I take them one at a time, I want to address one urgent and practical issue, namely, when should children take the Lord's Supper. The way I want to do this is by reading a few paragraphs from something that David Michael, our Associate for Parenting and Children's Discipleship, wrote about this and then send you to the website to read the rest of it. David answers this question in a way that tells you something about our church. There are matters in Scripture that we regard as less vital than some others. And there are matters that are less clear than others. When something is less clear and less vital we are less decisive in what we teach. Here is the way David says it.
A General Response
When people inquire about children taking the Lord's Supper, I have two perspectives to share with them. The first is that our communion services are open to all present, including children, who are:
- trusting in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and the fulfillment of all his promises to us (including eternal life), and
- who intend to follow him as Lord and obey his commandments.
Therefore, children are welcome to participate in the Lord's Supper:
- when they can understand its significance;
- when they are able to give a credible profession of faith in Christ;
- and when they consciously intend to follow the Lord in obedience.
There is no test they take or class they attend to help establish their readiness [like the class we have for baptism]. We simply leave it up to parents to decide when their young disciples are ready.
A Personal Response
My other response to this question is to share how Sally and I dealt with the issue for our two daughters. Our way is certainly not the only acceptable way to handle the issue. Other spiritually wise parents at Bethlehem, including some of my respected colleagues on the pastoral staff, have handled it differently. Nevertheless, I commend "our way" to you for your consideration as you lay out a path for your children.When our girls were small, we explained that they would be able to fully participate in the Lord's Supper sometime after they were thirteen. Admittedly, this response was somewhat arbitrary and sounds a bit legalistic-but it was a simple response that they could grasp, and it was enough to settle the issue for them. There were, however, important reasons why we encouraged them to wait.
- Wait for Understanding
- Wait for More Independent Thinking
- Wait for Significance
- Wait for Anticipation
- Wait for Memories
- Wait for Maturity
Even though we may ask our children to wait for a season before they fully participate in the Lord's Supper, it can still be a significant experience for them in their pre-teen years. We should not wait to teach them about the meaning of the celebration and how to examine themselves, to confess their sins, and to remember the Lord's death until he comes.My aim in writing this article is not to have all our children going through the proper religious motions at the "perfect" time (whenever that is). My aim and earnest prayer is that our children will know the sweet fellowship with the living Christ and experience his life-changing, soul-satisfying work in their hearts. May the Lord use our efforts in preparing our children for his table to nudge them into closer fellowship with him.
In other words, in a matter like this, we encourage parents to bear the burden of wisdom and Biblical reflection and love for your children. And we share how we come to our own decisions. You can read the whole statement here.
The rest of this message, I hope, will help you see the Lord's Supper in a light that will make it more powerful for you and help you think through the matter of when your children should take it.
1. The Lord's Supper Is a Call to Love
It seems to me very significant that in 1 Corinthians Paul does not introduce the Lord's Supper as part of a systematic teaching on worship. He introduces it as a way of supporting his rebuke of their unloving behavior at church meals. In other words, the main issue he is dealing with in these verses is the selfish behavior of Christians when they come together to enjoy a meal. And the question we should ask is: What can we learn about the Lord's Supper by the way Paul brings it up in this moral mess at Corinth?
So look at what is happening. Verse 17: I don't commend you for what is going on when you come together. The first reason I don't commend you is that there are the same old divisions and factions that I spoke of back in chapter 1. Verse 18: "When you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." The factions are owing to sin, but even in this Paul sees a good divine purpose. Verse 19: at least factions let the authentic people stand out.
But there is a difference from chapter one. Part of the division here was economic. Some Christians are poor and some are not. And the more well-to-do seem almost hostile to the poor. Look at verse 21: "For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk." In other words, the well-to-do seem oblivious of the poor and even get drunk while the poor go hungry right in their church gathering. Seems impossible, doesn't it? Or could there be ways here at Bethlehem that one class of people shuns or belittles another?
Paul is very upset about this. Verse 22: " What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?" In other words, eat at home before you come to the Lord's Supper if you are going to turn the feast of the church into gluttony and drunkenness and partiality.
But most important, look again at how Paul describes this behavior in the middle of verse 22: "Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?" This is really strong language. This kind of behavior amounts to despising the church and humiliating the poor. Do you think these well-to-do folks would have agreed with Paul that they were despising the church - the people of Christ? Not without a lot of convicting grace. I think they would have said, "What do you mean, 'we despise the church'? We love being here. We wouldn't have come otherwise. We love these feasts at church. We don't despise the church."
This is devastating. Test yourself. What this means is that coming to church is no sure sign of not despising the church! You can love coming to church and at the same time despise the church. And not only that, Paul says to the well-to-do, at the middle of verse 22, "[You] humiliate those who have nothing?" So they are despising the church and they are shaming the poor.
That is, they are treating the church as something utterly beneath what it is. The church is the body of Christ (1Corinthians 12:27), the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27), the dwelling place of God (Ephesians 2:22). And you eat and drink as though you are the center of the universe and the gathered church were nothing.
Specifically you shame the poor. You make him feel, and make him look, foolish for things that are not foolish. People ought to be shamed for doing shameful things. But being poor, and having no food to bring to the church feast, is not shameful. And all of this - despising the church and shaming the poor—they were doing in a gathering that would climax with the Lord's Supper.
So Paul, at the end of verse 22 asks, "Shall I commend you in this?" And answers, "No, I will not." And then, precisely here, he narrates the Lord's Supper and introduces it with "for" or "because." I will not commend this loveless behavior "For [because!] I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you.'" In other words, I will not commend this loveless behavior because it contradicts the meaning of the Lord's Supper.
The Lord's Supper is not a mere religious ritual. It is a call to love. It is an indictment of lovelessness. You despise the church. You shame the poor. Don't you realize that in a few minutes you will take bread and cup in your hand. And they will mean: Christ died for the church. Christ died for the poor. Brothers and sisters, if you are among the "genuine" —the "authentic" (verse 19)—you will love the church and you will embrace the poor at your table. That is what the Lord's Supper means.
2. The Lord's Supper Is a Call to Self-Examination
Therefore, since there is such a close correlation between the meaning of the Lord's Supper and the heart of the Christians who take the Lord's Supper, it is also a call to self-examination. As soon as Paul finishes narrating the Lord's Supper, he goes back to the moral issue in the church and says in verses 27-28, "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup."
What does eating "in an unworthy manner" refer to? The context that we have just seen would say, it means 1) failing to appreciate what the bread and cup signify—that Christ loved the church and died for her—and then 2) failing to feel any remorse that our attitudes and actions are so inconsistent with the love of Christ, and then 3) failing to renounce those attitudes and actions and turn to the path of love, and then 4) failing to trust Jesus for forgiveness and for the power to walk in love.
Or let's put it positively. What does it mean to eat the Lord's Supper worthily, properly? And here I bid all parents to assess yourselves and your children here. The Lord's Supper is a call to self-examination. 1) Do you see and savor what the bread and cup signify—that Christ loved the church and gave himself for her? 2) Do you feel remorse—do you feel bad—that your attitudes and actions are inconsistent with the love of Christ for his church and for the poor in particular? 3) Do you renounce those attitudes and actions and turn from them into the path of love, and say, "I will not treat the church as something cheap; I will love the church and cherish the blood-bought people of God; I will not humiliate the poor; I will love the poor and serve the poor"? 4) And do you trust Jesus for the forgiveness of these bad attitudes and actions and for the will and power to walk again in love?
If so, eat and drink at his table. There are no perfect saints at the Lord's table. We are all debtors to grace. Forgiveness is our only hope of acceptance. But look carefully here, lest you think that forgiveness and grace mean there is no severe fatherly discipline. The rest of this chapter is Paul's warning about the kinds of things that may befall Christians who lapse into a season of lovelessness. Verses 29-30: "For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body [that word may have a double meaning here: the body that was broken for you, and the church as the body of Christ to be loved and honored] eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died."
This is very shocking and very sobering. Where does this weakness, illness and death come from? Verse 32 makes it plain: "But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world." The weakness, illness, and death of some Christians is God's judgment, but not God's condemnation. In fact, amazingly, the weakness, illness, and death (verse 30) of some Christians are called in verse 32 the Lord's discipline which prevents condemnation with the world. "We are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world." Our illness, weakness, and even our death is grace. It is designed by our gracious, heavenly Father to keep us from being condemned to hell with the world.
"There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). But there may be lapses. There may be seasons of lovelessness. God knows where we are heading. And it may be that an illness or death is the rescue of grace from the shipwreck of faith.
So I conclude, the Lord's Supper is 1) a proclamation of the gospel, 2) the remembrance of Christ, 3) the feasting on all that God is for us in Jesus; 4) the savoring of the new covenant promises, 5) the call to love, and 6) the call to examine ourselves.
It is all grace and all mercy for those who believe in Christ Jesus. Sometimes tender and sometimes tough. Sometimes sweet and sometimes severe. But always gracious. Parents, look to yourselves. And ponder carefully when you think your children can and do comprehend these things sufficiently to truly examine themselves.[1] And let us all examine ourselves now as we close. What is your heart toward the church, and what is your heart toward the poor?
Notes
1. Matthew Henry observes, "Those who, through weakness or understanding, cannot try themselves, are by no means fit to eat of this bread and drink of this cup" (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. 6 [Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.], p. 566).
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